Finished - a surprisingly awesome Kwik Sew 3801 Twist Top in merino jersey

Like the cool new kid at school this garment has jumped to the front of the queue - I'm so delighted with it! I've had this one planned for a while, waiting for the perfect fabric. I can't remember where I first saw the pattern, but it reminded me of a cool twist front top I'd seen on Pinterest by Akira (not the Australian designer, but an American brand, I believe - correct me if I'm wrong!) and thought it very Drape Drape.

The pattern is Kwik Sew 3801 (not sure if it is really OOP or not) and includes a regular scoop neck dolman top as a variation to the twist front. The pattern suggests a drapey knit fabric with no obvious right or wrong sides due to the twist. It took me a while to find what I needed, in a colour that I wanted - this is a gorgeous navy and white marle merino knit from The Cloth Shop in Ivanhoe (very reasonably priced @ $17.95/m from memory).

The front piece is one enormous piece of fabric that is twisted once in the middle - hence the need for no obvious wrong side. I do believe though that one could easily experiment with seaming down the centre - the seam would be mostly hidden by the twist, and if done with a french seam or even as a rolled hem (see later!) it would look absolutely fine, and potentially even a design feature. 

I made a size small, as it is very oversized, but cut out the length of the large. It was very quick and easy to make. I ignored the directions on the front pattern piece to place the vertical grain across the horizontal stretch of the fabric. It made zero sense to me, and with the subtle striping of the marle fabric would have looked weird. I half wonder if it's actually a printing error. I also used fusible knit stay tape to stabilise the neckline rather than clear elastic, but it didn't fuse very well - next time I'll try either fine ribbon or elastic. 

The big BIG delay in making this was my dithering over how to finish the raw edge of the neckline and hem - it's all one big long mobius edge, with both sides visible at different points around the hem. The instructions suggest a variety of options, all pretty dodgy - you could leave it raw, with the right fabric, but I decided the best option was to learn to do a rolled hem on my overlocker which would look nice from both sides. 

So the research began! There's plenty out there on rolled hems and woven fabrics, but not so much information when using a knit. I'll do a separate post on the resources I used and the various pearls of wisdom to pass on to those wishing to try something similar. 

I really love this top. I love the long sleeves scrunched up, and I love the relaxed fit. It's also surprisingly versatile - you can rejig the location of the twist to create a few different looks:

High up on the chest:

This would be great as a way to wear it when pregnant (or if one wishes to stash some sweeties). My besty is 6 months pregnant and next time I see her I'll get her to test drive it for bump-friendliness. 

Middle of the road:

Or the low down:

I think it has distinctly pseudocardigan properties which can only, of course, be a good thing in my universe. Have you made it? How did you finish your mobius edging?