MBM - Style Arc Avery
The Avery Tunic Top was one of Style Arc’s freebie patterns for May.
I thought it was quite a nice pattern, and would probably get made at some
stage, sometime, someway, but not straight away, when I chose it.
Anyway, between placing my order, and the pattern plunking
into my letterbox, I had given myself a bit of a talking-to about cracking on
with sewing fabrics from the stash, inspired by the Stashbusting Sewalong Facebook group, and the process of Kondo-ising my wardrobe. My thinking being
why have fabrics that “spark joy” to use Ms Kondo’s term, when it would be a
whole lot better if they were garments that did the same thing. It didn’t take
me long to identify fabric and zipper in the stash that I thought would work
for the Avery, and because I’d made a few bread-and-butter basics recently, I
thought it was time for a bit of a statement make. So Avery rocketed to Number
1 in the queue.
The fabrics are both from Tessuti. Avery is designed for a
combination of knit and woven fabrics. The sleeves and front yoke are in a
viscose jersey, leftover from making Style Arc Pearl. The woven was a
rayon/cotton blend (I think) that I bought on sale last year. The zip was one
of a bag of miscellaneous zips I bought a Pitt Trading quite a while ago. From
memory the bag cost me something like $5 for about a dozen metal teeth zips, so
a bit of a bargain there!
As far as fit is concerned, I ordered a Size 12. The only
piece I altered was the sleeve, in which I made a 1.5cm full bicep adjustment.
I should have made it about 2.5cm – my arms look a bit like sausages. Not
great, but not terrible either. The ease at bust was a bit line-ball for me,
and I debated making an FBA, but in the end laziness reigned and I gambled a
bit that I didn’t really need one. Happily, I think the gamble paid off.
Construction included two new-to-me operations. The first was
the exposed zipper. Style Arc specifies a partially exposed zips, and to give
them their due they include a number of diagrams (but not many words) to help
you in the process. Unfortunately, they didn’t help me, so I went looking for
tutorials. In my search I found this tutorial for a fully exposed zipper on the
Craftsy blog. I quite liked the idea of a fully exposed zip, so I went with
that. Because I was a bit doubtful that my drapey woven would cope well with
the metal zip, I interfaced the yoke at the zip opening, as well as the yoke facing as
directed. But then I always interface my zip openings, whatever the fabric.
The other new-to me operation was hem facings. I was bit
nervous about this, especially getting the topstitching even around the curves,
so I made cardboard templates and traced them onto the garment with a Frixion
pen to ensure the topstitching lines were the same, left and right. That worked
quite well.
Here is a photo that show the difference between the
high/low hemline. It’s quite pronounced, not subtle! This was without any
length alterations. I’m 5’9” so keep that in mind.
The sleeves are drafted quite long too. I normally add an
inch to my long sleeves, but didn’t here, because I didn’t need to. Check your
sleeve length!
I’m quite happy with the Avery. It’s a bit of different, and
will work well with a lot of the bottom pieces in my wardrobe. The only
reservation I have is how good the back will look after I’ve been sitting on
it. These photos are brought to you fresh from the ironing board. This fabric
holds a crease, so this could be a bit of an issue. Let’s see how I feel about
it in due course
This came out well! I like the drapiness of the fabric you used for the body, too. You make some really helpful points. I always need to add to Style Arc biceps - thought that was just me but I've heard a few people say it now. I hope you enjoy your top. It looks nice and fresh and the lines are flattering.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lyndle. Thinking about it, the last time I altered a Style Arc sleeve I added 2.5cm and it was just right. Not sure why I skimped this time.
DeleteI like it on you! If it creases just make another! I have this pattern too so must give it a try.
ReplyDeleteThank you Andrea. I like this top so I might start looking for a suitable non-creasing fabric now.
DeleteLovely to see this made up. You have done a great job on the zip and the hem facings. Nice to know it is drafted quite long too. I usually add length to most of my tops but that may not be necessary with the Avery.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jean. I was thinking that if I made this again, I'll probably shorten that back piece. Don't get to shorten pieces too often!
DeleteLovely top and interesting about the lengths, I am 5' 2" so will have to be very careful when I get around to making mine up as well (just received it free myself last month). Interesting about the biceps I haven't made up Style Arc patterns so something to be aware of.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sharon. From memory the back length measures something like 75cm - it's long, no doubt about it. I have to make full bicep adjustments on most sleeves - Style Arc is no exception.
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