Medley of knit tops

For months and months I had a Burda PDF pattern hanging on the wall of my sewing room. I bought and downloaded the pattern on a whim ages ago. I even taped it together and added the seam allowances, then set it aside. A while ago I was trying to figure out how to deal with PDF pattern pieces, particularly these that consist of taped together paper. Folding them up is just not a good option since they take up so much space and get all crumpled. The best storage for me is to hang them up somewhere so I generally punch a hole through the stack, tie a ribbon there and then just stick them on a hanger. One day I was looking at the big sliding closet doors and thought "usable space" so I stitched up a big fabric rectangle, mounted it on those 3M removable hooks and now I have a great space to keep PDF patterns our of the way and still available, plus no wrinkles or curled paper. Its basically a big fabric bulletin board.

Thus this space is festooned with a constant rotation of patterns, yet this one t-shirt pattern sat there, unused and fading into the background. Then one day I was looking for something else and actually noticed it. Interesting! So here it is.  This fabric is dreamy... I got it at Stone Mountain this past summer. They might still have it and I had to restrain myself from getting all the color options.  

Here is the info from the Burda website. The pattern is Burda 02/2013 # 126, here's the link to this short sleeve version, I took the photo from the long sleeve version as the model is wearing a jacket which obscures the cute sleeve detail.  Super cute, huh?  I love a t-shirt that has some interesting detail.




And you have seen me wearing this one - on my New York trip back in October.  At Eately, the great Italian food market and restaurants. I was thinking of them today as I spent the morning baking Panettone, theirs smelled delicious and I almost bought one when I was there.



Actually before I made the blue stripe version I made a quick test version - as I had bought this fabric also at Stone Mountain. They now have all kinds of bargains upstairs so $ 3 per yard, I bought a bunch just for knit experimentation. Consequently I will have an array of this color in my upcoming wardrobe 😉.



More random knit tops, I had this fabric which I bought in SF at Fabric Outlet (which is the actual store which operates Cali Fabrics). It is almost a tissue weight knit. Maybe not really suitable for my usual stuff as it is really thin and I prefer a bit more heft in knits. But I wanted to try out this pattern in a knit fabric. Not sure it is successful but I will wear it around the house.  This is New Look 6374, my previous version was in silk.



And then I still had more of this fabric so I tried out the Presto Popover top from Naughty Bobbin patterns (formerly Savage Coco) which was gifted to me a while back when I had the pleasure of meeting her in person. This is a good layering piece and I like a top to be really snug around the back of my neck (short hair - always chilled there) so I stitched the center front up as high as I could with still being able to pull it over my head. So now it has a bit of a keyhole effect and is a good layering piece under a fleece jacket or a sweater. As designed the sleeves were a bit long for my extra short arms but I like the effect so I just left them that way. Also after I saw this picture I decided to shorted the top a bit and I can't remember if I lengthened it when I cut it out.



Onward to the next one, which is this color block top/dress pattern from Burda. I had the burgundy color sweater knit leftover from this top. I bought this Burda pattern thinking I can use it for refashioning some old cashmere sweaters.





The pattern envelope - it does have potential. You can see I used only two colors instead of 3 as they show. Also I put a t-shirt style binding on the neckline, in the pattern envelope they have it as a faced neckline. The grey fabric is a knit I bought at Joanns, surprisingly nice. I actually like the fit better of a different Burda raglan t-shirt pattern that I have, which I have made a number of times. (here and here.



Don't let that hazy sunshine fool you - we are having rain, YAY!  and it is such a treat.
I had a small piece of fabric remaining, so I made a scrunchy turtleneck accessory which I can wear with this top - very handy.



And just one more knit, this one is a pattern mashup. The same knit fabric as the first one in a different color way. I think there is a pink also - I might need that. Anyway - the body of this top is McCalls 7046 which is a surprisingly well fitting t-shirt, with or without the side gathers. But I included it because it is kind of interesting. Although I have realized that this type of shirt needs to be close fitting around the waist/hips or it just looks sloppy. And then the cowl neckline is a slightly reduced version of the Sewaholic Renfrew neck grafted onto this McCalls top.



I did make another version of this frankenpattern last year from a very cosy knit and I wear it a lot.
Here's the previous version of this top, sewn about 1 year ago.  I love to do the stripe matching on these t-shirts. Hey everyone needs a hobby!



Ok that's the latest on knit top sewing, next up I might sew up a shirt from one fabrics I bought in NY.

Last year at the very end of winter I finished this Burda shawl collar jacket and posted one quick look at me wearing it - well I wanted to say that I wear this jacket ALL the time. It is so cosy and warm.



Plus this jacket has one of my favorite features, in the seam buttonholes. Something about that always appeals to me. In fact - my current project has that very feature. Stay tuned :)

Up next - the project that is in the works, and a crack at some of those fabrics from NY. And a good amount of holiday baking. As mentioned above, today I made my first panettone. Which was surprisingly good. A few more practice rounds and I think it will be great. If I do say so myself!

Happy holiday sewing,
Beth

and in the garden, my latest obsession. Succulents. Which are perfect for our climate and super interesting once you start to dive into all the info available. More to come of these.