Last weekend was time again for another meetup of the Bay Area Sewists, so it spurred me to spend a few hours on Saturday evening making a muslin and getting stuck into using up some of the fabric I scored at last month’s fabric swap!

For the pattern I decided to try out the freebie By Hand London Polly Top, as my buddy that I chat and giggle in the corner with, Rebecca, was wearing one last time we met, and liked it, so I wanted to try it out too! (Who is stalking who now? 😉 )

It is a pretty simple one to put together, I printed it, cut out the pages, taped them together, traced off my pattern pieces, made a muslin, modified it, then made the final one, all in one evening. The only slightly tricky part is sewing the central panel into the front, but other than that, it is just as simple as my TNT Sorbetto, and fits better than my Tiny Pocket Tank. According to the sizing chart, I cut a size 4/8 at the bust, and graded it out to a 8/12 at the waist/hips. Other than that, the only modifications I made to my muslin and subsequent pattern, was to take off an inch at the shoulders of the front and back pieces, as the central panel hit under my bust otherwise, which didn’t really work!

It was pretty quick all in all, I printed the pattern, taped it, traced off the pieces, cut out the muslin, sewed it together, adjusted, then cut out and sewed together the final top all in one evening! I also finished it by sewing the binding to the inside, rather than as a trim, just because I love the clean finish it gives it, but perhaps if I was using the contrast fabric, I might give it a go the other way!

Both of the fabrics came from the fabric swap, the main fabric was a yard of printed cotton, the inset front panel was actually only about a fat quarter sized piece, but it worked out just fine. One thing I noticed about my fabric collection as I was examining it for potential Polly fabrics, is that I have very little in the way of plain solids, they are all patterns, which is a problem when trying to find combinations that work!

Anyhow here is a quick snap of it out in the wild, looking a little crumpled:

I am of course eating a Lemon Top, as we are in the middle of a little trip home for a visit! My first trip outside the US since we moved!