Imke top - Sewing clothes kids love

With this Imke top I adjusted the pattern before sewing it based on what I thought from making the first one. This is the smallest size this pattern comes in. I feel it is still a little wide for my liking. I made the arm hole of the sleeve smaller and I am happy with it. Once again the fabric is free and the motif was $2. I couldn't pick one photo of my very happy girl who wouldn't take her new top off. So it got dinner all over it and went straight in the wash.

Imke top - Sewing clothes kids love

The Imke pattern comes with many options. Long sleeves straight, tapered or flared. Short sleeves gathered or not. You can use the side panels like I did above. It can be made with a hood rounded or pointed, lined or unlined. If you don't use the hood they add a neck band but I felt this would be too busy with this top so I just turned the 5/8" seam allowance under. The patterns also don't have seam allowance so I must add these at the pattern tracing stage.

Once I had attached the sleeves and sew up the side seams I noticed that the sleeve has a very wide opening. I didn't like the way it was going to flop around if I just turned the edge under. To make it more fitted I have gathered a small amount opposite the gathering at the sleeve cap and added the band. I have modified the pattern for the sleeve now for next time. I also felt that the top was a bit wide at the sides So I have taken a small amount off the pattern for next time. The boys pattern for this top is much straighter so I may use that if I want a plain t-shirt or a singlet top.

The fish is a $2 iron on motif  we bought at the local craft shop. All the fabric in this top was given to me by sewers who are no longer sewing. So my thread and the fish is all I paid for in this top.

Simplicity 2364 view A

I really like this top I have sewn it three times now. The first above is mine. I used a remnant of velvet with multi coloured sequins on it and a cream double knit. It looked terrible when I tried it on I was disappointed until I worked out that the shrug part was too loose on me. I pull it up at the back of the neck and it made all the difference. It would have been to difficult to undo it so I pinned it and sewed it at the join at the back of the neck. I also grabbed the pattern piece and measured my adjustment and altered my pattern. This means the the centre back seam is now on an angle not straight. I know I could have taken it out from under the arm but I wasn't confident I would get it right. The velvet fabric has almost no stretch so I am lucky I can get it on and off!

My Mum loved it and
here she is wearing one
of the two I made for her.
I am wearing the other
one (Yes we are almost
the same size). I don't
have a tripod and half
cut my head off. Then
cropped the rest off as
it looked silly. The illustrations of how to attach the shrug could be better but its not that hard. I just pinned then turned it out the right way to make sure. I have made Simplicity 2364 view E,D and F combination. I only need to make this in view B then I am done view C is the suggestion of a combination of fabric. I don't think I would make this in one colour I like it to much with a combination.

Sewing clothes kids love

I am really happy with this book. I have two girls if you have boys you will find there is not so much inspiration for them but the patterns are unisex. You get 10 multi sized patterns this is great value. I have made one skirt for my daughter pictured below. She loves it. The best thing about this book is lots of people have it and there is a flicker group with so many amazing pictures you will never be stuck for an idea.

Twinkle Sews

This is a great book with some lovely patterns for clothes. You really need to know how to sew with this book.  The instructions are all written and brief. I read them over many times before starting my project. Even then I still made fixable mistakes. I printed my patterns on A4 which means my printer misses the very edges of the pattern this is not a problem as I just allow for this when sticking them together. The sizing is hard to work out as each pattern has different instructions for picking which size pattern. I will explain what I have done when I post about the individual projects.

Burda 8361

First Top

Is the one on the right (black, green and white). I had the same problem as everyone who has reviewed this pattern the baggie bust. I have found it is because the gathering goes to far down around the bust to the side of the top your bust is higher than this. The top was way to long from the shoulder to the bust so I had to take 2.5" out of the shoulders at the top. Lucky the arm hole opening is quite long so it still fits under the arm.

Under Bust

Second Top

I adjusted the pattern for this top so that the arm hole would be the original size this is much better. This would be especial important if you wanted to sew the top of the sleeve together. You cant really see it in these photos but I left the sleeve top open as option A suggests. To fix the baggie bust I have only gathered from about 1" away from the centre point until the pattern pieces fitted together. This had made the sides of the top sit perfectly flat against my side. I also angled the line under the bust up just a bit as I felt it went to low for me on the original. This is a great top it is an exact copy of a top that I bought RTW which is why I picked this pattern. I have plans to make this in a few different fabrics.

Burda 7866

I am happy with mine but I made the smallest size which is 10 it looks so much bigger on me than it looks on there model. Its really comfy I used a double knit. It is a little annoying fixing the unattached belt all the time. I have plans to make a modified version based on what I saw someone else do with this pattern. They eliminated the belt by using elastic at the sides of the bottom piece to give it a gathered look.