LOL Swing Top :: Testing and Tour Overview

Phew!  It’s been a whirlwind of activity getting the LOL Swing Top ready to release!

First, let me say I have the. most. amazing. testers ever!  The way the LOL is constructed requires a precise combination of pattern pieces and bias measurements.  Then I went and complicated things by testing both knits and wovens at the same time.

The smallest sizes honed in pretty quickly and we identified the issues with different types of ribbing – less stretch, more stretch, good recovery, wimpy recovery.  To cover all the bases for knits, we ended up making two different tables for ribbing based on stretch and recovery.

In the meantime, test garments for the largest sizes were coming in, and there were a few hiccups – pulling across the chest and too much gathering in the back.  I brought in a few last minute flash testers since we were now more than a week past the testing time frame.  It was so helpful to have those speedy-sewing ladies join in and whip out LOLs in rapid succession.

Several of the testers made multiples either to help with fit, or just to have fun with the pattern.  I think there’s a couple ladies who’ve already made five or six tops!  You’ve gotten to see many of the LOLs during the pattern tester tour and you can see several more in the tester collage above, which is featured in the pattern.  One tester in particular was invaluable for asking the hard questions which needed asking to get me past my design hangups for how I wanted it to be vs. how it needed to be to be right.  Sometimes you get your head too deep into something to see.

You can still get your LOL Swing Top pattern with the 20% release discount for a couple more days!  Use the code LOLRelease in my pattern shop, or on Etsy.

And watch for a couple of fun projects I’ve been working on later this week!