Renfrew Top

Surprise, I actually finished something!  I was hoping to get better photos of my Renfrew top, but these will have to do.  I've already worn it twice since completion last Saturday.  I really need to make half a dozen variations; I love it.

The first time I wore it out, mere hours after the last stitch was stitched, was to go swing dancing in Tours last Saturday:

Here I am in my kitchen before leaving.  As you can see, I'm very excited to be going out!

And the second time I wore it was yesterday, to a day-trip to Paris.  I wore it with a sweater because it was cold and windy!  But I took off the sweater for the purposes of the photo.  And I had a terrible look on my face because of the cold and the wind, so I cropped out my face. :P

I think perhaps I could've gone down a size because there's some wrinkling along the bust and in back.  Plus there quite a bit of fabric pooling at the lower back.  But I was worried about it being too small.  I don't like things super clingy and the fabric is very drapey.

Am I correctly interpreting the wrinkles?  Does that mean there's too much fabric there??  But the fit in the shoulders is spot-on.  Can one do an SBA in jersey and is it worth the effort?

The fabric is a bamboo stretch jersey from Ray-Stitch and it was challenging to cut out.  The fabric did not want to settle down straight when I laid it out for cutting.

But the sewing part went pretty smoothly.  I did have to re-do the cowl because I didn't check for errata beforehand and so I followed the instructions to the letter even though I thought it seemed odd.  I figured there was going to be some cool trick at the end, but no, the instructions were just the opposite of what they were supposed to be for that step. 

I sewed it entirely on my mediocre Singer sewing machine.  I finished the seams w/ a zig-zag stitch.  Seems okay so far.  My machine struggled occasionally, but no more so than with any other project.

I bought other jersey fabric from Ray-Stitch at the same time as this blue fabric, but it's a thicker, stabler jersey.

I think it doesn't want to be a Renfrew though.  I think it wants to be a dress.  Of course I didn't buy enough yardage for a dress, so I'm waiting for the coffers to be replenished in March before I buy the rest of the needed fabric. 

I think I'm a knit-convert.  No ironing: yay!!