Fantail follow-up!

I published my review of The Sewing Revival Fantail top recently and since then I’ve made a second using an alternative finish which I thought I would share with you.

the first Fantail top

This second version uses a ribbing finish on the neck, cuffs and back hem instead of hemming or elastication. I’d bought some Art Gallery viscose from Sew Me Something with an interesting graphic design and then my fellow @SewOver50er Kate @stitchmeayear generously offered me some grey ribbing, she had more than she needed. It turned out to be the perfect match and I couldn’t have planned it better if I tried.

There are separate pattern pieces for the ribbing cuffs, neck and hem and, although the same front, back and sleeve pieces are used, there are very slightly different cutting lines for the sleeve.

I had bought 1.5m of the graphic print and it has a fairly distinct one-way design which meant I needed to place each pattern piece carefully to try and get a reasonable match whilst not wasting too much fabric. I was able to do this by folding over one selvedge by just enough to position the front and back pieces along the same fold. This left a good sized piece from which I could individually position and cut a pair of sleeves whilst still just about getting a good match.

Sewing the Fantail with ribbing is very slightly different to the woven version. First, the deep ribbing band is sewn on the back in place of the narrow hem [I’m not sure if there’s a small discrepancy in the pattern or my cutting out but on both my versions I’ve found there to be about 5mm too much fabric in the back compared to the front when joining the side seams]

Like the first version I sewed the ribbing band onto the neck after joining the raglan seams and before sewing up the side seams. As I probably explained in the previous post, I always find it’s easier to put a facing, binding or whatever neck finish on whilst everything can still be laid out flat unless there’s a technical construction reason for doing it later.

The main reason for writing this second post is because I want to show you the way I turned the band at the hem-I forgot to take photos as I was making the first one! It’s a really neat way of of finishing the bottoms of the side seams and can be a useful technique in other places when you’re sewing different hems or edges together because it gives a crisp and level finish to an edge with the seams enclosed. The photos will help make more sense.

Pin the side seams together like so first, the raw edge of the deep elastic casing for the front is already pressed up by 1cm and the bottom of the ribbing is lined up against the notch for the casing.

Next, fold up the front so that it sandwiches the ribbing like this, pin in place. Now sew the seam starting at the fold on the hem. If you haven’t used this method before you may want to sew one side first and check it to make sure you’re happy with it, it can be a little confusing initially but it’s worth persevering.

Turn the hem to check it is level and, if you’re happy with it, neaten the seams however you wish. This is before I neatened the side seam but it will look like this on the inside.

The outside will look like this, so neat!

One other slight change I made was to the width of the ribbing cuffs, I cut the UK 12 pieces but they were much too baggy for my wrists so I shortened them by 5cms so they aren’t so wide and gapey.

At the moment I haven’t edge stitched any of the ribbing like I would do normally on knit garments. Because this is a combination of woven and knit fabrics I don’t want the woven fabric, at the neck especially, to end up puckered where its attached to the band so I’ve left it for now [and I don’t want holes if I had to unpick it]

The ribbing is currently not edge-stitched in case it causes puckering

I don’t normally post two of the same thing in such quick succession but I wanted to share the hem tip more than anything. I fully anticipate making a knit version of the Fantail at some point, or a short sleeve one in something really light and pretty…That’s what I enjoy about Sewing Revival patterns, so many possibilities if you have the imagination.

Until next time, Happy sewing

Sue

The Heron dress by The Sewing Revival

By being a part of the organisation of the first Sew Over 50 challenge it has meant I’ve come across pattern companies which I hadn’t heard of before. In several cases they made contact with me directly through the comments at the end of the first blog post. Not all of these companies make patterns that appeal to me personally but The Sewing Revival in New Zealand was one which did. Janine Pomeroy has created a small but growing number of simple, chic and wearable styles and because they are PDFs they are easily available to you wherever you are in the world.

Janine very generously gifted me the Heron dress (it also comes as a top too) and I’ve just finished making it up in time for my upcoming holiday.

The PDF was initially just available as A4 or US letter format but is one one of their first to also come as A0 copy shop format too. It comes with LOTS of useful and helpful information for when you print it out-there’s even instructions in how to print only the size you need if you prefer, I can’t think of another company I’ve come across which actually talks you through it, I have limited IT skills and wouldn’t have known how to do this for myself so that was helpful. Also, when ordering your pattern, you opt for the set of 3 sizes closest to the size you require according to your measurements. I like this arrangement because you don’t have an overwhelming number of lines to try and cut out from. I’m a UK 12-14 in RTW so I’ve made the size Medium and I’m very happy with it. If you do print all the sizes because you want to cut between different measurements for example then each size prints in a different colour-this is worth bearing in mind because if you print in B&W only they aren’t various styles of dot and dashed lines.

I bought some lovely pale blue viscose/linen printed with navy and red flowers from my recent visit to Ditto fabrics in Brighton specifically for the Heron. If you’re a novice sewer there is plenty of guidance included on which fabrics would work well, as well as other lay plan and cutting tips too.

It’s more pale blue than grey, you’ll see in my later photos.

There are only a few pattern pieces so it doesn’t take long to cut out and start sewing. There are some clever details which mean you don’t have lots of extra facings or elastic casings to cut and sew on, they are included which means the sewing doesn’t take that long either.

I printed out the making instructions in booklet format and I found the photos a tad small that way, I should have left them A4 for clarity although, that said, it’s fairly obvious what you’re doing and there are plenty of written instructions too.

I like the clever way the front facing is ‘grown-on’ so you just neaten the centre front seam and, eventually, once the backs and sleeves are sewn together [raglan sleeve so not tricky setting in] the neck edge gets folded over twice and stitched. This becomes the casing for the elastic.

the neck edge folds over and the stitching encloses the elastic. It’s a very simple method.

The deep cuffs fold up in a similar way which is clever because it does away with the need to neaten the cuff hem or to sew on any binding to create a casing for the elastic. It all forms one finished unit in the end.

I used the quilting guide on my machine to keep the correct distance away from the first row of stitching [it’s the piece of bent metal that might be included with your other machine attachments. It slots into a little hole just behind the foot usually and you tighten a little screw to keep it the distance you want] The elastic is wide in the sleeves which means you can’t see any of your usual visual markers and this saves having to laboriously draw on markings.

I should add that the Heron includes in-seam pockets which are a must, and there is a belt pattern too with additional ideas on how to add D-rings to it so it isn’t just a tie belt. I was so eager to finish that I didn’t notice until after I’d sewn it that the hem is finished using bias tape! This gives a lovely neat finish without losing any length, I just did a narrow rolled hem which looks fine too.

worn without the belt

…and with the belt.

rosy cheeks after a run and no make up!

As I said earlier, I was given the pattern to try out but I can honestly say I’m really pleased with my Heron and I look forward to wearing it. I’ve already got another fabric lined up for a blouse length version. I thought the sleeves looked like they might be too short but actually they are fine.

The reason The Sewing Revival came to my attention is because they use realistic models to promote their patterns, Janine made a conscious decision to do that whilst still creating covetable and wearable styles of the sort that dressmakers of any age will want. I’d love to know if you’ve used this brand and what you thought, or do you know of any others like it that could be brought to a wider audience? The Sew Over 50 challenge runs until March 15th 2019 so you’ve still got time to join in, and you don’t need to be over 50 to participate!

Until next time,

Sue