Pattern Magic Twist – ‘nejiri’

At last I have a chance to test out some of the ideas in this wonderful book, ‘Pattern Magic” by Tomoko Nakamichi.  Originally ordered from Tessuiti Fabrics in Surry Hills Sydney, this book, and the many like it, are full of challenging ideas.

In particular I am interested in the Twist, or ‘nejiri’, featured on pages 71-73.  You may remember we did a twist style in one of the recent pattern puzzles.  That was a half body twist and quite tight in fit.

The twist in the Pattern Magic book is softer with just a 10cm push or twist on the side seams.  The other fascination with this project is that I am working with the kimono block for jersey, another great love!

Following the instructions (p72) to the letter I drafted the top left shape.  As you can imagine I looked at the numbers and considered that 21cm on the quarter body (hip & bust – total 84cm) is not a lot for a size 12 (me), even if the fabric has two way stretch!

So I decided to make the hip and bust measurement a quarter of my hip (body) measurement knowing that taking it in would be easier than trying to work with a too-tight toile.  To maintain the original shape I made the waist 21cm, the same difference (3cm less than hip) you see on the draft.  So much about this is decided by the fabric you intend to use.  I will be using two way stretch so I expect some forgiveness in the fit.

After following the instructions I ended up with the pattern you see below, looking pretty much like the one in the book.  I had pushed the CF and side seam to the left as in the above diagram, then duplicated the style for the back.

The pattern instructions also separate half the back sleeve and add it to the front.  I believe the idea is to shift the only shoulder seam to the back and make the shape a little easier to work with when laying up on fabric. The instructions mark the grain line through the CF line.  However I could only lay-up with the back on the straight grain and the front on the cross-wise grain.

First thing I think of when looking at my first toile is that my fabric is much lighter than the fabric of the sample in the book.  I also found the upper section of the twist top was too loose, with an excess of fabric.  So my first set of alterations is to take some depth out of top section and firm up the fit on the hips.

This style strongly relies on the top remaining in position (twisted) with the side seams held in place by a tight fit around the hips or elastic to maintain the twist.  After making this first sample I wore the top for approximately 2 hours just to see what would happen to the twist and the position of the side seams over time.  The outcome of the wearer trials will be outlined in my next post.

Join me on my sampling and texting journey with this style.  Let me know what you think and feel free to ask any questions.