Two Ends of a Jersey Spectrum
When I first saw the Adrienne Blouse by Friday Pattern Co. I thought it was nice. I wasn’t taken aback like everyone else was because it wasn’t a style that I was into. But since watching the 2020 hit Korean drama, It’s Okay Not To Be Okay, I’ve been really hankering for some tops with statement sleeves.
Throughout the series Seo Ye-ji's character, Ko Moon-yeong, shows off an envy-inducing wardrobe, wearing pieces from fashion houses such as Alexander McQueen, Dolce & Gabbana, Miu Miu and more, along with highlighting up-and-coming Korean designers.
While Friday’s Adrienne Blouse might not be as show stopping as this Magda Butrym Siena polka dot dress, it was the perfect foundation for me to start branching into the world of statement sleeves.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
Described as being a fashion forward wardrobe essential, the Adrienne is a knit top with billowy statement sleeves that are gathered up at the shoulders and hems with elastic. The length is slightly cropped with the hem hitting just below your belly button. As I’m currently making drafts of everything I decided to sew up two versions but have them on the different ends of the knit spectrum.
I don't tend to work much with fabrics with a lot of drape or lighter knits, so I thought this could be a fun experiment to see the difference between the two finished garments. For both versions I chose fabrics from Minerva, only buying 1.5m for each. I assumed that if I was a straight size XS or S with no modifications then I would still have a little left over from each. For my draft I chose this rayon jersey (78% Polyester, 18% Rayon, 4% Spandex) striped fabric that had approximately 10mm wide stripes in various brown tonal shades and this double knit ponte roma (76% Polyester, 19% Viscose, 5% Spandex) in black for my final. I’ve never sewn with stripes or such a lightweight jersey before, but I was hoping for a more romantic finish to my Adrienne as the fabric had a really nice drape to it. It’s always amazing that there can be 2 fabrics with similar compositions that are so different to each other. The ponte had much less stretch to it, giving it a more weighted feel and structured look. I can already sense that one top might be worn more than the other.
I cut an S for both versions and didn’t modify the length of the bodice or sleeves, but for future versions I would like to try some sleeve modifications. The length of the top is apparently drafted to be slightly cropped with the instructions saying that the hem should sit just below your belly button. I’m 5’5 and found that the hem actually fell a few inches below my belly button, but I found this to be quite a comfortable length so I didn’t feel the need to modify the bodice at all.
I was quite distracted with work when making this top and ended up with a really tight elasticated wrist finish in one arm. I also managed to stretch either my neckband or the joining piece as my neckband gaped quite a lot, and no amount of steam pressing has made it lie flat. I thought that the neckband might be improved with a sturdier knit which is why I didn’t fix this version. In the draft, I learnt that I didn’t actually like the wrist finish and felt a little disappointed by the lack of shoulder action that I was hoping for. But I kept telling myself that it was because the fabric was very soft so it wouldn’t stand up to the amount of puffiness that I was looking for.
In my final top I still had a little gaping in the neckline, but I realised that the issue was more due to not having graded down for my narrow shoulders rather than the fabric I was using. Even though this little problem can be fixed by pushing the sleeves a little closer to the edge of my shoulders, I still prefer to wear my sleeves on my shoulders as they do a great job hiding my bra straps. Nothing annoys me more than being able to see straps peeking out beneath my clothes.
If anyone else has this problem with the neckband, then I would recommend either cutting your neckband piece a little shorter, using less elastic in the shoulders or just using ribbing fabric which makes the perfect choice for cuffs, waistbands and necklines.
The only difference to this version was that I added a cuff instead of using elastic to finish at the wrists. What I really should have done was extend the sleeve pattern all the way to my wrist before adding the cuff to give that more emphasised bell shape, and to give extra ease to the fabric so that the sleeves could sit more comfortably on my shoulders.
Overall, I really enjoyed making the Adrienne because it was such a simple construction that allowed me to focus more on the sleeves and experiment with different knits. I found out that I didn’t really suit this specific gradient of brown or this type of stripe but that’s OK with me.
