Cami

Oh I prefer to buy my patterns ready printed and neatly folded in an envelope.

I wanted to make an Ogden camisole. Although the paper pattern seemed expensive at £16 I pursued it. It had sold out on every site I tried. 

So I bought the pdf pattern.  That bit was easy. Then my old computer decided to get hot and bothered. It does not hold battery power for more than 20 minutes but the power lead connection is dodgy so the computer made frightening beeps. I turned to my Chromebook but it would not connect to my Samsung printer .  I spent the next two hours getting better acquainted with my Chromebook. I gave in and borrowed my husband's laptop, printed the pattern and went for a lie down.

Here's a photo taken the next evening. Lots of paper, sellotape ........ mess. I really don't like pdf patterns. 

There are some creases but I hoped all would be ok  .......... on another day.


Another day and some success at last. The first cami is made from chiffon so I fully lined it with plain navy polyester 

I cut out several more and eventually made .....

Another chiffon  - Cami 1.

Cami 2  from a remnant of polyester. It is half lined with the same fabric. A little bit stiff but looks good tucked in to a skirt or trousers.

Cami 3 Linen/cotton stripe - nightmare to sew! It is fully lined with polyester. 

Cami 4 Seasalt viscose and cotton. Half lined with the same fabric. Easy fabric to work with and drapes well.

Cami 5 No idea what the fabric is - I've had it years! May be a good quality polyester. It has a mottled dusky blue look and it drapes well. I made the straps slightly wider and I think I prefer them as they hide bra straps.

Cami 6 Viscose. Hangs well. May fade though it the pre-wash went well.

The pattern is aimed at wearers of up to 5 foot 5 inches with a cup size up to C 

The wearers I have in mind are taller therefore I lengthened the garments by 3 inches.

I also 

• shortened each strap by an inch .... because I wanted to!
• remembered to lengthen the interfacing/lining pieces to match my adjustments.
• dealt with fabric that was extra slippy by using freezer paper. I traced and cut another pattern onto freezer paper, ironed the freezer paper pieces, shiny side down, on to the fabric then cut out the fabric. It stops the fabric slipping. I peeled off the freezer paper and stored it so that I could use it again
• used French seams for a neat finish
• put a piece of masking tape on the back of both the outer and the interfacing pieces when I cut them out as they are very similar
• chose not to line with same fabric as the outer when the main fabric was sheer as patterned interfacing would show through
• machine stitched some hems and hand-stitched the hems of others depending on the delicacy of the fabric.
• sewed a label inside the back of each cami so that the wearer can easily differentiate between the back and the front