Beyond Basic White Knit Top

I have a lot of knit pattern tops.  I like knit tops. I almost never have fitting issues with knit tops!!  But I struggled with determining which pattern to use.  If you've been following my posts, you know that I'm trying to use patterns I own (ahem, might have broken this rule yesterday!) but I also don't want to muslin every one of the nine pieces I'm planning to make. So I decided to use the Hot Patterns Fast & Fabulous La Strada T-shirt.  I've made this shirt a year ago, and putting the pattern together was such a PITA, even though the top turned out really cute. I've gotten very spoiled with trimless patterns, or at the very least, marks to line up the pages when I'm assembling them, that not having them definitely added unwanted time.  Going forward, I'll just send all HP patterns to PDF plotter so I can trace off the size I want. 

Just as a reminder, this is the top in question:

Super cute right?! The shaping at the shoulders really adds a nice detail to what would otherwise be another plain t-shirt.  And while the capsule didn't call for a "t-shirt" specifically, I definitely feel this is dressier.  

When I picked up fabric for my muslins at Walmart, there was a mystery roll of an off-white knit for $2. I don't know if someone returned it, took the label off, or what, but it was 2 yards for $2 so I brought it home. Since I had such good luck with the Breckenridge Henley, I had high hopes for this one too. And it didn't disappoint!

Why yes, my top is the same color as my sewing cabinet in the background...

This top is SO flattering on. The ruched collar at the back of the neck gives really nice shaping to the collar (do you consider this to have a collar?!) The gathers are very flattering on my bust line and the v-neck works well. I did have to unpick the v at first as I had sewed it wonky and there were puckers, but a quick unpick, and it was fixed. The fabric is a little thin, but with a nude colored bra there's nothing to see, and it stays light and comfy. Since I already had the pattern cut out, this top really was fast & fabulous!! And I feel it accurately represents for the "beyond basic" category.  

I need to finish the white denim skirt, but I messed up the waistband somehow and I keep setting it aside to work on other things. So I'm not sure what's next on the sewing table.  Stay tuned!