Seamwork Natalie...

Back in February, I was looking for my sewing mojo.  I had done very sewing at the first part of the year.  Of course that started changing in March when I moved in  with my parents for the next 3+ months.  I did not think when the covid-19 virus started that it would seemingly never end.  Back to sewing.  In February, I picked up a lovely rayon crepe with the intentions of making the Seamwork Natalie.  Fast forward and I have made many shirts between March and June.  Here is the muslin of the Natalie - here.

The Seamwork Natalie pattern is a classic campshirt style top.  In general, quick and easy.  Here's my finished version:

The pattern is very straight forward.  The only issue that I found when making the muslin was that the sleeves had to have gathering stitches to get them inserted smoothly.  Normally, I would have allowed the machine to do all the easing.  It was the same with this shirt.

Things that I changed:

1.  Eliminated the back facing and stitched the opening closed.
2.  Changed the way the hem was sewn slightly.  Instead of turning the hem and stitching, I turned the facing back and stitched where I wanted the hem, trimmed the excess hem, then stitched the hem.

The rayon crepe was a dream to sew with until I got to the topstitching.  The first attempt of the topstitching had to be removed as the fabric was shifting too much.  I ended up reducing the presser foot pressure, stitching very slowing, and using an awl to make the fabric behave.  I was a bit worried about the buttonholes and the creeping fabric but the buttonholes turned out just fine.

I am looking forward to wearing this shirt.  I also will not hesitate to purchase this type of fabric again.  I will think long and hard about using a pattern that requires a lot of topstitching.

A little about Seamwork, it is a subscription service.  You can purchase a monthly subscription or a yearly subscription.  You can read about the differences at the Seamwork website.  Using a Seamwork link will result in a $3.00 discount for you should you decide to purchase a subscription.  Most of the patterns are available for sale individually.  I will also get a small benefit should you decided to purchase a subscription at no cost to you.

Happy Stitching!

Seamwork Natalie Muslin...

I am finally getting around to the fabric from this post on Sewing Mojo.  I am starting with the Seamwork Natalie shirt.  Seamwork patterns can be purchased individually or through a monthly/yearly subscription.  Using the Seamwork link will give you a $3.00 discount on the purchase of a monthly or yearly subscription.  Here is the line drawing for Natalie:

Natalie is a basic camp shirt style top which is more or less perfect for spring/summer/fall in the area that I live.  Here is my muslin:

Here is the first round.  It is just the pattern as it.  It is not bad. I chose the size by the bust (circumference). You can see that there is a bit of gapping at the armscye and a little wrinkling around the bust dart.  Both are pointing to needing a larger dart.   That is the only change I am making on this round.  I do not see any reason to make any changes to the back at this time.

I have changed the dart on the right side of the picture.  The dart increase is 3/4" which means I need to add 1 1/2 " to the length of the front.

See how nice the armscye is fitting about the bust.  My hair just keeps getting crazier.  It has gotten so long that I have been using combs to control it a little bit and to allow me to see what the collar is doing.  It looks to me like it is standing away from my neck.    I will add a 1/2" high round back adjustment.

Here's the back with the sleeves sewn in.  The sleeve is comfortable without making any changes to it.  The lengths and widths still look good here.  I do not think I need any additional changes other than what have been mentioned.  I do see the funkiness around the bottom of the armscye.  I do not know what the correction is for that.  Feel free to give me ideas for corrections.

Now I just need to move the changes to the pattern and add the extra pattern paper to make the dart changes and front length change.  I think this is going to be a very versatile top. 

Oh, there is one thing.  The sleeve actually has a lot of ease built in.  I had a lot of trouble getting sleeve eased into the armscye.  I did find one pleat.  Usually when you use the feed dogs to bring in the ease on the sleeve, the seamlines meet perfectly.  I will need to figure it out before I cut the crepe.

Hope you are inspired.

Happy Stithing!