The Gena is available on etsy. It's by Janet Celeste Patterns, which I've never heard of before. I made a size C.
This pattern is fully lined - you cut 4 identical pieces. There are no shaping darts and it is quite short. I'm short waisted. This is *really* short. You finish with the shoulder straps and a few options are provided. Sadly, hand stitching is clearly the best of the lot. For future reference....
I decided to cowboy my own instructions and didn't sew the bottom together. After sewing the top, I finished the straps (which was not that easy and made me regret this choice) then topstitched the hem. The problem with this is that it becomes a bit more curly rather than sitting flat.
The final result is really too short, even on me, and pulls funny. My feeling is that it's too small, that somehow my wider back needs more accommodation than this. However, I used a piece of fish fabric that's absolutely precious to me. My pattern placement is fantastic. And it's the middle of the winter. I'm well aware that midsummer I will probably wear the hell out of this, (it matches my favourite summer shorts) so it's going into the closet.
I did however think that a knit version would be amazing. I stuck the pattern pieces together to get rid of the side seam and I lengthened the pattern 2" (lines are on the pattern to do this.) It was very short work in this drapey and beautiful jersey - modal? The fabric is from Mood. I just topstitched the shoulders together. I did learn one major life lesson though - why you sew long continuous knit things in two separate goes, from the centre out. I've seen this in instructions but not really understood why...By the time I got all the way round on the hem to the second side, the grain had twisted in a horrible way. It was not fixable but I managed to cut off the end and just put that side under the other one so it's less obvious...though heh, it's totally reversible so it ends up on top half the time. I will *definitely* be wearing this top a lot, even before summer!
The Stitch Witch Atlas is a bit more sophisticated of a pattern at first glance.
I was totally sucked in by the Hollywood dart, which is a rare choice these days. (Ominous overtones of Vogue 1247, see here.) There is a partial front facing, which I was willing to commit to because it does go all the way to the underside of the armhole, but the back panels are fully lined. The side seams are thus somewhat visible inside the top.
I cut size 6. Again I risked a piece of very precious fabric - my last scrap of linen with flocked spots. I was very kind and used most of this fabric to make a dress for a friend (it was a masterpiece). I should have bought the entire bolt, I love it so much. The back is a lightweight silk linen that I had hoarded together with the dots, and the linings of both front and back are white voile. I did interface the front facing since my fabric is so light.
WELL since V1247, my relationship to Hollywood darts has not improved. I do not like this at all. I hate facings. I hate this facing. The dart makes everything lumpy in a weird way. The top is also very short, and it also seems too small through the back. The curve of the back straps seems thinner and higher, I was really unsatisfied with a lot of my photos too - it just doesn't make me feel as comfortable. For this cross back type of garment I clearly need to size up. I think this top is a lot nicer in the photos than it feels when I'm wearing it, which makes me think another version someday, fully lined, might be fun.
Initially I thought that the Atlas would be the clear winner of this comparison test. I thought the finish on it would be nicer and that the dart would add shape. The Gena does have instructions for adding a dart, and that would definitely help the front to not stick out a lot, but I will probably resolve that issue by wearing sporty compressive bras with it. In the end I found the Gena to be easier to make, with a better finish and enough instructions on how to hack it that it spurred me to creative effort. (ahem, follow the instructions!) I didn't find either PDF particularly hard to put together, and the instructions on both were fine. Possibly mashing the two together conceptually would get the best result, ie make the darted Atlas but with the lined finish method of the Gena.
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