Sew Over It, Molly Top

 

As soon as Sew Over It released them, I loved the patterns in the e-book My Capsule Wardrobe: City Break. Five great patterns that I can absolutely imagine myself in any of them.

Funnily enough, the Molly top / dress did not grab my imagination. I would have put it bottom of the list. I didn't like the dolman sleeve and the extra bit at the end. But I watched Lisa's You Tube videos and decided it looked much better on. I particularly liked her floral version where you can't even see the sleeve seam (about 5 minutes in).

Molly is actually a great little pattern. The negative ease at the bust and the flowy waist and hem are very flattering. It also goes together SO FAST! I sewed the whole thing together in one evening. Add another evening for cutting out and one for finishing and this was a record for me.

I used my overlocker for all the sewing so there was no going back on the fit. I made a straight size 10 and the sizing was perfect, aside from my extremely short waist. I had taken 1 inch off the waist, and done a sway back adjustment of 1/2 inch, but it is still pooling at the back. I have gone back and altered the paper pattern again, to make the short waist 2 inches. Yikes!

I didn't mark any of the notches. Nor did I follow the pattern instructions. I had just made the Coco and this is even simpler with the straight sleeve head. I would say it is a perfect pattern for an introduction to sewing with knits. Or possibly even sewing at all.

The sleeve cuffs are very close fitting. They go some way towards balancing out the silhouette, but come up a little too tight for my preference. I would add in 1/2cm to each side when cutting. The sides of the sleeves are straight, so it would be easy to cut out with a ruler.

The neckband isn't lying flat properly. I am not quite sure why this is. While I didn't cut the notches, just pinned the neckband into place, and stretched it out when sewing, it is stretched almost at its full capacity. I think it might have something to do with the nature of the fabric.

The base jersey is very soft but it has been dyed with the black over the top. It almost feels (and smells) like paint and there is a lot of black on this white. The scale of the pattern is much larger than I thought it was when I viewed it online. I wanted smallish white flowers on the white background. This is a bit too tropical looking. But it was on sale and super cheap and I couldn't be bothered sending it back. I like the fabric better when it is made up into a garment, so I am calling this a wearable toile of the Molly top.

I used my sewing machine to zig zag the hems of the top and the cuffs, but it still doesn't like to play nice with jersey. Thank goodness I have an overlocker now, it makes such a difference to my ability to sew knits. It doesn't feel as precise, but it powers through those knits with no problems!

Costs:
 Fabric: 2m (Minerva Crafts) £9.98
 Pattern: 1/3 of Sew Over It ebook (on sale) £4.67
 Notions: £0.00
Total: £14.65