New Look 6807

This top is piece #2 in the dress avoidance series.

The pattern is New Look 6807, which has also been hanging out a while, waiting to be sewn. I have a lot of patterns, y'all. Anyway, this one is a very simple peasant style top with some gathering at the neckline and a tie at the back neck. 

The fabric is so fun. It is a Trendy Knit from FabricMart, purchased last summer. It is a rayon-lycra blend, very similar in quality to the ikat print I made the Butterick top out of. The bright colors and the tropical print reminded me so much of Shannon and the beautiful prints she often sews. It is very lightweight and curly though, so in order to get it to feed nicely through the binder on the coverstitch machine, I lightly interfaced my binding strips with Pro-Sheer Elegance. It perfectly tamed the curl while preserving the stretch and light weight of the knit.

Instead of a slit with ties in back, I decided to make a large circular keyhole for a bit of back interest. My hair is so long, that my tops tend to be "coffin clothes" (cute in front, boring in back), but between the keyhole in Bre's gown, to Trena's fabulous triangle back sheath, and Shannon's version of Butterick 3028, I needed some back interest in my life. All I did to make it happen was to cut a half circle out of the pattern at center back, starting at the neckline and going down to the pattern marking for the slit. I bound the cutout with my coverstitch machine, then caught the free edges of the circle (at the neckline) into the neckline binding (also done on the coverstitch).

Other than that, this top is super simple to sew, but the sizing is out of the ball park, even for the Big 4. I generally sew a 10 or 12 in Big 4 knit tops, but for this, I cut an 8, but then took 4 inches out at the waist. The neckline is quite low and open. There is a 3/8 seam allowance for the binding, but since I used my coverstitch to bind, I could have removed it. I left it on as my cheater way to raise the neckline. It worked, but only just. Any lower and I would be flashing the world. No FBA was needed, as the gathers in front provide plenty of room for the girls, and I prefer a bit of negative ease in a knit top.

Ok, one more knit top, then I'll cut out my dress, promise!