‘Happy Stripes’ top

Time to revisit the Sewaholic Fraser top view B. I last made this back in February this year with some inexpensive Ponte that I had purchased from an eBay seller.

This time I was using a stunningly soft, fine French Terry called Happy Stripes designed for you by POPPY Europe Oeko-Tex 100. This has beautiful painterly stripes on an ivory background. A gorgeous fabric with a fine looped reverse from Stitchy Bee. The fabric costs £15.00 per metre and I bought 1.5 metres but worth every single penny!

The fabric is 160cm wide, has a composition – 95% Cotton 5% Elastane. Oeko-Tex Confidence Compliant – Tested for harmful substances. So I wanted a top that would compliment this fantastic fabric.

For my Fraser top there were just a few minor alterations to the pattern; I cut a generous size 20 and used only ¼ inch side seams. Lowered the front neckline 1 ½ inches at centre front then graded back to the original neckline. Added 3 inches to the length of the front and back body patterns. Added the neckband (cut 2 inches wide) and sleeve bands cut so that the stripes were vertical and ignored the hem bands on this version.

Matching stripes was relatively easy, especially as I had noticed that they were uneven so made sure to cut out all pieces in the same direction.

Conclusions: The sleeve hem bands were great but I will probably go back and re-cut the neckline wider and lower so will need another neckband and this time a little narrower than before. Other than that a great new top that will coordinate with many ‘bottoms’.

Project #30 completed 11th April 2021