Butterick 5997

I am currently making interlined curtains. This is a long, slow job, involving a lot of hand sewing - it's what box sets were invented for. Unfortunately, as I have little time to spare at present, the warmer weather will probably be here before they are completed. On the plus side, although I have bought the top fabric and interlining, I do have a huge amount of curtain lining already, so the project is contributing to my plans for stash reduction.

However once I'd finished the first set, I needed a quick dressmaking project as a breather before I did any more.

My stash includes a lot of Liberty Tana Lawn: bought in various sales at my local fabric shop. Most of it is dress lengths, but there was also one shorter piece, ideal for a top. Not something which I make very often, but I suddenly remembered that I had Butterick 5997, which came free with a sewing magazine.

Simple top with an attractive neckline

There are no shaping darts in the bodice, so no length adjustments required. I thought that it would be a quick, easy make - ha!

I decided to go for a hybrid style: view B, but without the pocket, and with the collar of view A. The lawn is printed in a diamond pattern, and I made sure that lines of diamonds ran down the centre front and centre back. In addition to this, the fabric is so fine that anything beneath it shows though, so I was careful to cut out all the facings so that the black outlines of the diamonds matched up exactly.

The fabric made up beautifully, but there were two problems: one with the pattern, and one with my stupidity. First, the pattern. The cuffs on view B are ludicrously wide. I have thin wrists, but even allowing for that, the cuffs were absurd. The image below shows how much overlap I had to allow to get anything even vaguely sensible: and even then I can get the top on and off without undoing the cuff buttons. The buttonholes are hand sewn.

Large overlap on the cuffs

The top has no fastenings but on the cuffs; it is pull-on. The second problem was the front opening. Because I did not need to shorten the bodice, I didn't think to shorten the opening, either. The end result is a rather lower front than I am happy wearing as it is. At present this isn't an issue, as I can easily wear the top over a T-shirt. I do need to think of a fix for warmer weather though. This is particularly annoying, as I stopped growing over 35 years ago, and you would have though that I would have grasped the need for neckline adjustments by now! Sigh.

Showing the curved shirt hem of view B

Tucked in

Overall, I do like the top, and I think I'll make it again. With a revised neckline, though. It has also used up some more stash fabric, so not a total failure.

Stash update