Firefly Aberdeen Tunic

Last fall, my garment sewing efforts ground to a screeching halt. I didn’t start or work on a single piece of clothing for all of October and November. Finally in December I found the time to cut out the pieces of a new Aberdeen Tunic, but those pieces sat neglected for weeks. I wanted to work on it, but I just couldn’t muster the time and energy needed to start it. Then, on December 31, as I wrote my year in review post, my desire to make something grew and grew until it overcame my inertia. At 10pm that night, I decided to see if I could make an Aberdeen Tunic under the advertised two hours. It took me two and a half hours, but since I don’t own a serger, I think that’s pretty dark quick. Most importantly, I had started the new year making something, and shook myself out of my sewing funk.

The fabric that I used for this shirt is Firefly Knit in Sigh by Bonnie Christine for Art Gallery. From far away, it looks like a solid mint color, but up close it also has little white dots. It’s quite subtle and I really like it.

The eagle-eyed among you will notice that there’s something different about the neckline of this shirt. I loved the previous three Aberdeens that I have made from the Seamwork pattern, but the necklines have never sat 100% flat for me. I thought that if I took out the v-neck that would fix the problem. While the slightly scooped out neckline is less wavy, the shoulders are pulled down by the weight of the sleeves, so if anything, this shirt fits worse that my previous versions. Since it’s the middle of winter, I added the cuffs this time, and like them a lot better than I thought I would. While I still need to solve the problem of the neckline/shoulder fit, I learned a lot from making this shirt and enjoyed the process.

January 2016 in Review

At the end of last year, my sewing had more or less stalled out. Luckily, my sewjo returned in January! I finished one Aberdeen Tunic, two Akita blouses and two crocheted scarves. More detailed blog posts will be forthcoming as soon as I carve some writing time out of my sewing time. For the last few weeks, I have been plugging away at my #seamqgbom medallion quilt and have prioritized sewing over writing blog posts. I only have one more border until the top is finished! Looking forward to making more things in February.

Crimson Poppies Aberdeen Tunic

This isn’t the first Aberdeen Tunic I’ve made, and it probably won’t be the last. The pattern is from the March 2015 issue of Seamwork magazine. It calls for one and a half yards of knit fabric, but for this version, I managed to cut the main fabric out of just a yard, and used a scrap from my Navy Julia Cardigan for the neckband. Earlier during Me-Made-May, it was pointed out to me that I tend to dress primarily in dark blues. This is true. However, I wanted a bright new top for the new season, so I decided to deviate from my usual somber hues and picked Paparounes Knit in Crimson by Katarina Roccella for this shirt. Since it’s an Art Gallery knit fabric, it was easy to work with. I didn’t even try to match the stripes at the seams. I did, however, carefully pin the selvages together in order to make sure that the stripes were perfectly horizontal since this was my first time working with striped apparel fabric.

One of the things I love about the Seamwork patterns is that they are designed to be super quick. I am usually a very slow garment sewer. Generally, I cut pattern pieces out on Sunday, sew 15-30 minutes a day during the work week and stay up late Friday and/or Saturday to finish a garment in a week. The Aberdeen Tunic is such a quick sew that I cut it out on a Friday and sewed it up on a Saturday. Talk about instant gratification!

There’s not much more to say about this shirt. It’s quick, fun and comfy to wear. I’m looking forward to the new installment of Seamwork because I’m hoping to discover another speedy go-to pattern for my repertoire.

For this photoshoot, my pint-size photography assistant wasn’t nearly as helpful, so I’m back to taking all the pictures myself with the self-timer function on my camera.

Basic Black Staples: Julia Cardigan, Aberdeen Tunic and Manila Leggings

One thing I learned from the Wardrobe Architect exercises is that in the past, I’ve sewn a lot of interesting things that I didn’t end up wearing in my everyday life. As a quilter, I was drawn to sewing clothes with quilting cottons in fun patterns, but I needed plain, solid pieces to wear with them. With that in mind, I bought five and a half yards of Robert Kaufman Laguna Jersey in Onyx and made three different projects.

Julia Cardigan

This is the fourth Julia Cardigan that I’ve made, but the first one with three-quarter length sleeves. The long ones were great for winter, but I’m a spring girl at heart, and I love my three-quarter length sleeves. While I still enjoy wearing this pattern, I’m getting a little tired of sewing it. I want to make a short-sleeved version, and then I’ll probably put it away for a while, and try something new. This cardigan definitely filled a hole in my wardrobe and I love it.

Aberdeen Tunic

I am infatuated with the Aberdeen Tunic right now. It is so quick and easy, and I feel like a rock star when I sew the v-neck. For this, my second Aberdeen, I graded out a size in the hips and it is just right. Part of me just wants to sew five more of these and wear a different one each day of the week.

Manila Leggings

The other day, my ready-to-wear leggings bit the dust, and thanks to my subscription to Seamwork, I happened to have just the right pattern on hand to sew up a replacement: the Manila leggings. I chose the size based on my measurements, and was pleasantly surprised that they fit pretty well with no adjustments. I left off the “petals” because I usually wear tall boots over my leggings. The next time I make this pattern, I might make the waistband a little snugger and the leg openings a little less snug. It was super satisfying to sew my own leggings. Even though I don’t consider wearing leggings to be equivalent to wearing pants, I’m going to count these as sewing pants for the first time.

Polka Dot Aberdeen Tunic

I absolutely love this shirt! I had been feeling a little disappointed that I haven’t sewn more garments this year, so one lazy Sunday afternoon I decided to try my hand at the new Aberdeen Tunic from the March edition of Seamwork magazine. I’m glad I did, because it turned out to be an uncommonly quick and satisfying make.

For the fabric, I just used some that I had on hand: polka dot and black Robert Kaufman Laguna cotton jersey knit remnants left over from my Coco Top and Plantain Tee, respectively. It felt so good to put that extra fabric to use.

Based on my experience with the overly oversized Oslo Cardigan, also from Seamwork, I chose to sew up a size smaller than my measurements for my first Aberdeen. I like the fit in the shoulders and chest, but it’s a bit too snug around the stomach. I’ll still wear it, but going forward, I’ll grade out to the larger size on the bottom. Since the cuffs on the Oslo Cardigan were a bit too much for me, I decided to omit the Aberdeen’s cuffs this time. The end result is perfect for spring, so I’m pleased with that decision.

I’m not usually drawn to v-necks, but enjoyed learning the technique. However, for a “beginner” pattern, I didn’t think the instructions were detailed enough. It wasn’t clear exactly where you were supposed to line everything up, so this neckline turned out a little wonky. Luckily, the polka dots are very forgiving. Now that I’ve done it once, I’m confident that I can do it right going forward.

The pattern is advertised as a two-hour project. If you’re experienced and have a serger, I can see how you could finish it in that amount of time. I didn’t time myself, but would estimate that it took me around three and a half hours to finish. I was thrilled to sew it start to finish in one day. That never happens for me, so it was such a treat!

All in all, I’m super happy with this shirt. I tried a new pattern, used up remnants from other projects, learned a new technique, and ended up with a comfy shirt. In fact, I enjoyed making it so much, I already started another one!