I’m back from a little bit of a blog break! My sewjo was really rock-bottom after we moved to a new house in July. It was hard to figure out, but it just came down to: I didn’t like my sewing space. So, I spent almost an entire Saturday creating a great new space, and I was back to feeling like I wanted to master knit tops. Enter the Sew Over It Edie top.

Here’s my new space (before I did any sewing — it’s already a mess). It is in a basement, but there are windows on each wall and it actually gets a lot of light.

I wanted to try the Edie Top again because the first two I made were so close to perfect, I could smell it! The first one was a bit bizarre because I wanted to use a very light see-through knit, so I ironed knit interfacing to every piece of fabric  (Today, I would definitely interline it). It’s good that I left off the sleeves because the interfacing doesn’t breathe at all.

The second one I made out of a very stretchy knit I picked up at Joann Fabrics for 80% off. Rather than do sleeveless again, I added a tiny cap sleeve.

The only issue with this Edie? I wasn’t crazy about the cheap-o yellow fabric. The fit improved with this really stretchy fabric, however. This is the fact I forgot when I went to make the Edie this week. I used some of #dorothysfabric that I bought at an estate sale. It’s a nice, thick knit, but with very little stretch. Turns out this makes a huge difference in the fit! The front looks OK, but the back is obviously too small.

I repeated the FBA for knits that I learned from Cashmerette. It’s a fantastic way to add more room to the front of a knit top, without the need for any awkward darts.

The best thing about this top is the elegant neckline.

I have a top I bought at Target a long time ago that has a perfect little triangle of fabric sewn into the neckline at the shoulder seams. I may sew this onto my next Edie, to prevent any peek-a-book bra straps.

Final lesson learned: for anything less than 100% stretch: size up. You can always take away fabric, but you can’t add!

All-in-all, I’m just very glad to be sewing again. The only thing stopping me now is the great bounty of Italian prune plums that are falling in my yard.

My husband and I have been baking out of a local baker’s cookbook, “Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies and more“. We recently made a grunt and a slump, and they were delicious! -rcp