Emmie top

This Emmie top is another Seamwork pattern, and it’s a peasant style blouse which is a style that I really like. I wanted to use it as an opportunity to try out a new fabric, and so I made this out of a tencel twill. Here’s how I got on.

1. The fabric

I bought this tencel fabric from Like Sew Amazing, and it was described as being paprika colour. When it arrived I was surprised by how thick it felt, because when I’ve used tencel before or it has been like silk (see Charlie Caftan) whereas this was much more solid. The pattern suggests that you use some cord for the ties, but what I decided to do was to make some ties out of the tencel fabric. I used standard quarter of an inch elastic at the cuffs and and around the neckline karma and I decided to do the top stitching in a cream coloured thread.

2. The pattern

This pattern is from Seamwork and does not have a sew-along, but the instructions were fairly clear. I didn’t have to do any adjustments to the pattern because it fit me as a straight size 12. I decided to do French seams throughout.

3. The challenges

Although the instructions were very clear I did find this very fiddly pattern to make. Many of the steps, particularly around the neckline, felt inefficient. For instance at one point it tells you to sew a seam and then later on you unpick half of it, and I couldn’t understand why the seam couldn’t have been sown differently to prevent the need for unpicking. I also found fitting the elastic into the channels very difficult and time-consuming.

4. The final result

I love the design of this pattern and when I wear this top I think it looks good, but I feel uncomfortable wearing it. I think perhaps I need to do a full bust adjustment and select a smaller size in future with Seamwork patterns. I also find the tencel fabric feels uncomfortable against my skin, it’s quite clammy. Nevertheless I think I will make this pattern again because I really like the design, but I will use a cotton fabric and change the instructions so it can be made more simply.