Monday, July 9, 2012

Butterick 5645

After I finished Logan's 'g' shirt, I threaded up the machines in white thread to get ready to sew my 2-In-1 Sewalong dress. The muslin is fitted and I'm ready to cut, but I just wasn't ready to dive in to another dress just yet. So I pulled out a few pieces of knit fabric that I could sew up with white and went to town, knit top style.
This is Butterick 5645, which has been sitting in the stash a while. I really like the cowl neckline and the lace insets on the sleeves. I'm not sure why it took me so long to sew it up.
The fabric is a rayon jersey in a ikat style print. Last summer it seemed like all of the fabric vendors had this fabric available in this colorway as well as a red/coral one. This particular piece is from fabric.com. It is a little bit curly and slippery, so not the easiest to sew, but not too bad.
The fun part of this pattern is the lace sleeve inset. It is basically just a godet made of stretch lace. Mine is a teal Giselle stretch lace from fabric.com. I underlined the lace with plain white modal jersey, since I didn't want it to be see through, but I didn't want the ikat print to compete with the lace.
I'm very happy with this top overall. The jersey is super soft and comfortable. The style is fun and I love the touch of lace at the shoulder. My one big dislike is that the back neckline is slightly dropped, and the whole top slides forward on my shoulders, which takes the cowl neckline from sassy but modest to indecent and showing belly button. I'm thinking I'll add some bra strap holders and see if that eliminates the slippage.

15 comments:

Elizabeth Made This said...

I love the print, and the side braid seems very much in the spirit of the print. I don't mind sheer sleeves, but with scratchy lace, I can see how useful an underlined sleeve would be.

Lori said...

Very pretty top, the inserts are so fun and cute. Great fabric, too.

gMarie said...

That turned out adorable. g

Pam said...

Katie - You are looking good girlfriend! I love the top and it pairs perfectly with those jeans!

Great job again! Keep up the good sewing!

Aminat said...

Beautiful, the print suites you so well

The F Girl said...

I love the top on you. Very elegant! Nice touch with the sleeve insets.

Ruth said...

Beautiful top. It looks great on you. Actually, everything you sew looks great on you! (written sincerely) :)

Marjie said...

It is an adorable top; the color is great on you. And now you know that you should cut the back a little higher next time. I like my tops to reach the top of my spine in the back, too, to avoid the slippage problem you mentioned.

Anonymous said...

Oooooh. I love this! Amazing print. Nice job.

Unknown said...

I really like the ikat print, and the top suits it.

I have the same problem with tops slipping forward - look forward to hearing about your solution to it!

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

Another great top! Did everyone buy some of that fabric from Fabric Mart? I have some in my collection too! :)

HeathersSphere said...

Such a stunning top, especially with the sleeve godets/insets! I have already made this top 4 times and agree with the extra ease. With a knit, I went down what seemed like one and a half sizes ("L" to between a "S" and an "M" or what seems like a "S/M" size) and for a woven such as a rayon/cotton (no horizontal stretch) just one size. This pattern seemed very suited also for "soft" wovens so that the cowl still drapes nicely. To reduce the ease at my upper back or to make the top "hug" the upper back more, I had to take in the upper center back approximately 3/4" tapering to 0" just above my waistline for the back pattern piece prior to cutting the fabric, resulting in narrowing the back 1 1/2".

KID, MD said...

I think so!! I've sure seen a lot of it on the blogosphere!

KID, MD said...

That sounds like the perfect fix!! Thanks for sharing it. I hadn't thought of it as a width problem, but I can see how that would snug in the shoulders.

Lynneb said...

That's a really cute pattern...love the fabric you chose Kate.