Japanese Top Sew-along Results

Back in, ooh May sometime, I signed up to participate in a Japanese top pattern sew-along which was masterminded by the lovely Cecili. The garment was also to form part of my (revised) summer essential sew-along line up due to its potential airy, hot-weather appropriate properties. Because I went to the UK over the weekend I was unable to follow Celili's well-crafted sew-along stages timetable and cranked it out last week but didn't get the opportunity to present it to you until today. Which leads me to the statement: ta daaaaaaaaaaaa!

You may be thinking 'Damn, that fabric looks familiar'. Very observant of you, it's actually more of the duvet case from which I previously fashioned an Anda dress for my best friend. I decided I really wanted to adhere to my Stash Bustin' commitment for this project, and this pattern was BIG which excluded much of my stash, so this kind of got picked by default. The original duvet cover did feature an amusing little tag which I decided to appropriate into this garment. True, if not entirely relevant!:

Although the instructions looked rather scary to say the least, I drafting of the pattern was actually quite easy. The process was very much like following the instructions in my usual pattern cutting book for drafting a basic block. What did kind of flaw me was the (lack of) construction pointers. I spent ages staring at the tiny sketches and at the pieces of fabric in my hands trying to figure out how they should go together (I was trying to get it done before going away so this was before Cecili put up helpful tips on her blog). In the end it went ok, aside from trimming away too much of the seam allowance on the neckbands' facings. To address this issue, I ended up making two rows of topstitching (in contrast orange thread due to a lack on brown) to trap them down.

Of course, I could post up pictures of myself wearing this top, but I think it would be much more amusing to show it modelled by my boy, who decided to try it on after I left it on my mannequin and turned my back. Thankfully I had my camera to hand, and he's not the shy type:

I think he was aiming for some classic catalogue poses, but upon analysis of the pictures, we came to the conclusion that the photos have more than a hint of '70's cult leader about them! He has relinquished possession of the tunic for now, and if this status quo continues, I imagine I'll wear this top mainly around the flat in a bid to keep cool over the next month or so. If I don't get the opportunity to wear it myself, please keep an eye on me via this blog in case I start to exhibit strange cult-follower tendencies! It's good to know I can rely on you.