Now Sewing: Monroe and Helix

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Monroe and Helix

The Monroe Turtleneck pattern is a freebie from Tessuti, very similar to their also-free Mandy boat tee. It came out in (my) spring 2018 and I downloaded it almost immediately. I even traced off a size 3. Then I tucked it away to wait for cooler weather in the northern hemisphere. And of course, I forgot about it.

As is often the case during these COVID times, I find myself most inspired by online sources of eye candy. I routinely visit Pattern Review and Instagram for ideas. The Monroe was recently reviewed on PR and I loved what I saw. She rates it 5 stars. Then I read the rest of the reviews of the Monroe. Wow. Not complimentary.

Having made the Mandy, I was familiar with one potential problem. The sleeves on these Tessuti patterns are often too danged tight on me. That is why I had traced the largest size initially. Here are their suggested body measurements for the largest size, 3:

Bust 40-44”
Waist 35-43”
Hip 44-48”

Not close to my measurements, especially now that I've lost weight. Working off their measurements, I belong in a size 1. Of course, the Monroe's problems have nothing to do with bust, waist, or hip measurements, as there is no fit in those places. Rather, the problems are with the neckline, as well as the sleeves. Several disgusted reviewers rated it as a wadder from the get-go.

I decided to give it a go.

SEWING KNITS: I know from sewing knits for years that every knit has a different amount of stretch, vertically and horizontally, as well as differing amounts of recovery. I also know that I do not like negative ease, something that is almost a given in a pattern designed for knits. I'm OK with zero ease in some cases but I'm happiest with a little positive ease.

SLEEVES: Working from my previously traced tissue of size 3, I first pinned the sleeve tissue together along the seam allowance. Then I slipped it over my bicep. That was fine, good news because I really did not want to mess with the armscye.

NECKLINE: Next I took the edge of my knit fabric and wrapped it around my head to see how large the circumference needed to be. That was revealing. I needed 6 more inches than allotted in the size 3! And I will say that my head is not unusually big either. The drafters of this pattern must have assumed a knit with an enormous amount of stretch. They suggest that even a ponte knit would work. May I politely say, no way, José?

Adjusting the turtle neck pattern piece was easy because it's just a rectangle.

The neckline took a bit more work, because it is not linear. First I trimmed about 1/4" off from the front and back necklines. Then I measured with a 12" Curve Runner similar to this one, to see how close I was to the planned size of my turtleneck collar.

After 2-3 more iterations, I was pretty close to the size of the planned turtleneck collar. So finally I scooped out the front a bit, leaving the circumference of the neckline just a smidge larger than the circumference of the collar.

You've probably noticed that mine is not a turtleneck. That is because my knit fabric is quite drapey and so it produced more of a cowl neckline which, frankly, is my preference. I mostly wanted something soft and warm around my cold neck during these winter months.

My fabric is a cooperative jersey knit, 100% polyester. This makes me sad because I never ebd up actually wearing tops made from 100% polyester. Polyester fabrics tend to have static cling in the winter and they are hot in the summer. The days that fall between are days I'd rather wear cotton or linen or silk. It was a good toile and sort of wearable (DH likes it).

TIP: It had one of those very wide selvages that distorted the fabric. After removing the selvage though, it was a breeze to cut and sew. I used a ball point needle and polyester thread. I also used a leading patch and trailing patch while sewing. This is a quilting trick that I've found prevents light weight fabrics from being sucked into the stitch plate.