Burdastyle 7/16 #114 Woven top, and Hardanger finish

I was waiting very impatiently for the July issue of the Burda magazine to appear in the shops here.  Finally mid-October it came in the shops.  There are so many patterns in this issue that I want to make, but I especially had my eye on this woven plastron top.

 I wasn't sure how the woven part would work, so didn't want to get expensive fabric in case it went horribly wrong.  I'd already picked up some striped shirting fabric from the Hospice shop for $5 with this top in mind.
Here is my version.

The pattern calls for soluble stabiliser to be used and the woven plastron strips to be sewn to this before attaching to the shirt.  The only sort I could find in Spotlight was some plasticy type stuff.  I was a bit worried that it would move too much, and I was right.  The plastron shape got horribly distorted and I had to pin and tape like crazy and then mark the plastron tape from my original traced templated onto the woven strips.  However it came together well in the end.  I found out later that there is a soluble stabiliser that looks more like interfacing.   This would have worked better, or even possibly tear away stabiliser.

The only change I made was to increase the number of buttons from 6 to 7.  The pattern markings are for size 36 and it tells you to alter the top placement according to your size and to leave the bottom button placement where it is, then evenly space the other buttons between the top and bottom.  As I made size 42, if I evenly spaced the remaining buttons there would be 3 7/8" apart which I felt was too wide.  When I increased it to 7 buttons, the space reduced to 3 1/4".

The other issue with the buttons is to do with size.  The pattern says to use small buttons, you really need to use the smallest you can find.  As the buttons are underneath the band, the buttons have to fit within the stitched seam lines,  One of my buttonholes was ever so slightly to the side, which in normal buttonholes wouldn't have mattered, however trying to put the button in is very fiddly as the edges of the button are right up against the stitched line.  If I make it again I would be tempted to make ordinary buttonholes, apart from that one wonky buttonhole, the buttons are fiddly for fastening.

I like the outcome of this top.  I plan to make the dress version in a floral poplin with plain contrasting colours for the plastron.

On to other things.  I actually finished this Hardanger piece a couple of months ago, but forgot to post.  About a year in the making.  The base fabric is a light purple, I wish I could remember what fabric I used and the count.  If I remember I'll add to this post.