August is always an awkward time for sewing. It’s still pretty hot outside in GA, yet department stores already have boots on display.
Taking a cue from retail stores, I decided to make my first turtle neck of the season and a deep back summer dress, both navy stretch cotton jersey.
So this turtle neck pattern and I have a much longer history then we should. I purchased this pattern last winter because the overpriced ones from JCrew disintegrated after two wash cycles. It was a colossal waste of money. In my frustration, I turned to Burda 6990. Only to get frustrated with my skillset and chicken out of sewing it. Yes, this happens to the best of us. I almost always reduce the armscye by a half-inch to the whole inch on my tops. Though doing the same maneuver on a raglan sleeve terrified me and I never even cut out the fabric last year.
This year I was absolutely making a turtleneck, so I took a deep breath cut into the pattern and fabric without making any adjustments. Less then 90 minutes later, I had my first toile. Yeyyyy!
The fit is less than ideal, but not bad for a first run garment. It’s a little long on me — the sleeves need to be shortened about an inch, and I should have reduced the body by an inch as well. All in all, it fits about as well as an RTW turtleneck, so I’ll finish the hemming and still wear it during the winter. The only thing that I’ll change is the type of jersey I’ll use in the final project. I originally used a cotton/spandex jersey, but there wasn’t enough stretch to it, and I found getting it over my head a bit arduous. I probably could get away with letting out the seam allowance to half or quarter-inch to help, but going forward I’m looking for something with a lot more give.