Vogue 9057 has been around for a number of years now – it was voted one of the best patterns of the year on Pattern Review in 2015, 2016 and 2017.  It has recently reappeared on the Vogue website with a new number, Vogue 1733, but it appears to be exactly the same pattern as before right down to the cover photos.

I’ve sewn this pattern a number of times, at least six, and it always works for me. From the pattern website: Pullover top (close-fitting through bust) has neckline and shaped hemline variations. Wrong side shows on hemline. A: Raw edge finish and sleeve bands. A, B: Long sleeves. B, C: Neck binding and side slit. C: Sleeveless, armhole binding. D, E: Three-quarter length sleeves and handkerchief hem. Sleeve hem E and hem B, C and E: Stitched in place. A, D, E: Neck band variations.

This pattern lends itself to a wide range of knit fabrics. This is a viscose/spandex from Super Cheap Fabrics. I always find it a little challenging to find white fabrics that are relatively opaque and have nice drape. I sewed view D with view A/B sleeves, in size Medium (I measure size Large, but the pattern is fairly roomy especially in combination with a soft drapey knit like this one).

I used a simple technique to create the neckband twists that I found in a Tilton sisters Craftsy class (by the way, this top is a Marcy Tilton pattern). Basically the two edges of the neckband are offset about an inch and a half then basted together before attaching to the neckline as usual.

The hems have been secured with a simple turn to the inside then a zig-zag from the wrong side that catches the raw edge down with each stitch. I find it a simpler and flatter finish than twin needling on a viscose/spandex fabric (I don’t own a coverstitch machine).

I felt really good in this outfit – the Vogue top, Style Arc jeans, cardi and scarf from Isle of Mine, and Django and Juliette boots.

For my overseas blog readers, it’s about time that I updated you on the covid-19/lockdown situation here in Melbourne, Australia. After having suppressed the virus last year and getting back to zero new cases each day , for the first six months of 2021 we led a close to normal life, right down to being able to go to the theatre! Anyway, in the past few months the Delta strain has proven to be more than Australia can manage (unsurprisingly really, given what we had seen in the rest of the world). It got into the community in Sydney, now into their third month of their second hard lockdown, and Melbourne is now in our second month of our sixth hard lockdown. Australia has been behind much of the world in rolling out a vaccination program, so it’s now a race to get as many people vaccinated as possible while still locking down to slow the Delta spread in those populous states and trying to mitigate the health system overwhelm. The rest of Australia, currently still virus free, is watching on very nervously and also trying to get more people vaccinated. Our issue has been and still is vaccine supply (the vocal anti-vaxxers seem to be having less impact now that the threat of Delta is looking us in the eye).

Dan, Clare and I are all fully vaccinated (hooray!) but Stella is still too young. We are impatiently waiting for when it will be safe to visit Mum in country Victoria again, while counting our blessings that this latest covid-19 incursion didn’t happen until after Dad’s death and funeral and that we were able to be together during that time. We’re also thankful that we have the technology to keep in touch with one another, and I am constantly grateful for Mum’s marvellous circle of friends nearby. Stella still hasn’t done a full term of high school on site, and Clare has done almost all of her first year of uni at home. Dan’s work is still going strong and he’s enjoying the Zoom contact with clients each day. My work is drying up, as we need to go on site in hospitals to do our (administrative) job and hospitals are closed to all but essential staff at the moment. Melbourne has been Australia’s most locked down city since our first lockdown back in March 2020. It’s wearing; everyone is exhausted and irritable and has run out of emotional capacity. Yet I know that this will end. Eventually we’ll have vaccination rates high enough to open up again safely. So now we take each day at a time, and wait.