Vogue 1055

This was last summer’s make, but I finished it so late in the season that it only had one wear.  Another one of those patterns that I fell in love with when it came out (copyright 2008), but for some reason managed to ignore for years.  What I really liked was the jacket – single layer, loads of top-stitching – seemed like the perfect summer topper.  Somehow I never could find the perfect fabric to make this work. 

Last year I finally paired it with fabric that was also aging for far too long.  The top and skirt are rayon batik from Distinctive Sewing Supplies.  I bought it years ago at the Creative Festival in Toronto, before it was even called the Creative Festival.  There were actually three pieces in this lot – the plain striated khaki, the patterned khaki and a plain creamy white that all matched.  The white didn’t make it into the outfit.  Rayon would not have worked for the jacket – much too soft and drapey.  I started rooting around until I came up with a damask linen tablecloth that was much too small for the table that I presently have in the dining room.  Funny thing with whites – they don’t all “match”.  This particular linen (let’s not call it a tablecloth anymore) had a creamy undertone, which worked with the creamy print of the khaki fabric.

Having fallen in love with the jacket (probably the reason for acquiring the pattern), it’s the jacket that I’m least happy with.  Somehow, despite my usual tweaks, it still feels too large and sloppy.  I was on the verge of popping it into the giveaway pile, because I just didn’t have the heart to unpick all those top-stitched seams!  On Sunday I decided to give it one more go.  Perhaps by actually wearing it for a while I would come up with some solution to the problem. I think, if I raise the sleeves up by ½ inch on the shoulder seam so that they sit better, may-be, just maybe it will be enough to make me happy (more or less) with this jacket.  Unpicking just the top part of the sleeves doesn’t seem quite so onerous a task.

As for the rest of the outfit…I used the pattern, but I didn’t use the pattern.  The skirt as designed by Adri is bias.  With the obvious lines of the striated batik, that just wouldn’t work.  Who knows where all those lines would be heading.  Instead, I pulled out an old A-line skirt pattern, transferred the “design elements”, those being the pockets, and the stripey lines hang as they should.  Unfortunately, probably because of the soft rayon, the pockets themselves don’t want to behave.

They’re going to have to come out.  They end up looking like lumps under the skirt.  (A rather odd place for lumps.)  And then on to the tank top.

I decided on the version with tucks.  (By the way, tucks are a (hm-hm) pain on rayon.)  Waffling about the fit of the tank in the pattern, I pulled out my TNT woven tank, transferred the tuck details, and ended up having no fitting problems.  At least there was one item in the bunch that won’t need reworking.

Am I the only person who sews something, then has to go back and tweak to make me happy with the results?   Sometimes it takes wearing the item once to realize that there is something off, or that it needs one more snap or hook somewhere, or perhaps it needs a bit of readjusting.  Not every time, mind you.  It would be easy enough to just call it quits and remove the offending garment to some charity shop (someone would be happy with it!).  I’ve become a little wiser in my old age – sometimes it is worth the effort to go back and fix the problem, so that I have a wearable garment instead of closet clutter.