This freebie pattern from Tessuti Fabrics was highly praised by Jill, who made her own in a lovely grey/silver fabric.  At our last meetup, we were discussing whether or not this particular top would look good on all of us.  Jamie tried it on and though I missed actually seeing her in it, I heard that everyone said she looked great in it.

It took a little while for me to come around, but I finally decided to give it a go.  The pattern is free, after all, and I did have some appropriate purple stripey fabric just waiting to be used.

I’ve only put one PDF pattern together before and it was a pain.  I was expecting the same sort of hassle with this pattern, but I was very pleasantly surprised by how well marked it was and how quickly the whole process went.

I used about 1.5 yards of my stripey fabric for the two pieces. I hadn’t used a twin needle in a long time, but I gave it a go anyway.  It makes for more of a store-bought T-shirt sort of look.  The instructions were extremely simple to follow.  They suggest overlocking the seams, but a simple zig-zag would probably work just fine.  The top was finished in no time!

When I first put it on, I thought the thing was huge!  Like a tent!  I definitely don’t like huge tent-like tops.  I think that horizontal stripes also don’t lend themselves well to making one look slender.  And I knew that going in.  So I donned a belt and voila, it looks much better.  But there’s no doubt that I just don’t like huge tops, so despite the ease of construction, the great instructions, and the fact that the pattern was free, I just don’t think I’ll sew this one again.