Vogue 8565 Pintucked Knit Tunic

It's a beautiful morning, clear light and a soft wind promising to bring in some clouds later in the afternoon. I love this time of day in the garden.

I finally finished a top for Faye's Essential Top Sew-Along! Thank goodness she extended it 3 days for laggards such as I. Actually, this top took much longer than I ever thought it would, even given my picky picky ways.

I've been wanting to sew this top ever since I found a pic of  SewEllen's  last year. Super cute. I sewed View B, which is tunic length like hers, but I think mine is a bit too long. Which I can fix easily enough. I did a muslin in the shorter length, but like it a little longer.

From reading reviews on Pattern Review, I knew that many sewists had run into issues with the negative ease in this top. Having a full bust, I did not hesitate - I added 5/8" to the sleeve and side seams beginning at the top of the armhole and curing in just above the natural waist. (I like the additional length on the sleeve). I also dropped the armholes 3/8" on both sides, they were just a bit high for me.

 Vogue 8584 Loose Leg Capris

My fabric is a very soft cotton jersey from Girl Charlee. It is a very fine, yarn-dyed knit - and slippery! So my Very Easy Vogue became a challenge.

I had to be careful not to let the stripes move around, and the pintucks were little beasties. Twelve parallel lines with 1/4" tucks in slippery knit. I ended up thread tracing the pleat lines through the tissue, then machine tracing those lines, and using the trace lines to form my pleats. I was wishing for some mid-weight printed jersey before I was done!

Another change I made is in the neckline finish. The pattern suggests turning the neckline to the inside for a 5/8" hem with topstitching. Noooo. I much prefer a bound neckline. Quick how-to:

• Cut my binding width-wise across my fabric (so that the stretch goes with the length of the binding), 1/1/2" x 40".
• Trimmed 5/8" from the neckline.
• Sewed the binding on the outside, right sides together, with a 3/8" seam.
• Turned the binding to the inside and stitched in the ditch on the outside. Note that the binding is turned over the 3/8" seam allowance - the seam allowance is not turned to the inside!

My staystitching across the top of the pleats was a little tight, they should be spread out a little more. I did not notice until the binding was finished - no way am I going to go back and fix it!

Great with Vogue 8859 skinny pants...

I did not even know I had a branch in my face. I could see just fine. Dodging the branch the next time...

Ciao! Coco