Simplicity 2474 in purple mosaic

I sewed! I sewed! OK, you can get up off the floor now. :-)

This top is probably the last make of 2012 for me. Tomorrow is a half-day at work but it's also going to be Tyler's last day with us as he's taking off for St. Augustine to ring in the New Year with his big brother Michael, and then back to North Carolina and being a Marine the day after. We'll have dinner together before he leaves and then I think I'll be doing some toasting of my own and it's probably not a good idea to mix that with the sewing machines. The skirt is not actually sewn yet ... just the front pinned onto Zillie for photo loveliness purposes.

The pattern is Simplicity 2474, and the last thing I bought it for was this simple top. But a simple top is what I was after since the Joann's fabric bought yesterday is from their lovely (cough:cough) polyester collection and I did not want to fight slippery poly with fussy details. It will be a nice layering piece in the winter and then move into spring and summer nicely.

I bought 2 yds since I didn't have a pattern in mind until last night. This pattern calls for just under 2 yds. Even after adding 3 inches to the length at the hem, I only used 28 inches of those 2 yards. Which means there will be a matching skirt for a 2-piece "dress" sometime in the near future. Part of the fabric savings was that I used pre-made bias binding for the neck and sleeve facings, and part was pattern layout stupidity.

I made a quick muslin and decided a real FBA was in order and so made a 1/2" adjustment. I started with the 14 at the neckline, graded out to the 16  at upper bust, 18 at hips, and ended up adding an additional 3/8" at the hip sideseam. Thank you holiday treats at the office I didn't resist this year. Back on the wagon this week, that's for sure.

These two pieces are all there is if, like me, you don't use the 2 facing pieces. The pattern calls for a CF seam, for no discernible reason I could see. So I eliminated it, which also helped in the fabric stinginess. I kept the CB seam since it does have some shaping.

Here's a shot of the inside and the black bias used for the neckline facing. I think it would've been nigh on impossible to make self-fabric bias with the slippery poly. I'm glad I didn't even try.

The sleeves have a pleat at the hem, which you can sorta see here. You can also see the same bias used to finish the sleeve hems.

The top is simple but I like it. And since it is poly, it will be easy through the laundry. I think it will get a lot of wear since it goes with the purple and with black. And if I make that matching skirt, I'll even have a mini wardrobe capsule. I'm hoping to spend New Year's Day in the sewing room to finish up the purple skirt for a new outfit to wear to work on Wednesday and maybe I can hustle and get the print skirt done too before the fabric gets buried in the stash closet.