Good morning! As you may recall, I lost the battle with the fabric on my first garment, the Kwik Sew 3870. It slid and shifted and left me a hemline unlike any I could ever imagine. So after finishing all but the wonky hem, I stepped away to get my bearings. Keeping in mind that this should have taken about half a day, at long last I have prevailed!
But first, look closely and you’ll see the sleeves surrounding my new best friend, Rip, the trusty seam ripper.
Can you find Rip?
This could be a highly stylistic art piece, couldn’t it? Sleeves representing my arms/hands locked tightly to that little ripper. So profound. But I digress.
During my earlier sewing life, I don’t remember ever creating such a mess, so I was unprepared to deal with it, and it took some studying to figure it out. I researched blogs and tutorials, talked to people in fabric shops, and finally I understood what exactly had caused the hem disaster: my zigzag stitch to finish seams was too small, and too close to the edge, so the fabric bunched up in several spots and raised the hemline where it met the seam. Ugh.
My punishment for sewing so poorly was to remove all those teeny-tiny zigzag stitches on side seams from above the side slit to the hem. And may I add that my thread was a maddeningly perfect match to the fabric. It kept disappearing! Methinks new glasses with adjusted bifocals will be in order very soon.
Ta da!!
Here you can see that the top, in all its faded glory, is actually finished. Sorry, picture isn’t great…looking into an old, old armoire mirror, in dimly lit room. Some others taken in a brighter area had better color, but neighbors playing lively Celtic music kept me dancing around too much.
I’ve noticed that most of you make muslins, and sometimes wearable muslins. That’s it! This is a wearable muslin. That was my intent all along, right? So now I must go find fabric for the “real” tunic and dazzle you with my skills.
And all you fine sewists out there, I am in awe of your beautiful seam construction and finishing.
Let the Sewing Begin 
Looks like it was well worth it–the blouse is beautiful!
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Oh thank you! It certainly is light and airy (which is good here – since summers can get very hot and humid).
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Ta-da indeed Jen. Its a great top. The colours are really lovely. Nothing to be ashamed of at all. We all have to use the old Quik Upik! I have three or four – always at hand. I am really looking forward to seeing the next version, but the fit looks great on this one. Well done you!
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Thank you, Kate, It’s not so bad (as long as you don’t get too close) but I’m ready to move onward and upward. Hooray! And I love the Quik Upik! Yep, always handy. Oh, and the book I’m reading? “The wheels of the chair screeched and scratched on the stone floors, … and the wheels sang a sinister little song to themselves like train wheels. You’ll-never-cope…You’ll-never-cope…” Pretty spooky stuff!
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I’m in awe of your lovely fabric! I have my ripper handy all the time. Looks like you made a lovely top with your’s!
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Thank you so much! The fabric is really nice, after all is said and done.
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I have quite a few ‘wearable muslins’ but don’t actually wear them. Yours, on the other hand, looks very wearable and the colours are so pretty.
I’m glad you are getting on well with the book – it’s on my list to take on holiday with me.
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Thank you! I think you’ll enjoy the book. We’ve had guests, so I haven’t got back to it for a bit. (Where will your holiday be?)
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