Sewing Florence by Merchant & Mills in Vertical Jersey

by Polina K

As you have probably seen on my Instagram page and stories, i am a huge fan on Florence pattern by Merchant & Mills. Florence is an indie sewing pattern for a top and a dress, with a soft high and low gathers.

Prior opening Good Fabric store, I have sewn two version of Florence top and have been wearing them non stop. The first version is in Light Diamond Tencel fabric by Meet Milk and the second version is sewn in Urban Leo Ecovero viscose fabric in Sorbet by Mind the Maker.

For my next project I wanted to test my new Janome overlocker so decided to sew my favorite pattern in jersey. I love autumnal colours, so I was very excited to use this very sustainable fabric – organic vertical stripes cotton jersey in pumpkin by Tygdrommar.

Pattern:

The only pattern alteration I have done was adding 4 cm to the front and back panels. It is the same alteration that i have done on my Diamond Jacquard and Ecovero versions.

Darts:

I am not the most experienced of sewists, so I decided to follow the Merchant & Mills sewing instructions and did back darts on the shoulder seams. Have to say, not sure what they added to the shape, so next time I will just omit them altogether.

Button holes:

The instructions call for reinforcing the button panel with fusible backing. I am so glad I followed this, as I had few issues with buttonholes. My machine would stop in the middle of making a buttonhole, so I had to unpick it 3 times resulting in a very messy section. After googling this, i believe it does tend to happen to some of the Janome machines, so watch out for this!

In hindsight, there was no need for buttons at all, as the jersey is stretchy, it went over my head without any issues so if I do sew another Florence in jersey, I will skip this step all together.

Bias Binding

I have discovered DotToDotHaberdashery on Etsy, they stock some lovely trims and notions. I am very pleased with the quality and colours are just amazing.

I used double folded viscose binding in 2cm width in tangerine colourway.

Finishing neckline

I recently bought twin needles so it was perfect opportunity to use them. My needle broke after 10 stitches, so I just used normal stitch to finish the neckline. But it would have been lovely to have the double row of stitching.

Gathering

I know that overlocker can gather dressmaking fabric, but honestly I am still scared of my overlocker so I did 2 rows of long stitches and pulled bobbin thread to fit the front and back panels of the body. The jersey I used is quite thin, so it worked without any issues.

The top is probably one of the most comfortable items I own, I absolutely love it and really want to make a long sleeve version in jersey for winter. Depending on your fabric choice this can be your staple basic or a statement piece.