New Look 6483 & The Great Big Pattern Swap

A little while ago Alice @the.polka.dot.palace and Emma @thezipperfoot announced The Great Big Pattern Swap on Instagram. The concept was simple - offer some patterns that you're willing to swap, check out other people's patterns to find something that appeals to you and then sew it up. I knew I had some patterns languishing in my stash that would be better off with someone else, so I jumped on the bandwagon. One of the patterns I received in return (from Gillian - thank you again!) was New Look 6483, which I used to make both of today's tops.

One of the reasons that New Look 6483 appealed to me among all the pictures of patterns being offered for swaps on Instagram was that it's a simple top, but has an interesting variety of necklines. It also doesn't use too much fabric, so I thought that it could be a good candidate for using some reasonably sized pieces of Liberty tana lawn that I have left over from other projects.

While those pieces of tana lawn are leftovers so sort of freebies, I didn't want them to go to waste on an untested pattern, so I bought some cheap and cheerful strawberry print cotton lawn from The Textile Centre to make a hopefully-wearable toile.

Thankfully the toile turned out pretty well. I made view E - a vest top with a boat (I think?) neck. I cut a 14 at the bust, blending out to a 16 at the waist. In both cases, that's a size below recommended for my body measurements, but I was fairly confident that it was the size I'd want based on the finished garment measurements.

The fit is fine, and my only real problem with the top is that the lawn is on the sheer side so you can see the seam allowances at the neckline and armholes. It's not too noticeable in the photos, but you can see it in real life. I don't think it'll stop me wearing the top on casual days though!

As I was happy with the fit of my strawberry top, I felt ready to cut into some Liberty loveliness - in this case in the Suzy Elizabeth print, which is left over from the Doris dress I made last year. This is possibly my favourite fabric print ever, although it would be a tough call on whether I prefer this pink or the navy colourway (which I used here and here).

While I didn't make any changes in terms of fit, I did change the construction slightly from what is recommended in the instructions. The sleeveless tops in New Look 6483 have an all-in-one facing, which gives a nice clean finish. However, the instructions end up with you having to slipstitch the shoulder seams of the facing closed. Having just made the Raine dress, which also has an all-in-one facing, I knew that I could sew all of the seams by machine. While some of the steps are a little fiddly, I think that it's easier to get a really neat finish that way.

Not sure what the weird rippling in the back is in this photo - it's not there in real life!

The back of the top has a centre back opening, secured with the thread loop (or loop of thin elastic stitched into the facing in my case!) and button. Part of me was tempted to omit that and just sew the centre back seam closed (I can get it over my head without undoing the button), but in the end I decided to keep the opening because it's quite a pretty detail.

I'm definitely planning to make some more of these tops in future - I need to try out some of the other necklines for a start. I'd also like to try the sleeved version, and I'm tempted to try adopting the 'sweetheart' neckline from the Raine dress for the top as well.

I'm really glad I took part in The Great Big Pattern Swap. Four of my sadly neglected patterns have gone to good new homes - two in the UK, one in Sweden and one in Brazil - and I've found a great new-to-me top pattern and have two dress patterns that I'll hopefully be able to try out soon. Yet another example of what a wonderful place the online sewing community truly is, don't you think?