flutter sleeve sorbetto

YOU GUYS!  i made my first top!  in my 2 years of sewing, this is the first wearable garment i’ve made for myself!  ta da!

oh man it’s sooo awkward being in front of the camera.  i am no model.  it feels so weird!

the pattern is the sorbetto top, a free download by colette patterns.  i had seen many others have success with it, so i figured it’d be a good first item to try (simple, no zippers to insert).  problem was, i don’t really wear sleveless tops that aren’t tank tops.  dunno why, i just don’t.  then i saw that the always inspiring mena of the sew weekly added sleeves to her sorbetto, and a lightbulb went off!  and THEN she offered afree sleeve pattern!  that was the final push i needed.

something went wrong when i printed her initial sleeve pattern, and i saw it was going to be too small to fit the armhole.  i decided to make it a flutter sleeve instead, because i love flutter sleeves.  this is where i discovered the beauty of TRYING ON AN IN-PROGRESS GARMENT!  this may be obvious to others, but i normally sew for my children who are always sleeping while i’m sewing.  there is very little in-progress fitting.  but when the sleeve wasn’t working, i could just remove it and try again!  i added a little pleat at the top, and narrowed it until it looked how i wanted.  i finished the underarm area with bias tape.  it’s a little wonky, but wearable.

the other “issue” i encountered was with the sizing.  i’m still nursing O, and though i’ve lost the baby weight, my body shape isn’t quite back to normal yet.  so…my…uh…chest and waist measurements led me to a certain size (much larger than i normally wear).  i sewed that size.  it was huge on me.  so i started taking in the side seams 1/4″ by 1/4″ until it was fitted to my satisfaction.  out of curiosity, i set the pattern against my finished size, and it was 4 sizes smaller than i started!  sheesh!  i also lengthened it by 4″ or so.

the fabric is a free spirit voile that i’ve had in my stash for a while.  i love the fabric and was nervous cutting it because i expected to have a complete failure on my hands, but i’m so glad i used it!  i love wearing blue.  and check this out!  i wore it to work already!  it was under a jacket, but no one said a word about it all day.  i think that’s a good sign?  🙂

so yeah, i’m definitely hooked on making more clothes for myself, but i reeeeeally need to work on my modeling skills if this is going to become a regular thing!

(thanks to B for taking my photos – you did a great job, hon…the awkwardness is not you, it’s me!)