Stripy Agnes Top

It's very rare that I make a pattern within a couple of years of its release, let alone a couple of months. But I've firmly fallen in love with Tilly's new top pattern, Agnes, and I had appropriate fabric on hand so I jumped right in with uncharacteristic speed. It'd be hard for me to argue that I need another stripy top, but I do only have two short-sleeved jersey tops/T-shirts and both of those are looking pretty ropey these days. Therefore I've filled a wardrobe gap with a style that I know I'm going to wear! 

Pattern:

First off, full disclosure: I was given this pattern for free but without any expectation that I would write a review or even actually sew it. I'm not in the market of sewing anything that I genuinely am not interested in making or wearing, but this particular pattern is so up my street that I've given it a spare set of keys in case I ever get locked out! In fact, it's very similar to a self-drafted scoop neck top pattern with gathered sleeveheads that I used to make this black top (third picture down from the top) and this leopard print version (seventh picture down from the top). The general fit is almost the same to my self-drafted attempt, but I love the dramatic ruched sleeves and cute gathered neckline/bust detail included in the Agnes pattern. 

I plan to make a bunch of tops from this pattern, I really like how the different elements of this style can be mixed and matched for a lot of different looks. I chose to start with the gathered neckline variation and the plain half-sleeves. I blended between sizes from the Size 3 at the bust to a Size 4 for the waist and below. This worked out perfectly for the body, but the Size 3 sleeves were too tight for my 'substantial' upper arms. I ended up having to cut them down to the shorter length sleeves that you see in these pictures. As I said before, I'm pretty low on short-sleeves tops and T-shirts so it was no bad thing in the end. For my next version (which I actually finished making last night!) I've blended out from the underarm points to the Size 4 for the rest of the sleeve.  

Fabric:

This is some slinky jersey that was cut from a sample piece that was donated to the textile recycling charity that I used to work for. We used to be sent sooo much fabric to work with, way more than we could ever use up. So if there were pieces that weren't appropriate for the clothing range we made, or the lengths were so long that we could cut off a metre or two and still not be able to use it all, we would sometimes buy them for ourselves by making a donation to the charity via the 'karma tin'. I'm finally running pretty low of knit fabric that I acquired this way! This stripy jersey may look familiar to you, I've used it before for my long-sleeved Dolores batwing top, which I wear A LOT. It's very drapey, but its fine weight and excellent stretch and recovery works well with the snug silhouette of this pattern.

Thoughts:

Ah this top is so pretty! It's sexy and fun, with a kind of retro/French/Rockabilly vibe (IMO). I love the way the gathered neckline detail distorts the stripes of the fabric. Or rather the stripes of the fabric highlight the gathered neckline detail. Either/Or. However, I'm not sure if the position of the gathered part looks quite right on me or not. My boobs aren't quite as high and pert as they were before breast-feeding took its toll on them and the gathering sits kind of high up on me. I've experimented with making the gathers lower down, but it looked a bit odd as I think it really needs to start at the bottom of the neck binding as it is indicated on the pattern to get the gentle sweetheart neckline. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Am I over-thinking it? I'll give the top a few wears to see if the position of the gathering continues to bother me or not. I doubt that it will!