New Look 6560 in Neon Pink Stretch Velvet

When I was looking for inspiration for a Christmas party outfit a few months ago, I ran across a neon pink velvet camisole on the J.Crew website.  The fabric was so beautiful!  I really wanted some fabric with that level of color.  It was amazing!  I ended up making a top in chartreuse silk for the party, but I couldn’t get that fabric out of my mind.  I finally found some neon pink stretch velvet on Amazon and put it on my personal wish list, not knowing quite what I would make from it.  I was torn between two patterns, so I put a note with the yardage I would need for each pattern, saying that I would love either amount.  One of my friends got me some for my birthday, and that decided it–the amount she got me was perfect for another version of New Look 6560, View A, the same pattern I used to make my silk party shirt.

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This pattern is meant for wovens, but I wanted to try it in this knit because I thought it would make a really fun shirt.  There were a few ups and downs, but in the end, I arrived at a top that I’m happy with.  And I was right about the fabric–it really is fun.

The fabric I used is 90% polyester, 10% spandex, and was surprisingly easy to sew.  Thankfully, I remembered to cut it with the nap running down.  Sometimes I just completely forget to pay attention to things like nap or pattern matching!  I used a regular zigzag stitch with a width of 2.5 and a length of 1.0, my lightest presser foot pressure, normal tension, and a 75/11 stretch needle.  I skipped interfacing the facings.  I used all-purpose Dual Duty Coats & Clark 100% polyester thread in the needle and woolly/bulky nylon in my bobbin.  I’ve been using woolly nylon a lot in my bobbin on knits, something I do when sewing bathing suits, and it has worked out really well, giving my seams a little extra stretch.

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I put everything together, but didn’t bother to finish many seams because they won’t fray.  I love that about knits.  It saves so much time!  I sewed for most (ok, pretty much all) of the afternoon one Saturday and got the shirt done before bed time!  Then I tried it on…and it looked like crap.  Granted, I was trying it on over another shirt I was wearing, but it didn’t seem like a win.

I spent some time thinking about what I could do.  I had completely forgotten to stabilize the shoulders, so I went back and did that by sewing clear elastic to the seam allowances and then stitching the seam allowances down with some topstitching.  The facings kept flipping out, so I tacked those down (and then went back and tacked down the facings on my chartreuse version as well).  Now what?

The back, the belt, and the sleeves seemed good.  The front was the problem.  I thought about putting in a center front seam and making it a nice-looking v-neck.  I realized after posting that idea to Instagram that people thought I was going to leave the excess fabric in front, which was an idea I actually hadn’t considered, although it did look interesting.

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I also posted a picture of it as the original wrap, and it looked better than I remembered (first picture after the pattern pictures).  Maybe I shouldn’t have evaluated it while wearing it over top of another shirt like I did right after finishing it.  😉  So, I decided I would keep it as the original wrap after all, and I wore it to church, but kept feeling like I had to arrange and rearrange the front (luckily I was wearing a camisole under it).  What if I just sewed the wrap shut?  It’s stretchy enough that I can pull it on over my head, so I don’t need it to actually wrap.  It seemed worth a try, so I sewed the top layer shut and tacked the bottom layer down.

I tied it shut inside, leaving everything intact in case I wanted to undo the stitching.  I wore the shirt to work this week, and it was so much easier and more pleasant to wear when I didn’t have to constantly rearrange the front!  I think this is the way to go.  It’s definitely not my best or most beautiful sewing–there are still some wonky parts, but I’m happy with it, and I have found that the sleeves are nicer in this knit than the silk, since they stay at my wrist bones, due to the heavier weight of the knit.  On the silk, they work their way up above my wrist bones throughout the day, which I don’t love.

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I wanted this shirt to be one that I reached for because it felt good to wear, not one that was just fun because the fabric was interesting.  Now that I don’t have to constantly fix it while I’m wearing it, I think that my goal has been achieved.  Hooray!

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The Silk Party Blouse: New Look 6560

Hi, everyone!  I hope you had an enjoyable time over the holidays.  I decided to take a break from blogging and Instagram as well as whatever else I could put a pause on to rest and hang out with my family, which was nice.  Today’s project was one I made before Christmas, but didn’t get good pictures of, so I’m sharing it today.

This is New Look 6560, View A, a long-sleeved blouse in a beautiful chartreuse silk from Pintuck & Purl.  In fact, Maggie told me she ordered this silk for the shop with me in mind (Aww!!! So nice!).  Clearly, I gravitate toward this color.

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The Story

A few months ago, my husband’s work sent us an invitation to a fancy holiday party.  I am not a fancy person, although this sounded like fun.  As a non-fancy person, my gut reaction was to FREAK OUT!  The party was in Boston at a swanky club and the dress was COCKTAIL DRESS.  Ack!  So I turned to Google and Pinterest to see just how much latitude I had with that and what it even meant!  I came up with a plan, and ordered a stack of fabric.  Then I looked at my fabric stack for a few days and decided that I didn’t like my plan.  I did a lot of freaking out, and finally settled on this pattern (which is everywhere in stores right now, interestingly) and this silk, which was in my stash after a sale at P & P.

I got a fanciness pep talk and help from people at the shop to figure out how to starch the fabric.  They also sold me one more yard because I realized I had enough for everything but one of the sleeves, and I wasn’t going for a one-sleeved look.  Wrap styles can be fabric hogs!

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Design Choices and Cutting

OK.  Let’s talk details.  I opted to leave off the ruffle on View A.  I cut an 18 bust, and a 22 waist and hip.  Size 22 was beyond what the pattern offered, so I graded out by copying the shape and distance between the other sizes.  After looking online at others’ versions of this pattern, I decided to lengthen the shirt by two inches just under the waist mark.  Then I measured the new bottom edge to make sure it would still fit around my hips, which it did with no problem.  It didn’t look like I needed a broad back adjustment, so I crossed my fingers and cut it out.  Starching the fabric and using a rotary cutter with a sharp, new blade were really helpful.

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Construction

I used French seams everywhere except the yoke/shoulder seam.  I sewed that seam and then did a three-step zigzag in the seam allowance and trimmed it close.  According to the book Sewing Specialty Fabrics from the Singer Sewing Reference Library, this is called a double-stitched seam.  I didn’t remember to use French seams until after I had done that one.

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I also put in my sleeves flat, although I did still use the gathering stitches at the top of the sleeve to get the sleeve to fit to the shirt body.  It’s a wonderful thing when even your sleeves and armscyes have beautiful French seams!

Also, I love the flowy, puffy sleeve shape in this pattern.

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Overall, this wasn’t too hard to sew.  It was enjoyable.  I was on one of the last steps and was cutting my buttonhole with my buttonhole chisel when disaster struck!  I thought I was being careful, but somehow part of the shirt was under the buttonhole and I cut two little slices in my shirt.  At that point, I just walked away.  There was no going back in time and it was getting late, so I put the project down until the next day.

The next day, I fused a bit of interfacing to the back side, which looked pretty good from the right side, but I had my doubts about how permanent a fix that was.  So, I applied some Fray Check.  That didn’t look so good.  It looked like a permanent wet spot.

With my deadline approaching and no creative ideas forthcoming, I decided to sew a patch over it and call it a day.

I figured the tie would mostly cover it, and it does.  Sometimes these things happen.  What can you do?

As for the rest of the process, I made sure to put a little interfacing behind my button to strengthen the fabric.  For the belt, I topstitched around the outside once I had turned it.  I used a satiny ribbon for the inner ties (although those have started to come apart from the shirt at the stitch line after being washed and dried a few times–you can see that in the second picture a bit).

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Thankfully, I made the blouse on time, paired it with a camisole I made a long time ago (also silk, also from Pintuck & Purl), and some thrifted trousers, comfortable Dansko clog boots, and a FABULOUS faux fur jacket from Nordstrom Rack.

As soon as we got to the party, I breathed a sigh of relief.  People wore a wide variety of styles.  I was fine.

I still need to work on my fancy clothes game, but I broke the ice, and I have since worn this top to church as well as with jeans to a more casual holiday party.  Now I kind of want to make it in some hot pink stretch velvet I got for my birthday…

New Look 6472 Peasant Blouse in a Striped Embroidered Cotton

Today’s project is New Look 6472, a peasant-style blouse in a lightweight striped cotton with an embroidered edge.  I love the boho, ’70’s-inspired style that’s been going around, and this pattern is perfect for that.

I found this fabric in the clearance section of Hobby Lobby in Indiana this summer.  I had planned to make a skirt with it, but changed my mind when considering what fabric to use for a first try of this pattern.  I decided to make View A with the sleeves of View C in a size 18 bust and 20 waist and hip.

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In order to use the fabric well, I made a few adjustments to the pattern.  There are two lengths included.  However, the embroidered edge seemed perfect for the bottom, and I wanted it to fall at midhip, so I shorted it 1.5″ from the shorter view.  I also took a risk and lined up the finished embroidered edge straight to the bottom of the front and back pattern pieces, even though it threw the grainline off a bit and added a wedge of fabric into the center front and back.  I figured I could probably gather that into the neckline.

Luckily it didn’t seem like a broadback adjustment was necessary on this pattern, and the little bit of fabric those wedges added seemed like extra insurance.

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The pattern wasn’t too difficult, which was nice after all the changes I attempted on my last project.  There were a few little things I would change.  I think they forgot a step between steps 11 and 12.  It should direct you to press the unsewn long raw edge of the binding to the wrong side at 3/8″.

Also, there was no direction to trim the seam allowance around the neckline, but I thought it seemed like a good idea.  If you leave it untrimmed, it can create some structure to wrap the neckline binding around, but that seemed like it might be a little too stiff for this shirt.

Additionally, when making the neck ties, I think it would be easier to fold the tie right sides together the long way, sew one short end, pivot, and sew the long edge, leaving the thread tails from the beginning of your sewing long.  You can then thread them through a needle, push that needle to the inside and push it through the tube and out the open end, turning the tie right side out.

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I finished the inside with French seams, which I love.  I also like the little buttons on the sleeves, but I didn’t plan ahead to find some nice looking elastic for my button loops, so I used the 1/8″ white elastic I had on hand.  The buttons are vintage ones from my in-laws (thanks, Mom and Dad!).

I’m happy with how this shirt turned out.  I suspect that the armholes might need some fitting tweaks that I don’t yet know how to do, but I have to say that other than trying it out under a warm sweater the day I finished it, I haven’t had a chance to wear it.  It’s been pretty cold here.  My plan was to wear it once or twice and then put it away for the spring, but it may go to a family member who fell in love with it.  I love it too, but I actually have a fair number of shirts, and I can always make another one…or borrow it back. 😉

I’m really happy to have found a pattern in this style that I like, and I hope to make more of these–maybe in a drapey fabric next time!

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Refashion: Down Jacket Into Down Skirt…or…Struggle. Victory.

It was a grey and stormy day when I finally cut into a project I had long been contemplating.  It was a refashion, but not just any refashion.  This one involved sewing with a material I had never tried before:  a down jacket.  I had chosen the patterns that were going to help me achieve my goal and planned a little more than half of the project, but there were still questions in my mind about how I was going to finish the rest.  Inspiration images had been pinned to my Pinterest board, but still I mulled it over…until the snow day.  It was finally time.

I had already been scheming about refashioning a down jacket into a scarf after seeing these ones, which was the product of a collaboration between Patagonia and Alabama Chanin, but my down-sewing plans expanded when we visited Colorado last winter and I saw a woman wearing a down skirt.  It was such a brilliant idea.

Google revealed that down skirts are actually a thing, even though the Colorado one was the only one I had seen in real life.  So, after a ton of thought, I chose New Look 6843 for the skirt portion, and the waistband from the leggings in McCall’s 7261 for my stretchy waistband.  Since I wanted this to be a pull-on skirt, a waistband and some gores/gussets/godets in the side of the skirt were in order (after seeing the skirt, you can tell me which term is the right one for what I did 😉 ).

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I managed to turn the back skirt into a single piece and eliminate the zipper.  All of that fit onto the back of the coat, allowing me to use the bottom of the coat as my hem.  It got tricky when I came to the front because that was supposed to be one piece, too.  I really wanted to incorporate the coat zipper in a decorative way (although I planned to sew it shut), and I also wanted the pockets both for decorative and functional purposes, but in the end, it was too much of a struggle.  I realized that by opening my sleeves and sewing them together, I would have enough for my front piece.  I still had plenty of the stretchy fleece left from my Toaster Sweaters for my waistband and gores/gussets/godets.  Then it was all construction.

This is probably the point when you are asking how in the world I cut and sewed that crazy stuff.  That is a very important question.  Here is what I did:  I marked my cutting lines with a water-soluble pen and sewed with a straight stitch on either side of my cut line in the hopes that it would hold all the down in.

Do you think it worked?

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Well, it sort of did.  Not ALL of the down came out.  But some did.  Here’s how I had to sew.

You can’t see it in this picture, but I also had pink-eye (conjunctivitis) at the time.  Nice, huh?  (Luckily no down got in my eye.  That would have been…um…gross.)

I had the BRILLIANT idea of vacuuming off the edges after I cut them.  I do not recommend this.  Maybe you thought of the problem with this.  It actually dislodged things, so it was sort of like it was snowing outside and snowing inside.  That was the point at which I realized I really needed to get this finished that same day.  We had some sickness in our house that week, and I wasn’t feeling my best, but I decided to power through in the hopes that it was all in my head.  (It wasn’t all in my head, but I powered through anyway!)

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I also realized that I needed to cover every seam on the inside if I didn’t want to perpetually shed feathers.  This was the point where things got a little…”Becky-home-ecky” (sorry if your name is Becky).  The finishing, while functional and necessary, didn’t meet the vision I had in my head, but I was sort of racing against the down and my nausea.  The good news is, when I’m wearing it, I think it looks like something I could have bought at an outdoor store.  (If you disagree, you don’t have to tell me.)  It’s only if you get up close or look inside that you see the craziness, and since people don’t do that when I’m wearing it (thank goodness!), I think I’m safe.  Want to see it?  Check it out!

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This skirt has the added benefit of a little puffy booty enhancement up top.  It’s too high for people to think you pooped in your pants, so I like to think of it as booty enhancement.  Maybe it’s because I sewed all the darts in the skirt, even though I basically negated them with those side triangles.  I needed the triangles, though because if you’re going to eliminate the zipper, you need some way to get your skirt on!

Skirt front (above)

Skirt back (above)

Side view (above). I folded the front of the skirt down at the top a bit because it was originally higher in the front and lower in the back, but that feels weird to me.  I want it the other way around.

Inside front (above).  I covered my seams with fleece, but didn’t sew with a wide enough seam allowance, so I ended up sewing extra lines and hand-tacking things just to get all those feathery seams covered.  I also covered my top seams with wide fold-over-elastic (although I didn’t fold it), and used a zig-zag stitch to hold it down and allow for a little stretch at the waist.  That doesn’t look great, either, but again, you don’t really notice it that much when I’m wearing it, so whatever!

Inside back (above)

Inside side view (above).  Here’s where it started to get ugly, but I just wanted to finish at this point.  It was helpful to have the coat lining as a lining for my skirt because I could hand tack the fleece to it.

Despite any deficiencies in the finishing, I LOVE THIS SKIRT!!!!  When I wear it, I feel ready to take on winter!  The fit is great and it is so cozy that I wore it for two days straight after making it (and vacuuming my work room a.k.a. our living room…twice).  In January I made these fleece leggings and the Toaster Sweater that I’m wearing in this picture, and this outfit is pretty much winter perfection.  I love it so much.

After I finished, I contemplated making a scarf from the remnant of the jackets, but I decided to just put it away for now.  I DID NOT like sewing with all that down.  However…my husband had the brilliant idea to make a scarf from it in the summer…while sewing outside.  He’s so smart!

Recommendations

• On Wednesday I made the Blueberry Poppyseed Snacking Cake from the Seven Spoons cookbook, and now I just want to eat that all the time.  I know this would be unwise, so I gave the last piece away before I could eat it.
• I have some old gaiters from L.L. Bean that I just love.  They don’t sell the exact style I have anymore, so this is the closest I could find, but they are great if it’s snowy out and I don’t feel like putting snow pants on.  I can walk through several inches of snow without it getting in my shoes or on my pants.  I used them for a walk on Thursday, and it just reminded me of how much I love them.
• Is orange the new black?  Are doughnuts the new croissants?  Do you like to say that _____ is the new ______ ?  Then check out this fun and funny website, where each time you click, you get a new ‘this is the new that’.
• This week I found out that everything is better with doodles.  😉

Hits and Misses: T-Shirts, Exercise Top, Exercise Leggings

I think it’s time for a little catch-up around here.  I took a break from sewing bathing suits after making my tests runs to try a few pattern alterations and to begin exploring exercise clothing.  My goals were to give my basic Alabama Chanin long-sleeved t-shirt pattern tapered sleeves and a boat neck, to turn a New Look dress pattern into a t-shirt with a curved hem, to make an exercise shirt, and to make some exercise leggings.

During the winter I had wanted a long-sleeved boat (bateau) neck shirt pattern.  I had some fabric in mind for it and I thought it would be a useful addition to my pattern library since it’s a style that is versatile enough to work in casual and more dressed up settings.  I took the basic t-shirt pattern with long, fluted sleeves from the book Alabama Studio Sewing + Design and, using the directions in Gertie’s New Book for Better Sewing, tried to create a boat neck that would not be so wide as to show undergarments, but would still have that classic look.  I also decided to taper the sleeves so they would no longer flare out at the bottom.  I think the sleeve alteration went well, but the neckline needs to come together in a point at the sides rather than being a flattened oval.  Here is my test garment, made from knit sheets and sewn with yellow thread for contrast.

I’d call this a partial win because even though it doesn’t fit my entire vision, the sleeves are good, and my wardrobe desperately needed some brightly colored t-shirts for spring.  I can always come back and work on the neckline later.

Next is my alteration of New Look 0595 from dress to t-shirt.  I love raglan sleeve t-shirts and have been looking for just the right pattern, so I decided to experiment with altering this one.

Because it has a lot of ease, and I would be making it with a knit fabric, I sized way down and made the 10 (going by my measurements, I should have made a 14/16).  I traced the curved hem of a button down shirt that I like to get the hem shape, and decided to bind the bottom edge a la Alabama Chanin by simply covering it with a folded piece of jersey cut on the cross-grain and stitching with a stretch stitch (in this case, a zig-zag).  Here is version one:

Version one turned out shorter than I had planned and anticipated, so I added a few inches and came up with version two.

Just right!

My too-short shirt and the sleeves of version two were made from some clearance fabric (probably poly/spandex).  I’m hoping it doesn’t pill too badly and get gross, but we’ll see.  Remember these leggings?  The fabric on them is pretty pilled/nasty now, so they don’t make it out of the house any more.  For the front and back of the second shirt I used some skirts from Old Navy that I don’t wear anymore and, by a happy accident, I cut an extra front and back, so I dug out the knit sheets again to add sleeves and got this second just-right shirt:

You can’t see it very well in these shots, but the skirts had some seaming on them that adds to the interest of these shirts and also makes me look like I did more work than I actually did.  Nice!

Version Two:  a hit!

Next up is my first try at an exercise shirt.  I was intrigued by PatternReview’s Activewear Contest (although I didn’t enter) and I love looking through the clothing and patterns on Melissa Fehr’s website, FehrTrade.  So, thanks to some wicking fabric and poly/spandex from Joann Fabrics and McCall’s 6848, I ventured forth.

This McCall’s pattern is one you may remember from when I made these shorts in a wax resist/Ankara fabric.  The pattern is actually for pajamas, but the shirt was perfect for the gym.

This was really fast and easy to sew.  Even though this pattern is for wovens rather than knits, I went with my measurements and made a medium.  I like workout tops that are a little loose for airflow.  This one feels great.  For the edges, I hemmed the bottom by folding the fabric up and sewing with a zig-zag stitch, and for the arm and neck edges, I cut strips of my back fabric cross-grain, folded them over the raw edges, and zig-zagged them on.  Since the knit fabric won’t fray, you don’t have to fold the edges of the binding under or double fold it at the hem (or finish any edges on the inside).  I love knits!

When I went to they gym to test it out, I felt like the coolest person there.  I would definitely make this one again (and probably will).

Workout shirt:  a hit!

Lastly, I made myself some leggings using the same wicking fabric I used for the front of my shirt (above) and a self-drafted pattern (you can see a post on that here).  This was a bit of a learning experience.  The pants came together quickly and easily and, while not as stretchy as the fabric I used the first time I sewed this pattern, I could get them on fine.  Here’s what they look like:

Not too bad.  Maybe the fabric is a little thin, but it was a start.  I took them to the gym to test them out just by shooting some baskets–nothing too strenuous.

First, I realized this:

Oops.  The waistband’s a little loose.  OK.  I could fix that.  I folded it over for the time being, and kept shooting baskets.  It was winter.  I was cranky.  I needed some form of exercise.

Then, I had this problem.  Can you see what it is?

Hm.  My pants started to slide down a bit.  The crotch was getting lower and lower as I hopped around and chased the basketball.  Nothing indecent, but not what you want out of the pants you wear to exercise in.  Good thing I wasn’t on a treadmill!  I had to go through this sort of thing a few times:

Pull up one side.

Pull up the other side.

Make sure the front is pulled up and fold that waistband over again.

Hm.  Maybe this was more than an elastic problem.  Luckily, no one is really looking at you as much as you think they are, so it wasn’t like I was a spectacle or anything.  However, I started to think that maybe this problem had something to do with my inexperience and, um, my fabric choice.  I went back to Joann’s and looked.  This fabric only has about 8% spandex and definitely stretches more in one direction than the other.  So, these leggings got chalked up to “a learning experience” and they are going back with the other fabric to be reused in another garment.  I also bought myself the FehrTrade PB Jam Leggings Pattern to one day try exercise pants again.

Exercise Leggings:  a miss and a craft fail (but a good learning experience).

I’m hoping to finish one last project and then get back to bathing suits (and more!).  I really, really want to try adding underwires to the Soma Swimsuit while simultaneously turning Bikini Variation 2 into a tankini.  Even after plenty of online research, I’m not confident I know what to do as far as adding the support I want.  Any advice?  I think I’ve been avoiding it.  It could bomb or it could BE the bomb!  Stay tuned!!!

 

Pattern Review: New Look S0595

In my quest for a real winter wardrobe (as opposed to wearing fall clothes that aren’t really warm enough and just trying to layer them), I made a winter dress with more of the Polartec 200 that I used in my Alabama Chanin Long Skirt.  The fabric is from millyardage.com, and it has a sweater look on the outside, but is fleecy on the inside.  It’s also really thick and lofty feeling and is nice and wide.  My husband was wonderful (as always) and bought me six yards, so I have a lot of it.  I was inspired by some of the loungewear-type dresses I’ve seen in places like the sundance catalogue and the clothing section of Victoria’s Secret (I couldn’t find the image on their site, so here is a link to it on PopSugar).

As I was wandering around Joann Fabric one day, I found this pattern, New Look S0595 (which is listed on the Simplicity website as Simplicity or New Look 6298) , and it looked like just what I was going for.

I’ve also been in search of the perfect raglan t-shirt pattern, so I thought that if I liked this pattern, I could also turn it into a t-shirt or tunic.  The pattern is made for knits, so it seemed like it would have a lot of possibilities.

There were no reviews on the Pattern Review website, which is my gold standard for finding out about patterns before trying them.  Fortunately, thanks to the reviews of this pattern on the Ordinary Time blog (here and here), I went with the smaller of the two sizes I was contemplating (I would fit the 14 in the bust and the 16 in the waist and hips, so I went with the 14.).  She notes that the pattern has a lot of ease, so when in doubt, choose the smaller size.  I wonder if I could have gone down another size, but I wanted some ease, so I think the size I chose was ok.  I made View D, but with long sleeves instead of three-quarter length sleeves.  (Warmth!)

The pattern came together really quickly.  It definitely helped that I used a jersey needle and a walking foot.  I’m a slow sewer, but I cut it out one day and sewed it the next.  I love that there is no need to finish any inside seams since the fabric won’t fray.  That definitely saves time.

I had hoped there might be a little more shaping around the waist area, but there isn’t, so it looks a little…sack-like.  That’s not necessarily bad, if that’s what you are going for.  As my husband and friends pointed out, my sundance inspiration picture is also a straight silhouette, but the way that the model is standing keeps you from noticing it quite as much (and it’s probably all pinned in back to give it more shape).  See what you think:

(Standing sideways kind of minimizes the sack thing.)  Here are front and back views:

Now some cool styling. 😉  I was pretty proud of it, but my men’s jacket does make me look a little pregnant (which I’m not).  Hm….

Oh, well.  I’m still going to wear it.

 

So, would I sew it again? Would I recommend it to others?

I might sew it again.  It does sort of fit in with the idea of wearing blankets shaped into normal clothing.  It definitely fits the goals of warmth and comfort.  As far as flattering my form, I don’t think it does that, but it’s so comfy, I wear it anyway.  I got lots of compliments because it looks so warm and cozy (which it is; this fabric is great), but I wish it had just a little more shaping near the waist.  What do you think?  Is it worth trying to take it in a little on the sides or in that back seam?  Would it work or would it just skew things?  Maybe that’s something worth trying if I make it into a t-shirt.  Now, though, I’m anxious to get on to other things.  I still have a bunch of the Polartec fabric, so I cut out a cardigan, and I have a few other projects in mind, too.  Gotta keep things moving!

You can read my review of this pattern here on Pattern Review.