Hello! I did not want to have another month pass without a post, but taking pictures is not easy this time of the year. Fortunately, I remembered that I had already photographed this top, which I made in April and have worn frequently throughout spring and summer.
This is the knotted shirt, #101 in Burdastyle 10/2016. As soon as bought the magazine, I liked its dropped shoulders, front knot and wide neckline, so when I found this awesome knit fabric at the thrift store I immediately knew what to do with it. The pattern calls for 1.85m of fabric, but I managed to squeeze the top out of 1.5m. On my version, the knot is on the other side, because one edge of the fabric was cut unevenly and mirroring the front was the only way to fit all the pattern pieces.
Knotted shirt 10/2016 #101 (image source: burdastyle.com)
As much as I liked the print – I am a sucker for large scale graphic prints – I was a bit sceptical about the fabric, as it appears to be largely synthetic. Nevertheless, it is not too sticky and has held up well in the laundry. The fabric is relatively thin with little recovery, so it would likely have been unsuitable for a more fitted top.
As I made the shirt months ago, construction details are a little hazy. Burdastyle’s instructions on how to finish the hem and tie were not entirely clear to me, but there are only a few pieces to sew together and what I ended up doing seems to have worked fine. I am still not that experienced at handling knits and there is definitely room for improvement when it comes to attaching neckbands. In this case, the neckband stuck out horribly, so I ended up folding it over and stitching it down by hand.
To be honest, I don’t love the fit of this top. I made my usual size 40 and it is shorter and wider than I had hoped. There’s a lot of access width in the back and I keep adjusting the neckline whenever I’m wearing it. The sleeves are also an odd lenght, not full-lenght, but not three-quarter-length either. I suppose that the top may have shrunk a little over time, but at 1.75m/5.9ft I am also taller than what Burdastyle’s regular patterns are drafted for.
Whenever possible, I try to add some centimeters to the hems, something which I refrained from this time around, as I did not have much fabric to play with. Moreover, the shirt did not look that short on the model, who must be at least my height. But then again, I don’t think it says in the magazine what size and height the model is and what pattern size she’s wearing (I wish it would!)
Don’t get me wrong, I do like wearing this top and still think that the pattern was a good match for the fabric. I just don’t think I will make it again, also because the knot at the hemline is somewhat unpractical. In the future, I might go for a top with a tie at the neckline, like these other Burdastyle tops. This is, by the way, the second project from this Burdastyle issue that I’ve completed, the third are the jeans I am pairing the top with in the pictures.
Materials and cost
1.5m jersey, SEK 30 (c. EUR 3) thrifted (Emmaus in Malmö)
I actually really like the fit of this top! It looks a lot better on you than in the line drawing. But I can see how the knot would be totally impractical. I’ve basically given up on wearing clothes with ties as they bug me so much.
Thank you, Siobhan! Perhaps it’s more that I’m not so used to this type of fit. I agree about the ties, it’s actually one of the reasons why I never wear wrap dresses. The knot on this shirt tends to get wet when I do the dishes!