Agnes with a cherry on top

We're jumping back in time slightly in this post to the first sewing project I finished this year, before either my starry Emery or my lovely circle skirt dress.

I initially wasn't going to write a post about this top because it's just a simple t-shirt and plenty of other bloggers have already reviewed this pattern, but I've been wearing it a fair bit so I decided it deserved some recognition.

This is my first version of the Tilly & the Buttons Agnes top. I say my first version, because I strongly suspect it won't be my last - let's face it, there's always a need for basic t-shirts.

For this one I chose to use the long sleeves (I was making it in January after all!), and leave the sleeves plain but add in the ruched neckline. The ruching is lost slightly in the print of the fabric, but it gives the neckline a slightly more V/sweetheart shape instead of the round one of the plain version, so it does add a little something even if it's not immediately visible.

The top was speedy and easy to sew, and as always Tilly's instructions are very thorough. I only skimmed through them, but I imagine they'd hold your hand nicely if you're new to sewing with knits. The only slight difficulty I had was when it came to the ruching - I snapped two pieces of clear elastic trying to get it to stretch as much as the pattern suggests, so ended up stretching it slightly less and it seems to have worked out fine.

I'm pleased with the fit. Agnes is more fitted than other t-shirt sewing patterns (in case you missed it, Amy at The Splendid Stitch wrote an interesting blog post comparing a few popular t-shirt patterns), and I prefer my t-shirts fitted but not overly skin-tight so I decided to go one size up. This gave me pretty much zero ease instead of negative ease, and it fits just right for my liking.

The fabric is a cute cherry print cotton & spandex jersey that I picked up in the sale from Ditto Fabrics. It's a really nice quality, was great to sew and is lovely to wear. They don't seem to have this colour in stock anymore, but they do have it in green if you need some cherries in your life!

So there we go! It's a simple project, but a successful one. Incidentally, I'm wearing it with another unblogged basic - a ponte roma Veronika skirt. Neither of them are necessarily particularly exciting on face value, but they've been getting a lot of wear and definitely fall into the secret pyjama category of being super comfy, yet totally presentable. While I'm never going to let go of my love for pretty dresses, this probably does show that I should give the basic patterns some more attention too. What are your favourite unsung hero basic patterns?