Playing with blocks

 I think I need to forget about doing a coordinated wardrobe module and just call this what it is -- "the summer of tops". That has been the bulk of what I've sewn since March, and it continues. Perhaps autumn can be the "the season of slacks" and I can back into a planned wardrobe.

At any rate, I have put some planning into the next two tops. I am a big fan of a shoulder princess seamed top pattern. It suits my build, and is (fairly) easy to tweak the fit for narrow shoulders, large bust, thickening waist, etc., etc. My original go to pattern for this top of shirt had been Simplicity 8053 (now discontinued). It had a sleeveless view, collarless vee neck, regular shirt collar, 3/4 length hemmed sleeve, cuffed long sleeve and tunic length and regular shirt length. It served me well, but after numerous hacks, changing sizes and changing lengths -- plus fit adjustments -- it was pretty much a mass of tan tissue and Scotch tape. It was time for something new.

So, when I saw this I thought it was worth a try. It's a sloper or block (and I have no idea what the difference is) for the very style I needed. Basically, it's a fitting pattern -- you are meant to use it as a guide once you have it fit -- either to add your own customization (collars, sleeve style, etc.) or to check the fit of a commercial pattern of the same style.  Since shoulder princess shirts are fairly scarce in the pattern books, I intend to use the basic sloper and add my own details.  Most likely I will take details from already drafted patterns and add them to the bodice. I have drafted a few simple pattern details from scratch, but my skills are very basic and I see no reason to 'reinvent the wheel' if the details I want can be found in other patterns. Like most who have been sewing for a while I have an extensive library of patterns. 

I made up my test sloper with minimal changes. I shortened the armhole length (and the corresponding sleeve cap height) which is something I need to do for many commercial patterns. I sized the test garment by full bust measurement (as directed in the instructions) but graded out to a larger size in the hip. This change ended up being unnecessary. Although I normally need to narrow the shoulder, I left it as drafted. All the pattern pieces were nicely drafted and went together very smoothly. Results? A pretty good fit right off the bat -- with a few tweaks needed. The shoulders were amazingly close to what I need, although a small amount can be shaved off for a closer fit. The bust fullness needed to be lower -- no surprise there -- gravity is not a friend to the well endowed. As mentioned, the extra width in the hip was not needed, although for my first trial garment I left it in since I was going for a flowing summer top.

For this I scooped the front neckline and seamed the front up the center. The short sleeves came with the pattern. The top of the center seam is simple turned back and stitched down and closes with a thread loop and button. The back neckline was lowered a bit also.

For my second make, I went for a shirt styling. I wanted something that would be good in the heat (which will remain for quite a while) but also have a bit of autumn vibe. I ended up with this:

The neckline is raised back to a regular shirt/collar height -- only the stand was sewn to keep to a summer look. The sleeves (and armhole) were taken from a Vogue pattern, but faced with a contrasting fabric instead of hemming. One sleeve in the photo has been folded back to show that. Some hip width was removed, but more will be needed for a streamlined look. Although a small amount was taken from the shoulder width, a bit more could be removed -- perhaps due to a different fabric? Or, more likely, I wasn't as careful as I could have been in transferring the different armhole shaping to the block. I ended up using natural shell buttons from Wawak as I didn't have enough of the black ball buttons I wanted to use. Although not perfect (as absolutely none of my makes are) I am well pleased with this and will make this my basic sloper for a shoulder princess seamed shirt.  In fact, I decided to go ahead a get the block/sloper for a regular darted shirt. I do love my princess seams, but sometimes a darted shirt works better for stripes, plaids and the like. 

And here's a closer look at the shirt fabric : 

The main fabric is an Italian cotton shirting from Emma Onesock -- lovely stuff, as are most of Linda's selections. The contrast fabric is Liberty Tana lawn from The Fabric Store, a New Zealand company that has a fabulous selection of merino knits, plus lovely linen and some nice Liberty fabrics.