Two Agnes Tshirts

January 25, 2016.Reading time 4 minutes.

Agnes Top by thisblogisnotforyou.com

A (slightly late) Happy New Year everyone!
As you might have (not) noticed, I took a little blogging break after Christmas, which was necessary due to being away over the Holidays and starting a new job this month. But now I’m back and filled with an endless amount of sewing mojo!

Too bad I mostly only have the weekends now and the wedding is coming closer, so I am (hopefully) channelling all this energy into making a gorgeous wedding gown. Don’t get too excited, I’ve only just started (shame on me!). I’ve been procrastinating for months and now really have to get going. I’m not yet worried as I work best under pressure. Right now I’m working on the muslin, but this will be a seperate blog post.

Although I won’t have time to sew much else, there will be quite a few garment posts soon. My 2015 me was clever enough to sew and photograph loads of projects before Christmas, so I’ve got some blog posts lined up.

Agnes Top by thisblogisnotforyou.com The two Tilly & The Buttons Agnes tops I’m showing you today were Christmas presents for my bff. So, please ignore the fit! We are similar sizes and shapes but the tops were ultimately made for her and not a perfect fit on me.

I won’t say more about the pattern, because I already told you how much I love it here and here and here.

Adjustments:

These two tops are again variations of the original pattern. As you might have noticed they are not as figure-hugging as the pattern is intended to be. My friend doesn’t like super tight tops although she’s got a gorgeous figure, so I went with quite a common Tshirt silhouette. For this I simply added more ease around the waist. I redrew the side seams so they were more of a straight line starting at the armhole.

Also, I shortened the sleeves and made them a tiny bit wider around the hem. I left the neckline as it was. For the second top I went with the ruched sweetheart neckline.

Agnes Top by thisblogisnotforyou.com The Fabric:

For the first Tshirt I used a slightly heavier cotton knit fabric with a yellow/white/black dots print. My bestie loves dots, but I wasn’t quite sure about the colours and the texture, so I made a second top just to be on the safe side!

This fabric is very soft but quite heavy and reminded me of a cozy warm pyjama. The finished Tshirt looks really cool, though and doesn’t scream pyjama to me. As the fabric was quite thick, I made the simple scooped neckline as I wasn’t sure whether the ruching would work with this fabric. Agnes Top by thisblogisnotforyou.com Anyway, I had already bought the second & safe fabric, so I made another one. These tops are so easy and quick to sew, it didn’t even make much of a difference.

This jersey fabric is super thin and very stretchy. It’s cotton, as well, but a much better quality. The ruching at the neckline worked really well on this and I love the result! Too bad I had to give it away! Agnes Top by thisblogisnotforyou.com (Ignore the turned up sleeve, I don’t know how to dress myself!)

Soo, as you can see the Agnes Top works as a simple Tshirt, as well! I can’t stress the versatility of this pattern enough. I’ll probably make even more just for the fun of it. When you have little time, quick sewing projects are so so satisfying!

Charlie

Happy sewing!
♥

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T&TB Agnes Dress in John Kaldor Jersey

December 14, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

Tilly & the Buttons Agnes Dress by thisblogisnotforyou.com

HACKING AGNES INTO A DRESS

Hello again!

After reviewing the pattern and showing you my wearable muslin, it’s time to get out the actual project I was working on.

The pattern and fabric used for this project are courtesy of WeaverDee.com. They very kindly offered me to pick some fabric along with a pattern for me to try. (As usual, all opinions are my own.)

I wrote about the pattern, the Agnes Top by TILLY AND THE BUTTONS, after I made the puff sleeve version as a muslin.

For hacking the pattern into a close-fitting dress, I picked a gorgeous navy blue John Kaldor jersey (92% cotton, 8% elastane). The fabric is very smooth with quite a cool, luxurious feel to it. It didn’t give off any fluff after washing and the colour didn’t fade. It’s quite a dark rich colour, but it was a bit hard to photograph which is why it looks a bit greyish in some pictures. WeaverDee.com also has other beautiful John Kaldor jerseys, the fuchsia and kingfisher ones look soo tempting!

The fabric sewed and pressed really well. When pressing dark jersey fabric you always have to be careful to only press from the left side of the fabric, other wise the bulk of the seam allowance might leave marks on the right side.

Tilly & the Buttons Agnes Dress by thisblogisnotforyou.com

PATTERN ADJUSTMENTS & FIT

To make the top into a dress I used my hip measurements and lengthened the top all the way to knee-length shaping in below the hip. I’ve done this to a couple of stretch patterns, so I keep using an older hacked pattern as reference. You can merge any pattern by lining up the bodice and skirt pieces at the waistline. This is the reason why I try to copy all marks when I trace a pattern. You never know when you might need it.

source: http://shop.tillyandthebuttons.com/

I made the view with the ruched neckline detail and short sleeves. The original length of the sleeves was a bit short for my taste, so I lengthened them by about 10cm. I love 3/4 sleeves or sleeves that at least cover the elbow. They are easier to wear in colder and warmer seasons alike and look just so much classier. Tilly & the Buttons Agnes Dress by thisblogisnotforyou.com The dress is super comfy and looks great with tights and is also great for layering with a cardi or jumper. That is something you might want to keep in mind if you are planning to make the puff sleeves. They do look quite bulky once you wear a cardigan on top.

The simple silhouette makes this dress a perfect basic for different outfit combinations. The ruched detail is a pretty feature and also adds a really good shape to the bust area. I really like how the neckband is pulled slightly into a v-shape. It makes it look a bit less sporty. It’s not quite the heart-shape as shown on the pattern envelope because the neckband is a bit too bulky to be pulled down that far. But I like this look better anyway. Tilly & the Buttons Agnes Dress by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Will I make it again? I am really happy with this make. It came together in no time (2 hours tops) and is such a great wardrobe staple. I rediscovered jersey dresses this autumn and keep wearing them all the time until they’re all in the wash. I have to say I like the dress best of the all the Agnes’ I made so far (I made four different tops), but that’s just because I am not a jeans and t-shirt kind of type. Jersey is one of the fabrics that gets damaged through use and washing quite quickly, let’s see how this one holds up. I definitely see myself making tons more (just in case)!

Charlie

Happy sewing!
♥

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T&TB Agnes Top with Puff Sleeves

December 13, 2015.Reading time 6 minutes.

Tilly & the Button Agnes Top by thisblogisnotforyou.com

MERRY SEWING EVERYONE!

Hello sewing-friends! Hope you’re having a great festive season!
My mum-in-law gave me a handmade (!) sewing (!) advent calender, which is absolutely awesome! Every day I get a new suprise sewing supply, notions or fat quarters of beautiful fabrics. It’s the best gift ever! Too bad it ends on the 24th – it really could go on for ever. It never was so easy to get out of bed in the morning!

But that’s not the only reason why December rocks. Not only do I love getting together with my family so very soon, I am starting a new job in January and until then I’ve got a couple more weeks off. And you know what that means. I am in a total sewing frenzy. I am almost done with finishing handmade Christmas presents, so the selfish sewing IS ON!

This sounds really bad, but it makes me very happy.

I’ve made more garments than I can blog. Maybe I can get around to posting them during the holidays, but I also might be very distracted by Plätzchen and mulled wine and will probably completely forget about it.

Aaaanyway, back to the actual reason why you’re reading this post: I finally gave in and jumped on the Agnes-train, just like all of the other sewing bloggers out there. I don’t know why I hesitated so long. I guess, because the pattern is so very basic and therefore quite expensive. But I don’t mind supporting independent pattern businesses and by now I’ve made 5 different Agnes’ – so the pattern is definitely worth buying!

I often underestimate basic patterns, but when I finally buy them, they often are mind-blowingly good! Basic patterns are easy to sew, to adapt and very time-efficient. Best example is Agnes (or Ultimate Pencil Skirt, Coco, Lottie Blouse etc.): I’ve made five different versions and not two are the same.

Tilly & the Button Agnes Top by thisblogisnotforyou.com

THE PATTERN & FIT

The pattern is the Agnes Top by TILLY AND THE BUTTONS (courtesy of WeaverDee.com). I made the long-sleeved version with a ruching detail on the puff sleeves.

This is the very first one I made, more or less a muslin, but a very wearable one. I had some fitting issues with Tilly’s patterns in the past, so I decided to make one from inexpensive fabric remnants before cutting into the good fabric. I think I used less than 1 metre of fabric.

I knew from reading other blogs, that the pattern runs quite small. According to the envelope it has quite a bit of negative wearing ease. I didn’t want it to be too tight, so I went with a larger size where the finished garment measurements are the same as my measurements. I cut out a size 4, which astonishingly fits me really well. (According to the pattern I am a size 3: 34in at the bust. Size 4 is 36in at the bust, but the finished garment measurement is 34in. Keep that in mind when deciding about how tight you want your top to fit.) Apart from making the sleeves a tiny bit wider, I did not have to change anything else in the following Agnes’ I made. Tilly & the Button Agnes Top by thisblogisnotforyou.com

CONSTRUCTION

The top is super easy to assemble, no major sewing challenges really. If you are new to sewing, the neckband might be the trickiest bit. For me that was my biggest worry, but it turned out quite well on the first try. For the later versions I shortened the neckband pattern by 5mm (so 1cm over the whole length) and now it sits perfectly flat. After making 5 Agnes’ I now consider myself a neckband pro. I never felt so good!

The sleeves are constructed in flat, which is my favourite technique for knit fabrics. It’s just so much faster than a set-in sleeve. The sleeves are ruched by a small piece of elastic, which is stretched while you sew.

I like a puff or ruched sleeve, but both in one are a bit too much for my taste. It makes my shoulders look quite massive, not quite the romantic look I was aiming for. Unless you consider football romantic. It wil probably look really lovely on a petite figure (someone like Tilly herself) but I will stay away from this look, I think.

It looks alright with a simple, close-fitting skirt, so it will definitely get some wear now and them. I scrapped the ruched sleeves for all the other versions and I am super happy with those.
Tilly & the Button Agnes Top by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Will I make it again? Well I know that I already have! And there sure as hell will be more. Although I love more challenging projects, this pattern is pure instant-gratification! It’s very versatile as well and it doesn’t use up much fabric – perfect stash buster pattern. Overall grade: 9/10.

Charlie

Happy sewing!
♥

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