Not Quite What Was Expected

I fell in love with this pattern the first time I saw it; I really liked the bodice with overlay. However, when it came to actually making the top, the bodice with overlay caused me some problems. I needed to lengthen the bodice by 1 inch, which seemed pretty straight forward; however an unintended consequence was too much fullness in the overlay across the bust. I actually set the top aside for about a month and worked on some Christmas sewing because I was pretty stumped about how to remove the fullness.

So I finally took the plunge to finish is. I tried on the top and pinched out the fullness over the bust, which was about 1 inch at the side seam, tapering off at the bust apex. Then I took the whole thing apart and stared at it for a while. Finally, I decided to just position the overlay under the bodice with the placement that I wanted, smooth it all out and trace the outline of the bocide onto the overlay. Then I put it all back together and was grateful that it fit reasonably well.

The only other thing that caused me a problem, and caused me to scratch my head as well, was the sleeves. I have what could only be described as fairly burly forearms. But the sleeves, which on the pattern looked as though they were close fitting, were enormous. I first sewed them with the regular 5/8 inch seam allowance, tried on the top, and could only laugh; they were absolutely ludicrous! I ended up taking the 5/8 inch at the underarm seam, tapering to 1-7/8 inches at the hem! I'm not sure what was up with that. I'm pretty sure that most women would need to take them in even more.

The last thing - and this is no fault of the pattern - is that my top is far dressier than I expected. I'm sure this is due to my fabric choice. But now I have a really cute, fairly dressy top that I'm not sure where I will wear it. It's just a bit too dressy for the grocery store, gardening or scrubbing the bathroom. The photo on the pattern jacket shows the top in what appears to be a solid cotton knit. View A is drawn in a print and I thought it still looked fairly casual, which is probably where I got the idea that I could use the red and black jersey and have an every day top. My bad!

The top is still just a tad short from shoulder to bodice seam but other than that the fit is reasonable. As I mentioned, I would not recommend this pattern to someone who would need to lengthen the bodice unless they also needed a full bust adjustment. The other thing that happened by lengthening the bodice is that the v-neck took quite a plunge. So I tacked it at a more modest level. I also tacked the overlay to the bodice to keep it in place.

I may sew this pattern again, but it is far more likely that I'll try a wrap top that does not have a horizontal seam under the bust.

On the other hand, my husband loves it.

(Note: Garment was completed and reviewed at Pattern Review in January of '08.)