Embroidered and beaded version B

Although it took me a while to blog about it, I did get right on to stitching up version B of Marcy Tilton's Vogue 8497.  The shady chartreuse cotton interlock that I picked out of my stash almost matches the garment on the pattern photo.  I hope I'm going to like it as well as I do version A.  There's not too much to add to the info in my last post on that short sleeve top with its zig-zag front and back seams.

Once again, instead of overlapping the curved front and back seams, I turned under the seam allowances on the top pieces and stitched them close to the edge and then again a bit over 3/8 inch away. These seams I embellished with a Double Cretan stitch, using two colors of embroidery floss and accenting that with seed beads in a green-turquoise range. The neckline is also simply bound, as I did on the red version, then embroidered and beaded exactly like the front and back seams.

I hemmed the sleeves and the bottom with a double needle.  On the sleeve hems I worked the straight version of the Zigzag Chain Stitch that I used on the neckline of the red top.  I used two strands of embroidery floss in the two different colors of the other embroidery and put a seed bead in each stitch. 

I used the size 12, but did stitch the side seams with a ½ inch seam allowance, rather than 5/8 inch.  One thing to note in construction is to make sure the front and back seams meet precisely at the shoulders, and that the uneven hems meet at the correct place.  There must have been a small amount of stretching or distortion when I cut out the garment, and if I hadn't been careful about matching these up, they would have been off just enough to cause a problem.  Also I used a narrow fusible bias stay tape on the neckline edge which had stretched while I was doing the embroidery and beading. 

 
  
I found that the embroidery and beading went fairly fast, as I sat at my sewing table listening to The Color of Lightning by Paulette Jiles.  (IMO, audio books are one of the best things that ever happened where sewing is concerned.)  Now I've started on something more pedestrian, some olive-y denim pants that I know will be a welcome addition to my wardrobe.  But not as rewarding as making this fun top.