Purple Sweetheart Top

Hi! I'm back! It's been a while, but I managed to complete 16 gifts for Christmas, plus what you'll see in this post, while I've been away. I know I mentioned a couple posts ago that I would be sharing the gifts for my daughters, but the truth is, they aren't finished yet. Soon! I hope. ;-)

  I've made a lot of shirts for myself over this past year, but I realized a couple of weeks ago that only a few of them are wearable for me right now. A few are too tight or really uncomfortable, but most of them developed big holes or obvious stains and I don't like wearing any of those ones in public.

  So I made myself a new one. This fabric is from Joann's a few months ago. I love the color, but the quality is a bit lacking. It's mostly polyester, and is thinner than I prefer. Also, I've washed this shirt one time since I made it, and there's already a bit of pilling. Ah well, it's pretty anyway.

  The pattern is the one I drafted a while back, with a few small alterations to make it fit better. I finally managed to get rid of the wrinkle over my bust! Although I accidentally made the neckline too wide (I was planning on a neckband but ended up using stretch lace, which is quite a bit narrower), which means I have to be careful when I pick a kid up, and I failed to stabilize the shoulders, so the shoulder seams tend to slide down a bit. That, and I should have removed a bit from the back shoulder to balance the arm-scye after removing that wrinkle. Still, the fit is better than before.

Those wrinkles disappear when I pull the shoulder seam back where it goes... when WILL I learn to stabilize those?

  Obviously, I added a sweetheart seam on the front bodice. I had this shirt planned quite a while back but it was another I was cautious to make lest I over-emphasize my bust... luckily, with the seam a bit lower than the actual top of my bust it has a bit of a minimizing effect. Next time though, I will change the curve a bit so it slants down at the sides more.

 I used stretch lace from Joann's for the top yoke, underlined with more of the purple for modesty, and flounced sleeves with lettuce-edge hemming everywhere.

  I still love these sleeves! Although I do prefer them in a thicker knit, like these and these. At least the seam is above my elbow instead of below it this time!

  The stretch lace trim is from frogfeather's etsy shop. I was really, really impressed with this seller. Not only are the prices on the lace much better than I've seen elsewhere, but she includes extra length with every piece, and in my order she even included a yard of a stretch lace I didn't order, and a note with a discount code! And she shipped the order out really quickly... I think it arrived a mere 4 days after ordering it.

  I'll be back hopefully soon with a few Christmas-y things I've made recently, Gaiw's birthday gift, and maybe a bit more about the skirt I'm wearing in this post. =)

Thanks for stopping by,