I fancied this pattern when I saw it in the Burda magazine, August 2021. It’s pretty straightforward except for the neckline. And was what I liked – and was wary of at the same time! I had a feeling that this would be one of those patterns that made a cool looking garment, until the first time it was washed. Then it would be a royal pain in the butt to iron and get to sit properly again. I figured fabric choice was going to be key here.
So I left it for a while until I found some organic cotton jersey at Croft Mill which was nice and sturdy when it came, has stretch but not masses of drape, had body but wasn’t thick. I thought this is it, I’ll make that top with this stuff. I thought about doing a FBA for about 5 minutes after tracing the 44, looked at all the odd shaped pieces and then decided not to bother… Lazy. So there are no alterations on this.
It wasn’t overly complicated to put together, but the fabric wanted to roll to the right side all the time, which was annoying, and irritating when I needed it to sit still and stay put! The instructions have you insert the sleeve after the s ides are sewn up, but with jersey tops you usually put the sleeve in on the flat. The head on this pattern is very high which has lead to some makers getting a nasty poof s tthe top. I took one look at it and lowered the head height a bit – completely by eye. It’s better than some look, but really – it’s unneccessary to have a sleeve head like that on a jersey top!
The asymmetry of the neckline is cool, worked ok when flat. But my prediction was right – it is a pain in the butt to iron after washing!! But I love it so much that as soon as it’s back in the wardrobe, it’s out again. I’ve worn this top so many times since making it back in December!! I hadn’t realised it was that long ago – apologies for the extremely late blog post! I will make this again, and in this sort of weight fabric. A jersey with more drape than this would go straight into the bit at the first attempt at ironing the neckline and a stiffer jersey would be too thick. Perhaps a thin viscose ponte would be nice.
THE COMPULSIVE SEAMSTRESS 
Lovely! I’ve been wearing my version quite a lot too – until the weather warmed up anyway. I should really take the collar and graft it into a pattern with a sensible sleeve and shoulder for knits. It’s odd because Burda’s drafting is normally excellent.