The Stripe Top - Part One

I was looking through Anthropologie's website and came across this top:

As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be a good top to try to recreate.  I've seen those style elements before - in a couple of patterns that I own.   Let's take a look at Simplicity 4074 and Simplicity 3775:

See?  From Simplicity 4074, there is the body for the top with the right style collar:

From Simplicity 3775, there is the twist waist treatment and the cap sleeve:

Upon closer inspection of the original top, I noticed a few things that are different from the patterns I have.  One, the collar is taller, resulting in pleating around the neck and center front.  Two, there are no shoulder pleats on the original.  Three and four, there are no princess seams on the front or seam at center back.

To solve these problems, a little pattern manipulation has to take place.  One, I need to add height to collar and collar facing.  I measured the pattern as the collar as drafted and it is 1 1/2" wide when finished.  Not wide enough, so I will make mine 3";  it will probably squish down a bit when wearing, but that's what the original top looks like, too.   For the back, I just cut it on a fold.

I've folded out the shoulder pleats to get a smooth shoulder line and just pressed the pattern as flat as possible:

Next, I took care of the princess seams.  To make it easy, I just pinned the front and side front together.  I *know* that the purpose of the princess seam is the same a dart, to add three dimensional shape to a flat object, namely the front of the top so that the bustline can be accommodated.  For this top, that really doesn't matter as much since I have the twist waist treatment to help with shaping the top.  The big thing is to get the right shape for the shoulder so the sleeve will fit when sewn in, and to make sure there is enough fabric in the circumference at the bustline.  After a little measuring of the pattern and figuring, there will be plenty - don't forget that I'm adding 1 1/2" to either side of center front for the taller collar and gathering effect.

Now, the only thing left is to make a cap sleeve, since Simplicity 4074 doesn't have one.  I just measured the sleeve length and marked it on the pattern and added a new curved cutting line, copying both things from the other Simplicity.

I also think that the twist part is wider on the original, so I cut the twist a little wider than the Simplicity pattern.

I'll be using the striped fabric that I picked up at Fabric Fix in January, as seen in the photos above.  It isn't exactly like the original fabrics, but I think it will work nicely.  All the pattern manipulation is about half of the work, the other half will be sewing it up!  We'll take a look at how this is progressing tomorrow!

If you want to take away a lesson from this post, here it is:  learn to recognize style elements and then find patterns to get those same elements.   This is one of the great benefits of sewing your own clothes - you can have those RTW styles in your color preference, size, and price point!  

Parting Shot: Snopocalypse 3:  Return of the Roof Crusher.  Title courtesy of my husband.  Yes, another storm, this one is predicted to dump anywhere from 13" to 24" on us.  I'm pretty sure school will be cancelled tomorrow, as it has already been snowing here for a while.