McCalls 7985- A Striped Hi-Low Hem tunic

Hello everyone!  I'm back after a long break, and boy does it feel good to be sewing again!  I really need to sew to keep myself balanced, just like sunshine and exercise.  I am starting my fall sewing with this little striped top in an unusual color combo of black, cream, clay and mint green.  This is one of the Milly fabrics from Fabric Mart, and it was lovely to work with!

 Here's the back- I love how it moves:

I really love working with stripes.  There are so many fun things that you can do.  For example, I decided to put the lower back on the bias, the yoke on the straight grain, and the collar on the cross grain for this top.   Because this is an uneven stripe, it was a little tricky to get this bias chevron effect.  How I did it was this:

1.  Cut my yardage into two pieces.
2.  Lay one piece right side up, single layer.
3.  Turn the other piece 180 degrees and wrong side down, so that the stripes match when you put them together.  Check your stripes all the way across- they can be together at the selvedges, but shift on you in the middle! 
4.  Place the grainline on the pattern piece at a 45 degree angle and pin to your fabric.


 For my pattern, I chose McCall's 7985- I believe it came out in the summer releases. It's a Khaliah Ali pattern, and I always love her styles- very dramatic and great for us tall gals.

 I did do a slight full bust adjustment- I should have done my regular, but the finished bust measurements on the envelope indicated that it had plenty of ease (8" over my bust measurement).  That ease must have all been in the back, as the front ended up a little on the snug side!  The other thing about it was the neckband ended up way too big for my neck.  That might have been the fabric, as it is pretty loosely woven, but I will definitely check that against a neckband that fits before I make it again.   I did not add any length (I'm 5'9" for reference).

I had saved some of my favorite clothes from my youth, in case I ever had daughters that would get a kick out of them, and my all time favorite top when I was a teenager was this one with the mint green, peach and beige stripes.  Surprisingly, none of my daughters found this old, pilly sweatshirt attractive!  But, look how similar the stripes are to my new top-  no wonder I couldn't resist this fabric!

You can see here that the front and back skirt sections are open at the sides, so you can put your hands in your pockets, and sit down without the skirt pulling down, which is great.

 I dyed cording instead of making a fabric drawstring for the waist tie.  I used a combination of red and brown to get this dusty clay color.

How about you?  Do you enjoy working with stripes?  Do you notice that you still like color combinations that were your favorites as a child?

Happy Sewing!
Ann