a bright casual mccalls 6751 for summer

I saw this fabric and knew I needed it! The colors, the print, the softness, the drape! The questions was, what to make? Mr. Sew Rachel thought I should make a maxi-skirt, and while I do love my maxi-skirts, I really wanted a top. But, with a large print like this it had to be a pattern without a lot of pieces and seams, and large enough to really show the print off without overwhelming my small frame. I decided to try a new McCalls pattern, M6751 view D.

It's not that l'm crazy for the butt flap trend this season, but it needed a little something to avoid being just a boxy top. After looking at the finished garment measurements I decided to cut a size smaller. 6+ extra inches in the bust? That's too loose for me. Even so, the shoulder straps lay a little too wide, which I'm finding is the case with most patterns on my frame.

Back view D

Back view of my finished top.

The back is designed to be made from one pattern piece, cutting two so they mirror each other. I thought, "how silly to waste such beautiful fabric by having a double layer over the butt flap. It isn't even seen!" So I cut the bottom piece to just under where they overlap, and then had enough scrap for a cool infinity scarf! Wrong move. Once I had it on, the way the "V" in the back draped revealed the bottom edge of the under-layer, and a big ugly opening! I had to top stitch the two pieces together along the top hemline about 6 inches from the side seam to prevent the gaping. It's mostly invisible, but now the back "V" doesn't drape nearly so lovely. What did I learn? Next time follow the instructions because they are probably that way for a reason.

Speaking of instructions, I discovered a fabulous little nugget of information tucked in the M6751 instructions! The options for finishing the neckline, armholes, and hem were bias tape or a narrow hem. I wasn't so pleased with bias tape when I used it for the top I made for my sister, so I thought I try my hand at a narrow hem and discovered THIS:

Why had I not seen this before?!?! What a great way to ease in a curved hemline, and even with the straight hems that extra line of stitching made for a great guild-line! Remember how in the last post I stated how much I hate hemming? Well I still think it's tedious and fussy, but at least I now have a tool that makes it a little easier and lead to better results!