FO - Vogue 8840

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm suffering from a severe shortage of leisure and casual clothing.  With that in mind, I've decided to focus on these items for my wardrobe for the first few months of 2015.

I've been totally inspired by Nikki of www.beautejadore.com.  She's SO stylish, and I've been completely impressed by the way she uses one pattern for a variety of looks.  One of her favourite patterns is Vogue 8840.  This pattern is recommended for synthetic suede, charmeuse and men's suitings, which is a wide variety of fabric types, which I believe would make it a great pattern for a lot of variations.



For my premiere version of this top, I envisioned an upscale sweatshirt out of black wool double-knit and faux leather.  I dove right in without making a muslin.

V8840 Front View out of Wool Doubleknit and Faux Leather
(photo lightened to show detail)

This is a loose fitting pattern, with bust darts, darts at the back shoulder, centre front and centre back seams, and dolman style sleeves which incorporates a seamed sleeve piece for View B.  The pattern includes a 3/4 length sleeve.  There is also a hook and eye closure at the centre back seam, which incorporates a slit type of opening at the centre back.  The neckline is finished with bias tape, which is stitched, turned and topstitched.

I cut version B in size 16.  My "normal" size for Vogue patterns is a 14, but I wanted a bit more of a slouchy look, so I decided to cut one size bigger.  I cut the front and back pieces as per the pattern from the black wool doubleknit.  The wool double knit is well aged from my stash, but could be originally purchased many years ago at Fabric.com.  I cut the sleeves from the faux leather I had purchased from King Textiles in Toronto,  adding 9" to the length of the sleeve, and tapered it in a bit at the wrist.

This top is a very fast sew.  Despite it being the first time I've sewn it (and no muslin!), I've managed to almost complete it in a couple of hours (sewing for about half an hour or so each evening this week).

V8840 - Back View with Centre Back Seam and Slot Opening at Centre Back 

Instead hemming the top as per the pattern directions, I used the longer length to create a casing for 1-1/2" wide elastic, for a more true sweatshirt feel.  There is a hook and eye on the closure at the centre back (which I have to admit is a bit weird on a sweatshirt, but this IS an upscale sweatshirt after all!), and a centre back seam.  For the next version of a sweatshirt style top, I will certainly cut the neckline a little lower so I can pull it over my head without the centre back closure at the neck.

V8840 Side View showing faux leather sleeves

This is a very versatile pattern, as Nikki has so aptly shown on her blog.  I am up to the challenge of making more versions with variations to the neckline and sleeves.