Anthropologie Blouse Knock-Off

Isn't annoying when you find a piece of clothing you really like, but only comes in a color that makes you look like an extra from the walking dead?

I recently had this experience when I ran across this lovely blouse from Anthropologie.

It's like butttta! Fancy fancy butter!

Pretty details, comfortable fit, but alas it only came in the current "hot" color a dark yellow.  Usually I would have just sighed and moved on, but those scallops keep me obsessively stalking the Anthropologie website wondering how they were cut.  Finally I gave in and ordered one to find out.

Scallops on scallops.

The original blouse is made out of a drapey polyester with a crepe texture.  Upon close inspection it seems a laser cutter was used to cut the scallops.  This allowed the designers to cut a delicate pattern and at the same time melt the polyester edge so it would not fray.  Pretty ingenious!  Now I really wanted this blouse in another color, but it where to start?


Looking through the pattern stash Simplicity 2246, View B seemed the best base pattern for this project.  It has the same semi-fitted shape with a bust dart and 3/4 length sleeves.  I traced off the size 16, decreased the length to around 26" and made up a muslin to check the basic fit. The pattern needed my standard fitting changes -  A forward shoulder adjustment of 1/2",  the hip ease bumped up to the next size and the Bust dart lowered and inch.  (Note:  I did not need to do a complete FBA because extra width was not needed across the bust.  So I cut out the dart, lowered it an inch and then reblended the side seam.)

The style changes made to the pattern were far more excessive. Here is a quick overview of what I did, all measurements are made from the seam allowance in.

1. To approximate the slight v at the top of the button band I marked 1/2 inch in at the top of the button band and 7 inches down the length.  Connected these two marks to make the angle and redrew the seam allowance.  Also cut down the neck line curve by 1/2" at the CF blending it out to nothing at the shoulder seam.

2. Added yoke lines to both the front and back.  Front yoke is parallel to the shoulder seam and is 2 5/8 inches deep from shoulder seam allowance.  Back yoke is 3 inches down from the shoulder seam.  Used a hip curve to draw a shaped yoke line similar to the original blouse.

3. Added additional ease to the lower back yoke line by slashing and spreading.

4. Added a vertical seam  3/4 inch away from the CF for insertion of second row of scallops.  (See Photo)

The second row of scallops is sewn into it's own seam instead of the button band.

5. Lengthen sleeve to 17 inches (+ seam allowance).  Added a slit for a continuous sleeve placket and redrew the bottom of the sleeve with the classic curve of a sleeve with a placket.  Then added fullness to the sleeve by slashing and spread along the entire length.   A new cuff was drafted at 15" x 3.5" (+ seam allowance).

6. Drafted a new pattern for the collar, button band, and the scalloped trim detail at the center front.


All these changes took a lot of tinkering and several muslins, but I'm very pleased with the final result.

The fabric is a beautiful green Sueded stretch crepe de chine silk from Gorgeous Fabrics.  I used Sunni's tip for cutting slippery fabrics and highly recommend it.  There was only a little creep when cutting the very narrow pieces like the button band.

My scallops where created using a fancy stitch on the sewing machine. My process was to cut a block of silk big enough for the pattern piece. Then using a fabric marker trace the scalloped edge on the fabric. Next I top-stitched directly on the marked line using the fancy stitch. The scallops need a little something extra so I went back in and added a straight stitch about 1/4 inches away from the fancy stitch. All the stitching was complete so the scalloped edge was then cut out by hand very close to the stitching. It was a long process, especially when you only have 1 hour blocks of sewing!

A few shot of the details...

Another tutorial I found very helpful was Gertie's one on self covered buttons.  The thin silk was looking lumpy on the edges when using the directions on the back of the Dritz package.  Gertie's method of gathering the fabric circle first makes them come out looking great.  If you are using 1/2" buttons like me you'll want to put the gathering stitch in by hand.  I also found the little jig very helpful to put the buttons together at that size.  

Finally for those of you who love the inside of a garment as much as the outside..... a little photo montage.

French seams on the vertical, self enclosed yoke, armhole seams overlocked.

Sewing Goals for 2012

1. Catalog the stash
What I really want is a Ravelry type stash page for fabric, but unless I get some magic genie wishes that isn't going to happen. After losing a couple of digital databases I'm going old school with a swatch book. Thanks to Sew Weekly I'm ready to start having printed out some of their lovely swatch cards.

2. Sew more from the stash
Let's be truthful, I should sew only from the stash but the thought of not buying any pretty new fabric makes me a little stabby.  The plan right now is to alternate sewing one garment from stash and the next from new purchases.  We'll see how long that lasts.

3. Educate myself more
I've been sewing a long time, but frankly some of the stuff I don't know is embarrassing.  Like matching needle sizes to fabric, just found out about that a couple of months ago.  I thought I knew how to press correctly but Ann at Gorgeous Fabrics showed me that I know nothing.  This week I was having a horrible time stitching in the ditch.  Guess what, there's a foot for that.  But you knew that didn't you. :)

4. Try new things
Once you can semi-competently sew clothing in certain fabrics it easy to stay in that comfort zone. 
I'd like to branch out and try some things that look difficult.  Maybe sew up that georgette in the stash or take a stab at bra-making.

5. Add a little more color into my wardrobe.
At heart I'll always be a girl who loves black, gray and denim but I'm getting a little bored with all my neutrals.  A few brightly colored tops might add a little pizazz while still coordinating with my beloved neutrals.

My knitting mojo is on vacation

First of all thank you commenters for the boy sweater suggestions. Perhaps if my knitting mojo would return from where ever it is hiding I'd cast on one of those cute sweaters,

I'm not sure why my mojo has left the building but here are my top 3 hunches.

3. I'm cold sheeping.
Back in March I joined the Stash and Burn cold sheep thread since my stash had been making me feel a bit overwealmed for awhile. Overall this was a good decision. It caused me pull the trigger on some yarn/pattern combinations that had been sitting in my brain for awhile. It also made me realize that if I don't knit new purchases in a timely manner that the yarn sinks to the bottom of the stash bog for all eternity. And sale yarn, just don't buy it Heather cause you never never never knit it. (You just look at it in disgust later.)
However...... I will admit that sometimes going and buying a sexy new yarn is just the thing to snap you out of a knitting slump. Has my stash turned boring or is the problem that...

2. I've been knitting nothing but socks.
The biggest part of my stash is sock yarn so in May I went on a crazy sock knitting spree.
First I paired a Hazel knits sock club color "Aloha" with Knitspot's Chicklets pattern and knocked them out in only a week.

Great TV knitting by the way.

Next was a combination that had been in the brain for years, Claudia Handpaint's "Sea Dreams" made up into Knitty's Azure socks.


Then I cast on Cat Bordhi's Jeweled Steps and Knitspot's David sock and made it through one of each pattern before fizzling out. Is second sock syndrome to blame or is it that....

1. I'm a giant pregnant woman who can't get cool.

Sir snacks is getting pretty big, I'm already carrying around 40 extra pounds and window AC units do not cool the house the way central air does. Blahhhh it's going to be a long summer.

I'm a boy, I'm a boy, but my mom won't admit it

Haa haa, for some reason I've had that Who song stuck in my head for days. In actuality my husband and I were pretty sure that we were having a boy, due to my extreme hunger. (Extreme as in I do not sleep through the night but have to get up several times to eat) When he gets to be teenager he's going to eat us out of house and home.

Feeeed Meeee!

One thing that is hard admitting is that boy baby sweaters don't seem to be nearly as fun as girl baby sweaters. I'm having a hard time finding patterns I'd actually feel like knitting. If any of you have some suggestions for boy or unisex sweaters please let me know.

In the meantime there are a few baby things that have come off the needles.
One finished Brownie hat in Cascade 220 Heathers...

I'm still surprised that ear flaps are "in."

And one Otto in Sublime cashmere/merino/silk...

grrrrr, argh

Both patterns were good stash busters for some odd balls that had been hanging around.

I'd hoped to have FO photos of the Vogue Heart Yoke by now but the ideal button has been elusive. Some custom made buttons have been ordered so maybe by the beginning of next month there will be a nice final post for that.

A little something for now

Hey look some pretty color-work...

Hee hee hee Hearts.... black hearts.

It's good to do some experimenting with your color work, but knitting in only red and white taught me two things:
1. You really do need the number of colors the pattern specifics. If you ignore this then enjoy your super bland color-work.
2. Red, white and heathered gray = sock monkey colors. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just not what I was going for.

The odd ball stash saved me by yielding up balls of Filatura Di Crosa Zara in dark gray and black. Then the Red Current Sublime merino was switched out with the Plume color and all was good.

They'll be a proper FO post later when I'll kvetch about all the errors in the pattern. Till then I'll be weaving in a million ends.

Ewwww, shouldn't there be some sort of elf for this?

Getting Salty Again

Yes, the package with the extra balls of Salty colored merino arrived and now we're gonna "Get all Salty." By getting salty I mean take some pictures of Frog with the yarn and then start knitting the Vogue Heart Yoke cardigan again.

Frog is a yarn sniffing connoisseur.

The short rows were all finished up and then we hit our Duh moment. All this time I'd been looking at the Vogue photo and thought the yoke only consisted of 3 colors.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful and wearing hand knits.

When starting to knit the chart I was wondering why it had so many different symbols. Duh, maybe because there is a bunch of gray in it! (Seemly you didn't bother to read all the yardage requirements either, silly knitter) I might just ignore this and go with my original color plan of only red and white. Maybe throw in the MC in for a little variety, we'll see.

In the few days when the Heart Yoke sweater was stalled I purchased Wooly Wormhead's Twisted Wooly Toppers book. There is a bunch of worsted and DK yarn in the stash that is either left over from other projects or only 2 balls were purchased. Knitting up a few of these lovely hats should take care of that problem and maybe produce a few gifts.

First hat cast on was Brownie knit up in some Cascade 220. As long as you aren't being an idiot and trying to knit the cabled brim in the round then it's a very easy pattern. All that is left are some ear flaps and this will be going in future baby's clothing stash.

That's right DH, the baby is going to wear funny hats. You can't stop me!

Riddle me this, Frogman

The project in question - Heart Yoke Cardigan from Vogue Holiday 2009.
The mystery - Where the heck did all my yardage go?

With the help of my frog assistant we will try to crack this case. To begin with we give you exhibit one.
The directions state that we need 1100 yards of the main color for size 36.

My Rav stash page says we have 1270 yards of Sublime Extra Fine Merino which seems like more than enough.

Pattern states that gauge is 22sts by 28 rows in 4." Yes we did knit a gauge swatch before starting (However lets not go into how small that swatch was) but let's check the gauge of the sweater.
Here is the body which is knit flat.

Stitch gauge breaks down to 5.5 which is spot on (just hard to see, I assure you it's a half stitch on the edge) Row gauge breaks down to 7, my row gauge is a tad tighter at 8.

Now let's check the sleeves since they are knit in the round.

Ahh, gauge on the sleeves appears to be the same as the body.

I sent frog off to do some calculations to see if the tighter row gauge would suck up an extra 170 yards. However he sort of zoned off and might have been making certain "words" out of numbers.


I went with the non scientific route and knit until all the yarn was gone. Sadly the short row directions included a line I'd missed when gambling that there was enough of the main color to get to the Fair Isle section. (Repeat short rows 3 and 4, 6 more times.)

Yes, my project is currently stalled until more yarn reaches me via snail mail.

The verdict - The extra rows must have done me in. Or maybe Vogue directions suck.