Sahara Fabrics and Filles a Maman Extraordinary Girl (Woman)

I was given the opportunity to sew a strike off for a group I have not bought from before - Sahara Fabrics. I was sent "Triangles" from their Spring Round - which is their 4th round. The Spring Round is Open from January 16 - 31st. Sahara prints on a 12 oz 95/5 cotton/spandex jersey knit. The fabric was nice and soft an did have 1" of shrinkage from the 1 yard I was sent when washed on hot and dried on hot. Sahara's preorder pricing is $17/yard - this is an excellent price for custom printed fabric. They also have retail from past rounds available on their website for $19/yard.

For my strike off, I decided to use a pattern I recently won from Filles a Maman (FAM). FAM and some other non-US based pattern makers had a Boxing Day (day after Christmas) contest on their Facebook pages. You had to visit their website then comment on a post which pattern you liked best of theirs. I won a package of the pattern of my choice from each of the participants. I was most excited about the FAM pattern I was getting - the Extraordinary Girl - Women's version.

I took my measurements and printed out the size Large.

Here are all my pieces cut out.

Here is a photo of the triangles print. It's really pretty with so many colors. It could go with just about anything. I decided to pair it with a teal color.

First I pinned the upper front of the top to the lower part.

I then serged them together.

Then I topsticthed the seam with my coverstitch.

Then I ironed the neck bands for the front and back pieces folded in half, wrong sides together.

I then serged the band onto the front neckline. I then did the same for the back piece.

I then ironed the seams down.

Then I topstitched the seam using my coverstitch.

I then marked the front and back pieces for the overlap. I pinned it in place and basted the pieces together.

I then added the sleeves.

I then pinned the sides together and serged the seams.

Finished sides. My seams at the underarm are off just a little bit.

I then added a cuff to the sleeves and hemmed the bottom.

I put the shirt on and it was too big across the shoulders and bust for me. I've tried to mask the sizing problem in my photos below. It makes me sad that it didn't fit - it's so pretty! This will be item #8 that I give away this year. This top will be in the Weekly Auction for Gwen Edwards:Cancer Warrior the weekend in the near future.