Upcycled Victory Patterns Ava wearable muslin AKA the 'never say never' top

What a convoluted title!!

I recently had a special event on the horizon - a birthday party for a lovely friend - and couldn't let the opportunity for a bit more sewing slip by ;-) I was planning on fixing up my botched Belladone dress, but when I tried it on again I just wasn't feeling the love... then I stumbled upon Victory Patterns Satsuki, hmm, could work in the lovely silk gifted to me by a friend, BUT then I thought about using the silk on the Ava pattern and was smitten. I asked the opinion of the Mr and big girl between the two patterns and they both voted for Ava. Done!

The gifted silk was so precious that I knew I had to make a muslin. I'm usually not patient enough to do this but I really didn't want to stuff up the silk (I'll show you in the next post) and thought I could repurpose the skirt I bought recently into a nice wearable muslin.



The skirt turned out to be just enough fabric for the top, which takes quite a lot of fabric even though it looks quite simple - the side panels are cut on the bias which adds to the quantity required. You can't see from the pic, but the skirt is lined in a solid green voile, which I used for the bodice, sleeves and also the side panels - I would have liked to use the poppies print for this but ran out of it.

The Ava pattern comes as a downloadable pdf. I like these for the instant gratification of getting it straight away and being able to start immediately rather than going to the shop. I really loved using this pattern, and found the instructions all very good, though I did get stuck on how to get the V of the sweetheart neckline to sit flat. The instructions said to snip the V and pivot the needle to change direction but I still couldn't get it flat so I'm just going to live with it. I'm sure some extra practice and patience would do the trick.



I am glad afterall that I made a muslin, because I did adjust a couple of things: I'd made the right size according to the pattern but it was gaping a bit under the arms so I just took the side seams of the bodice in about a centimetre. Also in the silk version I extended the bodice by about 10cm as firstly I have a long body, but also I don't think a 'baby doll' style is particularly flattering on me and with the high waistline that's what its ended up looking like. I think the pattern is intended to sit just above the natural waistline but this was way too high for me. Having said that, it will not stop me wearing this as I love it overall :-)

And the reason it's a 'never say never' top is that I always thought a sweetheart neckline and peplum were definitely not me, but somehow in this pattern I love them. I love the swishiness and it just sits beautifully, which I think is down to it being a really well designed pattern.

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In other sewing news: I saw for the first time last night the Amelia dress pattern from Green Bee. Do you know of it? I am seriously considering buying it after seeing this lovely version. Oh, the temptation!!!
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Next post I'll show you the silk Ava. Have a lovely weekend!