Last Friday, I wore my first
me-made garment that was not a Halloween or theme-party costume! My second
version of Cake’s
Hummingbird top (Green version), is far from perfect, but it’s wearable!
I sewed my first version of this
top in a tangerine knit from Girl Charlee
Fabrics. I attempted to participate in the 30-minutes-a-day
sewalong for this pattern, but guess what? It’s silly to start a sewing
project right at the start of field season. Although I didn’t finish even one
of the two pieces during the sewalong, I really liked the format and
instructions and I’m sure I’ll try to participate in another.
I chose to start the peplum at my
natural waist, and didn’t make any fit changes.
Unfortunately, but as expected, I didn’t get it right on the first try.
The peplum started at an unflattering place on my waist and was a bit too
short, accentuating my less than perfectly toned middle. The shoulders were
also too wide. I loved the tangerine color, though, and reordered more of the
fabric.
At some point in the summer which
I truly don’t even remember, I made some alterations to my traced pattern and
got started on version two, in a printed knit, again from Girl Charlee Fabrics.
I took 1 ½” off of the inside of each shoulder and curved that line until it
met with the neckline. I measured to my natural waist and graded the pattern in
to the measurement of my natural waist. From there, I measured to where I
wanted to try to start the peplum and graded the pattern out to the measurement
at this point on my waist. I was feeling pretty good about these pattern
alterations until I was brushing my teeth the morning after cutting out the
pieces and realized that I forgot to make the corresponding changes to the
peplum pattern piece. Oops. Oh well, not too late to fix it.
After sewing the upper part of
the top together I realized it was a little bit too long, so I trimmed some
length off. I then sewed the peplum on and had a really tough time lining it
up. The next morning, when I was brushing my teeth (weird, right?), I realized
that again, I hadn’t made the corresponding changes to the peplum. No wonder it
was so hard to attach! Not technically too late to fix, but that’s a lot of
stitches to unpick, so I didn’t.
After reinforcing the neck and
sleeve bindings and hemming the top, I was done! I waited a few days to try the
top on, worried that I would be disappointed if I tried it on right away. It
could use some improvements, but overall, I like it! I LOVE the neckline…lots
of collarbone and next to no cleavage…just how I like it. I think the peplum
starts and ends at a good place. The peplum is admittedly a bit wonky, but not
enough to stop me from wearing it. I’ll just try to do better for the next
version (in the tangerine knit again!). I have a lot of wrinkling at my lower
back, and sometimes the lower back seam actually gets caught on the waistband of
my jeans, so that could be improved, but I’m not sure how to do it. It also doesn't help that my jeans don't fit me super well. I must say,
I notice every imperfection in the photos, and every curve on myself that I
wish the fabric would hide, but whenever I walked past a mirror, I was pretty
happy with how I looked in this top, so all in all I’m happy with it.
Now to decide what to do next…the tangerine peplum top? Or the Hummingbird skirt? I haven't decided yet.
