Finished - Swinging Sixties Top (aka Burdastyle 9/2012 106)

In addition to my Sound of Music costumes I've been hard at work trying to make this Burdastyle 60's style top something vaguely wearable. I bought the pattern last winter, and ran out of time to make it up. I loved the collar, and the gorgeous little shoulder darts, and thought the curved bust darts added a great vintage detail. 

The pattern asks for a fairly stable knit - something like a sweater-weight knit, or a ponte, without too much stretch. I made my muslin in a lovely jade green french terry I found at  Clear It a few weeks ago. It was fairly lightweight but figured for $5/m and with minimal stretch it would do for a muslin. I was always intending to make the top with a round back neckline, not a V-neck, and wanted to make the collar a little deeper, for a real 60's look. 

I made a straight size 38, the second smallest in the pattern. Being more of a jumper/sweater it has quite a lot of ease. It swam on me, and I ended up taking it in at the centre back, and in the armscyes. The shoulder seams hung off my shoulders - accentuated by the darts. 

Sewing these darts really threw me. Unsurprisngly Burda's instructions on how to make them were rather minimalist ('sew the darts'). I must admit to being in day 1 of man flu when trying to nut these out, and I didn't do well (in addition to not sewing when tired or drinking I must add to the list not to sew when incubating disease). The next day I realised I was meant to cut up the centre of the dart to the horizontal line maked on the pattern (but not mentioned in the instructions), then its much easier to sew them to make a lovely sinuous curve. Once I'd worked this out and fixed it all up they did look better but not particularly flattering on me. I think they're a bit low.... The best fitting version I've seen of this top is the lovely black wool version made by Amanda over at Amanda's Adventures in Sewing (my goodness this woman sews so beautifully!). 

The first pic shows the true schematic of the bust dart on the pattern piece marked 1, and the next pic shows how it should be cut out (with seam allowance added). One is expected to work out the dart maneuovre with these 2 pics......

The back neckline gaped, so I took the centre back seam in about an inch in total. I increased the collar depth by about 50% - I didn't have enough fabric to be able to make one wide enough to roll - maybe future versions.... The pattern suggests sewing batting or wadding into the collar to make it puffy! I think interfacing would be adequate in most situations. 

The top was loose, long and frumpy. With little to lose I fearlessly hacked off 6 inches to make it hip length, and added the hem band. I took the sleeves in to make them less bell-shape. I was limited in my fabric anyway with the sleeve length from the start, and had enough scraps to make some nice little cuff bands so that added back some length.

It's left me with a just-ok little top, ok for wearing around the house which I suppose is the best that one should expect of a wearable muslin considering the number of alterations I made.

So for a fairly simple knit top my muslin alterations were:

1 - Curved back neckline rather than v-neck (this is on the pattern as another version - I didn't have to draft it)
2 - deepened the neckband for more of a 60's look.

3 - Shortened by 6 inches, then added a hem band

4 - Took in centre back at the neckline by about an inch tapering to nothing by my mid-thoracic region.

5 - Took in armscye seams by about 3/8 inch as too wide off my shoulders (accentuated by the darted shoulder seam)

6 - Narrowed the sleeves to make them less bell-like

7 - Added a cuff to sleeves.

This is version 2 - made in a lovely lofty almost-felted soft wool rib, also from Clear It. It was a Gorman fabric, and is gorgeous. It was the end of the roll, I think maybe 1.2m, and I scored it for $10. It was delightful to cut and sew - the ribbing made cutting it on grain a breeze, and there was no annoying rolling of edges.

For this version my alterations were:
1 - Took 3/4 inch width off centre of both front and back - a total of 1.5 inch narrowing front and back, which also narrowed the neckline as well - much nicer I think. 

2 - left out curved french darts on front (not sure if I did this correctly but just slashed to the bust apex, and fiddled around until the side seams were trued)

3 - cut the back on the fold instead of seamed centre back (I don't like the centre back seam - I know it adds some shaping but the boxy style suits the cropped length - if I was to do it again I'd consider fish-eye darts to add shaping. And making it smaller - the back looks out of proportion to the front....)

4 - narrowed sleeves and shortened sleeve length as above

5 - Added longer cuffs similar to above to be able to fold back

6 - Deeper collar as above. 

7 - Sewed the armscye seams at 3/8inch instead of 2/8 inch seam allowance.
8 - Cropped total length by 6 inches.

I made the cuffs long so if it was cold I could unfold them - but I think most of the time I'll wear them folded back. The shoulder darts do make me look a lot more broad across the shoulders - I've got fairly narrow shoulders compared to the rest of my body, so if you're broad it's maybe not a feature you'd want in a sweater/jumper. 

The only thing I'm not 100% happy with is the hem band but I'm probably being picky. Initially I made the band the same length as the top and it was really sloppy so I redid it slightly under tension as I sewed and it's a lot better. The top is a very relaxed fit, almost swingy in the back. You can see from one of the close up pics how those bust darts are almost forming themselves when I stand in a certain position, but I just couldn't bring myself to do them in this version. I didn't want to risk ruining my lovely fabric.

Because of the boxy shape it really needs to be balanced with a slim fitting bottom. One of my favorite things to do once I finish something is to have a little fashion parade with myself and see how my new garment matches with the rest of my wardrobe (surely I'm not the only one who does this?!). So I thought I'd share my favourite combinations with my swinging 60's sweater:

Jeans! 

I love it with plain skinny blue jeans and my polka dot jeans - chic, comfortable and easy.

Shar-pei/brocade Elle's!

So comfy - sneaky stylish stretchy wear!

Knit mini!

This is an extremely basic French Connection knit skirt I rarely wear, mostly because it's a bit tight around the waist (but I remembered I have a quick unpick and a sewing machine and could/should/will replace the elastic with something a little more... forgiving!). 

Cropped pants! 

This is my MMM outfit for the day.... These houndstooth cropped trousers from Uniqlo are very 60's and I loved this outfit! 

My beloved isn't that taken with it (I believe his words were 'oh yes, I noticed you were wearing something big and sloppy') but it is deliciously warm and I think it's cute. Will I make it again? Not sure. Probably not the same. I love the neckline, and the detail of the shoulder darts, but I think there's probably more flattering patterns out there. Maybe sizing up on the Renfrew and adding this neckline would make a more fitted winter jumper..... I did like the recent Colette cropped sweater Moneta hack but think I could get a similar effect with the Renfrew......

Can you suggest any more jumper/sweater patterns - I also love the look of this Japanese pattern as a top (thanks Jana!):

Source: Tamanegi-Kobo

I think I'll focus on my cardi mission for a while!