Tilly and the Buttons Lacy Coco - For Mum!

My Mum got a new overlocker for her Christmas present but, although I have been reliably informed that she has had it out of the box and got it threaded correctly, she hasn't actually made anything using it yet.  Part of that is confidence (she has a degree in textiles and taught me how to sew when I was younger!) so while she was staying with me over Easter we made a Coco top together.

We chose some fabrics from Stone Fabrics and Mum really liked the stretch lace, so we decided to use that for the sleeves to make a pretty summery top.  There was enough lace left over after cutting the sleeves so we used that for the yokes too, I think this looks really effective and joins the two fabrics together nicely.

For the yokes, we cut out the front and backs from the blue jersey, then laid the lace yokes on top.  These were then stitched down around the armholes and neckline using a straight stitch - attaching the two fabrics and stay stitching at the same time - then zig zagged the lace along the raw edge.  After we had attached the sleeves the line of overlocking was visible against the lace so we pressed it towards the top then topstitched, which looks really neat.

We then made a neckband for the top instead of turning and stitching.  This makes the lace feel more securely attached and I do prefer the look of it, although the top is less boat necked now.  It actually took two attempts to attach the neckband, the first one was slightly too long and looked wobbly but it didn't take long to take it off and cut a new, shorter one.

 This is what Mum has to say:  "I couldn't have had a better tutor to help me through the process of using knitted fabrics for the first time.  Tilly's pattern and instructions were also very well prepared for a first timer, and the top has come out exactly as it was in my head - quel surprise!  I am so pleased with my top, plus I have the confidence to go back home and make myself some more, but best of all it was a great Mother/Daughter bonding session :)"

Mum has bought some other new fabrics to take back to Switzerland with her and I am really looking forward to seeing what she makes of them.  I'm also looking forward to some more Mum poses like this one!!