Tenth Anniversary Top

The Hubs and I celebrated our tenth anniversary last week.  It was fabulous.  We counted April's trip to Disneyland with the kids as our big anniversary activity.  We went there for our honeymoon so it felt like full circle to go there as a whole family ten years later.  On our actual anniversary all I really wanted to do was have a fancy dinner.  To me, that means yummy food and more than just an entree.  I was prepared to pay for a starter, entree, and dessert and call that good, rather than pony up for the cost of several courses.  The restaurant we went to had a tasting menu (woohoo!) so we went with that and ended up getting five course and paying less for that than we would have for the three I was going to settle for.  It was perfect.  And delectible.  The picture below shows the third course, fish and cipolline with two heavenly sauces.  We also had a chilled soup (amazing!), arugula salad, parmesan crusted chicken, and a dessert of creme brulee with mixed berries.  If you ever go to a restaurant with a tasting menu option, I highly recommend it.

I decided I need something to wear to dinner.  Rather than wear my Electric Flamingo dress, I opted to go with my new black maxi dress ($12 from Old Navy, hooray!) with a crossover half shirt.  That decision was made by the fact that I already had the pattern and had planned to make several tops in different colors to accessorize the dress.

The requirement for the fabric was that I had to have it and matching thread in my stash so I wouldn't need to go to the store.  I found the leftovers of some neon pink swimsuit knit and just barely eked out enough for the top.  The pattern is Simplicity 1468, view A (shown above).  I shortened the top by about 3.5 inches because I wanted it to end at my natural waist and I am freakishly short-waisted.  After shortening it I added a 1.5 inch band to the bottom for a more finished look.  The sleeve length is view C.  I had to narrow the shoulders (nothing new there) for proper fit.  Finally, I raised the neckline to see if I could make it modest enough to want to wear without a shirt underneath, in case I decide to make a full length top out of it.  I think that covers all the pattern changes.

The top would have been a quick and easy sew had it not been for the fabric I used.  The double needle seemed to get a thrill from skipping stitches.  If I sew this pattern again I think I'll gather the front ends before inserting them into the side seams.  That way the crossover lays on my bust would be more flattering if it went under instead of over.  I doubt I'll make the full length shirt, so the height on the neckline won't present a problem.

Conclusion: the pattern is really easy to sew and I would recommend it  I have not yet taken any further pictures of me wearing the top, so you'll have to wait for better views of the finished product.