Colette Sorbetto - It Must Be The Heat

Two sleeveless tops in a row. I can only chalk that up to summer, although the weather has actually been pretty great with low humidity and hot, sunny days.

Like a few others out in blogland, I'm currently working on the Colette Sorbetto pattern pictured above, which is a FREE download available on the Colette blog, here. I haven't taped together a pattern print-out in a long time, having let my PMB collect dust for a couple of years. The whole print-out, including instructions is 25 pages. I wish I would've thought to set my printer to only print the pattern pages instead of walking away after hitting Print, but I didn't. The instructions are thorough and well-illustrated but this is a very easy top and I don't need printed instructions for it. Oh well.

After trimming and taping the pattern pages (there's only a front and a back so it went pretty fast), I cut it out and held it up to me to check FBA requirements. Yep, I needed one - about 1.5". I did a regular slash/spread FBA and lowered the bust dart, and changed the angle so it was pointing more upward instead of straight across. Next, I cut a muslin from a sheet scrap, leaving off the front pleat because I didn't need that for a fit evaluation.

The muslin front:

I went with the largest size (18) but I probably should've cut the 16 at the upper chest as the neckline area was a little too wide. To bring things inward, I pinched a "dart" from the neckline and smooshed it flat on the pattern.

The back needed a swayback tuck, confirmed by pinning one into the muslin as you can see below.

Other observations: The adjusted bust dart hit in the right place (on me, not Zillie), the overall length of the top felt too short, the armholes needed to be raised about 3/8", and I didn't need a square shoulder alteration — which I thought would be the case since the shoulder seam angle was very different from the smallest size (0) to the largest (18). If I had to guess, I'd say this is a slight grading error, but it suited me just fine. ;-)

I made the length and armhole alterations on the pattern and cut the good fabric after dinner tonight. There are only two pieces but since I am underlining this very sheer fabric, I cut the top twice — once in the fabric you see and again in a plain white shirting cotton. That took all of 15 minutes. I briefly contemplated making this reversible, but was too lazy to actually do more than think about it. (Although since the neck and armholes are bound, it would be extremely easy to do.)

Here's where I left off for the night:

Tomorrow I'll attach the front to the back, cut and attach the bias facings, and hem the bottom.

I saw another version of this top in the Colette Patterns Flickr pool, where the box pleat is inverted and only stitched about 4 inches down from the neck. I like that and if I'm happy with this first make, I think I'll copy that idea. I have some cotton voile in the stash that would be perfect.

Can you tell that I've had a lot of sewing time this week? C'mon people, call me! I NEED A JOB! Trying to remain optimistic, but man this job market sucks.