Have you made the
Nettie pattern by Closet Case Files? I'm in love! I think she makes the perfect partner to my
Miette skirt, not just because of the tongue twister name combo, but because of the way the tight silhouette on top is balanced out with the flared skirt. Seventies loveliness, right there.
Nettie is a print-at-home pattern for a very figure hugging dress or body to be made in stretchy jersey (named after the gorgeous Wanette from
Sown Brooklyn!). When I say "body", I'm talking about those things with poppers down below that we sported in the early 90s. I distinctly remember being impressed with my friend Emma Viner's crushed velvet body from M&S that she wore to the school disco. M&S seemed posh in those days, to me at least, and a crushed velvet body? The height of sophistication, particularly in contrast to my own school disco ensemble of carpet waistcoat, denim shirt and leggings. Wait... what was I talking about? Oh yeah, so the pattern is for a tight dress or body, but I prefer wearing less clingy stuff on my bootiful lower half and don't like the idea of a body cutting into said booty, as fashionable as they may be, so I redrew the bottom of the pattern to create a simple top instead.
You get the choice of three different necklines front and back - I went for the scoop neck front and medium scoop back. Because of my petite frame, I raised the front neckline by 1cm, as well as shortening the bodice. I'd read that the shoulders on the pattern were narrow, which is perfect for me as it saved me a job. I also raised the medium scoop back by 2cm because I was paranoid about my bra showing. However, I needn't have worried, it is well covered - next time I'll use Heather's original cutting line for the back, she knew what she was doing. The sleeves ended up being a bit tight on me though, which is something I find quite often happens - I'm clearly doing too much body building. (Not.) Apart from that, fitting jersey is so easy as the stretch basically... well,
stretches over the bits you need it too. I was slightly concerned about just how tight it ended up being, but my
caring boyfriend reassured me that "there's no such thing as too tight". He's a big fan of Nettie. Soooo predictable.
Cutting stretchy jersey is, let's face it, a bit of a pain, as it wriggles all over the place and you need to be careful not to stretch it out of shape while you're trying to get it to play ball. Once I'd cut it out, the pattern came together very quickly and relatively easily, stitching it on a combination of my lovely
sewing machine and
overlocker. If you're a relatively new stitcher, you may find stretchy jersey a bit of a challenge, so I'd advise you to start with a low stretch knits pattern first. If you've mastered something like
Coco and are ready for the next level, try Nettie! She's a good girl. You'll love 'er. I do.
[Soundtrack: 'Rumble' by Kelis]
