FO: Navy Gingham Agnes

Since I will be moving very soon, I knew this Memorial Day weekend would be my last hurrah in my sewing room. I had plans, folks. I had things I wanted to make *spoiler alert - I DID make things*. During Me Made May this year, several pattern companies put their patterns on sale. I've hemmed and hawed about getting the Agnes Top by Tilly and the Buttons for literal years now. I'll have it in my cart to buy during a sale or something, and then I'll talk myself out of it because I'm really just after that sleeve pattern and I can technically draft it myself. I've been planning on doing this for years now. YEARS. But I just really wanted to make a puffy sleeved top and I knew I would not be putting in the time and the trial and error to get the right amount of oomph for quite some time, so during the sale I finally bought the pattern. I figured it was worth $10 to save myself the time and effort of figuring it out. So having this new-to-me pattern in my hands, I needed a muslin to check the fit before cutting into my amazing "real" fabric. This is that muslin.

So as I said this is the Tilly and the Buttons Agnes Top - an adorable and versatile basic t-shirt pattern with optional ruched sleeves and bust. I seriously bought this for the ruched version only, so that is what I made. Wanting to give this a real college try yet also not wanting my heart to be broken if my muslin didn't fit right, I pulled out this adorable looking yet terrible quality jersey. I bought this navy gingham printed light weight jersey from Walmart maybe a year ago simply because the print was adorable and it was $2 per yard. I knew it was light then, but I was blinded by the print and the price. Having made the top I know the true terrible quality here - this stuff hides absolutely nothing. I feel like a bowl full of jelly with this top on. It would look cheap on pretty much anyone, I'm convinced. So while I loved the idea, I very much doubt I will be wearing this simply because the fabric is so awful, lol.

The good news out of this shirt is that the pattern fit great. I used a size 7 at the bust and above, grading to a size 8 at the waist and hip. Also I did go into this hoping it would be wearable, so I gave pattern matching a good try. This fabric was so super stretchy that it was basically impossible to match everywhere, but I'm happy with the even-ness of the neck band and the bit of matching at the sides. One the not so good side, this stuff is so stretchy and has so little body that my puffed sleeves look sadly deflated, lol. It looks nice on a hanger, but not from the front on my body.

One way you might be able to see what I'm saying with the fabric is in this picture. Look at those sad, floppy sleeves! Also see how the area in the middle of my back is a lighter color navy? That's because the navy is just printed on a white fabric and it is stretching at my upper back. Yeah.

And this over stretched effect only gets better from the front. Every time I look at these pictures I think "objects in this top are larger than they appear" - this is not the case at all, but it certainly looks like the girls are too big for their business here. My husband called this my optical boob illusion shirt. 

I do love the ruched details and they are super easy to do - just add elastic and pull. Love it. Also check that neck band action.

So while I'm not comfortable in this, I am happy with what I learned for the fit. This project gave me the immediate go ahead to cut into my awesome fabric that came next :) So not all is lost here. Now I really want to find a better quality version of this fabric, though. It's a really cute idea. Hopefully I can make that happen one day. So on we go toward actual wearable puffed sleeves next time (check back soon).

Summary:
Fabric: 1.5 yards gingham printed poly knit - $4.28
Pattern: Agnes by Tilly and the Buttons
Notions: Knit stay tape - $0.25, 1/3" elastic - free, thread - $1.00
Time: 3 hours
Total Cost: $5.53