Last spring Rae opened a weekly e-mail from Farmhouse Fabrics, a lovely mail-order shop that services the vast audience of Heirloom stitchers. Their “Weeding out Wednesdays” e-mails often show interesting fabrics on a nice discount. And so it was that 5 yards of this fun holiday fabric fell into Rae’s possession. She is going to tell you about making good use of this charming print for holiday tees for Rae’s girls.
This terrific fabric is a knit jersey, probably a cotton/rayon/lycra blend, with a slightly irregular print. It just so happened I also had a rather large piece of stretch knit gauze fabric that complimented it fabulously. While there was plenty of fabric, I wanted to design and make a top for each of my daughters, my granddaughter, myself, and possibly one for our friend Susie.
Start with Washing and Sewing One Top
To get all those tops cut from 5 yards would require careful planning and cutting. First , my top was planned, placed on the fabric and enough was cut for me to wash and stitch up a simple Tabula Rasa Knit top. It gave me the chance to estimate how much the fabric would shrink for future planning.
The shrinkage was about 1½” in length, so not too much, big breath. Then I stitched up my top to assess the introduction of the knit gauze and how the finishes would work. It was a bit curly but worked out well for the edge finishes and a design line down the center front, similar to the one I put on the Persimmon colored knit top in the fall.
Plan the Next Group and Pattern Carefully
Next, I determined the designs for each of my girls’ tops based on their requests: Sarah wanted a Clever Crossing Variation with the Surplice front, Anna wanted a Boat Neck with a hem band, and for my granddaughter, a little dress with a twirly pink skirt and an empire waist top. Coordinated tops are fun because they match but not exactly.
The patterns for each top were developed and adjusted where necessary. I rolled out the fabric and began placing the pattern pieces so there was as little waste as possible. I had a large TRK with Surplice front, a small/med wide neckline TRK, and a kid’s pattern based on the Peek-a-Boo pattern for the Penelope Dress. With larger sleeves placed alongside smaller body pieces, I was able to lay out a very tight fit on the fabric. I added another 2 inches for shrinkage, made a diagram of the successful cutting layout, then cut the yardage off the large piece, washed it, and hung it to dry.
Using my layout diagram, it was easy to set the patterns in place, pin and then cut. First, of course, I sewed up the little dress, then my daughters’ tops, which are waiting for fittings so I can alter and make their desired finishes. The tops will certainly be ready for Christmas Eve.
Fortunately, there is still enough fabric left to make something for my friend Susie and to remake my granddaughter’s into a larger size next year!
As the week progresses, watch for photos of different groupings of the holiday tees for Rae’s girls. Who knows where they will be spotted?
Start Planning in Spring for a Fabulous Holiday Wardrobe
If you ever want to make coordinating holiday tops from a large piece of fabric, remember to plan carefully and cut out as many as possible from one piece of fabric for the best use of the yardage.
Then enjoy a festive holiday. In the Cumbie house, we will be wearing adorable holiday print jersey tops on Christmas Eve. Did I mention that the largest buildings on the fabric say Neiman Marcus over the door? What do you think they did with this fun fabric?
