Sunday 25 September 2016

The Tablecloth Top

Happy Sunday folks! Todays make gets an absolute thumbs down from me and I seriously considered not blogging it, but I've decided that it's important to share the failures as well as the triumphs.
This top was originally a charming lace edged tablecloth gifted to me by my Mums friend Sue, which I thought would look great refashioned into a halterneck top. Easy peasy with one corner folded down to make a channel to pass a neck tie through and a channel at the bottom to make a drawstring waist.
Unfortunately this little refashion hit a few bumps in the road before reaching it's completion. For one thing, the lace border was quite wide and quite see through. This meant I had to underline the front for modesty reasons which doesn't let the border shine as much as I would like.
Even though I had draped it roughly on my dress form it still gaped at the bust so I added some impromptu darts. As you can see below, my impromptu darts need a bit of work. I think that the fix might actually be as simple as tying the neckline cord a bit tighter and raising the whole thing a bit higher.
The darts did ruin the line of the beautiful lacy border but hey, no gaping! The underlining looks like it ended up being shorter than the outer layer, causing the outer layer to bulge a bit at the drawstring at the waist.
I think using a ribbon for ties instead of cord and cotton tape would give it a much more pulled together look.
I originally intended to embroider floral patterns all over the CF like this top, but I'm not happy enough with it to commit that amount of time into something that I'm not going to wear. I'd like to try again with a thinner trim which I have more control over how it's attached.
I think that this is one of those makes that lots of little things that bother me add up until I just can't wear it without feeling self conscious about it. I pride myself on making garments that look as professional as possible and this top just doesn't cut it. I'm glad I posted about it though. It would have been such a waste of a waterfall if I hadn't.
Thanks for reading and to Ed for taking the pictures!
Lauren xx