Hi.

I’m Victoria, and this site mostly has my sewing projects and science writing, with a sprinkling of older poetry & etc.

I’m a prairie kid, parent of two, celiac, and like lane swimming. I love to research. I did my undergrad in physics & English with a math minor. I’m now doing a Master’s in economics.

A note about the blog title: in math and physics, the prefix eigen means one's own. It comes from the german, but mostly I always liked thinking about a particle's eigenvalues, and thought I might apply the same thought to my excursions.

McCall's 3147 - #sewingbowlchallenge tank top

McCall's 3147 - #sewingbowlchallenge tank top

Victoria Martinez
Sewing

I signed on for the #sewingbowlchallenge for July and boy was it tricky with 6 categories! I kept coming up with ideas that would meet 5 of the categories, or ideas that would work for all but that wouldn’t get wear.

The setup is that you can pick one of two options in each category, which gave more freedom but also made it harder to remember what the options in each category were for me, leading to trying to meet everything. Nevertheless, I came up with this project idea towards the last week of July, and it seemed suitably quickly doable.

My options were:

  1. Indie OR vintage pattern (I went vintage)

  2. top OR suit set/ top + bottom (i went top)

  3. cotton or wool OR brocade or ankara (i went cotton)

  4. print on print OR houndstooth/ herringbone (i went print on print)

  5. monochromatic OR metallic (monochrome inspired here)

  6. Asymmetric/hi-low or cutout OR tulle, mesh or sheer (i went asymmetric)

I wanted to sew from stash, adding to the limitations on what was possible. The only brocade I have is a chinese brocade that didn’t feel right for this project, and for awhile i was chasing the idea of knocking off metallic and sheer in one go with a weird crinkly tulle ish fabric i have, probably to be paired with a black cotton… but that vision was going to be a bit more challenging to pull off in time.

Flipping thru my vintage patterns looking for a top that could meet the asymmetry requirement revealed McCall’s 3147, digging through my fabrics (again) found me a few (all thrifted/second hand!) cottons with yellow prominent, and then I knew I could do it. Of course, this isn’t true monochrome, but it sure is print on print!

From a learning new things perspective, I did a 1” small bust adjustment for the first time, which I found quite intuitive. I’m pleased to not see my usual neckline gaping on a top like this. I misplaced the darts by a fair amount somehow but with those generous 5/8 allowances it was easy enough to move down after the fact.

Overall, it’s a really cute cut but I am really annoyed by the choices on facings. They’re quite large on the back panels, enough that it feels like the garment should just be fully lined/reversible. And the armhole facings are totally separate but still substantial enough that they’d meet the back facings, and I just didn’t like it from the get go. However, it was one of those times that I just felt like trying the pattern as written to see why it was done this way. I’m not really sure. I went off book for the armholes and used bias binding, purchased at the last minute (July 30!) at Nefelibata.

I would make this again, maybe one of the other views or some such, but I would definitely go to my instincts on facings for it.

Pattern: McCall’s 3147
My measurements: HB 34 Full bust 35
Size made : Bust 36 w/ 1 inch small bust adjustment
Next time: pattern does not reflect my movement of the bust dart so check that. Do something else with the facings!

Pink Gingham: 1948 bolero top

Pink Gingham: 1948 bolero top
Pink Gingham: Shorts - Butterick 9779

Pink Gingham: Shorts - Butterick 9779