Sagebrush Top revisited

This is my new Sagebrush top by Friday Pattern Company

I made up my first Sagebrush top over a year ago.

I wasn’t sure I was going to like it on me (due to the frills!) so I used a very cheap viscose type fabric from my stash to see how it would go.
The blue cheap fabric drove me mad. Even though I used a sharp size 70 needle, the fabric seemed to bruise, with the white of the rear of the fabric seeming to appear at every hole. This was a complete nightmare when I needed to unpick something.
Anyway, it turns out I really liked the top. Unfortunately, as I feared, it only lasted half a dozen washes before the fabric started to deteriorate.
I’d picked up this new beautiful viscose crepe at Fabworks, last time I was there. It is a simply beautiful fabric.

I knew as soon as I saw it, that this would be my new Sagebrush Top.

Having already worn this top during a humid afternoon, walking between drinking establishments, I can vouch for it feeling light and airy.
It has a slight stretch to it so needs handling carefully to prevent stretching out but the Sagebrush top instructions include for stay stitching around the neckline, so that takes care of that.

I love the print, it’s a little ditsy without being too girly.
Last time I was in between a small and a medium and went with the medium.
This time my bust fell at a small, so I trimmed my fabric pieces down to the small.
As per my previous version I did change was the neckline. I didn’t like how the neck band seemed to stand up, away from the body on some versions I had seen. Instead, I used a traditional bias bound neckband. Turning the whole thing inside and top stitching it down. This also results in the neckline being lowered by 1cm all the way around. Much better for me, I thought.

Again, I replaced the tie at the back with a button and a small loop of elastic, simplifying the look at the back and reducing the potential for forgetting to pop it in a delicates bag before washing, causing necktie tangling and potential distress to the ties.

Lastly, I replaced the elastic in the sleeve to a cuff. I don’t like the feeling of wearing elastic around my upper arm. It seems to get tighter and tighter during the day.
My cuff is 34cm by 5cm; if anyone wants to know. I didn’t trim the sleeve pattern length as I fancied a longer sleeve and I’ve ended up with a beautiful voluptuous one!!

My husband even commented about how much he liked this one.

Love, Lucie xx