Marfy 1913 - Completed

Despite being a very simple garment, due to the amount of hand sewing involved, this one took a while to make.  However, sometimes its good to sew slowly and enjoy the process.  Its come out  pretty good apart from one very elementary mistake.  I was so busy trying to make sure it fit in the shoulders and back, I forgot to check the length of the body and the sleeves.  I often lengthen the body so I should have thought of that.  However, I've never had sleeves come out too short before, so the fact that these were far too short did come as a surprise.  I need to add four inches to the sleeves, and will add the same to the body length on the pattern.  I'm not sure I need quite that much extra on the body but I'd rather have too much than too little.  Its perfectly wearable as is, since the style allows me to push the sleeves up a bit to give very poufy three quarter sleeves that look more or less intentional. 

So, this is the collar when it was in progress.  I sewed it on with the machine in the end though I had planned to sew the gather part by hand so it would be softer.  However, the fabric is quite soft so I was content with the way this came out using the machine.

The collar is underlined with cotton flannel which I then quilted on the diagonal to give a Chanel vibe. 

 

 

 

The collar was then beaded.  There is a dark blue, silver lined bead at the intersection of each quilting line, and in the middle of the centre square, I made a beaded motif using silver lined, dark blue bugle beads with a centre of a size eight, lighter blue bead.  It came out exactly how it was in my head and I'm really pleased with it.  The beads forming the motif are much shinier and nicer in the flesh.  My camera really does seem to be on its last legs now and is taking very poor shots.  The beads are not so sparkly or numerous that it looks like an evening top so it is perfectly wearable for daytime.  The collar is closed at the back with a large snap fastener with a button over the top of it to make it look as though its buttoned.  I had to close the collar slightly further back than planned so I have a keyhole opening rather than the edges of the slit lying next to each other, but I can live with that.  I'm not sure how it happened as I tried it on repeatedly throughout the process.  It was just that touch too snug on the neck.  I could have worn it with the edges as they should be, it didn't actually strangle me, but I'd rather not feel quite so constricted.  

 

 

This is the finished top.  The hem and sleeve hems have a half inch casing formed by folding the hem up, then up again, and sewing at one eighth away from the edge of the turned up edge.  The elastic threaded through is three eighths inch wide.

 

The side, shoulder and sleeve seams have French seams.  The armhole seam was sewn then I turned each seam allowance inwards and sewed the two edges together to form a mock french seam.  This was OK where the armhole and sleeve were in a one to one relationship... sewing the part where the gathered sleeve head was sewn in was interesting, frustrating and very time consuming.  I wasn't totally happy with this finish and will look at using a different one for the next version.

 

I'm rather pleased with this. I wasn't sure I would be, but it looks absolutely fabulous with jeans, really taking them up a notch.  I can see more of these in my future if it turns out to be comfortable and practical when worn and laundered.  Not bad for a wearable muslin, hey? 

 

I'll try and get some photos of me wearing the top in the next few days.  However, its pouring with rain here today and very cold, so I'm not going to prance about in the garden for the photos until the weather is less nasty.