Colette Myrtle, v.2, as a woven top
2025-Oct-29, Wednesday 08:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chebeColette's Myrtle is a knit dress pattern that is supposed to work in a woven fabric too. Let's test that.
I'm cutting the same size L as the knit v.1, but just the top Front and Back pieces, not the skirt. There are special woven instructions, that have you finish the back armholes and neckline with bias binding, and have you fold the waistband casing up (instead of down) to cover the elastic. But I'm forging my own path here.
I'm using a speciality fabric that is a foil, which behaves like a woven, with reluctant stretch in one direction. This fabric gets noticeably destroyed by every kind of stitching. Unpicking just makes things worse. (And it can't be ironed.) So I need to sew this with no visible stitching. That means I'm also going to have to line the back piece.
I cut a second back piece from a very stretchy jersey. Sewed the two right sides together at the neckline and armholes, and turned right side out. Then attached to the self-faced front as described. This ended up much too short, so I cut two 36x12cm 'cuffs' from the foil. Folded the long edges right sides together, and sewed the short ends closed. Turned them right side out, and right sides together sewed to the waist of the front and back pieces.
I narrowed the back shoulders (that were too wide in v.1), and they ended too narrow by the same amount. Which wrecks my head. I hand sewed the misaligned parts of the shoulder straps to have them line up. Guess I'll put that width back in for any future woven versions.
I feel like a molten metal disco ball in this top. It does fit, but not comfortably. It's very snug. And might not fit at all without the stretch. I would go up to the XL if I wanted a day dress in a woven. If I were to make this as a top again, I would double the height of the waistband pieces. But mostly my take away is that I would never use this fabric for anything, ever again.
I'm cutting the same size L as the knit v.1, but just the top Front and Back pieces, not the skirt. There are special woven instructions, that have you finish the back armholes and neckline with bias binding, and have you fold the waistband casing up (instead of down) to cover the elastic. But I'm forging my own path here.
I'm using a speciality fabric that is a foil, which behaves like a woven, with reluctant stretch in one direction. This fabric gets noticeably destroyed by every kind of stitching. Unpicking just makes things worse. (And it can't be ironed.) So I need to sew this with no visible stitching. That means I'm also going to have to line the back piece.
I cut a second back piece from a very stretchy jersey. Sewed the two right sides together at the neckline and armholes, and turned right side out. Then attached to the self-faced front as described. This ended up much too short, so I cut two 36x12cm 'cuffs' from the foil. Folded the long edges right sides together, and sewed the short ends closed. Turned them right side out, and right sides together sewed to the waist of the front and back pieces.
I narrowed the back shoulders (that were too wide in v.1), and they ended too narrow by the same amount. Which wrecks my head. I hand sewed the misaligned parts of the shoulder straps to have them line up. Guess I'll put that width back in for any future woven versions.
I feel like a molten metal disco ball in this top. It does fit, but not comfortably. It's very snug. And might not fit at all without the stretch. I would go up to the XL if I wanted a day dress in a woven. If I were to make this as a top again, I would double the height of the waistband pieces. But mostly my take away is that I would never use this fabric for anything, ever again.
Finished, back
Photo by chebe
Finished, front
Photo by chebe
