Voila ici le Sorbetto Top! It’s my first official entry in the 2nd Annual Summer Essentials Sew-Along. I’m vacillating between “Holy cow, I’m in love!” and “Holy crap, how did I screw things up so badly?!”
Here I am with Gus the Bus!
The good: The fabric! Mwah! I love it! It’s lightweight, sheer cotton that’s a perfect pink. I love the rectangular woven dots! Also, it’s just my style– comfortable, cute, and summery (plus it hides my bra straps!).
The bad: Ack!! Sunni’s Seam Finishing Week came one day too late! Stupid me, I didn’t realize that [zigzagging to finish seams] + [sheer, lightweight fabric] = extreme ugliness. I’m not going to show you the inside of the garment– it’s way too embarrassing! There’s also a slight bit of weird puckering at the bottom of the side seams where it starts to curve out. Not sure what caused that.
The “meh”: The bias tape really forms a nice contrast (Wright’s 1/2″ Double-Fold in “oyster”, an unappealing name for a garment color, but that’s beside the point), but it seems a bit heavy for the lightweight fabric. It sticks out a bit from the garment instead of laying nice and flat, particular under the arms. I’m not really sure how to remedy this. Any thoughts? Also in the “meh” category– fit issues! This is a seemingly simple top, but the style may not be instantly flattering on many people and may require some tinkering (or, in my case, three muslins!) to be wearable.
Squinting in the summer sun
On that topic, mods: I started out by cutting a straight size 2, which should have fit pretty well according to the chart of finished measurements. But the bust darts hit way too high and too far in, so I traced them on some transparent pattern paper, taped this onto the pattern about where I thought they should fall, and changed the shape of the pattern edge so the triangle thingy that pokes out between the legs of the dart was in the right place. This was my first time trying out bust darts, so I’m happy to have tried my hand at a new skill. Somehow I didn’t have enough ease in the bust, or really, all over (my finished bust measurement was 3″ smaller than estimated), so I added 5/8″ to the edge of both the front and back pieces, which did the trick. The armcyes were also way too tight, so I cut to the size 10 line, which worked. Finally, this top is crazy short. I added 2″ of length between where the 2C and 2D arrows meet on the back and the 6B and 6C arrows meet on the front. I liked the length after this, so I added an additional 5/8″ to the bottom of the garment to reach this length after hemming it.
Look at the worn spot on my jeans pocket from carrying around my big fat wallet!
This pattern comes together really quickly, so it would have been really fast and satisfying if I hadn’t had all the weird fitting issues. Now that I’ve sorted those out, I’ll probably crank out a few more of these over the summer… and next time maybe I’ll try my hand at French seams or another nicer seam finishing technique.
Anyone else planning to make a Sorbetto? How are your summer projects coming along?
Ginger Makes... 
It’s gorgeous! I love the colour, and it looks great with the contrast tape. I’ve had the same troubles with zig-zagging seams too!
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Thank you so much! 😀
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It looks great on you and the fabric is lovely too. This is the second version I’ve seen where it’s been lengthened and I think it’s definitely the way to go! Great job. x
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Thank you so much! Just checked out your polka dot Violet– it’s so cute!! Way to go! I definitely needed the extra inches– I don’t need to have any midriff hanging out! 🙂
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Hi, I’m glad you got the fitting issues sorted, the top is really lovely! You chose such a pretty fabric. Here’s to a summer of sorbettos 🙂
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Thanks very much! I’ll definitely be making a few more!
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Lovely! All those muslins paid off. My summer projects are all “on hold”. Summer is finally here so all I want to do is get outside.
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Are you a gardener? What kind of outside activities are you excited for?
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My husband is the gardener. All I want to do is get on my bike and go exploring. Oh, that and sitting on patios drinking cold beer under the sun. I have the feeling that drinking and sewing don’t mix! In all honesty, I’m having a hard time getting motivated to sew when the weather is so nice – winter is too long in Toronto!
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I wouldn’t stress out too much about the inside seam finishes. It’s nice when you can get it looking as good on the inside as it does on the outside, but it’s a learning process, too. Now you know for the next time you work with a sheerish fabric. And it looks like it fits pretty well to me!
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That’s a good point. Now I (hopefully) won’t make the same mistake in the future!
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Oh man, don’t even talk to me about Sorbetto fitting issues, as you know! Yours however looking GORGEOUS and I’m happy you went to all of that fitting effort. It really shows 🙂
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Thanks a million! 😀
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The top looks great on you! And the fabric is so incredibly cute.
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Thanks, lady! 🙂
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I think you’ve done really well with this, it look absolutely gorgeous. As for the fitting issues, I definitely found that it needed some tweaks, but now you have these sorted, you can make it again and again. On one of my versions my bias binding was too heavy as well, I think self-made bias binding from the same fabric would be a good way forward. I finished my versions with french seams and they worked beautifully, maybe something you can try next time? Hope this helps!
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I think I’ll have to make the leap into self-made bias tape. I’ve been afraid, but I bought a 1/2″ Clover Bias Tape Maker a few weeks ago, so I’ll have to just dive in and start practicing! Definitely want to try French seams on the next one to extend the life of the top. Hope you’re having/had a great time in Cyprus!
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This looks great on you! I printed out and taped together the Sorbetto pattern but I haven’t gotten around to making it yet. I’m a little hesitant because a few others have said that the fit is weird too. I think I’ll have to try my hand at self madebias tape too!
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I would definitely make a muslin before cutting into something nice! It’s totally worth all the tinkering, though!
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I saw you featured on BurdaStyle, so this is my first visit here. This shirt looks great on you and I love the bias tape finish around the arms and neck. Great job!
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Thank you so much! 🙂
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i love the sheer fabric and the white for the arms. I have this pattern on my list of to-dos.
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Thanks so much! It’s such a nice design– really simple and sweet!
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I love your Sorbetto! I’ve downloaded it with the intention of trying it myself, I thought it’d be a good way of trying out a Collette pattern before buying one. I’m a bit worried about the fit though. I’ve just made a gazillion muslins for my Market Blouse so I’m scared I’ll have to do the same with this pattern.
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Thanks, lady! Honestly, sometimes it seems like the “simple” stuff is tougher to fit correctly, since it’s really only flattering if it isn’t hanging on you like a sack. I would recommend adding some additional length right off the bat, and maybe holding the flat pattern up to you to eyeball the darts and see if they’re in a right-ish position. Good luck!
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