Can you guys believe its May already? Like, didn’t 2021 just start, or am I missing something? Month #5, is usually a pretty chill month for me. A couple of my people celebrate birthdays in May, but on my personal calendar, the only thing happening for me this month is paying the pied piper for car insurance…hardly exciting, I know. Surely, my money would be better spent on a couple yards of fabric… but I ain’t ready to ride a donkey to work. Ya feel meh?
This year, I’ve actually been looking forward to the month of the Bull b’cuz I’m a 2021 Chalk and Notch Collaborator… and you guessed it, May is my month to share! For those who are unfamiliar, The Collaboration, which spans the entire year, features a handful of sewists each month putting their spin on that month’s featured Chalk and Notch pattern. The featured pattern for May is … drumroll please…
FARRAH!
The Farrah pattern took up residency in my stash lonnnnngggg before this collab, but I just hadn’t gotten around to sewing it up. Now that I finally have, I could kick myself for not doing it sooner, as hubby says it’s in his top 5 favorite makes! The Farrah can be sewn up as either a blouse or dress and features a split high-lo hem, yokes, an armhole gusset and two ruffle options.
One of my #sewinggoals this year was to sew more separates. So far I’ve been failing at this, so I decided to shake myself up by sewing the blouse. I opted to sew view B but omitted the ruffles; instead, I added pin-tucks to the front yoke. Regrettably, the tucks do NOT photograph well, and I suppose that’s partly because of the fabric I chose, and partly because they were done so well teehheehehehee j/k. If you look reeeeeaaallll close (like with a magnifying glass), you just might be able to see them, failing which, you’ll just have to take my word for it! hmph
To make the tucks, I cut a square of fabric (bigger than my front yoke piece), pressed it in half and creased it, to mark CF. I then marked lines 3 lines 1 ½” apart on either side of the CF crease. I folded each line onto itself, wrong sides touching, and pressed all of the lines to use as the guides. I then sewed along each crease with a ½” seam allowance to create the tucks. A lil’ bit of heat and steam and presto, each tuck was pressed into place. I then set about cutting out the front yoke piece. To do this, I lined up the fold line of my front yoke main, with the CF crease on the pin-tucked fabric, pinned it in place, and cut it out. I then basted the tucks down at the top and at the bottom and then followed the rest of the pattern instructions for construction. I suppose I could have altered the front yoke main pattern piece to account for the pin-tucks, or used my pin tuck foot, but doing it this way just seemed easier.
One thing that really sets Chalk and Notch patterns apart from other pattern companies, is the inclusion of instructions for some of the most popular fitting adjustments! Now y’all already know that I’m pretty anal about fit, so these helpful instructions have come in handy more than a few times!
For the Farrah, I started with a size 14 and did a ½” FBA, since the pattern was drafted for a B cup. I then did my usual ½” sloping shoulder adjustment and my ¼” sway back adjustment… and THAT.IS.ALL!!!
I have a little good news. A birdie told me that the Farrah pattern is currently being updated to the new Chalk and Notch size range i.e. 0-30 with 2 bust cup options (a/b cup and c/d cup)! The update will drop in a couple days, so keep your eyes out for that cas’ this is a pattern that every sewist should own!
You may be thinking that this top looks pretty simple, but lemme tell ya that it actually has some really interesting construction techniques, including the armhole gusset thingy-ma-jig. I had never put in a gusset before, and it was a little bit of a learning curve for me. Lining up and nailing that V ain’t no small feat! Truth be told, I had to unpick one side twice before it was decent, and I still think there was room for loads a improvement… but I really did not want to ruin my fabric which, by the way, is a scatter dot Rayon Twill shirting that I got from Style Maker Fabrics waaaaayyyyyyy back in 2019!!!
The pattern also has a mitered corner high-lo hem, and I am thankful for my wash-away hem tape, which made the hemming process bearable. If you’ve been around here long enough, then you already KNOW how much I dislike hemming, but I do like the end result on this pattern! Farrah is designed to be fitted at the shoulder and bust area, and loose towards the waist and hip. Usually, in silhouettes like this, I typically belt my garment in order to help define my waist a lil. However, I ACTUALLY think I prefer this top sans belt…. I know who is this and where is Kris?
Robot voice: “I. am. an. impoooosssterrrr.” Kidding, but cheers to me for embracing the relaxed fit!!
Anyhoooo, thats it for this one! Thanks for rolling through, and I hope you’ll be back for more tea!
Shoutout to Grabriela and Nicole for having me as part of this collab! It’s been a great experience, and my fellow sew-sistahs have already been knocking their makes out the park. I cannot wait to see what the other months bring, but I have a feeling’ it’ll be goooooodddd!
Gotta luv ya and leave ya, until next time.
xoxo
Kris
unsewcial.com 
Leave a Reply