Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Batik Print Top and New Look 6213

At the beginning of the year, Moreland Fabrics had a sale on their patterns, which tempted me into buy New Look 6213 - a  light and breezy top, with neckline and sleeve variations and an asymmetric hem.
There's a piece of silk chiffon floating around in the stash which I thought would be great to made using this pattern, but while cutting out the pattern pieces, I decided to toilé first, because it looked very full. So into the stash I went, and out came the remnants of cotton batik print fabric used to make this dress.


In hindsight, I should have gone ahead and used the chiffon, because it's drape would have been a better match for the pattern. Even though the cotton is very light, it still has just a bit too much body. I needed to reduced fullness around the hem by about 10cm, cutting 5cm off each side seam into nothing at underarms. Originally I cut version A sleeves, but replaced them with version D because they looked ridiculous - sticking straight out, rather than "fluttering". Once again, a fabric with less body may work better.
I very much like this top and have worn it a lot over the summer.
There's one last thing I would change next time. For some reason the back pattern piece is shorter than the front pattern piece, which I think must be a mistake because it's such a small amount. It annoys me when I'm wearing it (I constantly tug the back hem down), so I'd lengthen the centre back by about 3cm or so - I'd rather it be longer in the back than front.