Saturday, February 9, 2013

Sewaholic Renfrew Top view C: how do you get rid of armpit wrinkles?

Sewaholic Renfrew Top DONE
I love a good cowl.

I started a muslin of Sewaholic Renfrew Top, view C, size 8, today.  I was striving for "wearable muslin"...mission accomplished!

When I first basted it together, it looked like this, lots of armpit wrinkles, it was riding up and it felt too tight to wear, defeating the purpose of the wearable muslin:

lots-wrinkles
I then undid the side seam and sleeve basting and ripped out the most beautiful sleevecaps I had ever sewn. I then resewed the armhole seam almost a full half inch over, while retaining the original seam allowance of the sleeve. I also sewed the side seams as 3/8 instead of 5/8 SA, and voila, there were less wrinkles:
less-wrinkles

But how do I get rid of the wrinkles? KID MD suggested on twitter that I lower the armhole then cut another sleeve wider to fit.  That means cutting another muslin.  So I did the things as I wrote above,  as I not only wanted a wearable muslin, I wanted a finished wearable muslin today.

Here it is, done. (hands on hips is another way to get rid of armpit wrinkles)
Sewaholic Renfrew Top DONE
I love the sleeve bands when I didn't think I would. I'm not sure about the band on the bottom. I might take that off and use a stretch twin needle for a regular hem.

There's a touch of swayback pooling that I think I can reduce on my next muslin:
Sewaholic Renfrew Top DONE
Yeah, not sure about that bottom band.  But hey, I'm wearing the brown J Stern Designs corduroy jeans I made, yay!
Sewaholic Renfrew Top DONE

This was also my first time using my seam roll and stand from Stitch Nerd. Honestly, where have you been all my life?

I used the seam roll for pressing seams, including pressing open the sleeve bands.

Here,the sleeve band is on the roll, waiting to be pressed
Stitch Nerd Seam Roll and Stand
I then pressed it with a pressing cloth and iron:
Stitch Nerd Seam Roll and Stand
and then used the Angela Wolf clapper to set the press:
The Angela Wolf Clapper, Stitch Nerd Seam Roll and Stand
Look at that, gorgeously pressed open seam:
Stitch Nerd Seam Roll and Stand
I folded the band in half and then used the seam roll for pressing a crease horizontally so as to not create a crease vertically.
Stitch Nerd Seam Roll and Stand
Pretty sweet! It was also my first time using gigantic sheets of wax tracing paper, another concept that has changed my life, but I'll save that for another time.
Be well!

9 comments:

  1. Wow. That came together so fast Kyle and you've done a great job 'making it work' too.
    Love this colour on you. Stay warm.

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  2. Try lifting (pinching) up the end of the shoulder seam (usually 1/2") and see if that reduces the wrinkle. If it does you need to change the angle of the shoulder. In your fitting books it will be shown as a sloped shoulder alteration. No, you don't look like you have a sloped shoulder but it will lower the armhole (and remove the wrinkles) while still retaining the same overall shape and size.

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  3. Armpit wrinkles? I reduced mine by shortening at the armscythe for petite, as I'm 5'. Secondly a FBA. But raglan sleeves in a knit still give me underarm wrinkles as the sleeve doesn't fit as well as a set-in one. HTH.

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  4. Shoulder or FBA or - Are you wearing your usual bra?

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  5. I have the same issue with this shirt. So far I've ignored it, but I have thought about a sloped shoulder alteration (what debbie suggests). I'm not sure I understand exactly the alteration you did, but I'm going to read through it again. If you happen to document it on your next muslin, that would be great.

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  6. My first thought was "FBA" -- but I am no expert on these things. I personally believe that you should walk around all day with your hands on your hips, wearing this shirt. Perfect. ;)

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  7. If you didn't have a sleeve in that top, the armhole would gap. Gap means bust dart needed. If you pinch out the fullness at the armhole,where you have wrinkles, you can see exactly what they want to do.

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  8. So glad that Gwen answered above, cause I didn't know how to fix that problem, but certainly was interested.

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  9. Nice job!!

    I have I think its a Vogue pattern at home, where they attenuate the boob-to-armpit wrinkles by having a not-really-a dart-but sort of. It looks like a dart does at the sideseam but what you do is actually gather it and ease into the seam. It works really well. Wish I could say I'll find the pattern and post a pic but the pattern could be anywhere...

    Now I am waiting with bated breath to hear the Secret of the Wax Paper...?!

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