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Batik Top - fabric tells me what to do

5/12/2019

7 Comments

 
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Sometimes the fabric tells you what to do. Actually, many of the favorite things I've made have happened like this.
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I was given this really interesting piece of batik from Southeast Asia (not sure the exact country). It is two panels like you see in the photo above ... not enough for a dress ... could be a skirt. But, I'm trying to make myself clothing I will ACTUALLY wear. 

It seems crazy to put a lot of time and effort on things that are only worn on special occasions. Although there is a time for that, too.

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I got a free pattern from StyleArc when I bought the Sydney dress pattern. And I think it will work quite well for this fabric. There are not too many seams. I don't want to break up the print.

It is called the Hayward Tunic.

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BUT!!! there is a seam right up the center front. Hmmmmm.
​Now I can pin the pattern pieces together to eliminate that seam ...
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But, when you do that the fold back facings completely overlap.
This where the fabric starts telling me what to do. First I only have so much fabric. When I pin these two pieces on the fabric it fits perfectly. There is not enough to cut them separately including those extended facings anyway.
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My solution was to pin those pieces together and cut the left and right fronts as one piece, cutting away those extended facings (leaving a seam allowance, of course). So the front neck now looks like this.

Then I made separate pattern pieces for the left and right facings. They are a little different because of the asymmetrical pleat.

I placed the seam right were that dart is, thus eliminating it!

See below.

​Being short of fabric, I needed to use another fabric for these facings. Again the fabric is forcing my choices ... for the better! I just happened to have just the right amount of black cotton in my stash.

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But, as happens some times, things came out a little uneven after being sewn.
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No worries ... just lay the paper pattern pieces one and even things up.
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To tie things together better, I chose to us the black cotton on the back of the collar and the inside of the collar stand.
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The collar on this tunic is just like a man's shirt collar. And, I've made a number of men's shirts having two sons and a husband. But, I can never trust myself to sew the entire thing by machine. I always hand slipstitch the inside of the collar stand.
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Then machine stitch to make it look like I did it all by machine.
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To keep up the black accents. I cut strips of what was left of that black cotton.
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Fold it and add them to the sleeve band.
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There really aren’t any instructions for hemming this thing ... just these words at the bottom of the pattern ... ha ha.
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So I did what works best for me, which is running a stay stitch on the fold line for the hem and pressing it first.
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So I can then do an even rolled hem at the machine.
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I think this is a keeper ....

Thanks fabric for telling me what to do!

7 Comments
Jonatha A Caspian
5/16/2019 05:46:16 am

Neatened and neat-o, lol! What a great outcome for a special piece of fabric.

Reply
Debrah
5/16/2019 05:56:21 am

Fantastic! I think that's likely a Paranakan batik motif. I have many batik samping and haven't sewn any because of the large designs and limited fabrics. I love your top! Thank you so much for sharing your method.

Reply
Judith Rickard
5/16/2019 09:07:51 am

Glad to your blog up and running in celebration of your retirement. And, welcome to retirement! I think it is great.

A couple of thoughts prompted by your post:

Being short of fabric is one of my best initiators of creativity. I grouse, but then problem-solving mode sets in and the creativity blossoms. There is a video of Diane Ericson visiting Marcy Tilton's studio to choose fabric, in which Diane says she purposefully buys less fabric than she needs precisely to nudge her creative design solutions.

Thanks for the detailed photos, especially of the collar. I'd be interested in a tutorial on how you do a spread collar (aka camp shirt collar). I'm not happy with my method.

Lastly, re the curved hem of the shirt: my favorite method is to cut 2" wide bias, iron in the curve, and face the hem. I even cheat and top stitch down the bias without clean finishing, trimming off any excess...after all, bias doesn't fray, right!?!

Thanks again for blogging!

Reply
John Yingling
6/7/2019 04:09:10 am

Having made lots of shirts for myself and others these many years, I have finally learned to deal with those curvy, shirt tail hems. I simply do a three thread serge, then twice turn and topstitch. Because the serging gives the narrow turn lots of stability, you can easily achieve a clean, tight narrow hem even on the curvy, bias prone edges. Makes those hems quick and easy to sew.

Reply
Andrea
6/9/2019 06:20:07 am

John,
I have hemmed my husband's shirts that way. I wanted to try this technique and it works just as well. The serge method is probably more fool proof though.

Reply
John Yingling
6/7/2019 04:15:40 am

I noticed a gravity feed steam iron, and several industrial dress forms in the background of your photos. However, I am surprised you don't use a Juki industrial single needle machine, maybe a 5400, or 5500 series. The needle plate in the photos indicate an electronic style domestic machine. Have you considered switching to an industrial?

Reply
Andrea
6/9/2019 06:24:29 am

John,
The only advantage I see in those wonderful straight stitch Juki machines is their speed. I don't sew production or even custom work. My whole career has been design and pattern making for the home sewer. I use the zig zag, buttonhole and other features a lot. So, this all purpose Juki is the best choice for me. It will sew through any thing.
Thanks for writing in!
Andrea

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    I am a commercial pattern maker who is now "sewing over 50"!
    I love to sew and hope to encourage others to come back to sewing.
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