Herman Sorbetto

I finally jumped on the bandwagon and downloaded Colletes sorbetto top pattern.

Its FREE, here.

I've been looking for a simple top that I can make into lots of different things, and this is just the thing.

Nice and simple, with the pleat down the front to add some interest, and a bust dart to add some shape.

Herman is our "pet" hippo.  

He sits on our sofa in the TV room and doubles as a cushion :)

The fabric is from IKEA- left over from cushions in my sewing room (which is green and white and awesome). This fabric is rubbish for this kind of top... though the more I think about, I'm not sure its ever been washed, so maybe it has a stiffening agent in it. We'll see what happens on wash day!

I do like the colours though. I think the white tones down the green. I'm glad I made the sleeves and binding from plain white- an all lime hippo top might have been too much!

To counter the stiffness of the material, I added 5 rows of shiring on the back, to pull it in a bit. 

I just eyeballed them in. I think next time I will add an extra inch or so to the length, as the shiring makes it feel like it is riding up. 

I added sleeves as an after thought, using the pattern at "Sew, incidentally..." I don't really do sleeves so far, so it was good practice. They went in really easily, thankfully. I didn't finish the edge on them before I fitted them, so decided to shir around hemline because it was easier that adding a cuff (should probably have done that before fitting them in!) and didn't leave the sleeve gaping.

I bought a gadget to fold bias tape yesterday, so decided to use that to make the bias binding for the neck line. It took a couple of attempts to get it right (I used the tube method, and initially drew my lines the wrong way across the grain, then sewed it up so it would have made hoops not a spiral. I knew I shouldn't have got out of bed this morning!) but I think it will be a good technique to have, and good for using up off cuts of fabric that are too small to be much use and too big to throw away. I suppose other people use them for quilts, but I don't have that kind of patience!

Have you made a sorbetto? 

Let me know. I have some ideas of what else I want to do with this pattern, but more inspiration is always welcome!