The Lined Knit Top, Version 1 - Original and Version 2 - 1 Yard Frankenpattern Palmer Pletsch McCalls 6282

 This pattern looks so simple, well it's not really that simple.  It is lined, I like the lining, it cuts down on the clingy property of the poly knit I used.  So you don't see bra markings as you would with say a simple t-shirt.    

The lining and fabric are joined at the neckline to start, then you gather around the center back and side seam waist.  You are told to pull the lining out of the way as you assemble the body, and lastly, you assemble the lining, then you pop in the sleeves.  I will treat the lining and body as one next time, and remove the gathers, just to change things up.  After I posted the review, Pati contacted me to let me know that the pattern could be used with or without the lining (as you will see below).

Here is an interesting detail, that I think many might be squeamish to try, but one of the reasons I like the Palmer Pletsch patterns.  They are mini tutorials.

The instructions recommend using contrast colored thread for the shirring.  It's a great idea, since you can see exactly where the stitching line is and it helps you line it up for joining the side seams.

Then you pull it out, which isn't difficult at all, and your gathers are perfect.

The 1 Yard Frankenpattern

I only had 1 yard of this lovely rayon knit and needed to make the pattern fit. I decided to remove the shirring, lining, and made it a cap sleeve. There are 5 pieces to this pattern, when you look at them side by side, the body pieces are longer than the lining. That's because the shirring lengthens the piece.

Front Pieces

For the front, I traced off the body piece, from the side seam notch up (armhole, neckline), and the lining piece from the side seam notch down. This gives me the fold over for the cowl (for a clean finish), and eliminates the shirring.

 I used the lining piece for the back of the t shirt.

The sleeve piece I placed on the fabric, as much as I could to capture the cap and 4" down the sleeve seam. I later played with it, folding it up to make it even shorter to get the right sleeve length.  They have a short sleeve option, but I just didn't have enough to make it.

This was a perfect solution for me, because I knew the pattern already fits, I like the armhole and sleeve draft, and it all fit on 1 yard of fabric.

Waffle Weave Cotton Princess Line Top McCalls Palmer Pletsch 2818

This is my first tissue fitting exercise, of course I didn't pick a simple t-shirt, but McCalls 2818 Palmer Pletsch princess line tank.  I thought it might be nice to have a few of these for summer.

This pattern is a mini tutorial for tissue fitting, pattern adjustments and general fitting woes. 

There was a lot of slashing, taping and tracing involved in this project.

I've selected this mossy green candidate for the muslin.

The one thing I can say about this pattern is that it isn't fitted, and I have a tendency to over fit everything. It was fitted through the shoulders and back, but once it hit the bust it hung straight down, so there was a lot of ease around the waist and rib cage. The pattern envelope says semi- fitted, so I'm guessing that's what this means.

It isn't all bad though, I added some shaping to the side seams, and I need to true up the bust shaping after all of the adjustments made to the pattern. Because the pattern falls straight down from the bust and upper back, it gave me an opportunity to keep the fullness I need in the front and taper the back.

There are some adjustments that need to be made to the back armhole, I'm finding this is one that I personally need to make on quite a few patterns (marked with white arrow). I'll need to take a dart at the back armhole which shortens the curve, then round out the back bottom armhole curve.

I've read a number of pattern reviews and it looks like the most successful versions of this top were made in fabrics that are stiff, not soft with drape. I have a number of sheer fabrics, or fabrics that need to be lined so I'll use this muslin as a lining for another top in the stash. The more I look at this, the more I think it would look better sleeveless, with another neckline, or split down the center front for a deeper v-neck.

Version 3

I think I'm ready to cut it out of a stiffer fabric.

Here are the changes that were made to the pattern.

There was too much fabric around the back armhole, so the armscye seam allowance was trimmed at the shoulder, and the princess line seam on the back was shaved back about 1/4" at the armscye down to nothing just beyond the notch.

It's darkest before the storm... sometimes you just have to hang in there to get what you want.

I changed the back to insert a zipper instead of having a button closure, so this won't be finished until this weekend when I have the opportunity to buy a zipper for it. It doesn't look so covered up in person, and the neck facing still needs to be inserted, so the neckline will be dropping another 5/8". I may decide to change the neckline to something a bit lower and rounder. We shall see.

Here are some of the adjustments that were made from the very first to the successful muslin.

The side seam shaping is the most dramatic change.

The center back piece had only a small adjustment.

This is as done as it's going to be, after all of the fitting, I picked a fabric that I have fond memories of, and just couldn't bring myself to do all of the understitch by machine, so I did all of the finishing by hand and I just couldn't stop myself, I kept on finding areas to finish off, so there is a lot of handstitching and basting in this one.

It started out as a v-neck with sleeves and then I fitted the muslin, and picked the fabric, and it turned into a sleeveless version (I only had a yard), so I raised the armhole and I made it 1 1/2" longer.

This is one of those garments that looks strange on the hanger because it has so much shaping. Better on the body for certain.

I love it, so I'll be making more of these in the future. Sorry for the dark pics, I was getting artsy and playing dress up :)