Sheer Combo! Vintage top and Skirt

Sheer fabrics, aren't they cruel? So beautiful, yet so much extra work.
I'm so glad I finally made these projects though! The top is a vintage pattern, and the skirt is a simple gathered rectangle that I'm fairly sure I will wear ALL THE TIME as it goes with so much I already own!!

I got this pattern at an op shop... I think! I have been given a few vintage patterns here and there but I'm pretty sure I sniffed this one out myself. Oh and making this means I can be part of #VintagePledge 2016!

Butterick 3834. So cute!!

I altered the fit minimally, as it is not a close-fitting garment. I widened the hips, shortened the waist, and did a sway back adjustment (it has a centre back seam which facilitated that nicely!). All standard Jo adjustments. I did a toile/muslin to check it, and decided it looked fine! Then of course, I left it for months before I made the actual garment. Oops!
Next time I would take in the underarms a bit as well.

Actually this polyester chiffon was a work in progress (a dress) which I decided I hated and so re-cut it into this top. Much better. I never would have worn that dress....I'm not a fan of pale, sheer, floaty skirts, I keep that on my top half normally. Dark, sheer, floaty skirts? That's a different story. Fashion: it's complicated, okay??

I wasn't very attached to this fabric (polyester chiffon) so I considered it a wearable toile. As such I was a bit experimental with the finishes, and I'm not entirely happy with them, as it was partly laziness to blame. I'm going to make a fancy proper version sometime and I feel much better equipped to finish it much more nicely!
At least I wasn't too lazy to french seam it throughout...

The original pattern has facings for the neckline, and also the sleeves/armholes which are finished at the same time with single-piece facing.
I opted to skip the facings because of the sheerness. I used a bias strip narrow facing at the neckline (which could be done better at the V-neck, as I didn't mitre it or anything, just hoped for the best. LAZY).
For the sleeves I decided to hem the sleeves, then sew the raglan-seam as a french seam, and then do a rolled hem on the underarm. To do so, I had to clip into the seam where the french seam ends and the underarm begins; this is less than ideal because

a) I hate clipping (unless it's totally necessary), and this way left some raw edges on the inside of the garment. I put a drop of Fray Stoppa (Fray Check to Americans, I think?) on them but I consider that a sloppy finish.

b) Roll hemming a curve such as an underam is also sloppy to me, it really wants a facing as it is curved. Hemming tight-ish curves will never give a great result.

Anyway, I think I'll do a bias facing on them next time (it works in my head), I just have to be not-lazy and figure out how to mitre it, I think. This is all because of that interesting square-ish juncture betweeen the raglan sleeve and the underarm.

The original pattern allows for a centre-back zip, but I can pull it on so I didn't bother. Next time I'll try to remember to eliminate the redundant CB seam on the back yoke....

Alright, enough construction chatter!! Let's talk about the style.
I REALLY love the gathered raglan cap sleeve dealies. SO CUTE!! However, I am not convinced on the boob gathers at CF; I'm not 100% sure they look intentional, and I hope they don't look like awkward puckers. Perhaps they would be more successful as pleats, but I do like how the gathered bust matches the gathers on the raglan sleeves! Hmmmmmm.

Also, how cute would this look with the additional of a pussy bow? Then again, I think most things look better with bows. Or what about a centre front button placket....?

I wore this with a nude camisole underneath. Oh, and a skirt I also made!
The finish of this was also a new technique to me. This blog post is getting a bit long so I won't go into too much detail as I'm sure it'll be clear as mud anyway, but I would like to post about it in the future. I love sheer skirts but I never knew how to deal with the lining/invisible zip situation. As always, there's more than one way to skin a cat (Don't skin cats though, they're way too cute).


I also tried out sewing my own thread belt loops, however they need tweaking as I made them too loose... The waistband is also too big for my waist due to my constant waist measurement over-compensation.

You can see the belt slips out of the loops easily at the back due to them being too loose!

Also, I still need practice to make my belt loops look better too!
I used a method I learned ages ago (when I first started! I think I learned it from a book) where you blanket stitch over thread, but then I saw this tutorial pop up in my feed from Grainline studio and it looks way easier! I will try out their finger-crocheted thread chains next time!

The inside of the waistband is overlocked rather than folded under.

Side invisible zip and belt loops

Both hems are just doubled rolled. Nice and easy on the cross grain!

This is a relatively less-full skirt than my usual, due to not having loads of fabric width; the ratio is about 1.7 times as big as my waist. I prefer more like 2x or higher though.

The outer fabric is a ramie/cotton blend (ramie was new to me, it's similar to linen apparently, as it is a plant fiber). It's very textured. I love it! It's lined with a soft, light cotton, gathered to the same ratio.
Pretty simple in appearance, but I'm sure I will wear it a lot!

All in all, this was an experimental pair of garments and I'm looking forward to more iterations of similar styles!