I had to scroll a long way back through the photos on my camera to figure out when I sewed this top.  It was photographed at the beginning of November, and I know that it sat in the wardrobe for a while before I got around to taking photos of it!  So at least six months ago.

I first sewed the Style Arc Courtney top in January 2020 in a woven fabric. The pandemic was really just beginning then; those days feel like a lifetime ago. Anyway, this time around I sewed it in a knit fabric, which is fairly stable.

A generous friend gave me this fabric; I have a feeling that it could be vintage. I really like the bold colours and the stylised flowers. It appears to be a pique knit, with plenty of texture knitted into it.

The Courtney top pattern has plenty of seams, which both add interest and very subtle shaping. There is the added benefit that the number of pattern pieces enables efficient fabric utilisation – I was able to tetris this top out of a limited length of fabric.  You could also have lots of fun highlighting the seam lines; I chose to topstitch along many of them, but you could use piping or other decorative trim.  You could also use more than one fabric, or play with directional prints.  It’s a great pattern.

For reference, I sewed size 12 without alterations. This is my usual Style Arc top/dress size – I find them to be very consistent (when you take design ease into account). Construction was shared between the overlocker and the sewing machine.