Christmas Top, New Look 6273.

 I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas, celebrated in the way that you like.  DH and I had our planned very quiet day, spent relaxing, listening to Carols, reading, opening presents and eating.  I made a new top for the day - only it was colder than I anticipated so I wore a little cardigan over the top to keep warmish.

As the fabric is quite ornate, and I did not want to spoil the floral montage, I chose a very simple pattern.  New Look 6273, which has a simple, unfitted shell top.  It has side seams, a back seam with button closure, 5/8 inch hem at bottom (turned in and then turned again), and it is supposed to have binding at the neck and sleeve hems.  I used binding at the sleeve hems, but cut a facing for the neckline, as I think a facing adds more stability and does not stretch.

 

The size I used was 14.  I hummed and hahhed about this, because this gave a finished measurement at the bust of 40 inches.  My bust is 34 inches, but as the top does not have darts,  I thought this would work, because I hate tightness over the bust.  I used size 10 neck as I find necks are often too big.  As it was, I needed to add 6/8 inch at the back and shoulder edge of the top.  I kept the neckline centre front at the same depth as the pattern.  And yes, I did do a rough muslin out of one of DH's old shirts to test the fit.

The fabric I used was a poly-cotton voile purchased from Spotlight.  It isn't very drapey, due, I guess, to the polyester content, but it is a really pretty print.  

 

There isn't really much to say about this top - simple construction and simple to wear:

And you can see why I needed the ease - always test a garment is okay to move and bend in before you decide to remove ease:

Although the back looks roomy, as we have proven, this ease is needed.  I also have an inverted triangle shape with a reasonable wide back for my size - you can see the inverted V that goes down from shoulders to a small hip width:

That's it for New Look 6273, my Christmas 2015 top.   I have needed a floral top, for those sort of floral occasions for ages, and now I can tick that off the list. 

Back soon with the remains of my 2015 sewing - I have a few garments still to post.

Sarah Liz