lurex mini challenge - shiny scout

the lurex mini challenge came about when kirsty decided to buy this fabric on our sydney fabric shopping trip at the fabric store.  i quite liked the pattern, but when kirsty mentioned it was 'lurex', i decided i needed some too.  and so the mini challenge was born - we both bought 1.2m and agreed to sew it up and reveal our makes at the same time on our blogs.  other than that there were no rules.

i was initially drawn to the pattern of the fabric (before being seduced by the lurex) and when contemplating what to make i did start to wonder why i am always drawn to fabrics that require matching and careful cutting!

i made a tessuti zoe muslin, but decided the style wasn't really me.  i then thought a grainline scout would be a good pattern as it has a nice shape, limited matching required and most importantly the large square checks would be maintained without interruption from darts or the like.  

i am pretty happy how this turned out.  i have made a couple of scouts before but felt they were a bit boxy on me.  for this version i tapered the sides on the pattern before cutting the fabric.  as i was a bit stressed about stuffing this up i made up a version in a rayon to make sure it looked ok. i am pretty happy with the tapering, but will make another slight adjustment to taper a bit further near the hem next time.

here's some pics at the side to see the matching. when cutting the fabric i tossed up between having the edge of the check squares at the centre front or to make the centre front in the middle of one of the columns of squares.  i ended up going with the edge of the squares for centre front - see pic below.  

when i tried it on for the first time i thought it looked a little off centre/balance, but now i'm used to it i really like how it looks.  i also like how the squares match at the side seams. 

this pic was taken outside and you can see how the fabric looks different in the different lights. i love how shiny the fabric looks indoors and under light shown in the top 3 pics.

i made bias binding for both the neck and arms.  i prefer to make bias binding to finish short sleeves as i find this a lot easier than turning up the hems.  as usual it hurt my head a bit working out how to match at least some of the pattern at the sleeves, but it worked out ok first time. i didn't go with a lining as i wanted to keep the top light and will just wear a black singlet underneath.

i constructed the scout using french seams following jen's really excellent tutorial - this is a great finish for the lurex. you can just see in this pic on the neck binding that some of the bronze coloured metallic threads pulled through to the underside when sewing.  it makes this top a little scratchy to wear, but not a fatal problem.  i really should have forked out the $13 for a metallic needle!

when i was getting close to finishing this top i thought it would be a great top for a night out at a bar, but that i don't really get out to bars that often.  it then occurred to me we had tickets to see eddie vedder at the state theatre in sydney last wednesday night. so my top got its first public run and i got mr flagg to snap a pic of me inside the theatre.  there were about 100 or so punters having a drink before the show started just to the right of me in this pic so was happy to get a quick phone snap. 

all in all am very happy with this make, though its not a difficult make or flashy (apart from being quite shiny!) i think i'll get a bit of wear out of it.  thanks heaps for being part of my first blogging challenge kirsty! make sure you check out her fabulous make here.

emma