Silk Mesh Knit

I bought a colourful silk mesh knit from EmmaOneSock on a whim, and wasn't quite sure what to do with it. It fitted in with the other fabrics I was working with and at first I was thinking of a cardigan style, then I saw this top in in Oilily catalogue, and rather liked it.


Now, I think I'm the only person left in Sewing Land that has not sewn a surplice top. I was going to alter my own pattern, but found Vogue 2987 on sale....a lined, sleeveless wrap top with gathers at the right side, designed for two-way stretch sheer knits. I thought it was my lucky day.
I made up a muslin in a red stretch fabric, shown in the photos below. (It is not lined, being a muslin). I didn't like it....my suspicions that surplice tops were not for the flat-chested held true, even with a few modifications to minimise gaping.

So then I dug out an Ottobre pattern for a cross-over top that I had used in the past. The cross-over is above the bust-line, so gaping is not an issue. I used this for the striped top shown below.




I modified the Ottobre pattern by omitting the sleeves and cutting both the front pieces the same length, because the fabric was quite sheer. I draped one side, to distract from horizontal lines around my middle.

I could not find a matching fabric to bind the edge. The striped fabric was too flimsy to use directly as a binding, so I folded it over and strtched it onto clear elastic to make a ruffled, elastic binding. This was difficult to sew, so I stabilised my sewing with strips of plastic bags which tore off easily after the binding was made. This is shown in the photo below.


Here is my original review of the Ottobre pattern.