Sunday, 24 December 2023

So, Zo... Strappy Vest Top IV


This pattens a classic. Up there, slap bang in the hall of fame. Anyone who hasn't mads a So Zo vest top is missing a vital wardrobe staple.

What can I say that I haven't said before?

It's a fantastic scrapbuster - you only need a front piece and a back piece and a choice of finishing trim. 


It lends itself to pretty much any stretch fabric - T-shirt jersey, Stretch velvet (hint hint, coming soon), Rib knit (hint hint hint), a subtle change in trim can transform this pattern from daywear to night wear, outerwear to underwear. 

It's easy as pie to fit - Want it shorter? Make it shorter! Need it wider? Increase the width placing the pattern slightly further out from the fold, or by reducing the seam allowance.

Can't find a trim to match? Make your own band from your stretch jersey and apply it like bias tape. 

Its a simple pattern with a big impact. I wanted to make something cute to wear with my new BusinkaMania Luxe panties. I had plenty of this heart-print tshirt jersey in my kit, and thought it looked more underwear than outerwear for my style. 


The only problem I came up against this time was when I came to attach fold over elastic to the opening edge. It stretched out the back piece something chronic! I tried different tensions, using tissue paper to help the foot glide, different feet, tacking the elastic first, differnt stitch widths... everything was resulting in a misshapen back piece. I think essentially the presser foot was set too low, so the double thickness of the elastic, plus the stretchy nature of my fabrics was resulting in a stretch-fest. I googled for how to amend the foot height but couldn't see anything telling me what I was looking for - Any tips would be greatly received!

Anyway, to fix the issue, I swapped the fold-over elastic for a picot elastic trim and there was no more drama, it stitched like a dream and finished the neck edge nicely. 


To match my knickers, I used little gold rings to attach the straps. I left a bit of a tail end on the picot trim to thread through which avoided any bulkiness from the jersey fabric. I hand stitched the elastic after threading through the rings and found this looked a lot neater than previous attempts to stitch close to a metal ring with the machine (hands up who's broken a needle attempting that, and the looked at the machine in shock like that Pikachu meme when it transpires that you can't stitch through metal...? 🙋🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️)  


I'm really pleased with my little matching heart set 😊💕

x
Location: Home Sweet Home
Currently listening to: Same Airport, Different Man, Julia Jacklin

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