A Freestylin' Frankenstein

Now the weather here is getting warmer, I've seen some really cute tops and have been inspired to make my own. My original inspiration was a boat neck t-shirt made by a BurdaStyle member but I didn't 'favourite' the project and don't have a pic. The only thing I have to go on is what see in my mind, and a downloaded sleeve pattern piece. Weird.

I should mention at this point, my skills at pattern making are poor at best so I decided to Frankenstein a few patterns together and see what I could come up with. Hoping for instant gratification, I looked for a current boat-neck t-shirt pattern but couldn't find anything suitable. I then turned to my trusty vintage pattern collection. The two things I liked about the t-shirt are the neckline and the pleated sleeves, so they were the things I focused on.

I love the neckline of Simplicity 1510, but the sleeves are cut in one with the bodice. No matter, I decided to go with it and cut it from some unappealing jersey I had in my stash. I also added a simple 10" band, slightly larger than my waist for the bottom of the bodice. Here is the t-shirt, Version 1...

I really like the result, particularly the bust and necklines, but it's not what quite what I was looking for. Trying to keep the two elements I liked, I got rid of the bodice sleeves and added the random sleeve. I then did a bit of freestylin' to get the shaped look I wanted. Here's Version 2...

Getting there... If I end up going with this version, it will need: roughly 1/2 inch cut out of the armhole to bring the shoulder seam in, and nearly 1" out of the sleeve cap. At the moment the sleeves just flop down and the lovely pleat detail at the armband is hidden.

I'm diggin' the direction this is heading but am going to abandon this pattern version for the moment and experiment with Simplicity 4782. I've made this top once before so I already have a couple of fitting adjustments done. The plan is to use these adjustments and add the amended sleeve.

 Wish me luck!

- Tamara