Springtime Florals

Pattern Review: Simplicity 3956


I am still trying to build in some tops that I can wear on a night out (see here) and decided to try Simplicity 3956. This is another item that I finished back before my trip to Canada and have only just gotten around to photographing it. 


I have made this before years and years ago, but didn't return to the pattern as the fit needed some tweaking. However, I had been thinking that a TNT strap top was missing from my pattern stash so I decided to give this one another go. I cut view D but without the overskirt. I omitted the tie belt as I  felt it was unnecessary and was treating this as a wearable muslin. 


Previously when I made this, the bodice was too big and ended up gaping under the arms. To remedy this I cut a size 14 for most areas, but used a size 12 for the bodice back. I added 1" to the height of the front bodice for extra boob coverage. 


I used a printed floral chiffon from purchased from the fabric stall on Market Row in Brixton Market. It was a great buy at £1.65 per metre and I knew it would be perfect for a muslin. I underlined it with a stretch lining purchased from Simply Fabrics for £1 per metre. I also used this for the bodice lining. 


I am really pleased with the alterations on this top and I am sure that I will make this again. I have worn this out on nights out twice already, so I am already delighted to have this top in my wardrobe. I found it really hard to motivate myself to re-try and re-tweak this pattern, but it was definitely worth it in the end. 

I am currently working on a tweaked version of Simplicity 1460. I think that my No New Pattern Pledge for 2015 has made me re-visit patterns in my stash, which is good :-)

You can see my Pattern Review here. 

Happy Sewing!

Comments

  1. SewCraftyChemist31 May 2015 at 12:08

    This looks so great on you!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tomasa31 May 2015 at 12:40

    The top fits you beautifully. So pretty! You look great.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gisella18 June 2015 at 08:48

    This top is so gorgeous! Beautiful. I am amazed what some tweaking can do - I find this very motivating for my own sewing, thank you!
    I hope you can make a few more because this really suits you and it's a great summer top.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

April Garment of the Month - Dress for Easter

Image
Pattern Review: Butterick 4443 Happy Easter! After spending Saturday in sunny Brighton, today in London is a such a contrast. Grey and miserable, but the perfect excuse to curl up in bed with a coffee and catch up on sewing blogs. So here is my April garment of the month - another version of Butterick 4443 . I have made this previously here  and I really love the style of the dress. I picked up this crepe like fabric from Goldhawk Road priced at £3 per metre sometime last year. I knew instantly that it would be great for another version of the dress. It drapes perfectly. As the fabric was quite thin I underlined all of the pieces with some stretch lining picked up from Simply Fabrics in Brixton, priced at £1 per metre.  I cut a size 14 and made my usual alteration to take in the waist and under the bust. I was very proud of myself as last time I made this dress I altered the skirt to make it shorter and remove some of the fullness. For this I traced ...
Read more

July Garment of the Month

Image
Pattern Review: Simplicity 1872 My mum had a retirement party this weekend and of course I had to make a dress to celebrate. I had been wanting to try out the dress from Simplicity 1872 for years and finally decided to take the plunge. I have made this pattern as a peplum top  before, but it was so old that it went to the charity shop earlier this year, so it's nice to have another iteration of the pattern in my wardrobe. Ok,so let's talk fabric. I picked this up at the textile district around the Sacre Couer on my holiday to Paris with my mum last September. It cost €10 for 3 metres which is a bargain. I am pretty sure that it is some kind of polyester chiffon. I underlined the dress with stretch lining from Simply Fabrics in Brixton priced at £1 per metre.  I know that a couple of people have mentioned that there is a huge amount of ease in this pattern. It is true and I took out approximately 2" in the bodice and cut a larger armhole to compensate. T...
Read more

Scrap-Busting - Part 2

Image
Pattern Review: McCall's 3341 Firstly, some breaking news which is that I am currently featured on Pattern Review as their Member in Focus. You can check out my interview here. As promised, here is my second stash busting mini. For this skirt I used McCall's 3341  and went with View E. I have made this before in my pre-blogging days, also to use up a remnant of leftover fabric. This is a simple a-line skirt with darts in the front and back and is a pattern that I stole from my Mum's stash years ago. I cut a size 16 and sewed this straight out of the envelope. The only (lazy) change I made was to omit the waist band. I am trying to demonstrate with my above pose how the skirt is designed to sit just above your natural waist. I always find this quite strange in patterns, as so few RTW clothes have this feature. I'm sure that I have seen a tutorial somewhere (maybe Threads?) on how to lower the waistline of a pattern, but as I was doing some stash-busting/insta...
Read more