This top came very close to being binned and I'm still feeling a little bit ambivalent about it. It has received a lot of blog love and I let its simple design fool me into thinking it wouldn't require much fitting.
According to my measurements I'm between a medium and a small. I cut out a medium with the length of an extra large. The other change I made was to alter the collar shape following this information (Megan has a long list of possibilities for the pattern that she demonstrated on the recent Banksia sew-a-long)
I really like the new shape of the collar and that it's not a fussy top, but for me the fit is all over the place. I don't think the top fits me well through the bust - maybe the darts aren't long enough? If I fold out the placket so the collar meets at centre front then the top fits much better through the bust.
Everything really went to pieces when I sewed in the sleeves. After looking in the mirror I pulled the top straight off and threw it on the floor. There were huge fabric bulges poking up at the back of the sleeve and the back was a wrinkly mess.
My first thought was that I must have sewn the sleeves in backwards. I went back and checked the pattern - the front and back of the sleeve are identical so I couldn't have sewn it in backwards. On a related note there are very few pattern matching notches and none at all on the sleeves. I usually have a problem with shirts being too broad across the shoulders but this one was too narrow and the arm holes were uncomfortably high. I also think my rayon fabric stretched while I was sewing and pressing the collar adding to all the awful wrinkles on the back. A sway back adjustment might have helped too.
In the end I took Wade's advice and cut off the sleeves - this had the added benefit of lowering the arm holes to a more comfortable height and the back doesn't look as bad as it did. If I was going to sew another sleeveless version I'd probably reshape the front armhole.
I don't think this is a bad pattern, lots of other people have made it and loved it but it's just not right for me. I recently made the Sewaholic Alma top and the finished product ended up enormous. These two not quite right projects have been major blows to my mojo, I need a couple of quick winners to get things cranking again.
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