Love Sewing Magazine/Simple Sew, Jersey Top

Day one of my sewing holiday was dedicated to finally getting stuck in to the jersey top pattern that came free with issue 17 of Love Sewing Magazine. It's been on my to-sew pile for ages but have struggled to find the perfect jersey.
I struck gold on my recent trip to Abakhan Manchester, where I found they had some perfect stretchy off-cuts ideal for this pattern.

This was my first garment that included raglan sleeves. Armed with the overlocker, matching up the front and back with the sleeve pieces was a breeze, it was starting to look like a top in no time.
The instructions were a little bit vague, so when it came to finishing the arm holes I took my armband and attached it like a thick binding around the edge. The result was the sleeves were a bit too long and a bit too bulky. The armbands seemed a little too short and my stripes weren't matching up very well. With intention of revisiting this, I moved on to the waistband where I understood what I'd done wrong.

Again I found the waistband was a little shorter than the opening on my garment, and it clicked that I needed to sew on the bands the same way I would elastic- stretching it out and matching up midpoints on band and garment. Raw edges together, right sides together, I overlocked the folded band to the bottom of my top then turned the seam inwards. And yay! Perfect waistband! I hasity unpicked the dodgy sleeve ends and repeated the process.

My problem came when I came to do the same with the neck band. I found the same technique just resulted in the neck bunching up off my shoulders and the band standing up too proud. I unpicked and instead, overlocked the neck and folded under. The shape of the neckline was improved, but the result looked a little homemade.
My final attempt was to make a longer band which folded over and sandwiched the neck inside and didn't have to stretch to fit. Where the neckband meets the top looks much better, but i'm still not over the moon with how the neckband sits on the shoulders.

Overall, I love the fabric and the techniques I learnt (raglan sleeves/stretchy waistband), but I'm still not happy with the neck. I was scared to try anything else incase unpicking another time would start to show. If I make another I think it might be worth trying a thinner band to stop it from poking out on my shoulders.

x

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