Last year, the Cashmerettes became divided by an entire state, with only the I-90 to connect them, but this weekend marked a triumphal reunion! And my newest make – a stripy Renfrew – made its maiden outing in the Hudson valley.
I followed the Vertical FBA approach from Communing with Fabric, and added in an extra inch length on the front piece. Then, I eased it in to the back piece, as of about 3 inches below the underarm seam.
It worked well! Here’s the side where you can see much less bunching than usual under my arms – not to mention the rather fabulous stripe-matching, if I say so myself.
I made it using a lovely fluid jersey from DrygoodsDesign in Seattle. For the neckline, I started using the neckband approach but… once more, it didn’t stay flat. I’ve used various techniques in the past and still never managed, so there’s still some learning to be done on that front. However! After unpicking it I decided to use some pre-made bias binding I bought years ago instead – and it turned out much better than it would have with the band. Yay! The brighter blue also provides a lovely contrast – it looks quite Boden, I think. I also used elastic in the shoulders, which will hopefully help it keep its shape for a while.
All in all, a great basic for the wardrobe, and it only took me an evening! Quite an improvement over my first attempt way back in the day, when I’d just started with knits…
And finally, a few snapshots from the lovely Cashmerette weekend:
Lovely top! I’m a newbie when it comes to sewing knits and have the Renfrew pattern waiting in my stash … I feel all inspired after seeing your post, and it looks especially lovely in this nautical stripe. Great job.
I’ve just made the free Deer & Doe Plantain T-shirt pattern and had to resort to some pretty extreme pattern slashing to get it to fit over my bust. Luckily jersey seems to be extraordinarily forgiving!
[T @ http://www.uandmii.co.uk]
Thanks T! I have a serger which makes sewing knits easy(ish), but the bands on the Renfrew (which I didn’t use) make it pretty straightforward on a sewing machine, too. I realised that almost all the RTW clothes I make are knits, so I try to sew as many as possible too!
I think we have a similar bust measurement, and I found the largest Renfrew size plus the 1 inch vertical-only FBA worked well 🙂
I LOVE the contrast neck binding! What a great top, and looks so great on you!
Thanks Gail! I bought the binding on a whim at JoAnn’s years ago so I’m glad it finally found a use 🙂
It’s fabulous! Great stripe matching! And, thanks for introducing me to yet another Seattle fabric store! I’ve now seen Seattle mentioned a few times on the blog. Is that where you’re from?! I just moved there over the summer, and I’m doing my best to collect bloggers and fabric stores and such… I had grand plans to coordinate some meet ups, but being pregnant sure put a damper on my motivation this winter!
Thanks Amy! I think the stripe matching was down to luck more than anything else, but I enjoy looking in the mirror sideways at it 🙂 Sadly I’m not based in Seattle – I’m in Boston – but I’m over occasionally as a good friend of mine and her kids live there. You should definitely head to DryGoods though – it’s fantastic!
This is so cute! Your stripe matching is fantastic. I really struggle with that in knits.
Thanks Katy! Let’s see if my crafty foxes one comes out as well 🙂