Easy Summer top: New Look 6892

The temperatures have been rising and I have become bored with tee shirts and wanted to make a loose summer top.  Enter New Look 6892:

New Look 6892

I knew that this type of top would not work well with a fabric with lots of body, so I looked through my stash for something that would both gather and drape well.  I chose a Lisette cotton print that I purchased at Jo-Anns last summer.  I rarely find any fabric worth purchasing at my local JoAnn so this one sticks out in my memory.

The top is very easy and has only 3 pieces: front, back and sleeve.  I made the casing for the elastic at the neckline by making my own bias tape rather than using purchased bias tape.  Since the fabric was so fine, ready made bias tape would have been too thick, stiff, and bulky.  It was well worth the trouble to make my own.

Here is the finished top:

Front View

Back view

Closeup

There is a bit of ease built into this pattern and I didn't want too much blousey-ness so instead of cutting a 14 (per my measurements), I cut a 10, which had a finished bust measurement of 43.5".  Now that it's done, I could use a little more room across the bust.  Yes, the finished measurement is bigger than my bust measurement, but half of that ease is across the back...so the next time I make this, I will cut the front in a size 12.

I played around with the neckline elastic a bit.  I was a little worried that the neckline would be too wide, so I adjusted the elastic until it felt right.   I took the photos above in the morning and after wearing the top for a while, I decided the elastic was too tight and was pulling the neckline up too far.  (Grab the seam ripper and add a small length of elastic...)  Now it feels better and isn't riding up.  I also added 1" to the sleeve elastic so that it wouldn't cut off the circulation in my upper arm.  Check the elastic length before you sew it into the sleeve. 

I'm very happy with this top.  It is cool and comfortable and I used some nice stash fabric!  Win-win!