Jalie 2788 - Twist top

I love the fit of this top. I’ve made it before with short, puff sleeves for summer. So, other than the sleeves, I had this all traced off and ready to go. From absolute start (pulling the fabric out of a box) to finish, this took less than four hours.

I did change the back a bit. The pattern piece for the back is scooped out at the neck and has two ties. I wasn’t so sure about that, so I just raised the back neckline to a height I thought looked reasonable.

The fabric is really stretchy and rather slippery. I was pretty frustrated with it at a couple of points in the process. The neckline was troublesome. But, the 4-way stretch makes it comfortable to wear. However, it won’t be warm. I think I’ll probably wear this with a sweater over it. Covering up a few of the dots might not be so bad.

The twist on the front of the top looks more complicated than it is. The picture above is what it looks like before assembly. The short part on the upper right is the shoulder seam, the neckline and CF seam come down the right side. The “J” on the left is where the twist happens. You line up the two ends of the “J” and sew the edges together up to ¾” from the fold that results. The other front piece gets pulled through this hole and then is sewn the same way. Then the CF seam is sewn from the twist to the bottom. Voila!

The pattern includes the piece for the modesty panel. I’ve “drafted” these for other tops, but it is nice to be able to just trace it off. The V-neck is quite low otherwise, but it does stay close to the body. I stabilized the neckline with clear elastic.

If you haven’t tried a Jalie pattern before, I think you should. They come in an incredible range of sizes – 27 for this one! I make tops for my four-year-old daughter and myself from the same pattern. The pieces are printed on durable white paper and need to be traced before using. I usually mark the line for the size I am using with a marker or highlighter so that I can follow it easier when tracing onto the pattern tissue.

Oh, and Jalie comes from Canada. Pretty nice, eh?

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