I put my hand up to test for Paprika Patterns a while back. I had a great experience with making the Jasper sweater and it's getting a lot of use now the weather her in Sydney has chilled down a bit.
Their newest pattern is the Onyx Shirt, which is designed for lightweight to medium wovens. There are a number of variations between sleeves, necklines and cuffs, as you can see from the line drawings below:
I made two versions, both with the scoped neckline shown on view B and both with sleeves. They both have a hi-lo hem, which is more exaggerated on the crop version than the longer version. While a crop top isn't usually my thing, I thought I might try this out:
I used a thinish woven of unknown composition acquired from Spotlight some years back. I think it actually has a small amount of stretch but not much. I lengthened this top by about 2 inches and think it was 0.5 inches (or maybe a full inch) too much.
Excuse the terrible pressing job on this and the awkward pose - I was trying to show the hi-lo hem...
I actually don't mind the crop version on me, which was a surprise as it wouldn't be my usual comfort-zone! I am unlikely to wear it without a vest under, but as it's winter here that's no huge deal. I need to make some high waisted pants or a skirt to see whether I would wear it a lot I think.
I did also wonder about fitting it in under the bust and adding a closure (invisible zip) at the side seam - this might make it more flattering. My husband also suggested that it felt like "it should actually be a short jacket" but I suspect that was more due to the lack of drape in my chosen fabric...
My second version was View A, with the neckline of View B:
I used a fairly sheer printed chiffon-type fabric for this (again, Spotlight many years ago) with a kind of chevron pattern on it. This has so much more drape than the other version and I like it and wear it a lot.
It has all the comfort and ease of a drapey jersey t-shirt, but looks just a bit smarter - enough that I wear it to work all the time. I didn't add the button cuffs - only really because I liked the clean line of the cuff with the pattern going the other way on it. I usually love a button cuff sleeve so it was a surprise that I didn't end up adding them,
I again added some length to this one, and again I feel I added just a little bit too much.
Not much else to report on these. I liked the neckline treatment - it was pretty easy to get it to lie nice and flat on both versions I made. Those drag lines aren't usually there when I am moving around either :)
I also liked the boxy shape and the hi-lo hem, though as mentioned I think I added a little bit too much length. I used french seams throughout as this was super-prone to fraying.
Both versions were a very quick sew and as mentioned in other posts, I like the sizing approach that they take in their patterns (there is a little flow chart to guide you towards the best approach if you don't exactly match the size measurements).
While the jury is still out on whether I will wear View B much, I suspect I will be making more of View A - nice and quick, not a huge fabric hog and looks smart or casual depending on what you wear with it: that's a winner!!!
Their newest pattern is the Onyx Shirt, which is designed for lightweight to medium wovens. There are a number of variations between sleeves, necklines and cuffs, as you can see from the line drawings below:
I made two versions, both with the scoped neckline shown on view B and both with sleeves. They both have a hi-lo hem, which is more exaggerated on the crop version than the longer version. While a crop top isn't usually my thing, I thought I might try this out:
I used a thinish woven of unknown composition acquired from Spotlight some years back. I think it actually has a small amount of stretch but not much. I lengthened this top by about 2 inches and think it was 0.5 inches (or maybe a full inch) too much.
Excuse the terrible pressing job on this and the awkward pose - I was trying to show the hi-lo hem...
I actually don't mind the crop version on me, which was a surprise as it wouldn't be my usual comfort-zone! I am unlikely to wear it without a vest under, but as it's winter here that's no huge deal. I need to make some high waisted pants or a skirt to see whether I would wear it a lot I think.
I did also wonder about fitting it in under the bust and adding a closure (invisible zip) at the side seam - this might make it more flattering. My husband also suggested that it felt like "it should actually be a short jacket" but I suspect that was more due to the lack of drape in my chosen fabric...
My second version was View A, with the neckline of View B:
I used a fairly sheer printed chiffon-type fabric for this (again, Spotlight many years ago) with a kind of chevron pattern on it. This has so much more drape than the other version and I like it and wear it a lot.
It has all the comfort and ease of a drapey jersey t-shirt, but looks just a bit smarter - enough that I wear it to work all the time. I didn't add the button cuffs - only really because I liked the clean line of the cuff with the pattern going the other way on it. I usually love a button cuff sleeve so it was a surprise that I didn't end up adding them,
I again added some length to this one, and again I feel I added just a little bit too much.
Not much else to report on these. I liked the neckline treatment - it was pretty easy to get it to lie nice and flat on both versions I made. Those drag lines aren't usually there when I am moving around either :)
I also liked the boxy shape and the hi-lo hem, though as mentioned I think I added a little bit too much length. I used french seams throughout as this was super-prone to fraying.
Both versions were a very quick sew and as mentioned in other posts, I like the sizing approach that they take in their patterns (there is a little flow chart to guide you towards the best approach if you don't exactly match the size measurements).
While the jury is still out on whether I will wear View B much, I suspect I will be making more of View A - nice and quick, not a huge fabric hog and looks smart or casual depending on what you wear with it: that's a winner!!!
Comments
Post a Comment