McCalls 6308 - White Knit Empire Top

I have had McCalls 6308 in my stash for what seems like forever, and I finally sewed it:

I used a cotton/modal white knit, and shortened the pattern so I could sew it as a top.

I didn't want it to stretch in any way when I wore it, so I eliminated the elastic that the pattern calls for. Instead, I stablized the shoulders, sides, front neckline, and midriff with twill tape. I also underlined the midriff with a woven fabric:

I didn't like the wide shoulders of this style, so I altered it to have cut in shoulders. I also don't like surplice necklines that open, so I raised the neckline by 1 inch:

I'm a proportioned petite, but I took a chance and cut the bodice and midriff as is. The midriff is at my waist, and I am good with that. Because I didn't use any elastic, I added a back zipper. Without the elastic, it was much too loose. Taking it in was easy. I simply pinned it to fit at the sides and sewed it before I attached the bottom.

Since the pattern is for a dress, but I wanted a top, I converted the skirt to a peplum. The finished length of the peplum is 7 1/2 inches. I wanted the style to have a little kick, so I added flowers to the midriff.

I also didn't want to have it falling off my shoulders, which can happen when the back has a low v, so I converted the back v-neckline to a regular one--you can see it in this pic. Here's my fun Summer top:

The flowers have a lot of gathering, so perfection is not required! YAY!

FLOWER EMBELLISHMENT TUTORIAL:

Here's how to make the flowers. First, cut out 3 inch circles:

You don't need to finish the edges, so don't worry about that. To make the gathers, hand stitch across it, like this:

Pull it to gather and tie a knot. Then hand stitch the other way, like this:

Gather it, knot it, and voila--you have a flower. Place the flowers on the garment and pin them down. Pin from the top, then stitch the flowers in place from the underside of the garment.

And voila--you have a nice embellishment!

McCalls 5853 has a template for the flower:

I love my new top!

The pattern is definitely a good one! It fit the way I thought it would, and the pattern pieces fit together perfectly!

Unbelievably, it's part of the McCalls Easy Stitch and Save line! It's easy to overlook patterns in that section of the book, but definitely don't overlook this one!

Make this day a good one!