Crazy Cat Lady Challenge: Leopard Print Wrap Tunic..Meeowww
Thursday, November 06, 2014
According to Wikipedia a cat lady is a "single lady who dotes upon her cat or cats". Throw the word crazy in there and suddenly that young lady has turned into an old widow who has dozens upon dozens of cats (see Urban Dictionary). In the sewing world a crazy cat lady isn't defined by her age or even the number of cats she owns. Nope! Successfully sewing a wearable garment out of a cat themed fabric crowns you as the crazy cat lady in our world. Me crazy? Yep! I've got the clothing to prove it and the 3 cats...all in the house... and I'm allergic...
Give em your best crazy face Orlando! haha
My leopard print knit came courtesy of a sweet win from Katie over at the blog A Girl Named Katie. This is my first time working with ITY knit. It's so comfortable and breathable. And when you find it wadded up in a ball in the corner of the closet, no worries, it's totally gonna be wrinkle free and still wearable. When Erin announced the Crazy Cat Lady Sewing Challenge this fabric was the obvious choice.
For the pattern I chose Sew Over It's Ultimate Wrap Dress. I've been wanting a real deal wrap dress for a while, I've made a faux wrap dress and I found the real deal to be far easier and quicker to sew up. So are some of you thinking, "Whoa Shanni that's a scandalously short dress!" ?? Well you'd be right! I didn't have nearly enough fabric for the dress so I took 3.5 inches off the hem and turned it into the ultimate wrap tunic. I've paired it with some maroon colored leggings though I think black might look best.
Sizing & Construction:
I cut a size 8 after doing a quick tissue fit on my dress form. The shoulders were a little wide so I narrowed them by 1/2 inch. The instructions are geared towards beginners and uses a regular sewing machine. I chose to use my serger and got a little confused on how to assemble the side of the dress that has the opening for the tie.
It's pretty straight forward if your using a regular sewing machine but I wanted nice serged edges. I used my sewing machine and did several stitches making sure to back tack on each side of the hole. I then serged my edges stopping and starting at each end of the opening. To open the seam I clipped into the seam right above my sewing machine stitches. I hid my serger thread ends behind the hem opening and topstitched to secure. I hope the picture is more explanatory than my words. I could never be a teacher.
My shoulder seams are stabilized with clear elastic. The instructions suggest you gather your sleeves to ease in. I didn't find that to be necessary with a knit. I just stretched the armhole to fit. A big "UGH"..neckline facing. Failed it! When attaching I stretched it just like you would a neckline binding. I don't think this was at all necessary as the end result was a facing that rolled forward and didn't want to lay flat. I understitched the facing to keep it from rolling but it still wanted to flip up. I ended up topstitching the facing in place and then trimmed the facing down close to the stitching line. Not the prettiest on the inside so sshhh it's our little secret.
I didn't like the look of long sleeves and they weren't awfully comfy either so I shortened them to right above my elbows. I used my twin needle to topstitch the hem on the sleeve and the hemline. The front hemline has a curved edge that is perfected by creating little folds at even distances, pressing them in place and stitching. ITY knit doesn't hold a press well so creating a smooth curve was tricky. I had my folds perfected and a smooth curve in place but as soon as I'd lift the iron the folds would fall right back open. I even tried using wonder tape to hold my folds in place. My curves aren't perfect but I feel like they will be much easier to create using a jersey knit.
Details:
Pattern: Sew Over It Ultimate Wrap Dress available here 13.00 UK approximate $20.00 US
Fabric: ITY knit from Fabric Mart
Needle: Ballpoint and twin needle for topstitching
Notions: Clear elastic for shoulder seams
Changes: Shortened hem by 3.5 inches to tunic length. Shortened sleeves and narrowed
shoulders by 1/2 inch.
Next time: Get rid of that facing! Use bias instead. Adjust lower back for swayback. Even when I
have the wrap tied as tight as possible I still have gaping which is why I'm wearing a
tank underneath. Is there anyway to correct this?
Vito was getting jealous of all the camera time Orlando was getting...
His face! I can't take it sometimes!!
