FO: Flamingo Agnes

So while my last post wasn't very wearable, this version more than makes up for it :) But first, check it out - I made an outfit!

I'll be posting about the skirt I made to wear with this soon, but don't they look cute together?! I love it.

So anyway - this is another Agnes Top by Tilly and the Buttons. After the fit was relatively good on the first version, I immediately cut into this adorable fabric. The fabric is a cotton spandex jersey from Dear Stella and it's covered in Flamingos. I'm hip! But really I just thought this print was adorable. I picked up 1.5 yards of this fabric last July at The Sewing Studio hoping to make a puffed sleeve t-shirt with it. For some reason I decided that Memorial Day Weekend was the time to make this happen. 

So the sleeves turned out absolutely awesome in this fabric. This jersey has a nice amount of body, being cotton, so the sleeves stand up on their own just lovely. The ruching is really just so simple to do, making it all that much more awesome. I will be going on my bi-annual pilgrimage for fabric on July 4th and you can bet your butt I will be picking some other cotton prints to make more of these sleeves with.

Since the fit was so good on the first version, I decided to experiment with a small change I've been wondering about for a while now. I've noticed with my other tops (rtw or handmade) my shoulder seam always shifts behind my actual shoulder. I knew forward shoulders were common, but for some reason I put off actually making an adjustment thinking it would be annoying or something. Seriously? This was basically the easiest adjustment I've ever made. I did a 5/8" forward shoulder adjustment on this version and look - my seam is directly on my shoulder! What a novel idea! I now have this alteration on my pattern pieces, so I really need to remember to do this on other shirts in the future. If you've never done it - don't let it scare you! It's so easy and so worth it.

This top looks pretty good from the back as well. The top may actually be a little long for ths skirt I've made to wear with it - so weird since I usually have to lengthen shirts. It doesn't bother me, but I will probably wear it kind of scrunched like this depending on what I wear it with.

The only thing that didn't come out just like I wanted was the ruching at the bust. The pattern has the larger sizes start the elastic a distance from the finished neck band, which I think looks a bit odd. The smaller sized have the elastic right at the band. I think I will change that on any future versions and just start the elastic where it looks good. Also my ruching doesn't seem to scrunch all that much. I think it's because this fabric has such great recovery - it kind of fights against the elastic and the fabric wins. So it's a cute detail if you look close, but it doesn't pull the neckline at all like it should. It may also be that my elastic isn't firm enough. I didn't have any clear elastic, so this is some old knit elastic and it's very easy to stretch. I'm contemplating pulling this out and redoing it when I get some more clear elastic just to see if it makes a difference.

And here's a close up of those lovely details. And flamingos! I seriously love this fabric, lol. I'm sure it's designed for children, but I do not care. The sketchy style flamingos looks super cute combined with the ruched sleeves. Another change I made due to the fabric being a bit of a firm stretch is that I pulled on the hem a bit as I sewed. I'm constantly having the hems unravel on my closer fitting tops and I have a theory it's because it's too snug there and the bobbin thread pulls out when stretched. I didn't stretch it enough to look wavy, but just a smidge all the way around in hopes of fighting this issue.

So that's my newest favorite shirt :) Flamingos! Hooray! I'll be off enjoying my super puffy sleeves and dreaming of my next version. I'm so glad I finally bit the bullet and bought this pattern. If you're on the fence, this sleeve is so worth it. Have you made this pattern?

Summary:
Fabric: 1.5 yards Dear Stella Flamingo print jersey - $16.00
Pattern: Agnes Top by Tilly and the Buttons
Notions: knit stay tape - $0.25, 1/3" elastic - free, thread - $0.75
Time: 2.5 hours
Total Cost: $ 17.00