Another wearable muslin for you – but not to be worn by me!  This has already been passed on to my friend Kathryn – and it looks great on her! But you’ll have to make do with photos of it on me.

Kathryn wondered aloud “how would the Skye top work in pleather?” And that was all that it took for me to pull some pleather out of stash and get sewing. I knew when I started that this would definitely not be a great colour on me. But the pleather was only $2 per metre (yes, from Darn Cheap Fabrics) and I’d bought it to play with anyway! I cut the front and back pieces from pleather, and the neckline and hem facing pieces from blue viscose. I omitted interfacing completely, as I didn’t want it show through the perforations in the pleather.

As you can see there is no way to hide with pleather and this top could definitely have done with a short back waist alteration. There is a centre back seam that makes it easy to do, so I’ll remember that for the future. Those folds at the back waistline make me cringe!

I chose to do all the stitching with a zig zag in blue, to bring a little more colour into the top and tie it in to the facings. I like the curve of the front and back hems. The pleather was challenging to press and surprisingly it creases quite a lot, but with an organza press cloth I was able to tame it into submission. The bust darts are too high on me – I need to remember to drop them next time I use the pattern. I sewed size 12 again (forgetting that winter coat; I really need to size up when I sew during winter).

The back button is also blue. As it turns out I can easily get this on and off without undoing the button. I sewed a simple fabric tube from the viscose for the button loop.

The illustration and description from the Style Arc website is as follows:

SKYE TOP: This wonderful top has been designed to skim the body, the extended shoulder line and rounded hemline makes it a perfect top to wear with your jeans and skirts, it will be the go to top in your wardrobe

FABRIC SUGGESTION: Scuba, Ponte, Stable Knit, Silk or Linen

It’s rather fun to try things in an alternative fabric and just see what happens, especially when the fabric has been inexpensive.  And now I know what fitting changes to make the next time I sew this!