My wardrobe has a serious lack of solids. They don't make very flashy or exciting garments to share; I find solids can be pretty dull to plan and boring to sew. However, I frequently despair of not having enough solids in my closet.
I think the best way to make sewing solids fun is to choose an interesting pattern. Kosice Top & Dress, Itch to Stitch's newest release has this wonderfully delicate looking neckline, making it very interesting to sew!
Pattern Details
I love unique details and a feminine feel without too many frills. Kosice Top & Dress definitely fits that description! It's a little boho, a little peasant blouse and a little button-up shirt ..but not too much... all rolled into one. This pattern is drafted for light weight fabrics with a little more body than you might expect. Like shirting. Rayon can drape beautifully, but it is limp in the body department and can cause drooping through the sleeve seams. Chambray and lawn can be nice choices as well. Check out all the tester photos HERE to see a whole range of fabric uses.
Design Details
- Woven Fabrics with A, B, C, D & DD drafted sewing cups
-Dress with sash and top options
-Short raglan sleeves, with or without sleeve hem elastic
-Elasticized shoulders
-Shapely front and back V necklines
-Button up front with cut-on placket
Muslin Work
I'm going to be upfront and say me and raglan sleeves don't get along too well. I have real difficulty fitting them and I don't really know why. Maybe I'm after a fit that doesn't exist, I don't know. Testing this pattern was a good opportunity for me to work on letting go of some of my perfectionism. Those of you are familiar with my sewing habits know that I could use the practice!
Based on my measurements, and my experience fitting woven Itch to Stitch patterns for myself, I cut an 8D from the shoulders to the bust and blended out to a 10 for the waist and hip.
Based on my measurements, and my experience fitting woven Itch to Stitch patterns for myself, I cut an 8D from the shoulders to the bust and blended out to a 10 for the waist and hip.
Turns out there are not so many resources for fitting the BACK of a raglan sleeve top. I played around with many ideas, but in the end I wasn't able to clean up as many wrinkles as I wanted. For my test top, I stuck to my standard adjustments:
1. swayback to eliminate some of that back volume.
2. "Petite" shortening of the bodice 3/4 inch through the upper chest/back
3. Shortening the length of the sleeve by 1 inch, as I like mine to hit a little higher.
I plan to do some more work to refine the fit for my personal shape, but I can take my time to do that now that the test is over. I mean, it'd be really easy to just take all that volume out of the CB seam and have a really nicely fitted raglan blouse, but if you look at all the other testers, the top hangs so nicely with just the right ease.
In times like those, it's best to just trust Kennis and work through each step one at a time. That's just what I did and WOW!
Here. I'll just put up the photos for you to enjoy.
I don't know about you, but it's enough to make me swoon. So pretty!
The neckline sleeve elastic comes next. You WILL have to tug and pull and cajole the fabric into doing what you want, but it's worth it, and it is easier the more you do it (cough-muslin-cough).
There are French seams throughout this project giving you a super clean finish on the inside. Every notch and every seam lines up perfectly and in the end you will be shocked with what you've done.
I guess it turned out for me that I came up with zero actual shirt weight fabrics when I went diving into my stash. The best I could find was this cotton/linen blend. It's not as heavy as a bottom weight, but it is definitely heavier than a typical shirt weight fabric. Anything heavier wouldn't have worked.
You can get a copy of Kosice Top & Dress for yourself for 20% off through July 29th HERE.
1. swayback to eliminate some of that back volume.
2. "Petite" shortening of the bodice 3/4 inch through the upper chest/back
3. Shortening the length of the sleeve by 1 inch, as I like mine to hit a little higher.
Construction Fun
As I mentioned at the top of my post, this pattern has a unique neckline, and the technique to achieve it is really smart. At first read-through, the instructions were a bit of a brain-ful. BUT, I was also enjoying a bottle wine at the time, so there's that.
Here. I'll just put up the photos for you to enjoy.
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| Front V binding |
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| Center Back French seams, bound V with top stitching |
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| Front bound V with button placket and top stitching. |
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| Inside bound front V with finished button placket and top stitching. |
The neckline sleeve elastic comes next. You WILL have to tug and pull and cajole the fabric into doing what you want, but it's worth it, and it is easier the more you do it (cough-muslin-cough).
I guess it turned out for me that I came up with zero actual shirt weight fabrics when I went diving into my stash. The best I could find was this cotton/linen blend. It's not as heavy as a bottom weight, but it is definitely heavier than a typical shirt weight fabric. Anything heavier wouldn't have worked.
Final Photos
You really can't get more boring than sewing white cotton or linen. It behaves. It doesn't fray much. It's sturdy, so you can tug and pull and not damage it. It presses well and it's totally plain. On the bright side, I can wear it with absolutely EVERYTHING and all the little details of the pattern design can shine.
Hot dang, that's some tidy sewing. White linen is perfect for summer IMO and it suits this pattern really well!
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