Knit Top #1 - Not My Husband's Undershirt

If you've read my previous posts, you know I love to sew.  I don't know WHY I love to sew because I have such a time getting things to fit me right.  Today, I am working with knit.  I think they should change the name of this impossible-to-fit fabric to "_ _ i t" instead of "k n i t". 

 

Now, I'm not a newby at sewing.  I have my shoulders on the door, for heaven's sake!  And I should add that I have measured them no less than a zillion times -- had my husband measure them -- had Phylly measure them and even Peggy Sagers measured them. 

Here's the thing about the shoulders:  You might as well try measuring water on them if you are going to apply the measurement to knit fabric.  Here is my paper pattern held up to them:

By the time I sew the seam allowance out, they should fit.  I measured on my body from neck to shoulder dent and got 5 inches.  Across my back shoulders measures 15.  From the center back of this paper pattern to the seamline at the shoulder measures 7 1/4".  There on that paper, the shoulder line is 5 inches less the amount I trimmed for the V at the neck.  So why when I make this up in fabric does the shoulder fall clear off the side!?  When I put the v-neck in, I took off a very slight sliver away from the neck edge.  I also made the "V" quite close.  I put together tips from Sandra, Glenda and P&P, and still I have these issues.

So, here is the result -- a top that looks like one of my husband's undershirts that I wear to dye my hair -- minus the 3/4 sleeves, of course.  I could cut that sleeve off and have a cap sleeve left!  Notice how it pulls away from my neck.  Glenda has a tip in her book about how to fix that.  She says to narrow the shoulder by 1/2 inch, BUT, I thought the shoulder was wide enough that it wouldn't be necessary.

Check out how much I need to take out???  Way more than measurements would tell.  AND how do you account for the next fabric -- NICE knit -- so it won't be too narrow in the shoulders.  I've had that happen before.  

This is just a MUSLIN -- that means you can burn it if you want to.  You use the muslin, of course, to perfect the paper pattern and then cut out some nice fabric that doesn't look like an undershirt.  So, I shall proceed with that next.  

Something else that always, always happens with my patterns.  The bust point of the dart seems to always wrap around to the front of me even though I measure 1 1/2" away from my apex.  Of course, the boob dart is big enough to make an airplane out of!

That dart was big enough to start with -- a D, and I'm only a C in a bra -- but when I tucked the V in the front I had to let out the dart some more.  I wonder what I'm doing wrong in measuring the distance between my apexes that the point of the dart always comes around so far.

Alright, I'm going back to work.  My goal -- as always -- is to come up with a tried and true paper pattern that I can make dozens of knit tops from.  Then next time Cynthia Guffey makes fun of everyone in the class for wearing knit tops BECAUSE NOTHING FITS US, I can tell her I made mine, and it fits PERFECTLY!



Later.  I better get busy fixing this pattern before I forget how.

Okay, it is several hours later.  I took the sleeve off the shirt -- I cut the shoulders back on the bodice 3/4" and tapered to nothing at the notch -- I took in the area under my arm a little more (mistake) -- I narrowed the sleeve also.  Then I sewed both sleeves into the shirt.  Here is what it looked like then:

MUCH BETTER!  Too tight above my boobs and under the arms.  It doesn't FEEL too tight and there is still room to pinch, BUT it looks bad, I think.  The bottom is big, but I want it that way, and this is still a muslin.  Unless I can figure out how to take a piece of lace and mend the gash in the back, it will soon be in the trash.  I felt like it was pulling backwards on me.  The shoulder seams need to be brought forward on the next blouse, but even then, it would pull backwards.  This already has an upper round correction and a sway back correction.  I have always wanted to do this gash across the back of something, but one really needs an assistant for this.  WHERE ARE YOU, PHYLLY?

I think it works.  Wrinkles are gone at the left armhole, and would probably be gone on the right if I had someone to pin the patch in properly for me.  I just laid it on the table and guessed.

Tomorrow, I will redo my blueprint narrowing the shoulders and adding another back upper round and adding length at the bust.  Then I must find some more "muslin" fabric.  The sad thing about this is I just went through all these exercises before Christmas and came up with a very nice fitting pink knit blouse.  All of that work is at my other house, however, and I must sew, so I just started over. 

I am going to be a real "professional" one of these days.  It may be at fixing boo boos, but hey, I've spent over 30 years not having a clue how to correct any of these fitting issues.  I am a happy girl!

Hugs, Joy