Renfrew – Sew Becky Jo

I love Bolt fabrics. They have the best selection of knit fabrics and such nice ladies working there; it’s a joy. It’s also a bit of a budget buster – nice knits cost a bit more than the Mill End discount tables!

I bought a couple yards of a peacock blue bamboo knit and a purple/lavender reversible double knit. Two very different knits in weight, texture and drape. I didn’t have a plan for them when I bought them – I was thinking a dress maybe for the purple and a top for the bamboo, but then I bought the Renfrew pattern and threw both knits at it. I was thinking the cowl neck but it’s hot and summer, so opted for the scoop neck. I did mid-length sleeves to cover tattoos so that I could wear them to work.

Enter, the bamboo. OMG, yummy.

The fabric is light weight, but quality, and oh so buttery soft. It washes great, no pilling so far, and is very easy to work with. The flash accidentally went off in this next photo, but I’m glad – you can see that even thought it’s super light weight, there’s no peek-a-boo factor:

The seams are only top-stitched down around the collar and you can see it’s fine on the arm and waist bands: no bulk.

I used the size 10 without any adjustments. The knit keeps its shape with the tiniest bit of cling.

I’m really happy with the blue bamboo knit. I’ll wear this until it wears out. I’m not gonna lie…I’m planning on some bedtime boy shorts out of the leftovers. I’ll spare you the photos, but yes, it’s that yummy.

Now, the purple double knit makes an entirely different shirt. It’s, well, twice as thick to be reversible, has a wrinkly texture to it after a wash in cold water and a toss on medium and takes a bit more patience to sew.

I’m still undecided on it. Right now, it’s a fairly expensive, albeit comfy, sweatshirt. I reversed the color for the neck/arm/waist bands.

There’s a lot, LOT more bulk on the band seams…

I dunno. I thought about top-stitching down the seams…but I’m not sure that will have the desired effect…it will still have droopy bulk. I could chop out the arms and had a more kimono style sleeve without a hem and chop off the waist band…

OR just leave it as a ridiculously comfy shirt? It doesn’t hold its shape as well as the bamboo…It would make a great, tiered and raw edged autumn skirt for someone with a more Bohemian style than I…but much else, I’m afraid it’s…frumpy.

It’s a no-can-do for work, though. Too casual and the neckline sags…

I have an American Apparel sweatshirt I’ve worn into the ground just out of spite (you will find no AA love here), so I think I may just have a good replacement. A reminder to keep a better plan in mind and to respect the material a bit more.

I dunno….admin work puts a sneer on my face….even if it’s for myself. The idea of “filing” patterns makes me just want to burn my bra.

That, and I need to SEE what I have….just the other day I was cruising the inter webs, going to finally buy a Renfrew and a Miette pattern, when I was positive I needed a knit-wrap-dress pattern too. I opened up my binder of patterns, and there was a Vogue knit-wrap-dress pattern staring indignantly at me. I already have one! (I have to come up with another reason to get a Cake pattern now….)

Which brings me to…well, I use binders.

Specifically, BIG white view binders in low-VOC and D-rings if I can get them.

I use sheet covers and tabs.

Tabs not because I’m going to actually number and collate and make a table of contents…oh hell no. hahahaha. NO. Just to have a place to mark between patterns.

It came time again to take the piles of patterns I had been accumulating and stashing around, and add them to the binders…so I took a few shots.

If this idea helps you, great. If not, eh. It’s just an idea. Filing works for some people, just not me.

Here’s an example of a store bought Burda pattern. I use the crap out of this pattern–specifically the pants.

I put the envelope and unused portion in one sleeve.

And the cut part and instructions in another…with any notes I may have. This pile happens to also be in a plastic bag.

My beloved Colette patterns get traced. I keep the booklet and original patterns in one sleeve and the traced patterns in another.

PDF patterns are similar. Instructions in one, cut patterns in another.

The inside pockets can hold wonky, oversized patterns.

I use the view portions to hold receipts, mostly so I can remember the fabric types, a ballpark of costs and what ever miscellaneous items I’m too lazy to find a place for…

After this cleaning, I can see I need new binders for quilt patterns and bag patterns as they’re growing to that point.

So…the pros are that I can leaf through them like a magazine. I can get an instant view of what I already have vs. what I might need. I also have no problem storing multiple traced sizes or versions to one set of instructions.

Cons are storage for the binders…they could, after this, still go down in a large drawer if you wanted, but mine sit on a shelf. Also, I’ve yet to decide how to handle traced patterns out of Ottobre or books. My traced patterns are very well labeled, but the visual of the finish photo would help. I’m not into printing more than I have to…so we’ll see. For example, I’ve printed the Miette pattern recently without printing the instructions, and I have some Craftsy patterns I haven’t printed yet…more decisions. My Burda book patterns, which I have the book on iBook, are ok because of the instruction covers.

I need to make a decision there soon because I totally forgot about the Craftsy patterns! Whoopsie! I may not have needed that Renfrew after all….oh, who are we kidding, sure I did!

Tag: Renfrew

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How-To: My Pattern Organization