Finished: Tiramisu Striped Top (Cake Patterns 0144)

Striped Tiramisu top love! Don't you adore the directional striped neck and sleeve bands?

Oh, you know how it is... You wake up in the morning snuggled up in your handknit socks and striped me-made sleep bra and panty set. Then you pull on your Tiramisu top and your me-made corduroy wide-legs... just another day, right?

The pattern: Cake Patterns Tiramisu Dress 0144. (Full disclosure: I'm the envelope illustrator for Cake Patterns and I designed the envelope and instructions along with my husband ... but I began working with Cake BECAUSE I already thought what Steph was doing was so awesome.)

Pattern Description: Knit knee-length dress with front mock wrap neckline, cut-on sleeves, customizable midriff and half-circle skirt. (I left off the skirt for this test garment top version).

Pattern Sizing: The pattern is sized for a 30-50 inch high bust, 25-50 inch waist and has bust cup sizing A-D. My high bust is between 34 and 35" and my full bust is 38.5", so I initially chose to make a 35D.

After basting to check fit (as recommended in the pattern), I realized I should probably have chosen a size up instead of a size down ... so I tightened up the width and length of the front bodice pieces by quite a bit. Probably slightly too much (and I overdid the overlap, so it's somewhat more modest than intended), but this is a test garment, so I'm not about to unpick it now. (See Steph's underbust tune-up tutorial and video from the Tiramisu sew-along for more on how to do this).

Never mind my photo-bombing toddler... ("I love stripes Mommy!")

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Why yes, though as a top.

Were the instructions easy to follow? It was a rather surreal experience following along with my own illustrations (and Steph's instructions), but I find them quite clear and thorough if I do say so myself!

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? It's such a flattering style on so many figure types, mine included. But my absolute FAVORITE thing is the stripe matching options... don't you love those striped sleeve bands and neck bands? AND the back chevron effect is some kind of awesome:

Fabric: Soft, medium-weight gray & white striped cotton-lycra blend jersey at $6/yard from Spandex House, leftover from making fun panties (which I'm actually wearing here, in case you're curious). It's very similar in weight/recovery to the much more expensive $15/yard fabric I'm going to use for the dress version.

Because of the stripes, I cut the pattern pieces out on a single layer to make extra-sure I aligned them with the stripe matching guide printed on the pattern. Cutting stripes on the fold can lead to stripey tears (ask me how I know).

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I left off the skirt, and extended the midriff band down and out to the hips a bit.

Construction notes: I made this on a mix of sewing machine and serger (now both repaired and working great) as recommended in the pattern instructions. I used a ballpoint twin needle for the hem.

My walking (aka dual feed) foot helped a lot in keeping the jersey from rippling out of shape and in pattern matching at the side seams—almost invisible, am I right?

There is a side seam there... but I can barely see it! Thanks walking foot.

Successes:

• Stripes! Stripes! DIRECTIONAL stripes!
• A perfect top to go with my wide-legged me-made Vogue 9745 trousers (shown at top).

Recommended Reading:

• Tiramisu 30 Minutes a Day Sew-Along.

Room for improvement?:

• When I make the dress I'll try cutting a different size for the front bodice—probably the 30D—and play with it a bit before sewing real seams. It's really a matter of personal ease preference.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Heck yeah and triple heck yeah.

Wear for: Work, weekend, pretty much anywhere.

Readers, it feels good to be sewing again after my long illness! And I can't wait to make the dress version... in red and white stripes, of course:

Then it's on to Hummingbird... and Bonny... and Pavlova... and... Cabarita... I think I need to clone myself! I have many other patterns in my queue but I've grown so attached to these after drawing them that I just need to bring them to life NOW.