Making Merchant and Mills Top 64

I am rather surprised to find myself writing about dressmaking again, but it has come about all of a sudden this week. For one thing, I was looking at all the fabrics in my sewing room (my pension fund of entertainment!) and thinking I needed to actually use some of it instead of just hugging it. For another thing, it was hot this week and I wanted a smallish project that I could finish and finally, I have been a bit spurred on by managing to make the dressing gown in the previous post.

Over the past few months, I have collected a few japanese dressmaking books and am constantly inspired by images on instagram. Following on from my love of japanese embroidery, these books are extremely enticing. I love the japanese aesthetic - simple, clean lines, a little bit vintage, a little modern, practical and pretty at the same time. They use gorgeous fabrics too - fresh cottons, wool and silk and the look is a careful one. No sloppy stretched t-shirts, but with comfort in mind and just tiny details which make a difference. I wasn’t feeling brave enough to attempt one of the patterns - they are all in japanese script and so it would be a diagram only effort… but I did want to make something with the feel of these lovely garments. The Merchant and Mills Top 64 pattern has been sitting on my cutting table for a while…. it was time.

I felt I could adapt this to give it a little of the flavour of Tokyo that I was looking for especially as I had a piece of lovely red homespun linen that was left over from a bolt and it looked the perfect length. This was the first time I used my homemade pattern weights and they were totally brilliant.

Before I got started I read and watched some reviews. There are lots and they are helpful. The overwhelming feeling I had was that that this pattern worked and it worked easily. A couple of reviewers mentioned that the sleeves were excessively long and one glance at the pattern pieces and I had to agree. I am five foot nothing and a half, so I shortened these before I even cut out. As usual, I cut it out larger than the size I want because I am a fan of french seams and I like to give myself a bit of leeway with that. After that, the instructions were very straightforward and the pocket detail is sneakily clever.

I have to say it went together like a dream - french seamed everywhere for a fantastically neat finish inside which was essential because the fabric frayed like crazy. I took the suggested option of top stitching as I always like little details like that and especially on plain fabric. It also holds the french seam in place as it can be a bit bulky otherwise. I did hand stitch the hem line too as it is so worth the effort.

From my japanese books, I took the idea of the frill around the neckline and actually it was easier to do than I expected. This was probably because my first thought was that it had to be a bias strip, but an expert dressmaker friend of mine said absolutely NOT. Taking her advice (and gratefully avoiding disaster) I cut a 3” strip and pressed it in half lengthways. Then I just pleated and pinned it around the neck quite informally, leaving ends with a seam allowance. Once I was happy with it, I unpinned it, stitched the seam allowance and repinned it. This may sound a bit nuts but it gave the freedom to use as much of the strip as I wanted. Once it was all back in place - I stitched it on on to the neckline with a half inch seam. I trimmed the edge as it was quite bulky and then added the neck interfacing as per the pattern instructions. Once this was stitched on, I felt that it could be trimmed down quite substantially and then I just tucked the ends under all the bulk of the pleated band and did a double row of stitching to secure it. Infact the contrast fabric is rather pretty and it is all very neat and firm.

Being a fan of three quarter sleeves and bangles - I had already cut the sleeve length way shorter than the pattern pieces suggested, but I did decide that adding a contrast cuff would be a pretty little detail and it does add a little pop to the top. I used a sort of open cuff idea, rather made up I have to confess but it looks ok. I was thinking of adding embroidery to this top but my girl said that it would detract from the neckline and that was the twist with this garment. After two cups of tea and a bit of deliberating I decided she was probably right but chose to add to covered buttons for the final vintage look.

So I am pretty over the moon with this project. I know this top is going to get made over and over again and considering the pattern is not cheap, this makes it worth it. It is a great everyday top for jeans and the possibilities are endless for adding and tweaking. The ideas are buzzing around here already. ..

See you soon, Ruby x