Sew Over It Cami

This is the first of my new makes for Me Made May and it was a nice quick and fairly simple one. The pattern is the Silk Cami from Sew Over It, though the fabric I’ve used is a viscose – I guess the effect is more or less the same, it’s light and floaty and perfect for a cool summer top. Sadly since I made it the weather has gone back to being cold, wet and windy so I haven’t had a chance to wear it yet!

I got the pattern as a download, so the first task was sticking all the printed pages together, which didn’t take too long, and then I actually just cut out the size I wanted directly from the pattern. I went by finished measurements given and cut the size 16 going by the bust size. I figured the printer paper would be more sturdy to re-use when I want to make another one, and I’ve always got the download saved and can print another one if I need to.

Cutting the pieces out was all pretty straightforward, though I had to be a bit careful about the fabric moving around – it was quite slippery! I even impressed myself by managing to centre the tile print in the middle of the front and back pieces. This fabric was one I got from Simply Fabrics at the Knitting & Stitching Show and I love how fresh the blue and white looks.

Construction was all fairly simple – French seams for the sides, attach the facings to front and back around the armholes and neckline. Then I made sure to try it on before I sewed the shoulders which was a good job because I ended up having to shorten the straps by about 4 inches to avoid some serious indecent exposure!

I think unfortunately this made the neck and armholes sit a little strangely and I had to do some judicious steam pressing to get it all to sit better – when I make another one I’ll remember to shorten the pattern through the body/armhole section beforehand which will hopefully help. I should have remembered that I’m quite short in my upper torso (shoulder to bust length) and often have fitting issues with ready-to-wear clothes in this area.

For the hem I wanted to try out the rolled hem foot on my sewing machine which has actually given a pretty neat finish. The hem is quite a curved shape through the front and back so trying to turn up a normal double hem would have probably been a nightmare with this fabric. As it is there are a couple of places that went a little wobbly where I obviously stretched the material out of shape a bit, but another go with the iron soon flattened that out!

I made this over a weekend so it wasn’t a great deal of time in total, and if I can get the pattern adjusted right any future ones should go a bit quicker now that I know what I’m doing. I’m pleased with it overall, it’ll be lovely to wear when the weather’s warmer and it’ll definitely be part of my holiday wardrobe later in the summer.

I’ll do a round-up of all my Me Made May outfits later in the month (although I’m posting photos on Instagram) but I’m quite pleased with myself that I’ve managed to wear something me-made every day so far. The next couple of weeks might be a bit more of a challenge though as I’m starting to run out of options, and if the weather warms up I won’t want to wear my heavier knitted jumpers, but we’ll see how I get on.

Are you taking part in Me Made May? How are you getting on? I’m really enjoying see everyone’s outfits on Twitter, Instagram and blogs and I’m really pleased I’m taking part this year. If nothing else it’s making me realise how many clothes I have in my wardrobe that I never wear – might be time for another clear out!