This was the last tester version of the Rayann’s Retro top.  The length was pretty close to the original one I did, so you can see she shortened it up.  I made it in an 8 width and 10 length.

The main fabric I used for this top was purchased way back when I was 20.  At the time I was dating someone whom I had known through rodeo for many years.  He was a big guy and he couldn’t find button-down rodeo shirts that fit his long arms.  I bought some fabric and got one shirt made for him when he came to visit, as he lived a few hours away.  He was super impressed that I made him a shirt!  He died in a car accident shortly afterwards, so I didn’t get this fabric sewed up as I intended.  He was a firefighter and EMT, who had worked a double shift (48 hrs).  He was too tired to be on the road.

I have been holding onto it for awhile, and had intended to sew it up eventually.  It brought back some sad memories when I was sewing it up, though.

So…enough of the sad stuff.

Anya wanted this horse stencil, so I took out my western wovens and got to work.  I really liked how this turned out and she seemed to like it, as well!

There is a little gather at the top of the sleeve, but I gathered it a bit too much so I had to really pull the sleeve to get it to fit.  You can tell I pulled a bit too much and have a bit of a pucker on the back.

I tried to fully enclose the top, but the shoulder seams are just too narrow to get it to work.

She’s wearing the Emilya’s I made her earlier.  You can tell there is a bit of room in the bum, but these I did make with a little too much seam allowance.

My overall impression of this pattern is that it fits pretty well.  I think the top would be best with fabric that lays down better that quilting cotton wovens.  I really liked how the velvet top laid down, but this puffs out a bit. For the larger sizes she has you cut the skirt wider than just one width of the fabric, so it uses up a bit of fabric.  If I were to make this again, I would just make it one width of the quilting cotton, (so 40″ or so wide instead of the 48″ wide.  It seems to waste fabric with having to cut it wider than one width of the quilting cotton and they don’t really need a lot of gathers when they are older.

Check the measurements to make sure you make the right width.  It can get hard to get over the head if they don’t fit the measurements.

And yes, it was cold outside when we took these pictures.  I didn’t think it was that bad until the wind hit you.  We got the pictures taken in the backyard in about 2 minutes, so she didn’t get tortured for too long. 😉