Finished Project: HotPatterns Blouse-Back Tee

For the first time in what feels like forever, I finally have a finished project *for me* to write about: the HotPatterns Fast & Fabulous Blouse-Back Tee!

HotPatterns Blouse-Back Tee - front

While the neckband appears to gape, that's just a product of it getting mangled in the wash. I'd steamed it back into shape in the morning, but it got stretched out again by the time we took these photos.

From the front, this top looks like a fairly innocuous-but-cute striped tee with contrast sleeve and neckbands. But lo and behold, much like the mullet, this tee is all party in the back:

HotPatterns Blouse-Back tee - back

I actually finished this top two weeks ago, but due to Seattle weather and toddler stains, I wasn't able to photograph it until this weekend. I worked on this top on a leisurely schedule as part of the HotPatterns-hosted sewalong for this pattern. If you're at all interested in this pattern, I highly recommend checking out the new HotPatterns Facebook group, where you'll be able to see all of the cool design variations people made. This pattern is great because not only is it fast and easy to sew, you can get really creative with color blocking, contrast, or even using lace or chiffon remnants for the back and other pieces.

Now, onto the information that you're probably interested in...

Fabric used

The striped fabric is a rayon knit that was FabricMart's "crazy priced fabric" several months back. I paid around $3/yard for it and bought six yards, so I had no qualms about using this fabric for my "test run", even though I quite like the fabric. I found it interesting that I found identical fabric listed on EmmaOneSock and SawyerBrook for exponentially more than what I paid.

The black contrast is a rayon-bambmoo knit remant from fabric.com that I had left over from another project.

Note that you want to use a VERY lightweight and drapey fabric (can be knit or woven) for the back drape piece, or the piece won't hang as expected.

HotPatterns Blouse-Back tee envelope

What happens if you don't use a drapey enough fabric for the back? Look at the line drawing and see how the back piece partially wraps around the front? (You can see that a little in my photo of the front of the top.) That's by design to show off the contrast. However, if your back drape fabric isn't drapey enough, sewalong participants found that the back wrapped around in an exaggerated way and/or stuck out to the sides. Of course, that's fine, if that's the effect that you're looking for, but your top won't look like the one in the line drawing then.

Fit and sizing 

According to the bust, waist, and hip figures of the HotPatterns size chart, I should wear a size 22 in their tops, but from experience, I know that I like to start with a size 18 (which matches my high bust measurement) and then transition to a 20 or 22 (depending on the flat pattern measurement) at the armscye. This "cheater FBA" method usually serves me well on their knit tops. For this pattern, I started with a size 18, transitioned to a 20 at the armscye, and then out to a 22 at the hip (some folks were finding that it had less ease through the hip/bum than they preferred). From an ease perspective, this worked fine, but as you can see in my photos, the front is riding up a bit, which is exaggerated by the hi-lo hem nature of the top. I do plan to make this again, but when I do, I will "undo" my cheater FBA, and do a traditional darted FBA, which will add a little more shaping to the top and should alleviate the "riding up" beyond the design detail.

As far as length goes, I shortened both the front and the back by 2", which isn't unusual for me, given that I'm only 5'2". You can see that the back is still pretty long on me--hitting me at about mid-back-thigh, when it really should be ending just past my butt. I might shorten the back a tad more when I make this again.

Other gotchas

Some sewalong participants found that the neckband, as drafted, was a bit long, particularly if they had a very stretchy knit. I always always always check the length of my neckband before stitching on--a good rule of thumb is that the neckband should be about 2/3-3/4 of the length of the neck opening for it to ease properly and not gape. This applies to all knit tops with a bound neckline--not just this one.

Overall, I'm quite happy with my top--it's a fun, easy-to-throw-on top for warmer weather, and I definitely would like to make this again and play around with the design possibilities. I have a sheer rayon knit that's not suitable to be used without layering, and I'm thinking of using that to underline a stretch lace for the top body, and using the sheer knit on its own for the drape piece.

A final thought (for now) about swimsuits

The discussion that ensued on my last post about swimsuits was interesting, enlightening, and to be honest, a little disheartening.

• Interesting because you all managed to find both some really wonderful resources and examples of bloggers who had successfully tamed plus sized swimwear.
• Enlightening because now I know that many other women share my frustrations with plus sized swimwear design and the available options. (The issue with tie-behind-the-neck straps came up again and again.)
• Disheartening because the suit that I want to make clearly doesn't exist anywhere yet. Bombshell/retro styles are really popular right now and flattering on many (especially curvy) figure types, but the available patterns in this style will require quite a bit of engineering effort on my part to make one work for me. Conversely, there are a couple of swimsuit patterns out there that do appear to have provisions for bust support, but they are very basic styles and would also require a lot of pattern drafting/frankenpattern effort to morph the style that I want onto their base.

I'm not sure what I plan to do at this point. I'm not sure that any of the options are worth the effort for a suit that would get worn just a few times this summer so that I can take my daughter to the pool. At the moment, I'm leaning towards just sticking with my old my-boobs-don't-spill-out Target tankini.

Swimsuits.

I've been MIA for the past week or so due to a rather large product launch we had at work yesterday. I survived, though, with my sanity still somewhat intact. I am looking forward to having my life back, for at least a little while. I am looking forward to having enjoying having my energy back and being able to do more with my daughter on the weekends than taking her to the playground and pushing her in a swing for a half hour. There are several indoor pool/"aquatic recreation centers" near our house that look like they'd be a lot of fun for Eva, and I'd love to take her.

With that, let's talk about a subject that many of us find overwhelmingly unpleasant: Swimsuits. I do own one, and like many plus sized women, I didn't have much choice in my swimsuit. We were on vacation a little over a year ago, our hotel had a nice pool, and since I didn't own/bring a swimsuit, we ran to Target and I purchased the only suit I could find where my boobs didn't spill out in an obscene way.

I've been mentally toying with the idea of making a swimsuit so that I can have something to wear if I take my toddler to one of the local aquatic recreation centers. Of course, swimsuit patterns don't come in size "short and dumpy with a giant rack," so I'm looking at having to make significant pattern alterations and at least one muslin to come up with anything remotely workable. And unfortunately, there aren't many pattern reviews or blog posts for plus sized swimsuits out there where I could use someone else's work as a guide. We're in uncharted waters here.

I love love love the look of the Closet Case Files bombshell swimsuit (and love the look of bombshell swimsuits, in general):

Closet Case Files Bombshell swimsuit

This has been a very popular pattern in the blogosphere for the past year or so, but I can't find a single example of anyone remotely plus sized who's made it, either on Pattern Review, the pattern's flickr group, or by simply googling for blog posts. At best, there are a few women with hourglass figures who are rocking it, but they are much smaller hourglasses than I am.

Unfortunately, when I look at the line drawing, I want to run away crying when I see how small the bra portion appears to be in relation to the rest of the suit:

Bombshell line

I don't suppose anyone out there happens to know what cup size this pattern is drafted for? I can do an FBA on just about anything, but this looks like it has the potential to be a far more substantial engineering project than I am willing to take on. Blog posts and reviews have described this suit as being supportive, but supporting ~20 lbs of boobage is going to be a much greater task than I think this suit has been asked to handle by most of the bloggers who have covered this suit.

Another suit that I like the look of is Gertie's new suit for Butterick:

 

Butterick 6067 by Gertie

This pattern has the advantages of including different cup sizes (up to a D), so in theory, a less substantial FBA would be involved. However, the sample on the model doesn't fit her all that well (look at the seamline across the bust), and she doesn't appear to be particularly full-busted.

Butterick 6067 line drawing

This one doesn't seem to have any reviews anywhere yet, so I don't have a feel for if the cup sizing runs small or weird, or if they just chose the wrong model to photograph for their sample.

I'm intrigued by the idea of making my own suit--I'd love to have a suit that I potentially actually like, rather than one that I left the store with primarily because my boobs didn't spill out of it.

Have any of you tried tackling a swim suit when you knew that there would be major fit challenges involved? What pattern did you use? And has anyone with a curvy figure made up either of these patterns and just not blogged about it or reviewed it yet?

On a related note, I think it's telling that there are so few blog posts from plus sized women about swimwear. Honestly, I couldn't find a single sewing-related post by a plus sized blogger (but maybe Google missed something)? Trust me, I can certainly understand not wanting to post photos of yourself in a swimsuit on the internet. We've all read that viral blog post by the woman who posted a picture of herself in a swimsuit as a way of making peace with her body only to have the image stolen by a diet company who used it as a "before" picture. None of us want to be that person. I'm not sure what the solution is; how do we communicate about what patterns work for us and encourage each other if the only way to do that is to put yourself out there in front of a judgmental public?

 

Update (20-June-2014)

I'm updating this post to surface some of the suggestions/links given in the comments. I know that blog readers don't always read every single comment (shocking, I know), so I'm hoping that this info will be easier to find if someone reads this post in the future.

Other swimsuit patterns that go into true plus sizes

Jalie 2447 (goes up to a 50" bust, 52" hips):

Jalie 2447 line drawing

Simplicity 1374 (goes up to a pattern size 24 - 48" bust, 50" hip)

Simplicity 1374 line drawing

Butterick 5795 (goes up to a pattern size 32W, includes separate cup sizes, 54" bust, 56" hip)

Butterick 5795 line drawing

Various Pin-up Girls swimsuits (up to bust size 52"):

Denise swim suit

Princess tankini

Resources for modifying a swimsuit pattern for a curvy figure

Heather's instructions for grading the Bombshell swimsuit up beyond the size chart:

For a sewist with the following measurements:

• 47" bust
• 43" waist
• 54" hip
• 5'7" and short waisted

From Heather:

"This is the formula I would use if I was grading the pattern specifically to fit your measurements. Trace the unchanging line of the pattern piece (the center seam or the line where the fabric is placed on the fold). Using size 18 pattern pieces, measure at the widest point of the bust. You are going to extend that point by 7%. Taking the narrowest point of the waist, you should add 16% to that point. At the widest point of the hip, add 17% (I got these numbers by dividing the bust/waist/hip ratio for size 18 with your bust/waist/hip ratio). Actually, add 1/2 of the above percentages since the pattern pieces are only half and will be doubled when you cut them out. You follow so far?

Once you have your new key measurements plotted (widest bust, narrowest waist, widest hip), you can join them together with a smooth curve (tracing the curve of the size 18 piece if possible). Normally I would suggest that you also lengthen all your pieces by 106%, but since you are short waisted you may not need to. Do the above exercise using a stretchy piece of a fabric for your lining parts only and see how the fit is. If it fits okay in the length, you will not need to lengthen any pieces. If you need to add a little to your lining pieces, THEN you would add the 1.6 ratio to your ruched pieces."

Adding support to a swimsuit

Incorporating a partial bra into a swimsuit:

• http://threedresses.org/2013/06/12/adding-support-to-your-swimsuit/

Beverly Johnson blog post on incorporating a bra into a swimsuit:

• http://bramakers.blogspot.com/2014/06/day-8-for-ree-floating-b-ras.html