This month’s prompt for Sew My Style included two pattern options, the Sheona Top/Dress by Athina Kakou and the Givre Top/Dress by Deer and Doe. Both are pretty basic tees that are extended to knee-length straight dresses. I really can’t wear straight dresses like that since they don’t flatter my body shape, so I opted to keep it simple and sew the Sheona Top. I didn’t have any knit fabric on hand for this, so I ended up finding a cute little anchor and “x” print from Girl Charlee. It’s *so* hard to find cute knits that aren’t florals or juvenile prints, so I maybe went with something a little more simple than I would otherwise, but the price was right at $6.75/yard and it’s 100% cotton jersey instead of a polyester blend. Before I sewed the top above, I did end up sewing a wearable muslin out of clearance fabric from Joann’s that was marked as “youth” fabric, but also the only cotton knits they had in the store that weren’t awful floral prints were in the youth section, and it was either the fabric seen below, or rainbows and donuts (I WAS SO TEMPTED THOUGH).
The fabric is kind of sheer in spots with a sort of burn-out effect and there are all these little lady bugs doing funny things like laundry, pushing a carriage, playing jump rope, etc. It’s adorable, but definitely designed with someone younger in mind. However, that’s never stopped me from wearing silly prints before, and it’s not about to stop me now! I sewed the lady bug top at size 24 thinking that since I was between sizes, I’d best size up since the pattern mentioned negative ease in the hips and that’s the opposite of my shape and comfort in terms of fit in clothing. I have Hips with a capital H, so.. yeah. Anyway, the 24 ended up being a little big – the shoulder seam is a little low, there’s too much space around the bust (another issue I have with fit in general), but the hips were right! So, I decided to cut down the pattern to the 22, but kind of cut between the two sizes at just the hips which worked out pretty well. I also opted for the short sleeve in the final version since I tend to layer cardigans over short sleeves.
It’s not a bad fit! I mean, it’s a fairly stretchy fabric for being cotton knit, and of course being a knit fabric means it’s got a fair bit of forgiveness in the fit anyway. The length is surprisingly spot on, considering I’ve got a super short torso and most tops end up mid-thigh instead of just above the widest part of my hips where they should be. If I did this again, I’d probably make the short sleeves just an inch longer, and see about maybe scooting the waist curve up a few inches. Maybe I’d even take the bust sizing down too? It’s a lot of fiddling around for a t-shirt, but having a go-to pattern that fits would be really great. Also, learning how to do those adjustments on an easy-to-sew pattern would make future sewing pattern adjustments even easier.
Overall, I’m really happy with how this came out, and I absolutely will wear both the ‘muslin’ and the final t-shirt. The pattern was incredibly easy to follow and sew, and I finished them each in maybe an hour or two between cutting and sewing. The designer also has TONS of modifications and pattern hacks available to change the neckline, sleeves, hem line, etc, so once I’ve got a solid base fit on this, the possibilities are nearly endless which is what makes it such a great starting point for other sewing!
If you want to check out what other sewists made this month, check out the hashtag on Instagram, #SewMyStyle2019.