Butterick 3344

I spent the last week altering a wedding gown, flower girl's gown, and mother of the bride dress. I have altered many gowns and made quite a few over the years. The wedding gown I just altered was one of the most complicated and time consuming I have ever done. It had lots of poofs and layers. The sides had to be taken in and the dress shortened. The little girl's design was the same, however, the construction was a little different, and was slightly easier to alter. I am so glad to have that job behind me so I can get on to my own stuff.



I recently purchased some poly/lycra jersey knit from Gorgeous Fabrics. Ann took good care of me after a mix up on my order. I had never ordered from her before, and there is always a little concern when things go wrong with an online order. This time, I was way more than pleased with the attention and I came out a little ahead. :) Thanks so much Ann!

I used Butterick 3344, View D, with short sleeves and a turtle neck. I chose to make a size 12 and added to the side seams, just to be sure. I ended up taking in not just what I added, but another inch as well. I also had to narrow the shoulders by moving the sleeve head in almost half an inch. That is very unusual for me as I have a little bit of a broad back. This fabric is very drapey, so the turtle neck has very little body to make it stand up at all and just puddles. I added seam binding to the should seams for stabilization. I used my serger to make the entire top and stitched the hems using my cover stitch machine. I think I will add an inch to the length if I make this again, as I want to wear this with jeans and do not want to be tugging on the back to keep too much from showing. I also wish I had paid a little more attention to the fabric design. I would have placed the front pattern piece in a more desirable location so that the design was better displayed. The pattern itself was fairly easy. The problems I had were self inflicted.

I wore this to work today. It was very comfortable. The fabric is wonderful, and I will be purchasing more of this. Doesn't it pick up the silver in my hair nicely?? (chuckle)

While this is not my favorite, I do like this top, even with all the little quirks I ran into. I will probably make the pattern again using one of the other views. I really like the scoop neck and the mock-wrap. On the other hand, I have several other patterns that would make lovely tops using this type of fabric.