I almost forgot about this top completely – I finished it early in July and stashed it away in my closet.
The original pattern and fabric...
The other original pattern and fabric combo...
That first match-up failed because my two remnants of the geometric fabric weren’t wide enough. They fit just fine on the second pattern, however, so again I set aside that blue floral for another day. I set aside that first pattern, too, as I didn’t have any other fabric that would work.
The plan...
Here’s how it turned out:
Spot-on to the drawing! Love it! (Yes, I chose to not wear jeans to work today, even though I could. Jeans are hot. Plus, I could wear whatever I wanted to for the last three weeks, so jeans temporarily lost their appeal. Linen pants on the other hand... But that's for another day.) The hem is a bit folded up here for some reason - I tried to straighten it out and failed, obviously. This shirt is pretty long - it goes well past my hips when it's not bunched up.
Here you can see the hem better, and how I used the edge of the print for that. (I used it on the sleeves, too, but that was more awkward because of their shape.)
The whole wrap-around collar gave me tons of trouble, and the directions were not very clear. I had to refer to other reviews on PatternReview.com for help, and finally things came together.
While I didn't match up the print, I did make sure that the border on both sides matches up vertically. And I stitched the hem in one of the narrow black stripes, so it's nearly invisible.
On PatternReview.com, people complained about the neckline and that it gaped too much. I thought they were probably exaggerating, or perhaps the large percentage of users there who are large-chested feel differently about drape necklines (because I love them, but can imagine that perhaps they wouldn’t be as flattering or work-appropriate if you have copious amounts of cleavage). Um, I was wrong. The neckline is too drapey. I’m totally flashing my co-workers every time I bend over to get something out of a file drawer. I figured I’d wear it the way it was meant to be at least once, and then fix it so that the neckline is straight. It’s pretty high then, but still looks nice. I think that if the fabric used was a fairly stiff knit, it would drape like the pattern, but this knit is more of a slinky, ITY knit (being a remnant, I’m not sure at all what it is, but it feels like the other ITY knits I have used), and therefore it drapes more. Silver lining of being small-chested: I’m totally work-appropriate, even with the deeper drape.
I’ll save the rest of my comments on the pattern for PatternReview.com, lest I bore you with details you’re not interested in. It is a very comfortable shirt, being knit, and paired with black pants, it makes a nice work outfit. I’m pleased. It probably cost me less than $5, since I used two remnants from Hancock Fabrics that were less than a yard each, and I’m sure I bought the pattern on sale for $0.99. No notions or thread needed either. That’s always nice.
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