Review: Hot Patterns 1043

Hot Patterns Bo-Ho-De-Luxe Peasants Tops



From the HP Website: Sometimes you just want pretty, comfy and simple tops to make in a soft cotton, voile, chiffon or silk. You could even try these easy styles in a lightweight T-shirt fabric. Semi-fitted unlined tops feature gathered scoop necklines and finish just below the hips. Cap-sleeve Top has self bound neckline and sleeves and an applied drawstring at raised waist. 3/4 sleeve Top has shaped neckband, Raglan sleeves and narrow elasticated cuffs. Wear the cap-sleeve Top with some funky jeans and a neat fitted jacket, or try the 3/4 sleeve Top to soften a strict Pants or Skirt Suit.

Size: Multi-size 6-26
Skill Level: Beginner
Price: $13.95

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The last two Hot Patterns I made didn't suit me because of their unfitted style. But I've had such great successes with other HP's and so I was disappointed and desperately wanted to break out of my current HP wadderville. I pulled out this pattern to see if it had some shaping that would flatter me instead of just cover me. It does, which may be surprising for a Peasant top, and I''m very relieved to say that this pattern was a success! Whew! I was beginning to doubt myself. ;-)

Here's my top, belted:



I did not follow the pattern instructions to attach a casing for the tie because I wanted to be able to wear it either cinched or loose. I previously made a Sunshine top with a separate belt option and find that I wear it both ways a lot, so I wanted the same option with this top. I added some of the solid purple from the border to the ends of the ties. Although they appear as two dark blobs in this photo, in real life they look nice and I like the bit of contrast.

I chose the short sleeve view with the bottom edge of the sleeve gathered onto a self-fabric band, instead of binding the bottom per the hem. My fabric, a very nice rayon border knit from Fabric Mart (sold out!), was a bit too bulky where it was gathered to do "real" binding so I chose the less fiddly method of just adding a band.



Here it is, unbelted. For the neckline I did not bind it with my coverstitch machine because those gathers just wanted to give the binders fits. Instead, I bound the edge manually and then used the CS machine to topstitch, trimming the excess binding from the back with duckbill scissors. Or maybe I'm just out of practice, having not used my CS machine for months. (Gasp!)



I know in the photos the print sorta looks like bullseyes on the girls, but it hits me a little differently than Zillie and isn't so In-Yer-Face. I'm glad I bought enough of this fabric to hoard for another top later. It's really nice stuff and good quality rayon print knits are hard to come by.

Notes about this pattern:

1. The neckline is on the wide side, as shown in the envelope drawings. I decided to go down one size at the neckline to keep the bra straps hidden. This was a good decision, as the neckline is just how I like it and I think one size bigger would've been a scootch too wide.

2. I did not do a traditional FBA and instead used my cheater method of starting with my shoulder size (16) and then blending outward to a bigger size at bust level (and then still bigger at butt level, but that's a usual alteration for me) .

3. The sleeve pattern was fine. I know earlier versions of this pattern had complaints about the drafting and marks for the sleeve pattern, but it's apparent that HP listens because there was nothing wrong with this version and it now had front and back notches (although I note there were no corresponding notches on the bodice pieces, but you hardly need them).

4. As noted by the Beginner label on the envelope, this is an easy pattern that goes together fast and doesn't require a lot (any?) fitting. This pattern was released before HP started with illustrated instructions, but unless you are a true rank beginner, you don't really need drawings with this one. Cut out the 3-4 pieces, gather the edges to fit as desired, sew them together, hem. Voila!

5. Mark the front or back inside the top so you don't put it on backwards. The front is more gathered than the back, but when you've got a busy print like this, you may not notice. Well, at least I didn't at first. ;-)