April Round-Up All the tops

Hi!  Soo, I’ve made a few tops lately and I’ve posted them to Instagram, why?  I was on vacation and in vacation prep mode and I forgot to write my blog posts.  I’m back from vacation and trying to catch up.  I got to see a sew friend while in Barbados and she took me to the fabric stores!  How cool is that?  I only purchased a piece of Ankara that my husband has taken for himself, guess I’ll be making him a tunic, sooner, rather than later.  I also purchased a scuba knit boarder print so I’ll show you these pieces when I sew them up.

I didn’t have a lot of room in my bag so I didn’t go crazy, the fabric stores  had surprisingly  good prices, similar to what you would see in a store here.  However, there were no real deals I couldn’t live without so I didn’t go crazy.  I saw some embroidered denim and I think I need some of that so I’m on the look out for that locally.  I was at a chain store so I didn’t get to see any Barbadian made textiles, that I would have purchased.

I get irritated when the season comes and I didn’t make anything I want to, it could be because I didn’t plan properly (insert eye roll).  We are in spring and so I’m working on spring and summer, I have a few dresses planned and a few tops.  When I look back on my wardrobe, I wear shorts ( I have plenty of denim shorts so I don’t need any), I have a few shorts that need to be altered so I need dresses and T shirts and blouses.  I think I can afford to make a few skirts too.  Also, I haven’t made any work wear so I need to do that.

(Sigh) get more intentional, check (maybe lol).

I’ve made Simplicity 8014 recently, you see the review here.  I made view D again, the only changes I made was to chop nine inches off the hem of view D and I used view Cs collar.  I also used the sleeve from view D and added the tab from view A and C.  It only made sense to convert a shirt dress to a shirt.  I like the traditional collar better so if I make it again, I’ll used the same collar as the shirt dress.   I also like the hem band on this shirt.

I call this my nursing top, I don’t know why, but I feel like a nurse in this top, nothing wrong with nurses, but it gives off a scrubs feel.  I’m also not happy with the way I eased the princess seam, it shows some weird wrinkles.  I’m not sure what s the issue with the princess seam is but in my next top I eased the princess seam in just fine (shrug).  I like the fit of this top, I will wear it because it’s cotton and breathable.  It is a bit sheer so I had to wear a cami under it.  I had issues with my washable crayola washable marker, but it came out in the wash.  A friend told me to get a tide pen, so I’ll add that to my notions when working with my markers. 

I’ve made this top before and I’ve reviewed it here.  The  only changes I made was giving a little more ease at the side seams.  I’m working on another one of these because it has cup sizing and I really like it so I’ll figure out how to make this tunic work again lol.  My next version, I did a sway back adjustment, I think I want to shorten any other versions I make to hit just below high hip.

My final top that popped!  This is the muslin of Simplicity 8454,  on this top, I made view c, I did a full bust adjustment, lowered the dart , lengthened the hem two inches and I did a high round back adjustment.  I like it so far but I think the ruffle will look better.  Now that I have the fit right, I’ll make this one again soon.  I didn’t see any really issues with the instructions and there were no errors on the pattern.

I don’t like key holes on the back, I can’t seem to to get them to lay flat.  What am I doing wrong?  This fit over my head so I closed up center back and left off the keyhole.  I may widen the neckline next time to make it even easier to go over my head.  I made this in a cotton lawn pre-cut I purchased from Fabric Mart.  This fabric feels like a rayon and it has great drape.  I think I’ll do an in depth review when I make my final version.  I’m thinking of rotating some of the dart to the hem to make the dart smaller and raising the dart a 1/2 inch or rotate it up 1/2 inch.

That’s it for now, spring/ summer sewing is in full swing and I’m ready for the dresses!  What’s in your spring/ summer sewing plans.