I was determined to make a velvet top using this pattern, but I knew from the beginning that it would take a few muslins to get the right fit. I've never used this pattern designer before and I found the pattern somewhat lacking to start with.
It is a PDF with no A0 option.
The tiled A4 pages had borders on some pages, but not on others, so at times I had to line up pages and guess the right size of the gap.
The instructions have a 1/4" SA on most of the top, and a 5/8" SA on the side seams. This is one of those new things indie pattern designers are doing, and it's annoying.
I made my first version in the smallest size, which says bust 30-32". My bust may be in the 32-33 inch range, but my back is wide and this often confounds measures. I knew the top would be way too long, and so I made zero changes initially in order to capture the fit.
Version one is as expected. Pretty unglamorous. I do like the fit just under the yoke with the gathers, but it pulled across my back, and the top is made for people with stick arms. As expected, it is very long.
This data in hand, I increased the width of the back yoke by about 1.5 cm on the fold, lowered the armhole by just about an inch to make the sleeves roomier, cut off the bottom 10 inches of the pattern, and normalised everything to a 3/8" SA.
I scavenged up matching scraps and actually they are quite precious ones - the back top is a light silk cotton voile that I am oddly in love with, previously made into a horrific Vogue top (here, lurkers!) and the front yoke is a cotton voile I've used to muslin my Japanese pattern dress with. The bottoms are delicious linen viscose from an etsy seller who subsequently vanished. It has great drape and a bit of texture. If I wanted it to be less twee I might have skipped out on the hearts, but anyway it is cute.
I was actually really surprised to achieve total success with my adjustments, though I conceded I cut the top a tiny bit too short and lengthened the final version by another inch. I've stuck with this pattern because, of course, I had a vision involving that hot pink silk velvet. The only remaining question was whether to do the tedious and horrible facing when sewing with slippery silk velvet. I concede that the velvet would feel best against the skin, but a bit of bias tape would be much easier.
I went with the velvet. Actually it wasn't that bad to cut or to sew. I used a lot of pins, and didn't have any trouble with it shifting around. I ironed only sporadically and doubled the top over itself when ironing so the furry side was always facing another furry side. Now that I'd made this three times it was a fast sew. I overlocked all the insides. The facing seam isn't quite straight on the front, but it's not too obvious and everything else was easy.
My velvet top is actually totally perfect. I prepped the fabric by handwashing and airdrying so it should be pretty easy care. I'm not all that fussed by how wear is crushing the velvet, because it's almost iridescent in the light and looks good wrinkled, hooray!
Can you tell by my pictures that I love this top? Or do I just look like I have zero posing skills, as usual?
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