Sewing with fine fabrics, the Imby's flowy top

Me made may has just come to an end, and once again it's been an endless source of inspiration. One make that caught my eye was the Imby's flowy top sewn up by @you_can sew I'm a sucker for a big sleeve and floaty tops and this pattern definitely has those in spades! The pattern is the work of @karmme_apparel It's a free pattern (how generous is that?!) available as a digital download.

Here's the inspiration

I love Cath's version, and was so inspired to sew my own.

When this silk cotton voile arrived in store I knew it would be perfect! This pattern has a lot of volume, so requires something quite light weight to handle all those gathers and not become overwhelming. Silk cotton voile is lovely and light with a soft floaty drape, perfect for this make. It does require some consideration when sewing with fine fabric, your needle is particularly crucial. The beginning and the end of seams are particular trouble spots, where the fabric can be pulled down into the machine. Poor fabric feed in general can also be a problem. If you take the right steps, these thigs shouldn't be an issue. Good quality thread is always advised, I use either Gutterman or Rasant thread. Also ensure you have a new, sharp, fine needle for delicate fabrics.

I used a fine, #70 universal needle for this make.

I sew on the Pfaff creative 3.0 which has the inbuilt IDT system, which I used engaged for this make and the machine handled the fine fabric beautifully. If you don't have IDT or you find your machine is not handling the fine fabric well, or it's moving around, you may need to adjust the presser foot pressure. How you do this will vary from machine to machine, I find there is a youtube video for just about anything these days so that's usualy my go to for how to's

I find that starting my seams 1.5 to 2cm into the seam then reverse stitching works better with fine fabrics than trying to start at the very start of the seam.

With the technicalities sorted it's time to get sewing!

The stitches used are pretty basic, you'll only need a straight stitch. I used a 2.5mm for my sewn seams and 4mm for my gathering stitches

There are printed instructions for the pattern, as well as a sew along on youtube

The construction is pretty simple, with any tricky moments explained well in the sew along.

The top came together in about an hour and the finished product is pretty impressive.

The pattern is one size, suggested for sizes 8-12, but I feel it could fit up to a size 16

I've layered here with a long sleeve top for the cooler weather, but this would work as a lovely summer top too.

I hope this inspires you to get sewing

Until next time, happy sewing

Julia xx