Capsule Piece 2: Renfrew Top with Serger Only?

And, how to make yourself disappear into the background.

Hi Readers, thank you in advance for reading. Hope you’re having a great National Sewing Month. There might be some color misuse and I’ll visit some thoughts on making this version of the Renfrew Top solely on a serger.

Due to non-availability of my photographer, here is the Renfrew Top along with the blue sweaterknit pants on hangers. So humiliating.

The fabric from Sew Much Fabric feels fabulous on the body. It’s 11 oz rayon jersey and feels extremely soft. I’ve used it in many previous makes including the blue top that’s part of this capsule — see last post. I love the “lightness of being” when wearing it — only way to describe it.

There’s a slippery camisole underneath, and that is how I will wear it.

Color choice: I love the khaki! But my face looks garbage with the “Sahara Sand” (khaki) against it; I made this second capsule piece as a top to wear with the blue knit pants — the capsule bundle misled me. No sorry, I misled myself. Maybe a pair of loose, lined pants in the Sahara Sand color might have worked better. Maybe some styling options might make it look better, such as a statement necklace or a blue scarf. Maybe I’ll buy me some sapphires.

Pattern detail I should have avoided: the V-neck is just not me. It niggled at the back of my mind, but I went with it anyway. It was a very easy make, but the V does not jive with my features. See, it’s always good to follow your instincts, or the findings of a professional color and image analysis which I have never had done.

View B is the only view I had not sewn in the Renfrew Top (Sewaholic Patterns) pattern.

Making things entirely on a 4-thread serger: This was my first attempt at the concept and here’s what I learned. It is possible to do the SO (serger only) method, but not entirely for the Renfrew Top.

The places I used SO were:

1- Shoulder seams.

2 – Side seams — the underarm sleeve and side seams are sewn together as one long seam for this pattern.

3 – Attaching the sleeve band to the sleeve, and hem band to the body.

Places that could not accommodate the SO method:

1 – Neckline, obviously. Since the point of the V shape needs some fiddly work for neckband accuracy, it was attached with a sewing machine only.

2 – No SO for the sleeve cap, folks. I used pins to keep the easing in place, and then a sewing machine to sew in the high sleeve cap, pressed, then used a serger to finish the raw edges. But it wasn’t feasible to use the serger-only method. In patterns with a shallow sleeve cap such as in a dropped shoulder garment, I might have used SO.

Could you have used only the serger to sew this high sleeve cap?

In short, the straighter the seam, the better the outcome.

Am I getting too deep in the weeds?

I enjoyed using the 4-thread serger for construction where feasible, and want to use this technique more. How about elastic waist pants? Or, a straight maxi dress? Oh wait, there are more details pertaining to the process of actually constructing clothes entirely on a serger. Will expand on those next time.

Until then, I’ll take this as a positive step toward the “catalog inspired” capsule.

Samina

Leave a comment