Color-blocked Seamwork Bo top

SewOver50 is hosting a color-blocking sewing challenge this month so I decided to make a color-blocked Seamwork Bo Top. If you are familiar with Seamwork’s patterns, they are designed for a C cup. I am an A cup so I wondered what size to make because there is a lot of ease.

I decided to rejoin Seamwork to have access to all the patterns and for sewing inspiration and sewing community. Seamwork members get access to all the Seamwork patterns, tutorials, etc. I had been a member a few years ago when one of my sisters gifted me with a membership but I didn’t renew it due to inertia. When I recently got an email about joining, I decided to take advantage of the discounted membership.

Picking a size

After I chose this pattern, I asked the Seamwork community if I needed to do a small bust adjustment. People helpfully pointed out that I should look at the finished measurements and that it is a boxy design. Good advice. Picking a size based on my measurements would likely work. A member with a B cup picked a size based on her measurements and it was fine.

In the end, I decided to go a size smaller, given my small bust and cut a size 8 (bust 37″/94 cm) instead of size 10 (38 1/2″/98 cm).

Fabric color inspiration

The sewing challenge is focused on solid colors, not prints. So I perused my stash and rediscovered this lightweight lavender cotton sateen that has been in my stash for years. I bought it at an online sale (impulse buy). But the color was a bit dull and I don’t really wear pastels. This sewing challenge was the perfect time to do something with it. But I needed to pair it with something that would make it palatable. I had some royal blue fabric — not sure what it is, maybe a linen blend. I thought it was cotton but it has a bit of a loose weave and ravels. The lavender is a lighter weight with a softer hand than the blue fabric, which is a little more crisp. It would be better if the fabrics were more similar but it’s OK.

I had always wanted to do something with a pastel and an intense color ever since I saw Bandwagon, the Vincent Minelli-directed musical starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. In that entertaining 1953 film, there’s a scene with Fred Astaire wearing a gray flannel suit paired with a pastel blue shirt and royal blue socks. I never forgot the pairing of contrasting colors. You can see that ensemble in this post on the blog BAMF Style. Do you have any favorite films that inspire your sewing?

I am really pleased with this color combination. I still have a few more yards of the lavender sateen so stay tuned for more projects with this fabric combination! Thanks to SewOver50 for hosting this challenge.

Back of the color-blocked Seamwork Bo

I had intended the back to be the reverse of the front, with the royal blue on the left side with a lavender cuff and lavender on the right with a royal blue cuff. But I cut the lavender fabric the wrong side up. I wanted the shiny side of the sateen on the inside. The royal blue fabric is the same on both sides so I just flipped it and decided to just go with it.

I had already cut the cuff pieces so I decided to leave them as is. So they the cuffs match the fabric in the back but they are the opposite in the front.

Construction details

This Seamwork Bo pattern is supposed to be cut on the fold. To color block, I simply added 5/8″ seam allowance along the fold line to the front, back, and cuff pattern pieces.

The neckline is finished with bias tape that you understitch and then top stitch in place. But when I attached it, I liked the way the bias tape looked standing up.

It reminded me of the neckline finish of the Basic Blouse in the Nani Iro Sewing Studio sewing book. The model on the left is wearing the Basic Blouse. But this neckline has a raw edge. The book recommends hand washing if you leave it with this raw edge. No, thanks – I don’t want to hand wash if I can help it. lol

So I cut another strip of bias tape, measured it against the bias tape that was already attached. Then I sewed the ends together and stitched that to the attached neckline bias tape. Note that I top stitched at the bottom before I top stitched at the top. Oops. I didn’t think it through but I wasn’t going to unpick all the nice top stitching I did. [Please excuse the varying color tones in the photos due to different lighting conditions.]

So I hand-stitched the bias tape in place on the inside and added a Kylie and the Machine label, “You can’t buy this.” That one gives me a chuckle. Hand stitching is tedious and time-consuming but it’s a good activity to do in front of the TV. Plus the inside looks quite nice.

Bias neckline notes

For the bias neckline of the Bo top, you are instructed to measure the neckline and cut a length of bias tape equal to that length plus one inch. I measured incorrectly because my piece of bias tape was too long. Whoops! I think I must have started at the center and then went past the center to the shoulder. Of course I didn’t notice that it was too long until after I sewed the ends together. LOL

So if you make this top, pay attention to where you start measuring the neckline. It would have been nice if the instructions just gave you the length of the bias tape for each size but they don’t. Just measure correctly!

To attach the bias tape to the neckline, I decided to use the technique I use when attaching binding to knit tops. I quartered the bias tape by folding it in half and then in half again, putting pins at each quarter. Then I folded the top in half lining up the center front and center back, putting pins on the left and right. Here’s what the pinning at each quarter.

Then I pinned it all the way around …

… and I took the added step of hand basting. I like the control hand basting gives me. It’s annoying to pull out so many pins as you sew on the machine. And sometimes when you pin, the fabric underneath may be folded over. Basting saves time because then you don’t have to go back and unpick stitches and sew again. I used Japanese silk thread because it comes out so easily. I used yellow silk thread to baste my Hovea Jacket, which I mentioned in this post. (You can get Kinkame silk thread at Britex Fabrics.)

And then I added a second circle of bias tape to have a finished edge — as described above. Seamwork has a video about the construction of Bo. I didn’t watch it because it is a simple top to put together. And I just didn’t have the time to spare. The directions were straightforward.

Hem finishing color-blocked Seamwork Bo

I top-stitched the cuffs with lavender thread as you can see in this photo.

And I hand-stitched the hem of the body, using matching thread, rather than machine-stitching the hem in place via topstitching, which is what the instructions call for. I didn’t want to see stitching there.

Ta-daaa!

My hat is a vintage wool Kangol. There is no logo on the outside and no kangaroo on the inside. I’ve had this hat for more than 25 years.