I'd got one last day of annual leave, the weather outside was BEAUTIFUL, my new neighbour leant me a deck chair. My mum took me shoe shopping, I'd got a LOT of blogging to catch up on. But DAMN I just wanted to sew. If you've been following me a while you'll know I've use So Zo' s FREEE knicker pattern multiple times, but what I have naively overlooked is the FREE VEST PATTERN also included on Zoe's blog .
This pattern is the very definition of quick win. It's 2 pattern pieces, it's like 5 seams, it uses less than a meter of fabric. It's super easy to fit (I cut a size 8 and didn't have to make any alterations yay). The only special skill you'll need in your arsenal is the ability to attach elastic. If you've never tried though, in the instructions for the pattern Zoe explains two differnt methods for attaching the elastic. I had never tried fold over elastic (FOE) before, but did have some in my stash. I decided not to use a lace trim as I thought it would run the risk of looking a bit too underwear-y.
My tip for attaching FOE would be to do a basting seam from the right side of the garment, following the centre line of the elastic and stretching it gentley around the curves. Then flip the top of the trim over the basting seam and zig zag close to the edge. Pull out your basting stitches and you're good to go!
I toyed with the idea of attching sliders to the straps but something about the faff of that definitely didn't suggest quick win. Besides, if I made sure I made the straps the right length in the first place I wouldn't have to use sliders would I? The straps ended up being 28cm in length (this of course might be different next time depending on the stretch % of my elastic), and were placed on the back piece,11cm in from the side seams. If you leave yourself just over 30cm to make the strap from before you stitch down the trim to the front piece then you should be golden! You can tweak the length from here but shouldn't end up with too much wastage.
The hem on the pattern piece is 2cm wide. I didn't overlock the raw edge for fear of streching it out- instead I loaded up the twin needle and hemmed close to the edge. You have to do this from the right side for the stiching to be the right way round, so good pin placement is key here.
I'm so super pleased with the fit! Once I've stocked up on different fold over elastics this pattern will be a total stash buster.
Who else has made one? What cute fabrics did you use? I used some more of this lovely lovely sausage dog print from Minerva. Oh my word, it's so cute. I can't get enough. I want a sausage dog everything!! Shorts or knickers next?
x
Location: The Pinnacles, Sheffield
Currently Listening to: Bandits, Reverend and The Makers
No comments:
Post a Comment