Uptown girl desperately seeks suitable location…

Uptown girl desperately seeks suitable location…

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Man this top was hard to photograph.  And it wasn’t the photographer (she’s ace!), or the model (although she can be temperamental!), it was finding a suitable background.  We tried several locations… and everything at the start was just a little too blendy.

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And then it dawned upon us…  this was stash fabric, a lovely woven viscose from Tessuti, but a little more muted or toned down than I often wear these days.  Changing tastes or styles is one of the downsides of having a stash.

I brought the fabric nearly three years ago when Tessuti’s Tokyo Jacket was released.  The jacket hasn’t been sewn, but now I have myself a very swishy and easy to wear Uptown Top.  A top that we realised needed to be photographed with a bright background.  Something urban, and perhaps a little grungy… graffiti!

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The pattern is the Uptown Top from A Verb For Keeping Warm.  I purchased a hardcopy version from Indie Stitches, but it’s also available in pdf.

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There is a lot I love about this pattern:

1.  You can make it in a knit or a woven… as long as your fabric has a good amount of drape.  Look how nicely those sleeves fall!

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2.  The pattern includes instructions for two neckline finishes – bias binding or facings. I’m a binding girl through and through!  Speaking of necklines, this one is half an inch lower than drafted.

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3.  It can be a top (as I’ve sewn it) or, if you added the bottom band pattern piece, a tunic.

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4.  The sleeves are big… but they don’t gape.  That’s right readers… no gaping armholes!

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This is the second pattern I’ve sewn from A Verb For Keeping Warm and I do find their instructions hard to follow.  It’s not that they don’t make sense or are poorly written, but it’s all words and no diagrams/photos and I’m such a visual learner.  That being said, this is not a difficult pattern, and I think a beginner with a garment to two under their belt, could successfully make themselves an Uptown Top.

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I increased the hem allowance from 1 1/2″ to 2″… and I would have liked to shortened the top a little more mid-construction, but I ran into the point where the sleeves meet the body of the top (see photo below) and that my readers, was the point of no return.  If you wanted to shorten this pattern further, you would need to remove length from the body and sleeves at the beginning of this project… the flat pattern stage.

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And now, I’m going to leave you with an earworm, athough I am sure you have already been singing it since you started reading this post – a Billy Joel song from my childhood…

“Uptown girl
She’s been living in her uptown world
I bet she never had a backstreet guy
I bet her mama never told her why…”

Pattern:  A Verb for Keeping Warm’s Uptown Top (paper (US readers), paper (Australian readers) or pdf
Size:  41″ (there are three sizes relating to your high hip measurements – 41″, 44″ & 47″)
Fabric:  Woven viscose from Tessuti (it’s stash fabric and long sold out!)
Alterations:  Lowered the neckline by 1/2″.  Increased hem allowance from 1 1/2″ to 2″.
Accessories:  Sonia Rykiel beads from Christine and shoes purchased from Siricco
Photo Location:  Hawthorn (eastern suburbs of Melbourne)

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