Sewaholic Renfrew Top

Hi everyone! Did you see that Tasia from Sewaholic has announced a new pattern? The Renfrew top, a knit top with three options for both necklines and sleeve lengths. Cool, right? What's even cooler is that I was among her pattern testers this time! Fun! :)

I chose to make the long-sleeved version with the round neckline, great for layering in winter and also good as a simple top for fall and spring.



The Facts:
Fabric: dark purple jersey with minimal stretch, 5€ for a 1.5m coupon at the Holland Fabric market
Pattern: Sewaholic Renfrew top, view A
Notions: none
Time to Complete: a couple of hours, I think
First Worn: mid-December
Thoughts: I cut out size 12 according to my measurements but found out that, for a knit pattern, this top has quite a bit of ease. Since I like my knit tops rather close to the body, in the end my pattern pieces were closer to a size 8, and possibly a 6 in the sleeves. I think I'd go down another size in a stretchier knit. Apart from the sizing, the instructions were very clear and easy to work with. Lots of little illustrations, too, and everything came together very easily. I love that all the finishings - sleeves, hem and neckline - are done with a fabric band. It makes constuction really easy and looks very neat! :) I also loved the instruction for the v-neck, I always wondered how to finish that type of neckline and I'll have to try that next. The top is meant to be made on a normal sewing machine (no serger/overlock), which I did and it worked out well. I fudged the neckband a bit, since it turned out fussier with the less stretchy knit than I was used to. (Also, I'm lazy.) I recommend using lots of pins.

I think it's a great top for 1. people who don't own a serger or 2. haven't sewn much with knits, yet. The thorough instructions also make it a good choice for beginner sewists, I think. Since the pattern gives three neckline options (round, v-neck and cowl, check out Karen's leopard version!) and also three sleeve lengths, you could actually make 9 different tops with this!

If you're thinking of buying the pattern, I recommend signing up for Tasia's newsletter. She's doing presales right now and you can get free shipping!

After making up this geared-for-beginners knit top, I've been thinking about writing a series of posts about how I sew my knit garments. I know there are lotsa tutorials out there, quite a few of which I read and learned from. I stumbled into sewing knits with zero knowledge, learning-by-doing and making many mistakes (should have read those tutorials first, huh?) and I think by now I have something that works for me (most of the time, see neckband above...). So, I was wondering. Would you guys like to read about how I sew with knits, and which techniques didn't work for me? With maybe a bit about frankenpatterning knit garments from clothes you already own?

Have a good week, everyone!