V&S Angelina top and the final two Sleevefest sponsors

In my previous post about ‘Sleevefest’ I mentioned very briefly about the final two sponsors and the prizes they are offering.

Well, one of them is from my lovely friend Helen over at Valentine & Stitch.com who not only blogs about sewing but along with her husband Rich (the other half of V&S and a computer genius), designs PDF patterns mostly for knit fabrics. In my eyes, Helen is Superwoman…she juggles family life with another job, besides designing fab patterns like a  sewing ninja  and from what I can gather cooks amazing cakes too…if you’ve read  her storytelling of the time I first contacted her about working on Sleevfest with me you’ll know what I mean hehe!

So may I introduce to you the V&S Angelina top. This pattern will be offered as one of the final two prizes, but not only that…It will be a bespoke pattern made to your own personal measurements…how cool is that! The pattern’s many variations are for a sleeveless top and dress, or a top and dress with full, flouncy sleeves in an elbow or shorter lengths.

All. The. Flounce!

I decided to make the top version with the longer sleeve (I wanted All. The. Flounce!) and the fabric I chose from my stash is a viscose and lycra blend from Clothspot, which I bought over a year ago. It has a nice weighty feel for a lightweight jersey and drapes well.

The PDF pattern that I printed off came in nested sizes of XXS, XS, S, M, L and XL  and after studying the size chart I was a little in between sizes so I decided to grade between the M and S. I kept the length exactly as per the medium size though. The fit for me was great at bust and waist and the length felt perfect. Just for reference, I’m a smidge over 5’5” tall. I love how the pattern subtly shapes in through the waist area which is sooooo flattering.

Now, the shoulder line is cut to be generous in width for a little more coverage in the sleeveless version which I love the look of, yet when I set in my sleeve, I found that I preferred mine to be a little higher set onto my shoulder. This is purely personal preference and my solution was to simply grade the shoulder width to a narrower size. The other little tweak was to just lower the neckline a little and as a result, I had to lengthen the neckband by 2”. I had no problems following the clear instructions for making up and when it came to the neckband I went for the fold-to-the-outside method and finished with a row of stitching. I wanted to use a twin needle but my machine wouldn’t oblige and I got skipped stitches, so one row it is.

I finished the bottom of my sleeves with a zig-zag stitch on a very narrow hem for a different look. Had I got enough thread I would have loved to use a rolled hem done on my overlocker, but you know how it is…that feeling of wanting to finish a project and not to have to go out to buy more thread 🙂

All in all, I love this top and it feels fabulous on. The fit is lovely and really flattering.

Ok, so you’ve heard all about the Angelina. Now I can tell you about the other prize being offered along with it for the voting part on Sleevefest. It comes from Sew Essential, who are offering a £25 gift voucher to spend online with them. They have an amazing website with a vast array of stock, in fact, it’s more of a superstore really. You will find everything for the sewist and crafter from sewing patterns to haberdashery, all the sewing tools you would ever need, sewing machines, fabrics and even a home decor equipment selection. So plenty to choose from for the lucky recipient. Good luck!

Finally, thanks for stopping by and having a read this week. I’ll be back soon with more sewing chat. ‘Til then, bye!

 

****Edit…all links to V&S have been removed as they are no longer trading.

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