Finished Project - Colette Sorbetto Mark 1

I really enjoyed this project. It probably took longer than it should of done but I really wanted to take my time over it and get it just right. I got this lovely printed cotton for the bargain price of £3 for the metre at Walthamstow market and I've still got a large chunk left over. The purple is actually slightly brighter in reality. I didn't realise until I made it up and put it on that from a distance it looks like polka dots! I love it! I'm very pleased with how it turned out although the fit of it could be improved. 

Firstly the arm holes are very snug! Don't get me wrong it's still wearable but it comes up quite high under the arm which after a day of wear might start to irritate. Although I'm surprised that I still have full range of arm movement and the blouse doesn't do that annoying thing of lifting up when you lift your arms and then staying there when you bring them down. I'm thinking the easiest way to combat this will just be to cut the top in a 4 rather than a 2. The rest of the top fits pretty well but I'm thinking a little extra room across the bust wouldn't hurt. I do think the armhole problem may be partly down to my inaccuracy when it comes to seam allowances. I might have made them slightly more generous than they were supposed to be when sewing so taking some of the armholes depth in the seam. I had a few issues with the fabric being so fine and trying to stitch so close to the edge line that it was getting sucked into the void under the needle. Has anyone else had this armhole issue? Any suggestions?

The second issue is with the length, it's a little short. Again the shoulder seam allowances may have had something to do with this but surely not a lot? At the minute as my jeans are fairly low waisted I'm wary of flashes of flesh between jeans and top every time I move and it's not really quite long enough to stay tucked into a skirt if I'm doing anything mildly active, like work! I've noticed other bloggers have mentioned adding some length to the pattern for their versions, is this a common adjustment for this pattern? I'll definitely do this next time.

Look at that smooth line of stitching!

One of the things I love most about this top is the bias binding on the arm holes and neck line. I love bias trim! I was worried my stitching in a straight line (or should I say smooth curve) abilities would let this aspect down and I'd have visible wiggly stitching everywhere but I took my time and am really pleased with the results. It looks so neat and tidy! Just from working on this top I can tell my sewing skills (particularly the sewing straight part) have improved and on the next version I really want to try some different techniques to improve even further.

The cutting and construction all went pretty smoothly, with the exception of one little hiccup where the centre front pleat got caught and folded slightly the wrong way on one side at the very bottom when I hemmed it. I'm so relieved that everything was fairly straightforward as I was dreading something being a real nightmare and really putting me off moving on to another project. But now I've got the bug! I still need to work on my hemming skills as it's slightly wibbly wobbly around the bottom but it's not very noticable. I am however really pleased with my seams! I attempted what I thought were french seams  from what I could remember from reading my Vogue - Easy Sewing book, but since I've looked at some tutorials on french seams I've realised they're not! I'm not sure what they are but basically I'm trimmed down one side of the seam allowance and folded the other over it, concealing the raw edges inside. Some of the stitching to hold this in place isn't as neat as I know I probably can do but for a first attempt I'm pretty chuffed! Perhaps next time I could try some actual french seams!

Even though the fit of this Sorbetto isn't perfect it's still wearable and I'm fairly sure some slight adjustments I suggest will fix those issues and I can't wait to get started on the next version to see how it turns out. I'm looking forward to making more versions of this top in a whole variety of fabrics, colours and prints. I've also in my last two pattern cutting classes learnt how to draft collars and sleeves so I might try out a few combinations with these. I'm more likely to wear a version with sleeves and I've spotted a free pattern download for them somewhere out there!

P.S. Sorry for the non modelled pictures, no boy was home to take pics for me!