Happy Homemade Volume 1 Pattern S

I recently bought the English language version of Happy Homemade Volume 1 as I liked the simple design of the clothes and thought they would be easy to make. In an envelope in the back of the book are the full sized patterns (sizes 6-16) that need to be traced. I used a sew-on interfacing as my tracing 'paper' and found that it worked really well. It also had the added benefit of not needing to be pinned to the cotton fabric when cutting out the pattern as it would stay in place without pins or weights.

My first attempt was with Pattern S, a sleeveless top with a frill around the neck and lower hem.

The book version

My version

I made it a size 16 according to my measurements but found that it was quite loose especially around the neck and armhole. To fix the gape at the front armhole I sewed a small dart. I don't know how orthodox it is having a bust dart coming from the armhole, but it fixed the problem. The other change was not to include the front centre frill as I thought that it would be too fussy with the checked fabric. The neckline and armholes are finished with self fabric bias, which gives a really good finish. I made the bias 5mm wider than the instructions suggested to make it easier for me to work with.

I thought I would give the pattern another go making adjustments for a tighter neckline and armhole and to have the neck frill collar without the 'Peter Pan' influence. It was this post from Tessuti which suggested not to use seam allowances that helped make the neckline and armholes fit much better. I still included a dart at the front armhole for a better fit.

Front

Back

I was able to squeeze this out of 1 metre of 150cm wide fabric although there was not enough to make self fabric bias binding, but white purchased bias binding did the trick. I bought this lovely cotton from Preview as a 1 metre piece for $10.