Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Sewing Workshop - Now Shirt



Another great pattern from Sewing Workshop!

I have recently seen several versions of the Now top, the Zen top, and a hybrid of both. I need more tops, so I decided to make the Now on my recent sewing retreat. This fabric, a wonderfully soft Italian cotton, was from Emma One Sock. I think. It might have been Gorgeous Fabrics. If you recognize it, please let me know. It is, essentially, a plaid, though of course it prominently features the circle motif that I love.

My alterations were pretty straight-forward: a dart (more on that in a bit), and I lengthened both the front and back by 4".

The most interesting feature of the Now is the collar. The pattern piece is a rectangle, and it is sewn to form a tube. You could cut the piece on the bias or line it with a contrasting fabric, though I made it as shown.

This top has no interfacing. The front bands are formed by folding the fabric over twice. They are not supposed to be top-stitched in place, but I mitered the hem and top-stitched the hem and front bands at the same time. The front of the collar is also folded over twice, but I put in a strip of interfacing because the collar was so soft – I didn't want the collar to collapse. I also made a pleat on the hem of the sleeves and sewed a button. I did not shorten the sleeves, which is very unusual for me, so they run a bit short.




You can see that the collar is a tube. You could pull a scarf through the collar, if you wanted to. The buttons are mother of pearl, but I used the back side.


I did learn one important thing from this pattern. I have not been adding my darts properly. I mostly focus on adding enough width, without thinking as much about the length. My sewing friends pointed out, very correctly, that I need to add at least another 1.5" to the length at center front. I am very glad to learn this and will modify the pattern correctly next time. Thanks, you guys. :)

3 comments:

  1. Looks like a great fit. I love the fabric. I believe that Sewing Workshop has a new top pattern? I expect you will be sewing it.

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  2. How nice that you have sewing friends around to critique the fit, and to suggest tweaks to make your work look even nicer. You did a wonderful job on that top, Shams. Is the collar left unpressed so one can see into the tunnel?

    Kathryn

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  3. Thanks, Gwen and Kathryn. You know, Gwen, most of my sewing friends are unimpressed by the new SW pattern.

    Yes, Kathryn, I didn't want to iron the fold in. :)

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