Tova muslin

I really enjoyed making this top and when I wore it for the first time, my three year old told me she liked it.  Unprompted.  Then my other daughter and my husband chimed in to say they did, too.  That's gotta mean something right?

When I received the pattern last week, I didn't have any suitable fabric on hand so went to my local fabric shop, generally a disappointing experience.  They always have either wildly overpriced decent quality fabric or dodgy cheap stuff.  I found this linen/rayon blend on clearance for $3.50/metre so decided to make a "muslin".  Although the oatmeal colour doesn't do anything for me and the fabric is a bit scratchy, I think I probably will end up wearing this. 

The pattern was great and everything fit together amazingly well with the exception of the collar, which ended up being a smidge too small.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't the pattern piece, though -- I think my neck edge stretched out while I was working on the rest so next time I will staystitch the neck edges before I start.

The only thing I did differently from the directions was pre-crease the cuff bands and collar bands before sewing them on -- I did the first one as written and I found it really difficult to accurately fold over the 1/4" that would cover the seams after the cuff was sewn on. 

Other than taking a little more time with the corners on the inset :), the only thing I will do differently next time is give myself a little more than the 3/8" seam allowance to do french seams.  I don't have a serger so did a hodge podge of things this time round -- mock french seams on the sides, zig zag on the armholes and nothing on the inset.

This is an XL, I generally wear size 12 in RTW.  I was a little concerned that I'm not "willowy" enough to pull this off without it looking like I'm wearing a maternity top but I think the cut is great and the fit is fairly good (although still maybe a touch tight across the chest?).   I will definitely be making this again, maybe in real linen.