top down

A few days ago, Lori Z of Crafty Brainwave wrote about finished and failed? objects. She talked about how a finished piece can be a learning tool.

When you start, you think it's going to be everything you want. The fabric, the pattern. (I even found the perfect colour buttons.)

But in the end, it's not quite what you expected. (And for whatever reason, this material is difficult to photograph -- it's a dark orange colour, not the strange red that these pics would suggest.)

Cute, no?

Pattern: Simplicity 4179.

Fabric: Cotton poly blend from thee shall not be named big box store (hey, it was cheap).

Thoughts: I like this pattern a lot. And the colour of the material is perfect. It would be my new favourite shirt except, um, it doesn't exactly fit. After careful measurements of myself and some tops of similar construction, I cut my size accordingly. About halfway through sewing, I began to suspect that the top might not fit. Maybe, I thought, when I sew the buttons on, something miraculous will happen and it will fit perfectly. So, yesterday I sat and sewed the buttons on (holy moly do I hate sewing buttons. Is there some secret?).

Buttons, done. I was still afraid to try it on again. As long as I didn't try it on there was still some hope that it would fit. But alas, the trying on confirmed my fears -- this lovely top is a bit... snug. All hope is not lost, however. I'm entertaining delusions that with a tank top underneath and only a few buttons done up, I'll still be able to wear it. Right?

I'm not exactly sure what went wrong here. Measured the darn thing multiple times and still managed to come out one size too small. I suspect that I didn't properly take into account the width of the facing. Next time I'll know better. I did learn that there's quite a difference between the finished garment measurements (how I determined what size to make) and the body measurements on the back of the pattern (which would have led me to make a top three sizes too big).

Lesson learned.