As soon as I saw this top from Burda 9/12 (view 130A), I knew I wanted to sew it up. It’s edgy, casual, and nothing like I have in my wardrobe. I found a fun print from Joann’s – not only did it feel good, but it had excelled drape and stretch\recovery and set to work. My first obstacle for this top was the side ruching on the side. The instructions have you stitching a length of elastic to each seam allowance (next to the seam). I began doing this to one side of the top and determined that this was just going to be too bulky look at that edge if I did this to both sides so I took a different route: Stitch the side seam, then add the length of elastic. This was also a disaster because the length of elastic became over stretched (in my opinion) and just didn’t seem to gather enough of the material for my taste. So, I took a third approach: Gather the material on both edges prior to sewing (making the finished gathered area the same length as what the elastic would be), then sew the seam together. While this looked better, I determined that there is very little difference in appearance between the gathered side seam and the ‘regular’ – part is that it gets ‘lost’ in the print of the fabric and the other is that there just isn’t much gathering to make a difference anyway. My other issue is the length. I understand this is style is designed to be a bit longer but seriously Burda, this is a dress.

Now I’m debating what to do with this. Not only does it need to be shortened, but the sides of this top are a bit on the loose side as well and the sleeves will need to be altered because they too are supposed to have ruching and I just can’t see that it will make any difference in they way that they will look on the finished design. Overall, I’m just disappointed, this top just did not turn out how I wanted.