Aphrodite for Me!

I already had the size 6 cut out, and so to make a version of HotPatterns Mighty Aphrodite top for myself, all I had to do was to taper the waist and hip area to about an 8 while cutting. Oh, yes, and trace out the long sleeve. So this went FAST! Finished in about a day, in between driving kids to activities and cooking meals.


While cutting out the pieces, I discovered a great way to get the grainline more accurate. This fabric, a rayon knit, I think, has very wavy selvedge. I think these knits are usually knit in a tube, then the tube is cut open and the edges glued so they don't unravel. So there was no way I could use the selvedge as a grainline reference. Here's what I did, using 3 quilting rulers.


1) Line up a large quilting ruler somewhere off the pattern piece, right along a row of knit stitches. You may have to pick up the fabric and rearrange it so that it is straight.

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Lining up the stitches along the ruler

2) Use one 12" ruler to measure from the large ruler to the grainline marked on the pattern piece. It is much easier to place the piece and the rulers so that the mark is to the nearest inch. That way you won't have to remember fractions of an inch.

3) Use another 12 ruler down at the other end of the pattern piece to measure the same distance as the first 12" ruler. If the measurement doesn't match, then pivot the pattern piece without moving the other end, so that it does. In the photo I used a shorter ruler because I couldn't find my other 12-inch(these things are so handy, everybody in the family uses them.)

Other sewing details
1) While reading the instructions more closely this time, I figured out how they wanted me to sew the hem flounce on, though it still leaves out a couple of steps. There is no "slit" needed for the drawcord to pass through because you turn it up at the hem, then open the wide seam allowance out and stitch the channels. The drawcords will come out of the bottom of the channels. The flounce is supposed to be sewn on, tapered to the drawcord area. It just needs a snip to let the seam allowance free from the drawcord channel. So you bypass a triangular piece of the flounce as you sew it on.

2) In the comments section of my pattern review of this top, Nancy K provided some very helpful info on sewing the shoulder pleat. Yesss!

I traced this out and couldn't figure out the pleats either, so I emailed Trudy and got a diagram back. The notches line up as follows: the first notch which is single, lines up with the first of the next two notches. The second one lines up with the first of the next two etc.


3) I used my serger to sew a 2-thread rolled hem at the edge of the flounce and at the sleeve edges. In the ITY versions I did not finish off the flounce edge at all. (Check RTW--they do it all the time now!)