Agustina Boxy Top in X-Rayon

I made a little tester project this week! I wanted to see how this Agustina boxy top (by Fabrics-Store) fit, since I'm thinking incorporating some fabric/art techniques into a boxy top project -- I have a couple of choices which I've made before, but wanted to test this one as well.

Fortunately for me, I also got this fun fabric (is it bamboo or x-rays?) at my Garment Guild meetup to test it out! This is a heavier weight rayon and there was enough to cut this out comfortably. 

I made a M/L, and added 1.5" to the length. I made a narrow hem on the bottom so if I wanted a deeper one I'd add a bit more length. 

I like the way this fits, not too boxy and the shoulder and arm area is a good fit. The neck band is sewn using my favourite technique, one I learned with the Sorbetto long ago. The instructions have links to blog tutorials for this step, which would be handy if someone hasn't done this technique before. 

I also like the detail of the sleeve cuff, I think it adds something a little extra to this simple pattern. This only took me a few hours to cut and sew, and I am pleased with it. I may use this pattern again. 

Sew Frugal with the Milou free dress pattern

 

This is a project I made for a number of reasons - a few online challenges, and the desire for a new spring dress in a nice yellow! 

I was inspired by the #SewFrugal challenge on IG, always a fun one; you are asked to make something from a free pattern using fabric from your stash. Add to this the "Mellow March" theme from MAGAM, also on IG, and a PatternReview contest, and I was inspired. 

I decided to try the free Milou Dress by Fabrics-Store.com. The loose fit, but with inset gathers on front and back, looked fun to me. I had a lightweight yellow cotton-poly sheet in my stash that I thrifted a few years ago, and thought it was the perfect match. 

I enjoyed making this, although with a free pattern you often do get what you pay for. I found this one pretty good overall, with one major exception. The neckline is tiny, and I mean just under 20", when the average woman's head is 21-22". Mine, however, is a large head - I have a gargantuan cranium! So it was particularly impossible to fit this over my head, which is important in a pull on dress! Luckily, it is a neckline with just a bias facing, so it was very easy to enlarge the neck opening and bind it appropriately. Of course if you wanted to keep a higher, tighter neckline you could always add a back slit in the neckline and face it. 

Another slight complaint is that there were no tips in the instructions on how to get a clean corner on the insets. I looked up a tutorial on Youtube to remind me. There were links to a few other techniques in the instructions, including one on how to add side seam pockets. I did this of course! 

Otherwise it was a pretty good project. I do find that the sleeve is a bit wide at the hem, I'm not sure I like the straight line all the way down. I do like the sleeve rolled up, but I am thinking of going back and narrowing the sleeve down toward the hem a bit. I also added 2" of length but I could cut that to 1.5" if I make this again, as I ended up taking a deeper hem than my usual. 

One of the challenges in the PatternReview contest was to make a basic solid coloured dress and style it for day and night. I had fun with those photos, but do think I'll likely wear this most in the day verson. I consider yellow a basic in my wardrobe! This was a fun make despite the small issues that cropped up, which were all easily fixable. I like the finished pattern - the original was colour blocked (very subtley, in white and cream linen) so that's always an option, too, but I love my solid colour version that I think shows off the main feature of the pattern, those inset gathers. 

Evening look!