Finished Project: Ottobre 6-2013 Pretty Basic Jersey shirt

I sewed my first Ottobre! It's only taken me two years into my subscription to finally make something from one of the magazines. Granted, I wasn't sewing much for Eva when she was a baby because it didn't make sense to me to invest the time in making her clothes when she was growing into a new size every three months. Plus, I felt that most of the Ottobre designs for babies were pretty basic. But, now that she's into toddler sizes, the fun begins!

Since this was my first shot at an Ottobre, I wanted to keep things pretty simple. I've had my eye on this simple raglan-sleeved top with a ruffle detail since the 6-2013 issue arrived in my mailbox last fall:

Ottobre 6-2013 "Pretty Basic Jersey top"

This top presented me with several "firsts" to check off my sewing list:

• First time sewing ruffles. (Hard to believe, I know, but I'm not a ruffly person for my own clothing. I've done flounces, but never a full-on ruffle before. They were a pain, but they turned out cute.)
• First time using the rolled hem stitch on my Babylock Evolve. This step took a while, but I think it was totally worth it and produced a really nice result. I will definitely be using that again.
• First time doing a lettuce edge on my Evolve. I opted for this finish to make the ruffles rufflier.
• And of course, first time sewing from an Ottobre magazine.

I traced the size 92cm for Eva, and when overlayed on one of her 2T t-shirts, it's nearly an exact match. The Ottobre appears to be slightly longer and slimmer fitting, which is actually a good thing given that Eva has a long, slim torso, but that was the only difference. I just finished the top this morning, though, so I haven't had a chance to try it on her yet (or get pictures of her wearing it). Based on how close it was to her t-shirt, I imagine that the fit will be fine.

As a technical writer, I was really impressed with the Ottobre instructions. The instructions were extremely precise while being concise enough to fit into half a page in the magazine. I love that they acknowledged that a home sewist might actually own and use a serger and coverstich. I found it to be a breath of fresh air that they suggested finishing the ruffles with a rolled hem finish, rather than giving me convoluted instructions to do a baby hem or suggesting an overlock over a rolled hem.

The fabric for this top/outfit was left over from the Oliver + S Playtime Tunic and leggings that I made last week.

I think that the finished top is really cute:

My ruffles take up less space on the front of the top because I goofed and folded them over, so they're doubled up. I'm not sure why I thought I needed to do this--it wasn't in the instructions, and there was nothing confusing in there, so I think it was just a brain fart. This top would have been much faster to construct had I made it the way that I was supposed to make it. Still, I like it, and I think that the ruffle detail is cute and girly without being obnoxiously so:

Ruffle detail

I made another pair of leggings from the Oliver + S Playtime tunic & leggings pattern to go with the top:

Ottobre top and Oliver + S leggings

Edit (1-April-2014): I did get a picture of Eva wearing her new top last night:

Ottobre ruffle top, modeled by Eva

Speaking of the Oliver + S outfit, I rather unsuccessfully tried to get some better pictures of Eva wearing her new outfit, but I figure you can get a better feel for how it looks on a "real girl" here:

Front view

Yes, she draped that IKEA bag around herself like that. No, I didn't let it stay around her neck for more than a minute when I saw what she'd done. The tunic is long-ish, but it looks longer from this camera angle than it really is.

Back view

Apologies for the messy, toddler-ized and dog-ized living room.

Mid-laugh

This was the best direct head-on shot that I could get. You get the idea. ;)