Finished Tova Top

Phew – finished the Tova dress! And wore it out that same night.

I tried to get P to take a picture of me going out so I could capture the “outfit” but this was the result.

Self-portraits were also not working for me…

So instead you get J taking the picture in the morning – sorry about the bedhead.

There were a few things about the pattern that were kind of tricky – attaching that square yoke was pretty hard, so eventually I just topstitched it on because I made a dog’s breakfast of it when I tried to do it the way it was described in the pattern. That was in large part due to the fabric – this chambray frays really easily and it was all coming apart. If I had a more stable fabric, I think it probably would have been fine. Also the collar piece was too short – not sure if that’s an error in the PDF pattern or if I did my tracing wrong (quite possible!). The pattern says just to “ease” it in, so I did, but I think it looks kind of bunched, and if I did it again, I’d lengthen the collar piece. Anyway, I still think it’s very cute and I got some nice compliments on it last night. I will definitely make this pattern again, especially because it’s so fast to go together. Even with cutting it out, I was able to finish it in an afternoon. Even with the kids home being neglected learning the value of independent play. However that showed me the value of pulling a muslin together, because I made my mistakes and puzzled through most of it (except the collar!) doing that. Plus it fits!