Progress on the woven top

Yesterday I sewed the halves of the top together with the sewing machine.  When I tried that with my vest pieces, it did not work and I had to hand stitch.  I tested the opening size on a paper pattern and it worked out well.  I will not be turning under a seam allowance, but the plan is to make some binding tape out of fabric, possibly linen.  I have not sewn the side seams yet because I may be adding fabric to the bottom and tried it on.  It looks better than I expected.  There is more of the same fabric on the loom, so there are some possibilities for longer sleeves or a border added to the bottom.  The border is the first choice.

The plate I used to outline the neck opening.

Two-thirds of the opening is in the front and one-third is in the back with the shoulder seam at the fold between.  A running stitch is worked around the pattern piece, with the sewing machine stay stitching is outside the running stitch and zigzag is inside the running stitch.

After cutting, the running stitches were removed.  

Weaving a top continues...off the loom!

The first half of the top came off the loom yesterday everything measured to my calculations.  The plan to make one side wider did not work, as the 15-inch width of the loom is too narrow.  No problem, I have a plan B for that!  The part of this I am working out is when the sides are sewn together and the neck has to be cut.  Before the pieces can be joined the fabric will need to be washed  and pressed.

27.05.16 As with any project, the road to finishing is sometimes bumpy.  Measure twice, cut once...wise words, indeed.  I warped for the second half of the top at home and did not recheck my measurements.  With only inches to finish, I ran out of warp.  To save the handspun weft I sacrificed the warp by cutting the piece off the loom and re-winding the handspun onto the shuttles.  I called the experience yarn carnage, although the Harrisville sport  warp suffered more than the handspun.

I now have the two halves, which are washed and pressed.  After sewing the halves together, the neck will need to be marked and cut.  While cutting fabric is not a huge undertaking, the placement, stay stitching, and cutting of the neck opening is cringe-worthy.  I will go through my patterns and also look at tops from my closet for dimensions.  To make a facing, or make binding tape. An old issue of Threads magazine, August/September 1991, has wonderful ideas for finishing techniques on simple shaped garments.

I am glad to have multiple shuttles.

Cutting the warp and re-winding the shuttles.

Thrums and waste yarn.

The fabric softened and bloomed beautifully.  I have to test sew scrap fabric to see if the fabric will smoothly feed through the sewing machine.  

The end of last week I sent in the yarn snippets, article, and photo to Spin-Off magazine.  I proposed a feature of our vest weaving projects.  The Wednesday Weaving group has grown and attracted many other weavers since the art crawl.  We are all working of different projects, now.  My post top project might be the tapestry woven bag from Spin-Off, winter 1997.

Blue

When I was little, my favorite color was blue.  My sister and I shared a bedroom and when it was time to paint, I begged Pop to paint the room blue.  He painted the room a nice robin's egg blue, which I loved, but eventually the novelty wore off.  I haven't been a fan of blue as a room color since, and other than jeans I don't wear blue often.  The shop has some lovely cotton yarns currently in stock and to promote one of them (and make a new top) Paula thought the Bistro Shirt would be a nice way to show off Queensland Collection's Pima Fresca.  It comes in lovely colors--Carol's making a top with the orange and I passed up the green for a denim blue.  I love knitting with this cotton.  It has a nice thick and thin texture and is kettle dyed, so there's a little variation in the color.  The pattern is from Oat Couture and very simple and fast to knit.  I'm already on the cap sleeve shaping on the back.  It's a welcome break from my involved projects of lace, cables, and color work.