Looks Like I Made It: September 2020

Saturday 19 September 2020

New Look 6343, Jersey Top

I decided to revisit this pattern as part of me feels like I had undersold the New Look 6343 top last time I made it. First time Round I enjoyed the task of setting the sleeves in, but my plain grey fabric means this jumper is one that sinks to the back of the wardrobe and is forgotten about.

I had vowed that next time I made the garment I would make the pattern more fitted and remove the gape from the back.

This rib-knit from Hillsborough fine fabrics lends itself to figure fitting. With this in mind, before cutting the fabric, I took 2cm off of the centre back and front and altered the side seams of the pattern so there was less flare.

Once I started assembling it became apparent I didn't just need to take 'some' out, but that the fabric was going to to look a bit... saggy if it was only semi-fitted. With the fabric already cut, this meant I was going to have to take bits in as I went along, testing the fir with each seam I stitched. This process has a tendency to get a bit messy sometimes, so I tried to be methodical to ensure I made the same alterations on each side.

I made the sleeves and body significantly tighter, just by increasing the seam allowance until I was happy with the fit. To insert the sleeves I found the best way was to stitch in the shoulder caps (so over the top of the arm hole from triangle to triangle) as this seam wasn't going to alter. I then played around with the underarm seams- as I'd taken so much in, the angle from bottom triangle to side seam altered slightly, with the seam allowance increasing at the underarm. This helped remove some excess bagginess that was around the bicep area.

Topstitching around the sleeves helped to confirm their shape, also adding a bit more reinforcement to reduce strain on those angles.

I used a stretch stitch on my normal machine on the sleeve hems (this turns out to be a bugger to unpick, should you say turn the hem the wrong way :| ) and a twin needle hem on the bottom of the top. Both feel perfectly stretchable!

I think I did as best as I could with the fit bearing in mind I'd already cut the pattern pieces before I decided to make the pattern more fitted. I'm sure there is a more professional way to alter the sleeve pattern to get an underarm curve that fits, but thankfully my fabric is quite forgiving so could get away with a bit of trial and error.