Red Textured Dartless Knit Top

Because this fabric had an interesting texture, I decided I wanted to make it into dartless top, to keep the seams to a minimum. I was relatively confident in my pattern creation, as it was VERY similar to one I have used with success in the past (pre-blog).

I used ALMOST same measurements that I had used to make the last top, the black floral textured knit princess top....EXCEPT that I increased the FSS and decreased the BSS by 0.125" each. The REASON I did this was because I was double-checking this pattern according to the helping measurements I mentioned before...using the MINOTT METHOD to determine/verify the correct size of my armholes....I had forgotten to do that before sewing that last one!


As a reminder--
When using a B cup, my pattern's front armhole height should be equal to what I measure...the back armhole height should be (measured+ 1.25").

These are the measurements I used for this one:

Chest Circumference: 41.5
Back Shoulder Width: 17.75
Neck Circumference: 14.25
Natural Waist: 34
Hip Circumference: 42
Crotch Length: 29
Height: 66
Bra Cup Size: B
Center Front Length: 15.75
Front Shoulder Width: 15.5
Front Shoulder Slope: 19.25
Shoulder Length: 5.5
Center Back Length: 16.75
Back Shoulder Slope: 18.125
Bicep Circumference: 12


To create the Dartless pattern I started with the regular, darted pattern and manipulated it...I'll show you later.

But as you can see by the pics above, the result wasn't all that fabulous. The front swings out like a maternity top, and the back has folds like a swag curtain on my tush! I was very disappointed, because (as I said) I had used an almost identical pattern before with good results. This one was slightly bigger, though...more chest and hip ease than the previous pattern...hoping to prevent the 'hanging up' on the hip that happens with dartless tops. I guess the tighter fit of the other one eliminates the folds.
I began to think that one of the pattern changes I did actually made the back 'drapery' even worse...so even though the top was only 'a hem away' from being finished, I ripped out both sideseams to realign them, cutting off 1" at the lower BACK sideseam then moving the front ss upward...basically making the front 1" longer than the back ss...putting 1" of the bust dart back into the front sideseam and just 'easing' the front to the back.

It worked, but the difference is not as great as I had hoped....see above.
The original is on the left, and the right one is after I scooted the front sideseam UPWARD, trimming 1" from the bottom of the back sideseam.

Basically, this top is not as well-fitting as the last one I did, where I used all the darting by sewing princess seam. While I may not want seams in my knits, the fit is incomparable.

Once I 'thought' I was finished, I took some pictures to put on the blog. It was THEN that I noticed that my sleeve hem was exactly in line with the side hem of the top (middle image)...visually WIDENING my hips! So even though I *really* wanted to be finished...I went back into the sewing room and shortened the sleeves by 1.75". The far-right image is the final 'after'. I liked the longer sleeves...I just wish I had curved up the top's hem less! Oh well.

This trio/pic is-- the original top (on left); the front after scooting the sideseams upward (middle); and the final top with the shorter sleeve length (on right).


Oh, and once again, I did a V-neck (will I ever learn?)!
This time, I made sure the neck facing pattern was larger than the garment's neck, to allow for the fabric's stretch. But what I hadn't considered was the interfacing show-through...both black and white showed through this fabric, which is textured with tiny sheer areas. Neither was acceptable...but I knew better than to use a facing with no interfacing. So finally I made a tiny self-fabric ribbing, kinda like piping, to finish the V-neck. And it didn't take me 3 days this time!


To create this dartless pattern, I 'slid' the front armhole downward some, to eliminate some of the bust dart. This makes the front shoulder on the pattern much sttper/lower than on my 'standard' block. When I used the similar pattern before, it had a high scooped neck and the reduced front shoulder didn't cause pulls. However, with this lower V-neck, I can see that the garment is trying to get that front shoulder height back! So this method really only works with fabric that is stretchier; plus, with a higher neckline.


This top is ok, but I like the feel and look of the black one better. Using NO BK SHOULDER DART makes the upper back narrower. I thought it would be ok in a knit, but this knit only has 20% stretch (the black had 40% stretch and DID have the bk shld dart--princess seam) and apparently that is not enough stretch to make up for the loss of width. I am not sure there IS an amount of stretch that will make up for the loss of width...perhaps I should make sure there is NO loss of width on my patterns!


I'll show you how I made the pattern in another post.

Here is the rest of the specs:


Garment Type: Blouse
Closure: No Closure
Front Neckline: Curved Vee
Back Neckline: Jewel
Front Darts: Side
Back Darts: No Darts
Sideseam Shape: Fitted

Front Neckline Depth: 5.5
Back Neckline Depth: 0.5
Neckline Width: 0.75
Neckline Point: -0.25
Back Neckline Shape Right: 0.5 clicks

Armhole Depth: -0.75
Dart Override: 0

Side/Arm Point: -0.5
Side/Waist Point: 0.75
Side/Hip Point: -0.25***not a great idea.

Finished Cb/Hem Length: 25
Hip Depth: 8

Bust Pt Vertical: 10.5
Bust Pt Horizontal: 5

Sleeve Style: Set In
Sleeve Cap Ease: 0.14***must use low cap ease for knits.