Ringing in 2014 with Sparkle and Shine!

 

So as we decided to spend New Year's at a comedy club (John Oliver at Cobb's Comedy Club... we got a front row table right along the stage and he was hilarious) I decided I needed a casual, yet suitably festive ensemble.  Of course, I made this determination on December 30.  So like any good sewist, I hightailed it over to my local JoAnns and picked up a few yards of a fabulous sequin mesh.  

 

 

I was then faced with the challenge of finding a sequin appropriate top.  I think the trick to working with such highly embellished fabric is to keep the design lines minimal.  So I settled on McCall's 6078 (now sadly out of print), which I have made from rayon jersey successfully several times before.  

 

 

I made a few minor alterations.  First, I decided to keep the plain mesh selvage in lieu of hemming, so I lined up the hem of the pattern along the border of the sequins when laying out my pattern pieces.  I was also uncertain as to how this much heavier and substantial fabric would drape so I played around with it on the dress form and eventually decided that the triple pleats along the shoulders and side back added too much bulk.  Instead, I made on large pleat at each point to create a cleaner cowl draped effect.  

 

I also decided that, for the sake of both transparency and comfort, I would line the top with a black rayon jersey from the stash.   This made the overall top a bit heavier than would probably be ideal, but given the amount of time we spent outside and wandering the hills of San Francisco, I was glad for the extra warmth. 

 

 

Now, this was a bit of a rush job, so on the afternoon of New Years Eve, I decided that my shoulder seams (which at that point were exposed sequins) needed to be less scratchy and sewed plain black bias tape over the trimmed seam allowance. 

 

 

Also, due to my sewing in a hurry, I didn't properly lay out all the pieces so once corner of the shoulder wound up sadly sequin-free.  In the end, it doesn't bother me too much and it's a small enough patch (about a square inch) that if I really wanted, I could add the embellishments by hand from some of the leftover scrap in about an hour.    That said, the plan was to wear this under a blazer, so I didn't much care. 

 



 

Ultimately, I think this top turned out pretty good for a 2-3 hour, last minute project.  I would certainly wear it again for other festive "going out" occasions, because really what day couldn't use a little extra sparkle?