I bought Simplicity S8882 because I liked the shape of it. There's an empire waist, but it's then fitted to the natural waist to flatter an hourglass shape. I've seen other patterns with similar shapes, but they bust usually isn't deep enough and the seam line falls in the middle of the bust. So I decided to try a wearable muslin of this one. View B looked dangerously low, so I started with View A.
It came together easily, and I really appreciated that the directions indicated which direction to sew the stay-stitching. I've never seen such detailed instructions on the stay-stitching, and I'm not sure whether it's becaus the pattern is designed by Gertie or if that's something that the the Big 4 are starting to do to help new sewers learn more about sewing. Either way it was informative and much appreciated. The only weird bit was that the zipper goes from the bottom of the hem to most of the way up the back. It's not harder to install; I'm just not used to using it that way.
I finished this shirt in about 2 days. I had to use a zipper that was 2 inches shorter than recommended because that was what I had on hand and I can't get to the fabric store with the quarentine. It works just fine though. I also omitted the buttons from the front because the fabric I was using was too busy.
The fit was nice, and I'll be making it again. The top is very low cut though. I may try to raise the neckline a bit in future versions. The trick will be to maintain the sweetheart neckline while raising it. I'm also thinking about flip,ping the zipper to go from the top down but that will require adding a seam allowance to the back facing instead of placing it on the centerfold. Now that I know this fits, I really want to make a dress out of this. I've already sketched out an extension to the peplum to turn it into a skirt. I will probably have to move the zipper to do that though. On the plus side it will be easy to add the pockets :)
What the item is: Green Top
Material: Quilting Cotton
Pattern: S8882 by Gertie
Year: 2019
Notions: Thread, Invisible Zipper
Hours to complete: 2 Days
First worn: Hanging out around the house during quarantine
Total cost: Stash, probably about $10-$15 worth of supplies