Seaside Sue (Stylearc asymmetrical top)

This week I've been working on finishing up my entry for the Endless Combinations contest at PR and getting ready for PR weekend.  I finished the last thing yesterday, which was the Seaside Sue top from Stylearc.  I'm really happy with this top and how it turned out.  Of course, I love wearing rayon jersey and I was desparately needing a couple of black tops in my closet.  So, now I've got one me-made solid black top!

This is the first time I've worked with Style Arc patterns.  I love the look of their styles and since they ship from Australia, I was happy when I found out that I could order PDFs from their Etsy shop.  What I didn't stop to think about was that they use size A4 paper, not 8.5x11.  It does make a difference in printing.  Although it didn't throw the pattern off any, I did make it more difficult to line up the pattern pieces.  As soon as I finished taping that thing together I went on Amazon and ordered a ream of A4 paper!


I love the look of this top.  V necklines are my best look and I especially like the asymmetrical hems front and back.  I used the cover stitch to finish these.

This pattern had VERY FEW directions.  Basically said "Sew the front and back together. bind the neckline.  Finish the armholes and hem."  No how-tos, no given seam allowance, no measurements on the pattern.  There are good registration marks for putting the pattern together and a map, but as far as actually sewing the top - not much.  I had to look up how to bind a V neck since I had not done it in a while.  I wanted to do a cross over binding, but didn't cut my binding piece quite long enough, so I had some problems with that.  Other than that, everything was pretty easy.  No darts, which I could have added, but I think its fine without them.  Linda Maynard's book has some great information on how to bind necklines.  Too bad I couldn't find it when I wanted to use it.  Sigh....

This was the last piece in the Endless Combinations contest. In this contest each piece needs to go with whatever the previous piece is.  I kind of rearranged my order since I incorporated the red jeans, but that was within the rules.  I'm glad to have made all of these pieces over the last 6 weeks.

 I've really been needing a black top and I like the way it goes with the red jeans.  Black tops go with just about everything, don't they?  I also want to make another black jersey top out of the Eureka pattern.  I have lots more to say, but I've got to finish laundry and pack.  My next post will be after PR weekend!