In some sort of mental whiteout I bought the Merchant and Mills The Gyo top pattern, even though I didn’t think it was really my style. I had a small remnant in mind to make it with, and thought it might look cute.
I bought the fabric online, which I rarely do, obviously for good reason. This piece had a seam sewn in it, beautifully done and pattern matched, and white streaks where the fabric had wrinkled going through the printing process. I had clearly bought the end of the roll.
So, I had a pattern that I was very uncertain about, and fabric with disappointing problems. Onwards! I said to myself.
I selected my size and got pinning. The pattern is designed to be cut from flat, not folded, fabric, and It’s at this point that I noticed that the two facing pieces were to be placed wrong side up on the fabric. I had to play pattern Tetris to get the pieces on my very small piece of fabric and I was really pleased that all the fabric faults were under the facing pattern pieces. I cut it out and put it aside to sew the next day.
In the middle of the night I woke up and had the thought that one of those facing pieces was cut right side up. When I got up the next morning, the first thing I did was look, and yep, my subconscious had not let me down, I had an inside out facing. This led me to think about why the pattern would be printed WSU? There must be a good reason.
I set to replacing the facing, just managing to eke it out of the leftover piece. Guess what? I now had two incorrect facings! I had picked up the wrong pattern piece. Not sure how I made such a fundamental error – just human I guess.
I finally managed to cobble together the top and put it on, only to find that it was super tight!
I rushed back to the pattern envelope and checked. I had chosen my size based on my bust size, and it was only on closer examination that I realised that the size I had chosen was the finished measurement. Huff, I hate that! I basically had two centimetres of ease, which is clearly not enough!
Unpicking ensued. I could do nothing about the darts as they are cut into the pattern, but I decided to add strips into the side seams. At this point I had the smallest scraps left, plus two facings that I couldn’t use.
I made the strips as wide as I could, piecing them together.
I managed to get another 5 centimetres around the body, which was sufficient. Luckily the fabric is busy enough that all my crimes are hidden.
I was pleased to note that the top now fits reasonably well. The darts are a bit high and I don’t think the shoulder straps are in the right spot, but it’s ok.
When I first tried it on, the top was so tight that the back facing wouldn’t stay down, now it does, so that’s a measure of success.
I love this top with my Purl Soho City Gym shorts. The fabric for these was stolen from Sarah’s (PatternUnion) scrap bin. I had just enough, with a pocket and bias binding fashioned from scraps of the scraps!
I’ve now worn this top a few times and decided that I do rather like it! It doesn’t ride up when I lift my arms, and has a boxy look, which I quite like.
In spite of all the dramas, I do like this fabric – the colours really appeal and I love the little elephants.
I must say that I was so pleased to finish this top, and even more pleased when I realised that I quite liked it and it fits nicely into my wardrobe. There will be more of these, and I’m interested to see what the fit is like when I make the correct size. I note that my bra strap just peeks out, and figure that the larger size will sort this out.