A sewing Dare

I have Gillian over at She Crafts a Rainbow to thank for this garment.  She's currently hosting something that she calls Sewing Dares where anyone who is interested can write in and ask for a dare.  She then goes through your blog and chooses a dare specifically for you based on your previous works.  All I can say is that the work she has done to go through and make up dares for all those people is amazing - so I just wanted to start by saying a big thank you to her for organising this.

Once I heard about this concept I knew I wanted to join in, so I sent in my request and was given this dare.

You’ve sewn so many things before that it’s hard to think of a new challenge for you! So instead, I dare you to dig out a pattern you’ve made before and loved, but never remade. It’s time for another version of an old fav!

Interesting - I don't know that I've ever made a pattern twice so I have plenty to chose from....so what should I remake?

I went through a number of different options in my head but in the end I decided on this top.

I originally made this top when I was back in my early 20's - The pattern says 2002 so that's probably when I made it. I only wore it a couple of times for a number of reasons, but it's still, to this day, sitting in my closet.  Every time I go through my wardrobe to throw stuff out I look at this top, maybe try it on ,and decided I can't part with it.  This top makes me feel fabulous and isn't that really what it's all about after all.  So it stays, but never gets worn.

I wanted to remake this pattern into something that still makes me feel fabulous, but that I will actually wear more than once a decade.

Onto the details.  The pattern is for this shirt is New Look 6153

Now I needed to figure out why I never wear this top - That's easy.

1.  The fabric.  Don't get me wrong I love the fabric - it's a slinky black knit fabric with red sparkles. Made into this top it makes for a very glam look - the sort of thing I'd wear out to a club.  Now my present lifestyle doesn't lend itself to much clubbing - no I take that back - It doesn't lend itself to ANY clubbing hence the shirt goes unworn.

2.  The halter neck - I love the look of halter necks, but they just don't work for me.   To wear this top I would need to wear a strapless bra.  I do have one but it is the most uncomfortable thing ever so I never touch that either and I'm happy to keep it that way.  So in order to be able to wear this top I need to find a way to wear a basic bra with it.

Both these things were easy enough to fix.

Rather than doing the halter neck again, this time I chose to sew view B with the shoulder straps.  I then modified the pattern to widen the straps so that they somewhat cover my bra straps,  Now this top can be worn with a normal bra.

The fabric I chose for my new top is a teal green knit with a very subtle silver sparkle - I know I'm trying to get away from the sparkle but you got to have some sparkle in your life and this one is an everyday sort of sparkle not a special occasion sparkle.

From the markings on the pattern I deduced that I originally made this shirt in a size 14 (even though all the dimensions I'd circled on the back of the packet - which are pretty much the same as my dimensions today - put me squarely in a size 16).  I tried on the original top and it seemed like it was a good fit so I decided to do that again and cut out a straight size 14.  Unfortunately the teal fabric that I used has a little less stretch than I assumed (I've run into this same problem using this fabric before) so when I tried the new top on it was a bit tight.  I let the side seams out as much as I could - but I should probably have used the size 16.

This was a very easy top to sew, only took about 2 hours from start to finish - so whats the final verdict?

I'm not sure.  I wore the shirt out today and spent most of my time pulling the shirt down at the back as it rode up, or pulling the shoulder straps back onto the shoulders.  I do love the look of it - though it could do with a smidge more drape in the front, but it's not the most comfortable shirt in my wardrobe.  Still It will get a lot more wear than the original so I think that's a win.