I’ve had this pattern in my stash for a long time and for some reason decided to make it up using a silk scarf I’ve also had for a while. A very fragile silk scarf!
The pattern is Vogue 1291, a Sandra Betzina design and I bought it, I think, to make up one of the many pieces of silk chiffon in my stash.
Anyway, using this scarf was one of my poorer decisions (and I make plenty of poor decisions), because the pattern had a couple of tricky bits, the fabric slipped and slithered, and then, even with the finest needle I could thread, it just went into holes. There was no unpicking this baby!
You will see that I have side splits. The pattern doesn’t have side slits, but I have no idea how it is supposed to get over the more exuberant parts of my body, so I had to leave the sides open, and then belt it to stop it slumping everywhere. It was also supposed to have a pin hem. Pin hem? Not on this fabric! I, instead, chose to use the rolled hem on my overlocker which was successful up to a point. I did note that the fabric and rolled hem parted ways in a couple of places, but chose to ignore that little problem.
I am wearing it out to dinner and had been thinking that we may have had a warmer evening. Given the cool temperature I am wearing a long sleeved tube dress under it, and can now see that the top probably needed to be lengthened.
I am also not convinced I have it on the right way round. There is an overlapping part of the sleeve which can’t really be seen from either direction.
I might make it again in something more stable, but then again I might not waste my energy. I certainly won’t be using silk chiffon to make it again.
The details: Pattern is Vogue 1291 and I used a silk scarf from Heaven Wrapped in Claremont. Belt is Dolce & Gabbana and tube dress came from Sab Five Five, Claremont. Necklace is a Victorian mourning piece. Bottom line? I will not be having this one in regular rotation!
Sounds like this was quite a difficult make due to your fabric choice. Good on you for persevering and making it work. I love how you have styled it over your tube dress too.
Reading this brightened my morning. Hilarious! You’d never know about all the problems looking at it though. Very stylish.
Thanks Megan, but a close up (carefully avoided for the blog) might reveal a litany of issues 🙂
“Exuberant” describes you and your new top, not the parts of your body you have to get the top over! I can see that this fabric and pattern might have presented some challenges, but it looks great on you.
Thanks as always, Patricia. I felt a bit like you did over your skirt!
Very interesting top and you did challenge yourself making it. The drape is very pretty.
I tried my hand at this pattern about 2 years ago. Sad to say, I was no more successful than you. I found the picture of it seductive with that beautiful sheer fabric. Sheesh, what a mess. Live and learn. I enjoyed your creative rescue of it!
Thanks Sally, I’m pleased that it wasn’t just me! You have inspired me to never try it again…:)
I like how this drapes on you. And I’d wear it in the summer too. Love it.
That’s a terrific use for that beautiful scarf, and I’ll bet you will wear it a lot more as a top! I have some beautiful scarves too, but hardly ever wear scarves. There’s all that lovely fabric, just sitting there. I should take a leaf out of your book 🙂