The "easy" little knit top that took all day...

I finished the knit top that I started yesterday and I'm happy with the result, but it wasn't quite as easy as I had hoped.  

Me sporting my new Butterick 5493 knit shell

The top is only three pieces and I tweaked the fit on Donna the Dressform yesterday so all seemed to be fine. I decided yesterday to be a rule-breaker - Soo not me! - and cut the pattern on the cross grain because there is a bit of a directional pattern to this print and I wanted it running up and down not around and around my curvy figure.  

Butterick 5493

The fabric was equally stretchy in either direction so I didn't have any problems. 

The pattern directions were basically good - I mean there were only 3 pieces! There was one place where they referred to a large dot and there was no large dot on the pattern, but it was easy to figure out where you needed to stop stitching. 

See how the arm holes don't gap at all!  Finally!

All went well until I got to binding the armholes.  They were gapping on the sides, so I took the sides in about a half an inch right at the arm hole and solved that problem.  When I put on the binding, however, the fabric was so stretchy that I ended up with a baggie mess!  So after several attempts (including sewing to the wrong side of the fabric - TWICE!), I was able to ease the fabric to the binding and ended up with a nice, not gap-y, no bra-showing armhole.  Happy!













I think that I will make this top again with one of the other neckline options, but I will make it a bit longer and will raise the neckline some.  It might be a little too showy for my 9th grade Bio students!  :-)

I think I'll try view C next.

With fall weather in full swing, I will probably wear it more as a layering piece - like this:  

Perfect for layering!

So even though it was a bit frustrating, I think I learn a lot about how to deal with bound knit armholes...Has anyone out there got any other solutions to make sure that the fabric doesn't stretch and there is no gap-osis?

I hope that the weather is as beautiful where you are as it is here!  

Love,

Pam