One of my sewing pals was recently de-stashing her patterns and this one called to me. It's an OOP Burda envelope pattern — my suspicion is that it's long out of print, but I'm not sure. I love how the stripe chevrons all over the place — CF, CB, above the sleeve, below the sleeve. I made a shortened version of view B.
Based on the desired finished size I wanted (4" negative ease at the bust), I made the size 16. The original pattern is designed for woven fabrics, but of course I wanted to use this knit fabric from Marcy Tilton. I added 1" length to the front to accommodate needing a longer length for the bust.
Before making the stripe version, I tested it out in another knit from Fabrix. This is another print that I wasn't that crazy about, but I really loved the quality and price of the fabric at $2.39 a yard. I did not cut this version out on the bias, and I did cut it at full length. It was too long, so I chopped off about 8". Then it was too short, so I added a little flange to increase the length.
I also shortened the sleeves 1-1/4" and shaved off the shoulder "bump" which was too far out from my natural shoulder.
Despite making the test version, the stripe version, cut on the bias, is a bit snug. Before cutting, I tested the stretch of the bias and it seemed ok, but I guess it was a bit less stretchy than the test fabric. I cut the stripe version 2" longer than the test version (before adding the flange).
For the test version, I cut a 1-1/4" strip for the neck binding and sewed it with a 1/4" seam. For the stripe version, I cut a 1-1/2" strip on the cross grain and sewed it with a 1/4" seam.
For both tops, I hemmed the bottoms and the sleeves with 1/2" Steam-a-Seam 2 Lite.
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