Roar

This is one of those sewing projects that took me all weekend. Four hours on Saturday and 8 hours today and I only just finished the Issy top. Anything that could go wrong, did. I had difficulty figuring out how to alter the pieces. I had difficulty figuring out how to put them together. I had difficulty sewing the rayon jersey (you know how rayon jersey can be). I'd finally figure something out (something nit-picky and critical) and realize that my bobbin was shot. My entire body is in knots.

But I fucking love this top.

See these gathers? I set them by pulling basted stitches and then basting the front gathers to the back gathers. Then I serged. It took a while...

OK, here's the lowdown:

• Next time I'm making this in a solid colour - there's too much fabulousness in the construction to obscure with (an admittedly fantastic) pattern.

• I fucking nailed the alterations. I'm a convert to the sloper concept. Yeah, it took hours to figure out where exactly to remove the fabric from but I did it and the shoulders are perfect.

• Yeah, this pattern fits smaller than the envelope measurements but I still needed to pull out almost an inch in the shoulders, remove a bit of fabric from the arm circumference and to raise the armsyce by another inch. I didn't make any other alterations. It fits in the boobs. It fits in the waist. It fits in the hips. I appear to be a consistent size 10 in StyleArc knit tops - with alterations, of course. I might be able to get away with an 8, based on experience, but then I'd have to fit by increasing the bust and waist (and doing other things potentially that I cannot predict). I'm happy using the 10 as a starting point.

• If you don't like people staring at your tits, this probably isn't the top for you.

• Some have mentioned that they're not nuts about the asymmetric hem (in addition to the asymmetric neck and asymmetric gathers). I LOVE it. I even love it at almost tunic-length, which is the length of the garment currently. I might shorten the next version (for a different look) but this would be great with leggings or skinnies.

• This looks like it would cost $150.00 at some cute boutique (or $500.00 at Holt Renfrew). It's TOTALLY au courant. I cannot say enough about StyleArc from the vantage point of chic and modern design. Sure, I've had a few challenges with the company (largely because of business-growth, growing pains), but you cannot fault the silhouette. And much of the time, the drafting is very good also. This is why I joined the Club and will likely order mainly from StyleArc for a good long while.

• The instructions are more fulsome than they generally are with StyleArc, but I trashed them by ironing the thermal paper, so it was a slog for me. And really, I was not at my spatial best. What can I say? There's a reason that Anne has a blog called the Clothing Engineer and I do not have a blog called the Clothing Civil Servant.

• Given all the challenges I had figuring out the construction, this fabric took a beating and the inside is not my neatest work. Mind you, I worked out the glitches and figured out what to do so, next time, I should be able to produce a neat interior.

• The rayon jersey is lovely and the stretch factor is optimal for this top. If I'd understood things better, I would have used my seam interfacing strips along the entire front and back neck to stabilize things. Then I'd have had a chance at stitching the underturned back neck, in the ditch, from the right side. As it is, I had to use a short zig zag on that area and it's not gorgeous. But no one but me will notice it, I'm sure.

No question, I will be making this again. I mean, after all the time I spend on alterations, it would be crazy not to make everything at least twice.

So, whatcha think??