Monday, June 05, 2006

Fabric placement

I just finished a knit top from the Jalie 2449 crossover top pattern. I love the fit and I like the fabric, so why am I not happy with the results? Well, take a look:



click for larger size

I showed it to my husband and mentioned I wasn't happy with where certain things ended up on the fabric. He said, "like the arrow pointing to your boob?" Ugh. Yeah, that. Nice. And if that's not enough it looks like the arrow points to a "B". And if you still need your eyes drawn to my chest, there's a big white box over the other one. Note that same design appears on the adjacent sleeve. Oh and look, the same thing happened on the other side! If I'd wanted to lay out the fabric with the sleeves matching the body I probably wouldn't have been able to. When I was laying out the pattern I was aware of the designs on this fabric. You can't see it but there's a boob-sized circle with a "B" in it that was in danger of being in the wrong place. But despite my ability to keep the circle away, I end up with an arrow, which I didn't see because it was on the bottom piece of fabric. I also don't like the way the top designs slope. It looks like I cut the fabric off-grain, or that I'm standing crooked. It's not off-grain. You can see that the lower designs are horizontal.

So I'm disappointed and not sure I'm going to wear it. Or am I just being silly? If I were twenty years younger maybe I would want to advertise where my boobs are located. And I suppose I wouldn't mind the slightly off-kilter look. This was a very inexpensive fabric from Hancock so I'm not too upset. It's a nice knit but I intended it to be a (hopefully) wearable muslin. I'm in the midst of sewing another one out of a luscious red cotton/rayon knit from Britex. By the way, this cotton/rayon was the third fabric that I couldn't remember I bought from Britex. I thought I bought this knit from Stretch 'n Sew because I was looking at the red knits there, which are also nice, but didn't contain rayon.

I don't think I would buy this in RTW simply because of the fabric placement. But it fits great!

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:59 AM

    that is WILD about the sleeves matching up like that!

    I love the design, love the fabric....but not the design with that fabric. Such a shame!

    Your work is amazing!

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  2. I see what you mean.. but surely something can be done with attitude or embellishment to rescue this top?? Attitude is obviously easiest, and goes like this: yes, indeed, I have got a good figure. Have a look. Embellishment could be some sort of crocheted flower over the arrow to detract from the alignment issue. I'd hate to see all this fabric and effort go to waste!

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  3. Anonymous2:58 PM

    I love your designs! The use of the fabric did turn out to be pointing in a certain direction. :p but the print is active enough that its not the only place you look!

    I really love your designs. I have a knitting/sewing/etc.. forum and we are doing a KAL and SAL - I could really use help with the Sewing-along and the sewing section especially. would you be interested? the site is http://www.sxy-stylz.com/bb and my email is glenda.27@gmail.com. Let me know!

    It really does look great!!

    Glenda
    (MammyMadeIt! Designs)

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  4. This is how I learned to always cut the fronts separately if working with a big busy print. I'm not seeing a grain problem at all, it's the arrow that I see. Maybe wear it under a jacket this fall?? Or find a matching yellow sharpie and color in the arrow??

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  5. It looks great. I didnt notice the arrow until you mentioned it. I dunno, try it on, let us see. Otherwise, nice job!

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  6. I think the top is great, and if you had not pointed out the arrow to us, I would not have noticed it. Wear the top, it is wonderful.

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