Finished Project: HotPatterns 1186 - Plain & Simple Woven Tee & Dress

I feel like I've barely sewn anything in recent months, although I know that I can chalk part of that to concentrating more on fit and sewing more muslins. Not having new projects to wear definitely does make me do more ogling of the shiney new patterns that get released every week. It's not terribly exciting, but I did manage to complete a real, non-muslin, top a few weeks ago. On top of that, it's even a woven and not a knit! We finally were able to photograph it over this past weekend.

The pattern that I used is HotPatterns Plain & Simple Woven Tee & Dress, which is HotPatterns entry in the woven t-shirt category:

HotPatterns Woven Tee

I think that the envelope drawing is a pretty accurate representation. The pattern includes options for a v-neck or boatneck and options for a t-shirt or a simple shift dress with pockets. I sewed the plain, boatneck-style t-shirt and did not do the removable hem embellishment:

HotPatterns Plain & Simple Woven Tee & Dress

 

Fabric and Notions Used

Note that I made a muslin of this pattern first, to check dart placement, bust fit, etc, so I felt comfortable using a more-expensive-than-normal-for-me fabric for this top.

• Cotton-lycra shirting from Emma One Sock (purchased on a recent retail therapy binge)
• Interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply

This fabric might be slightly on the crisp side for this pattern, but this cotton had such a soft, pleasant feel to it that I really enjoy wearing this top. I purchased three different blouse-length cuts of various prints from this lot, and I'm happy that I still have two more cuts remaining to be made into more blouses.

Pattern Sizing and Alterations

This pattern is available in HotPatterns sizes 6-26 (32"-52" bust).

I used a size 18 for the neck and shoulders and graded to a size 20 at the armscye. Additionally, I made the following pattern alterations:

• 1" Full Bust Adjustment (FBA) using the Palmer-Pletsch slash-and-spread method. The resulting dart size was manageable, so I left the dart as-is without rotating parts of it anywhere or making other modifications.
• Lowered the bust dart by 1".
• Backed the bust dart off of my apex by 2". The darts still feel a little pointy (although my busy print helps hide this). I'll back them off of my apex a bit more the next time that I make this.
• 1" Full bicep adjustment using the Palmer-Pletsch slash-and-spread method.
• Shortened the top by 2". This was an accident; I meant to shorten it by 1" but was clipping fabric while talking to my toddler and accidentally clipped too much. I'll go back to shortening by 1" for the next version.

None of these alterations were unusual for me. Note that while I don't feel that the sleeves on this run particularly small, if you have larger arms, you probably want to check the fit there before cutting into your good fabric.

Let me call out the fact that the bust point is actually marked on this pattern! It's been several years since I've actually seen the bust point marked, so I want to give kudos for that. It made assessing my FBA MUCH easier.

 

Pattern Instructions

HotPatterns don't have super detailed instructions, but this is a pretty easy pattern. This pattern does have basic illustrations for most steps, and Trudy does remind you when you need to do things like understitch, press your seam allowances, etc. The construction of this top is pretty straightforward, but I don't recall running into anything confusing or weird in the instructions.

 

Similar Patterns

 

It seems like just about every pattern company has a variation on the woven t-shirt. I think that the HotPatterns version has a bit more bust shaping than some of the other options (good, if you're large busted, like I am), but here are a few similar options:

• Grainline Studio Scout tee
• McCall's 6927 (includes cup sizes up to DDD in plus sizes) (I own this pattern but have not sewn it because of some reports I've seen about some oddities with the sleeve drafting, which you can see in the pattern photo)
• Simplicity 1106
• Sewaholic Belcarra blouse

 

Final Thoughts

 

This is a good little pattern to have in my arsenal. It's good for showing off a print, and along the same lines, provides an unbroken canvas if you don't feel like dealing with print matching. The finished top isn't terribly exciting, but it fits me well, is comfortable, and will certainly get worn plenty of times this summer. I'm sure that I'll be making this again before too long.