The Lisette Top 'n my TNT pants

These pieces were the result of a dream. Honestly! Last Thursday I'd been sewing for three days straight and I was moving very slowly that morning. My daughter came by to check on me and after she left to run an errand, I went and took a nap.

I woke up with this look burning into my brain because the thought of it was just so enticing. I don't usually sew pants in spring/summer but a pair of black pants is a good thing - no matter the season. This is my third Lisette top. I am posting these out of order because I love this pattern. Can I say that again - Love.this.pattern! I've been looking for a great top and this one fits the bill for me!

Construction ~
To get the eyelet design evenly at the hemline on all of the pieces, I laid them on the border lining up the marked hemline on the pattern pieces.

I sewed them from the hemline up to the underarm sleeve to insure that the hemline matched up. Any extra pieces (seam overlap) were cut off to clean finish the seam.

On the other versions of this top, I didn't like how the pattern suggested finishing the neckline. For the fruit version, I added binding per the pattern suggestion but I kept thinking that a lined version would be awesome. 

I made a back lining/yoke pattern piece for this version and cut it & the front yoke from a black cotton batiste. I sewed this to the neckline, flipped it in, edgestitched it, and stitched the front facing in the ditch. The armhole facing was basted at both sides and the center back was handstitched to the zipper tape.

Originally I also cut the sleeves and the front yoke on the border. I assembled everything and ended up with this hot mess.

Not exactly what I'd seen in my dream. I was also having some challenges with the pants. I'd slimmed the front and back pattern pieces down by an inch on each side. Cut the pattern pieces on the cross wise grain with the stretch running around my body...but the pants were also perplexing me. I still need to make another alteration to the body of the pants. Remove some length from the front and add some to the back. 

At this point I'd been sewing for 11 hours and was disgusted...totally and utterly disgusted. I posted this pic to Instagram turned everything off and went to bed.

The next morning I recut the sleeves from leftover solid black fabric and ripped the embroidered ones out of the top. I'm so thrilled that I bought so much of this fabric because the excess allowed me to recut the sleeves and the yoke.

I jimmed the pants - started the elastic about an inch lower on the front and right at the back and finished the pants. I will need to make more adjustments to the pants pattern but the outfit was finished.

Here are a few pics of the finished outfit ~

I have included a back shot to show you that I've got the pants to fit my backside which is new for me...*sigh* but I have quite a few wrinkles down the legs. Some is fabric related and some are fitting challenges that I need to address.

I could have omitted this picture but since my sewing this year is all about fitting my new body, I want to be transparent about how I'm working through my challenges.

Otherwise, the final outfit looks like how I dreamt it and I'm going to wear it. I was halfway through sewing this top when I realized that I made a similar one back in 2007...so I guess I really like this style! 

The second version of the Lisette Top is up next...

...as always more later!