Tilly and the Buttons Stretch - Ribbed Sleeveless Freya Turtleneck

I actually made this top a while ago and never got round to taking photos of it, but considering how much I like it I wanted to share it. As you can tell from looking through my past makes I'm a big fan of turtlenecks. Since discovering the Tilly and the Buttons Freya Turtleneck it's become my most used pattern - this is the first version I made of it. It's such a great pattern to hack, my current favourite hack being a sleeveless turtleneck.

I've posted about the two other sleeveless Freya turtlenecks I've made, one in black and one in white. I wore those two tops constantly in the summer, but I actually made this pink one first. This top is also a refashion of an older make. Depending on how long you've been following my blog you may remember this pink ribbed top - I can't believe that was three years ago! Like many of my refashions I really liked that make at the time but it no longer fit my style. I think I wore it fairly consistently for about a year but I haven't reached for it in a while. My favourite thing to do in this situation is always to turn it into something new, and I've written a whole blog post about the many items I've refashioned. 

I had already planned to make my black sleeveless turtleneck and I thought that refashioning an old item of clothing would be a great way to try out the pattern hack before cutting into my fabric. Because I the pink fabric wasn't new and seeing as I wasn't wearing the old top anyway there was nothing to lose from trying something new. The main thing I considered when making this top was how to finish off the armholes neatly. What I chose to do in the end was double up the fabric. I cut the hem on the fold, so the top is actually fully lined. Because a turtleneck is then attached around the neckline the whole thing is finished off very neatly both on the inside and outside of the garment.

I did end up changing a couple of things in the design between making this pink top and the other ones. If you look closely you can probably see that the armhole doesn't sit quite as well on this one as it does the others. The second time round I added a band around the armhole to bring the excess fabric in rather than line the top. This rib fabric was a lot less stretchy than the cotton jersey though so I'm not sure that the same technique for the armhole would have worked.

The fit of this top might not be quite perfect but it's certainly very wearable and I'm so pleased with it. Like I said I love this style of top and refashioning an old make gave me the opportunity to try out something new. I love how it pairs with my Dawn Jeans too!

DIY Black Ribbed Flares

 

Having avoided wearing flared trousers for a long time I now can't seem to make enough! I recently made a pair of corduroy flares and also own a denim pair, but I've seen a lot of jersey flares around too. Unlike those made in more structured fabrics, knit flares don't have any classic jeans features (so no fly, pockets etc) meaning that they're comfy to wear and really easy to make. I like how the same design can be made from lots of different fabrics with each fabric structure changing how the trousers look.

I've seen an emergence of black ribbed flares especially and the thought of making a pair has been at the back of my mind for a while. So when I saw this fabric from Minerva I knew immediately that I wanted to make a pair of black flares out of it. With trousers made from stretch fabrics it's important to ensure that a thicker knit has been used, and when it came to using a rib fabric it needed to have some drape. A top like this one works well in a small rib but the fabric wouldn't hang correctly as trousers.  

This particular fabric is a medium-weight velvet rib, it feels so soft and hangs perfectly. It's nice to have the rib pattern to add a bit of interest to plain black trousers and the stretch makes them comfortable to wear. I wanted to keep these trousers as simple as possible so they're made from two front and back pieces and a waistband - only three pattern pieces altogether! 

These trousers have such a simple shape and were really quick to make. I copied a pair of RTW jeans to make them, but you could easily hack a trouser pattern. The actual flare is quite subtle but the contrast between the tighter legs and wider base gives the trousers their shape. These are possibly the most comfortable trousers I own - I think more so than my joggers thanks to the relaxed waistband and soft fabric. I like that they seem a bit more put together than joggers but remain very comfy.

I always like to add a couple of interesting details to my makes and for these trousers a split in the side-seam was the perfect finish. I stopped sewing the side-seam about 15cm from the end, pressed the seam allowance inwards and sewed around it. As a result the split kicks open when I walk, a nice additional touch. 

[This fabric was given to me by Minerva in exchange for a blog post]