Burda 7866: the Revenge top / Fashion on the Ration update
Why do people make out that a serger is a fiendishly complicated and daunting piece of kit? I bought a Janome MyLock back in February but left it untouched on the shelf until the other weekend because I was under the impression that it would take hours of diligent study to learn to operate it. Nonsense. Half an hour with the manual and I was threaded up and ready to start on my first knit project ever — Burda 7866.
This was my exact "model" pose when I was 5 years old.
My stash included some black silk jersey I bought on Goldhawk Road and had been hoarding for over a year. Silk jersey! What a fabric! It was so slinky, flowing, smooth and lovely, and I’d draped it around and over myself so many times in my bedroom mirror with such satisfying results (goddess! Amazon! homewrecker!), that I was reluctant to cut into it, thereby committing to an actual garment. But the time had come — I needed an oversized black top to fill a wardrobe gap.
This is the first garment I have ever sewn that made up in less than a day. I can definitely see the allure of the serger — it lends itself admirably to quick and dirty sewing. It cranks out seams at a spanking pace, and it allows me to work with knits, which don’t require the desperate precision or hours of fitting I associate with wovens. Little machine, where have you been all my life?
This pattern is designed for a thicker, much less fluid knit than silk jersey (see the Slapdash Sewist‘s stylish rendition), so I modified it to play up the drape of my fabric. I cut the bodice and sleeves 1-2 inches longer than marked for a blousier effect. I also cut the hip yoke longer and ruched it at the side seams with clear elastic, because I need all the extra hip circumference I can get. I omitted the self-fabric belt entirely. The result is a roomy, snug-at-the-hips, incredibly comfortable top that works at the office and pairs nicely with skinny jeans and stilettos to create the capsule wardrobe I call “cocktail-sipping woman-about-town”. Because it’s big, black and billowy, it also puts me faintly in mind of the Dread Pirate Roberts.
My companion here will have the iocaine Bellini.
Hence, “the Revenge top”.
(Because I’m bored of shooting on my bare concrete roof terrace, I’ve elected to start making the most of the perceived glamor of a London lifestyle and photograph my finished garments on location instead. This is cocktail hour at the Royal Exchange.)
Lessons learned:
- Don’t be afraid of the serger. So easy to start on, I’m kicking myself for waiting this long.
- Watch out for permanent creases in jersey. There’s a faint fold line along the back of this top that no amount of pressing will eradicate.
- Believe the folks at Pattern Review. They said this pattern’s kooky neckline facing and construction were difficult to wrangle. And they were right.
Fashion on the Ration update: new jeans!
My jeans situation was dire. All my jeans were secondhand and ill-fitting. I hadn’t bought a new pair since George W. Bush’s first term in office. The affordable jeans I tried on — Gap, Levi’s, H&M — were only so-so in fit, which felt like a waste of coupons. So, annual pay bonus in hand, I decided for the first time in my life to try on some non-affordable jeans. You know… just to see.
What a revelation. The jeans pictured are 7 for All Mankind from Liberty. They cost about 2.5 times what I’ve been prepared to pay for jeans in the past — O wicked, decadent, sinful Susannah! — but I do not feel ripped off or guilty, because they are the first pair of jeans I’ve ever actually, unqualifiedly loved. They are made for grown-ups, with a high waist and room for actual thigh muscles. They function like body armor for my self-esteem. And, for what it’s worth, they are made in the USA. They’ve also jailbroken the rhinestone Poste Mistress stilettos I bought two years ago and have only worn twice since then. Hurray for throwing money at the problem!
Coupons spent: 5
Coupons left: 36
You look beautiful in that, Susannah! Way to go!
Sergers/overlockers are great when they co-operate! and some days it will thread like a dream and stitch at 90mph and you’ll make fab clothes so quickly that you wonder why you need a regular machine as well. Then you get those other days when little imps move into the machine and the thread breaks continually and then won’t lock together properly when you stitch and tempers rise and the air goes blue! I have discovered on those days to leave the machine alone go have chocolate/alcohol or whatever legal substance calms you down and return the next day fresh and the imps will have gone and you can thread it straight away and make clothes at 90mph once again!!
Ok, I REALLY need to know why you call it a “Revenge” top?
The Revenge was the Dread Pirate Roberts’ ship.
Oh, I see. I’m DREADfully behind on modern movies. LOL
Give me anything with John Wayne, Maurene O’Hara, Anything set in the South Pacific, Almost any musical from the fifties and sixties, Any western written by L L’Amour, Almost anything with Tom Selleck in it, Almost anything with Pierce Brosnan… well, you didn’t ask for a list of my movie fettishes. LOL
Love the top and I love serging! But I only wish my first experience with my serger had been that stress-free–when I first took it out of the box this January (it was a hand-me-down from my late grandmother) it took me an entire day to figure out how to thread it without breaking needles (the illustrations in the Kenmore manual were in black & white and very hard to understand). I swore a blue streak that whole day but FINALLY figured it out and now my serger and I are on excellent terms.
Wow! the top looks amazing and the jeans are fabulous! Perfect outfit for cocktails (love the purse too!) Good to know your thoughts about a serger. I don’t have one, have no plans of getting on but that might be because it sounds so complicated!
maybe at some point down the road I will reconsider….especially if you keep doing fabulous outfit posts like this 
I love this pattern I have it and now I just have to go and find some perfect fabric. I love the change you made adding the elastic instead of making the belt. I think I’ll make it both ways now. love the jeans too.
Love the look!
Immensely elegant! And if you are telling me those legs are courtesy of a pair of jeans… well! Buy me a flight to London, I am off to Liberty! I like how the top manages to be loose-fitting yet hugs the hips – fab!
Gorgeous top – I have recently incorporated a couple of drapier items into my wardrobe, and they are so comfortable! And silk jersey, what could be more luscious? Your comment on well-fitting jeans is a good reminder. I still try to find mine at discount places, but a place like Filenes Basement that carries pricier makes with markdowns is a good place to start.
A simple yet polished outfit. Yay!
Hi Susannah! I’ve been wanting to ripoff that pattern for ages, I actually took a secretive photo of it from the burda patterns catalogue in my local fabric store! You look awesome in it. Also, I tagged you in a game of eight questions if you care to play, no pressure! http://sozowhatdoyouknow.blogspot.com/2010/06/question-time.html
Hey, that was a cool post !
I must tell you, I like that you allow for modern looking garments in your “ration project”. Even as a vintage lover, it’s so good sometimes to just jeans that are NOT super high waisted !
Anyways, the blouse looks amazing, and you do too !
Bye,
Kiki
I think some people genuinely find sergers frightening, I spend a fair amount of time trying to coax people into just learning. Like you said half an hour (Or an hour for some) is enough and it is not scary after that.
Love the jeans, and I’m not a jeans person. Your writing cracks me up. I’m working on revenge pants at the moment, maybe you could lend me your top and I’d be decked out in revenge from head to toe…
Great top, great jeans. Oh, and great shoes, too!
Girl, you sure do look good in those jeans! Once again, worth both the coupons and the money for something that looks fabulous on you and boosts your morale. (Keeping one’s morale up is a patriotic service in time of war.) Besides, jeans are sturdy enough to last for the duration.
The black top is lovely, too. I’m surprised to hear that the neck is complicated, as it looks quite simple. I got a serger a few months ago from my sister, who bought a new one for herself. That’s what gave me my jumpstart back into sewing, after years of neglect. I have only used the serger for finishing seams on woven fabrics. Now I’m inspired to try something knit.
Ok I admit I just stared at that picture for a few minutes in awe of your long, long legs and those jeans that seem to fit so well. Then I read the next paragraph. WANT! Don’t think I can afford though.. The top is gorgeous too.
The top is gorgeous and the jeans lovely! I am still too terrified of my serger to use it, but you’ve inspired me and once I’ve got through my massive pile of school sewing (I am a one woman sweat shop – no not really, there’s about 5 or 6 of us – who does the sewing for the school chair bags and the summer fair) and then my massive pile of sewing for children that are actually my own, I will make myself something!
As for the subject of jeans, I’m fed up with £40 high street jeans, they never fit properly on the bum (too loose for my waist / hip size) luckily recently though after a spot of dieting I could finally fit back in to the last pair of decent jeans I’d ever bought myself prior to kids, £85 jeans from Abercrombie and Fitch, I could never bring myself to chuck them out, even though they sat unworn in my wardrobe for 6 years and now I’m back wearing them it’s bliss, proper fitting jeans (and even though I’ve lost weight, high street jeans still don’t fit me!)
I was having a bad face day. Aaargh. I hate being photographed.
All you need is my face to look at then you’d see that you couldn’t possibly have a bad face day. LOL Kitty
Whatever. You’re totally adorable.
Now to get your photographer to quit cutting off your head and you’d have a perfect picture. LOL love your outfit. Sure which I had your (small hip) problem. Mine are always as large or larger than my bust.
Small hips are always so elegant.