Vogue 8670

Hmmm. What do you all think? I'm really not impressed with this. Its the same pattern as the burgundy and blue one shown earlier in the week though you will notice that I have modified it somewhat. This was a last minute save rather than a conscious design decision. The middle photo shows a close up of the collar and the raglan opening before I made the change.

I feel I've got the fit through the body and sleeves correct, and its comfortable. But the neckline is terrible. I chose a very stretchy, thin, viscose knit in a sort of greyed blue since when I laid out the red bamboo jersey it turned out to be badly off grain and very badly marked with dark, oily looking patches over the whole three yard length. Very disappointing.

I was very careful this time to stretch the neckline as evenly as possible, but it came out very badly puckered yet again. The first time I thought it was the fabric, this time, I don't have that excuse. Furthermore, mum made this pattern up last week and got the same problems as I did, and she is much better at easing things than I am, and used a very stretchy knit, so I really don't think its just a fabric or experience issue.

I hate to blame patterns and try very hard not to do so, but this time I am really wondering. The raglan closure on mum's version sat very oddly and mine did the same. It wouldn't lie down nicely or stay closed no matter what I did to it. The end result looked like something out of Star Trek. Mum has said she will not make the pattern up again. I felt that I didn't want to waste the fabric, and the body and sleeves do fit, so I turned it inside out and sewed the raglan opening closed then sewed the neckline shut (after checking it would go over my head) and added three buttons close together on the neckline to further hold the collar shut and give a bit of a lift to an otherwise very plain top.

BUT, its still all puckered round the neck and that annoys me. Mum has told me countless times today that it looks no worse than a lot of stuff you buy in the shops, and I am just being a perfectionist. But I am not sure. What do you think? Am I too close to the work to be realistic about this? Or is it really a bit of a mess? Is it only suitable to wear at home with jeans, or could I wear it to work without looking like I've not ironed my outfit? The thing is, I made this thinking it would work with one pair of trousers that had a similar colour pin stripe, but it also works well with a jacket, four bottoms and two cardigans. I'm tempted to wear it anyway and just pretend it was supposed to be all puckery.

There is a round necked version on the pattern, which I might try at some point. I suspect that might work better as the problems with this view do seem confined to the collar. But I bought this pattern for the cute (or so I thought) turtleneck version, so I am a bit disappointed.