I am very late to the party that is the Vogue 1247 top.  This pattern has been extremely popular in the sewing blogosphere, both for the skirt – which I have made twice, by the way – and for the top.

Reviews for the top were quite varied. Most stated that it definitely ran large. I decided to sew up a wearable muslin in some stash fabric. This fabric is actually “vintage” John Kaldor, possibly from the late 80s or the early 90s. It came to me as part of June’s stash. It is fairly sheer but is a crepe, and I have to say that it was absolutely wonderful to sew and surprisingly it was also wonderful to press.  Oh, if only John Kaldor were still manufacturing fabric!

Black is very difficult to photograph effectively, but I think that you can make out the seaming in this photo. I made a straight size 12, without alteration. I did add the sleeve bands, but didn’t turn them up. And rather than french seaming the top as instructed, I used the overlocker. So sue me.

The centre back seam is a straight one, so could really be cut on the fold. However, I know my shape, so I did seam it as instructed and took it in an inch or so at the top of the centre back seam to allow for my rounded upper back. This helped quite a lot with the neckline fit.

I didn’t manage to make all the seams meet at exactly the same point at the centre front, but they are still nicely symmetrical. So for a muslin, that is okay. I did have to add bra strap holders to the shoulder seams. That v-neckline is very wide. If I make this again I’ll bring the neckline in a bit, and possibly also raise it an inch or so. Otherwise, I rather like it! Yes, it’s loose, but there is enough shaping with those centre seams and the bust darts, as well as the tucks on the back and front shoulders, to stop it from being a sack.  And the gently curved hemline is flattering too.

By the way, Aussies (and Kiwis?) should know that Spotlight have just put ALL their paper patterns – including Vogue – on sale for $5 per pattern ($4.50 if you are a Spotlight member). This NEVER happens here in Australia! I have plenty of patterns in my stash, but maybe there are a couple that you need? And maybe today I happened to find myself in Spotlight, and maybe I did need a couple more after all…