FO: Burda WOF 01-2007 109

I bought this "harajuku in London" thermal knit from The Fabric Fairy, after I saw Stacy's super cute thermal top from a sister print.  Off to Burda I went to find the right pattern.  I don't remember paying any attention to this pattern when I first saw the January '07 issue of Burda, but it looked perfect for a fun little top.

I made a size 42 and the fit is almost perfect, just a touch loose around the waist.  The shoulders are gathered with sewn over elastic thread in 5 rows.  I opted to use clear elastic in 4 rows to get the same effect.  This creates a faux sweetheart neck, which is flirty, but not too low.  

The hardest part was the front band and underlap.  I read and re-read it about ten times, before I got it.  

The front part is faced with interfaced self fabric.  

The back part has a flap sewn to the cut line. 

Then the whole neckline is finished with binding.  It came out a lot nicer than I expected with my fabric.  

I used donut shaped snap fronts as I didn't have any with a good color match and it worked perfectly.  I'll show the snaps and tools in a later post.

The sleeves have a high arch shape, but I finger eased them very easily.  Everything, in fact, went together very smoothly, bar two little issues.  

First, for a slouchy top, as they've styled it, it's actually a little short.  It's the perfect length for a T, but I should have remembered to add another inch or two for more cohesive look.

Second, the front overlap wants to pull open.  I thought this was because of my bust, but even on the mannequin, it pulls open.  I imagine pulling  the binding a little tighter on the neckline (between the snap bands and the gathering) would take care of this, by making the neckline hug the body.  I'm going to just hand sew the snap bands together, since they're not necessary to take the top off or put it on.

This is a great pattern to pull out of the archives.