Sorbetto II: the yoke edition

I finished another Sorbetto!  It's so quick to run these up now I've finished all the pattern adjustments.  I so rarely make the same thing for myself twice that it's a real pleasure to keep sewing without stopping to have fittings/stick pins in myself.

More self-timer shots in my kitchen.  Lucky you.

Sorbetto II is a yoke design without the central front pleat.  More of which after the jump:....


The fabric probably cost about £1.50 in total.  The bottom half is a pinstripe shirting for £1/m from a shop in Walthamstow Market.  I didn't realise until I got it home that is has a slight horizontal stretch due to some elastic content: it's pretty perfect for this top as a result, and super comfortable.  I expect the fabric must have been a roll-end from manufacturing fitted women's work-wear blouses; I've worn similar fabrics in H&M shirts.

The top yoke is some white cotton printed with white flowers and holes in it.  The man in the shop said it was called "chicken fabric" but then he said a lot of things.  Sadly Mr Chicken-Fabric did not survive a pre-wash and tumble dry as well as expected, so I think I've just made myself a handwash top.  I wanted a lace yoke, but all the (cheap) lace I could find on our expedition to London was much too plasticky or too heavy, so this was the next best thing.  It was £2/m, but I used just a tiny corner of my 1m.  What on earth should I make with the remaining 0.75m of chicken fabric now?!

I made bias binding from the shirting to bind the armholes and neckline, but it was a right pain to apply as the holes in the white fabric kept catching in my binding foot.  Stay-stitching the neck and armholes was an absolute must with the stretchy-holey-chickeny-stuff, and I also applied 6/8" strips of fusible to the seam allowances at the shoulder and side seams.  I hope this will stop those seams stretching out of shape as I wear it.

To make the yoke style, I folded away the extra fabric used to make the pleat, then I slashed my pattern horizontally across the back and bust (just above the bust dart) and added 5/8" seam allowances to both pieces along this new seam.  I cut the back yoke as a single piece to avoid too many chicken-y seams.  However, I kept the CB seam in the lower part of the back where it's needed for shaping.  The pattern matching across this seam could be better, but I had a feeling it wasn't going to be the worst aspect of the construction.

It turns out that the worst aspect was that I forgot to fold away the 5/8" seam allowance on the CB seam when I cut the back yoke out, so it's 1 1/4" too wide.  What a looser.  Shhhh dont tell anyone.

Apparently I look pretty grumpy today.

I'm pretty happy with the effect of this new top.  It's pleasingly nautically inspired with the blue and white colours and pinstripes.  It's also quite stretchy and comfortable for a woven top.

I might yoke-it-up again for another sorbetto.  The yoke seems an excellent place to get away with a bit of quilting cotton print madness without suffering its terrible drape.  However, I think the actual next sorbetto effort might be with sleeves.  Loose sleeveless tank tops are not hugely flattering on me.