George and Ginger 40k Sway - Pattern Review

Final product - 40k Sway

George and Ginger Patterns gave the 40k Sway pattern away to celebrate having 40,000 members in their Facebook group. Look at how cute that neckline is? Of course I had to make this super cute freebie.

As an extra bonus, there are directions for making a functional placket opening or faux opening. I opted for the faux placket because it's marginally easier and I have no reason that I need the opening to work but if you needed access to a port or to breastfeed, this top design would be great!

I measure a size L12 (full bust 38") but I was at the top of the size range and worried it wouldn't fit in my arms so I decided to go up to an L14 and graded out to an XL16 hip. I checked my fabric stretch before sewing it as I was using a French Terry which is not always very stretchy. My fabric had 50% horizontal stretch and minimal vertical stretch (maybe 10%); the pattern says it needs 50% 2-way stretch so I thought I would be fine.

Um.....no....It was way too tight. I could put it on but was barely able to move my arms. I felt like a sausage. My fabric was pink so that probably didn't help the visual. 😒

Based on how tight my original version was, I decided to go up two full sizes (1X18 bust) for version 2 and it's basically perfect! I also did a full bicep adjustment of approximately 1 inch so I 'd have plenty of room in the arms.

Piece with bicep adjustment added

I'm not sure what kind of fabric this, it was a bundle from Olga's closet, but I think it's a brushed sweater knit. It has 50%+ horizontal stretch and about 25-30% vertical stretch. 

I finished my faux placket with purple KAM snaps to add a little color to the cream colored top. The pattern directions say to space the snaps/buttons evenly but don't give a measurement, I placed mine 2.25" apart.

I did coverstitch my neckband which means I couldn't tack the crossover to the seam allowance as the pattern directions specified (because my seam allowance is stitched down by my coverstitch), instead I topstitched it down in the ditch with matching thread.

Overall a great free pattern and great basic top after I fine tuned my size.

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