McCall's 7721 - Two Ways

It is the start of Me Made May and one thing I know from last year is I don't have enough casual knit tops.  So this past weekend I made a few to help out casual days.



I know it seems like I make lots of knit tops but I am so hard on my summer knit tops.  I wear and wear them, sometimes straight to the flower garden after work.  Usually by the end of summer, I have to retire several of them.  Adding chlorine to the pool is a culprit too, those chlorine tablets take the color right out.  I have learned my lesson there, or should I say I am trying to learn that lesson. 


I bought McCall's 7721 and it is a pattern designed for beginners.  I really bought it for View A and B but after really looking at view D, I needed that one, too.  Let's start with View A in this brushed poly knit from LA Finch (I think).  I used View A for this fabric, the shades of pink and burgundy are bright and fun.  The only drawback is the fabric is printed on one side and the wrong side does show on the sleeve ruffle.

This pattern does run big, I cut out a medium and stitched it up.  It was way too big on both of these views.  I took out about one inch on each side.  Next time it is a small for me.

This pattern doesn't take long to make, especially in this view, hemming the ruffle probably takes the most time.  I did contemplate not hemming it at all but hemming won in the end. 

Next up is View D, more of a sweatshirt look, a sweatshirt with great details.  I had this
Style Maker Fabrics' Confetti French Terry in my stash and went with that for this shirt.

When I took in the side seams on this shirt, I did take some fullness out of the arms, too.  I started about halfway up the arm.  The sleeves are so full, I just didn't want that much fullness.

The part of this view I loved was the pleats at the drop shoulder

My pleats are a bit smaller than the pattern indicates, I was short of fabric.  This fabric had been used for a pair of Brindle and Twig leggings for my 3 month old granddaughter.  She was growing out of everything and needed a pair of warm pants.  With this section of fabric gone, it was creative cutting time.  I folded up 2" from the center of the sleeve pattern and then my pattern piece would fit on the remaining fabric.  It was short still for length but I just made my cuff wider.  To solve having less fabric, the pleats were made smaller 1/2" for each pleat (4 of them).  This worked fine and I do like the wider cuffs on my shirt.

This french terry will be great on those cooler days and nights in May.

I good start to my casual knits and I have a couple more v-necks made with plans for two more.  This should really help to fill in some gaps in my handmade closet.

To start Me Made May - the pink paisley will be my first garment for this month.