Monday, November 25, 2019

Batik Zadie Top


I loved the tropical Zadie jumpsuit I made earlier this year so much... I wore that jumpsuit weekly (and sometimes more frequently) all summer. It was high time I made another jumpsuit or another variation on the Zadie pattern!


This Zadie top was originally a wearable muslin for a top to wear to Montreal Frocktails, but I ended up needing to make some adjustments to get my hack exactly right, and I ran out of mental bandwidth to accomplish that in time for the event. And you saw what I ended up with!


For this top, I cut the same size as my jumpsuit, an 18. I added six inches at the hem (I hemmed the bottom of the shirt by one inch), drawing a line straight down from the wrap point and on the side seams, ignoring the tucks. 


In retrospect, I should have graded out a bit to accommodate my hips, butt and belly, as it's fairly snug through that region. After trying it on mid-make, I gave myself a bit more room with small side slits at the hem. Not ideal, but it helped. I still need more room there, though.


I obviously chose the longer sleeve option. Next time I'll shorten the sleeves a inch or so- they're not quite full length and not quite 3/4 on me. 


Just as I did on my Zadie jumpsuit, I used packaged bias tape as a facing instead of the self-binding the pattern calls for. I am lazy and I have a large stash of bias tape, so it's a win-win for me.


The main fabric is a beautiful hand-stamped Indonesian batik from my stash. The substrate is a cool crinkle-textured cotton fabric. 


 I really like my Zadie top! A few tweaks still necessary to get it to 100% what I was hoping for, but it's close. I love the fit at the bust so much, so it's worth the effort to work out the kinks!