Hey Everybody! How's your Monday going so far? As promised, I am back with a full post on my Robert's Collection Top. I went on a bit of a Marilla Walker bender and I'm not sure I'm quite done with her patterns yet, but I have been sucked back into my Archer addiction so we'll see (can one really have enough Archers? Okay I just went and counted and I currently have 14 with plans to make more. Whoa! No wonder I never get anything else sewn). My sewing queue is soooooo long, sometimes I don't know how I'll ever get to try out all the patterns that I have in my stash, not to mention all the ones I'd like to buy, and then I always get tempted with new releases too. Ugh! The life of a hobby garment sewer is a tough one, isn't it? ;P
Anyway, back to the pattern at hand. When Marilla first released her Roberts Collection (which is an amazing little capsule wardrobe, if you haven't heard of it go check it out. It's a great deal if you like the designs), I thought the jumpsuit was really cool, and I loved the overalls/dungarees, but I was really struck by the cute top. It just seemed like the perfect little v-neck woven top Cute cut-on sleeves, a super quick sew, and I loved that cool triangle detail on the back (it's made to match the line of the overalls, but it makes for lots of potential cool fabric combinations). It's funny how the small accessory is what made me buy this pattern, not the more main components.
Anyway, I actually made the plain version first as is, and really liked the fit. John said it looked a bit big, but sometimes he's funny that way. He prefers things to be quite fitted. Anyway, in this case, I chose to ignore him and made the same size again, a size 4. I actually really like the fit. It's quite comfy.
To make a button up version of this top, I basically just combined the the jumpsuit bodice with the length of the top and then extended the front facing. It was super easy, and really, you could just skip the buttonholes and sew your buttons right through both plackets, as this top slips easily over your head.
For the fabric, I had this gorgeous piece of Liberty lawn that I bought at Shaukat. It was the end of the bolt and I think it measured at just under a metre. I thought I would be able to squeeze out the whole top, but discovered even with tetris-like placement, I was wrong. Luckily, I had some beautiful tencel denim (from Blackbird Fabrics) in my stash, and I thought it matched really well, plus I love how it accents that triangle detail. It really would have been lost in the busy fabric. (Also I apologize for the wrinkles, but tencel can be a bit like linen wrinkle-wise, and I had been wearing this all day when we photographed it.)
Boy for a simple top, I'm sure blabbing on about it, aren't' I? Anyway, next time I think I might raise the v-neck slightly, and do a better job at spacing out my buttons. That bottom one looks a bit weird so close to the hem. But other than that I'm really happy with it.
I do have a question for you guys regarding sleeve style though. Both this top and my Maya top have cut-on/kimono sleeves and I'm wondering if that accentuates my upper arm (and by accentuates, I mean shows off my thunder arms). Is that just the nature of the sleeve, or can I adjust the length of them somehow to hit me in a more flattering place on my arm? I'd love to hear your thoughts.