Finished: Ikat and Chambray Wiksten Tova

 

This was truly one of those sewing projects that really gets under your skin. You know, the ones you think about loads and are really exciting about sewing and wearing. I've made this pattern once before and it was wearing the first version recently that made me realise I needed another one. Not just because I like the pattern but more importantly because the first one doesn't fit very well.

Even though I made an adjustment across my problem area of the upper back on the first one, it's just too tight to be worn comfortably and as for raising your arms, forget about it. So, I made a further broad upper back adjustment and ended up with something that is infinitely more comfortable. Plus it's made of fabric left over from two other projects *mega high five*. These projects are my chambray shirt dress and a pre-blog Sencha blouse - it's not the ikat fabric I bought in NY, as some people commented when I posted a peek of this ages ago, happily I still have that!

 

I made the shorter length from the pattern although I did lengthen it an inch or so due to my height. One other alteration I made was to underline the bib part. If you are familiar with the pattern you may know that the collar tends to flop open, revealing the inside of the bib (is it called a bib? sounds a bit weird). This being the case, I wanted to have the contrasting fabric on show rather than the back of the ikat fabric. An unintended outcome of this underlining is that this bib part now sits more stiffly and so doesn't naturally flop open, so you don't really see the inside fabric anyway. I'm not over the moon with this feature as now it sits a bit weirdly and actually does look a little stiff for such a relaxed style of top.

In addition to adjusting the back piece of the pattern I added to the back of the sleeve caps but I have  detailed the alterations in a dedicated post here.

Fit-wise this is a really exciting development for me as broad upper back issues are something that have very often prevented me from being happy with bodice fit, and previously my adjustments have never been quite enough. Now I feel so encouraged to tackle patterns I had once abandoned. I'm sure there are still many other little tweaks that could be made to the fit but the upper back is such a big issue for me (ha, literally) that it will make such a difference.

Looks-wise, I am really chuffed with the fabric combination which came about through necessity/invention, when I realised that I didn't have enough chambray for the whole thing and started hunting in my tote bags of scrap fabrics for something suitable. The ikat print is a bit of a weird fabric, lighter than quilting cotton but really a little stiff for most garments. Don't they go well together though?

K x