My ultimate shift top

I've had quite a productive few days of sewing. Yesterday I finished my spot pocket skirt, a crochet hat, and this ultimate shift top.

I started this spontaneously after an absolute nightmare with my attempt at an ultimate shift dress (pattern by Sew Over It).

This should have been an easy make, but I was going mad for French seams, wasn't concentrating, and attached the front of the dress the wrong way out... I painstakingly inverted the darts and then realised that I'd been following the wrong set of instructions and should have inserted the all-in-one facing right at the start. I decided to cut down the facing and use it only for the neckline, and took this as an opportunity to try out bias binding on the armholes, so I did get something out of it. It's made out of quite a slippery tartan viscose that frays a LOT, and the pattern isn't quite centred, which is really quite obvious as the pattern is so bold. It's shelved for now and I'll probably finish off the hem when I next run out of things to do.

Anyway, this post is supposed to be about the top I made with the same pattern, so let's get on with it! As I said, I started it after a disaster. I wanted something straightforward to restore my confidence, and this did the job nicely!

The fabric was a cotton poplin from So 'n' sews that I'd actually bought for making some gifts, but as my stash is pretty sparse, it was needed here.

It all went pretty smoothly, until... Can you spot the mistake I'm about to make?

I didn't!

The bias binding that was supposed to be hidden on the inside of the top became a weird design feature, and an opportunity to try some very exposed top stitching. It would definitely look better if I'd unpicked and started again, but I just didn't want to, OK?

I'm quite pleased with my stitching, and I think it even looks quite good on the inside!

So there we have it, my ultimate shift top. Yet again, this is something I don't see myself wearing a huge amount - weird binding aside, I think the pattern is just better suited to a more drapey fabric - something I didn't think through as this was such a spur-of-the-moment make. It's quite a satisfying pattern, though, and I think I'll probably be making a few shift tops and dresses in something lighter for the summer. The fit is OK, but as I find with a lot of, particularly sleeveless, tops, the fit on the shoulders isn't quite right on me. I think it's probably because I have quite narrow shoulders. Again, this is something I think I'll be able to work on with my homemade dress form, which I'm starting tonight!