Wardrobe Enhancement

Yesterday was all about making myself some tops. The stack of knit fabric looks good on the shelf, but it looks even nicer in my closet.

I cut out my Christmas top first, but I haven’t put it together yet. It’s a stretch velvet and I’ll have to sew it with 90/14 needles. I have 80/12 needles in the serger and the coverstitch. In the interest of efficiency, I put the lighter knits at the front of the line. I also put a gray thread in the loopers for everything and changed only the needle threads as needed.

I cut my knits with a rotary cutter—the cutting is much more accurate that way and the fabric doesn’t slide around as much. This is the tunic pattern I cribbed off a favorite Liz Claiborne top.

These tops aren’t complicated. I serge the shoulders together, lay the body flat on the cutting table and pin in the sleeves (I actually use mini Wonder Clips because pins and sergers don’t mix), set in the sleeves, serge the side/sleeve seam, make the turtleneck, and set that in. The hems will get done in one fell swoop on the coverstitch later.

I made two yesterday. Robin might recognize the blue/yellow/purple fabric as I bought it when we were in Missoula.

That mauve-y print is from Girl Charlee Fabrics. I’ve ordered quite a few cuts from them and been happy with what I got, although that one surprised me a bit. It was definitely more of a pink color on my monitor. When I opened it here, I thought, “Oh, I can’t wear that color,” but the more I looked at it, the more I liked it. DD#2 can tell me if I look like death warmed over when I have it on. I can’t wear yellows or oranges, but I love prints that have bits of those colors in them.

I have a third top cut out but not assembled, plus the Christmas top. I’d like to get a few more cut out before I have to put the cutting table away. It’s in DD#2’s room and she’ll be sleeping there this week.

Is it weird to have a closet full of the same style top in different fabrics? Maybe, but I’ve reached the age where I care more about comfort than style. Around here, especially, I don’t think the average person pays that much attention to what other people are wearing. These tops fit me well and that turtleneck keeps my neck warm when it’s cold out. 

These are all double-brushed poly knits. I am planning to make some Nancy Raglans out of the stack of French terry. And I’d like to make a long-sleeve version of the knot-front top I cribbed off yet another Liz Claiborne top over the summer.

[Liz Claiborne is the only brand I could buy without having to try on, which is why my closet is full of it. I knew I could pull my size off the rack and it would fit. I haven’t bought as much in recent years because the quality went down noticeably when JC Penney started carrying it and now most of the tops are too short on me. When I was in Seattle, though, I picked up a few well-made tunic-length tops at the store there, which gives me hope that maybe the brand will recover. In the meantime, I’ll just draft patterns off the ones I like.]

I’ve also got a Burda pattern for a cowl-neck/hoodie style top that I’d like to try. Getting through my stack of knit fabric should keep me busy for a while.

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I’ve developed an obsession with documentaries about Mount Everest. I found a YouTube channel with just about every documentary made, dating all the way back to the early 1970s. The older ones are fascinating to watch. (Anyone remember “Turning Point” with Forrest Sawyer?) Some of the British documentaries are loaded with colonial attitudes toward the sherpas, sadly, which makes them harder to watch. Part of what is fueling this obsession is an attempt to understand the psychology of people who 1) voluntarily put their lives at risk like that and 2) survive when the odds are against them. (I said to the husband that I don’t need to go looking for life-threatening situations because the universe is happy to serve them up to me without me even asking.) I am not sure I am getting any answers to my questions, but the documentaries are good background entertainment when I am sewing.