Burda’s having a good streak lately and the October 2015 issue was a case in point. It normally takes me months to get around to sewing up patterns that catch my eye, but Burda 109-10-2015 was traced, cut and completed within a few weeks of the issue arriving. This is a loose-fitting top pattern designed for heavy-weight knitted fabrics. It has a big collar and a shaped hem. Unusually for a knit pattern the body is cut on the bias, so it’s great for showing off fabrics with a stripe. My fabric is striped silver and black but the pitch is so fine it doesn’t show up in the photos.

This is a very quick pattern to sew. As it’s for knits you wouldn’t even need to bother finishing the seams if you didn’t want to, although I did for this one because the overlocker happened to be threaded in black. The only difficult part is inserting the zip. Not only are you inserting an invisible zip on a heavy and stretchy fabric, it’s positioned in a curved seam. Don’t skip the interfacing around the zip. Burda recommends Vilene bias tape; I went for strips of Vilene F220 because that was what was to hand but it was probably a little on the heavy side. You could omit the zip entirely of course, but with it in it’s possible to wear the collar in different ways. Here it is zipped up and folded over.

On whole I prefer the collar unzipped. The back hangs a bit strangely when the collar is zipped up and folded over, and my fabric’s a bit too floppy to look good with the collar zipped and unfolded. It’s not just the way I’m standing in the picture either; all of the pictures we took of the back had strange wrinkles with the collar folded over.

Unzipping it allows the back to hang much more naturally.

I found the sleeves on this one came out strangely short. They’re definitely bracelet length on me, whereas on Burda’s model photos they come well over the hands. On my version they align nicely with the shaped hem which Burda’s don’t either. I am pretty sure I forgot to add any extra length or hem allowances when I traced the sleeve piece and so the shortness is my fault not the pattern’s. Next time I’d definitely make the sleeves longer.

This top is proving a firm favourite. I think it’s a pattern that will only work with exactly the right fabric, so I doubt I’ll be making it again soon, but I’m enjoyig the one I’ve got.

Notes:

• 1.8(ish) metres of mystery silver and black knit fabric
• Size 90 universal needle
• 9″ invisible zip. 8″ would have been better.
• Vilene F220 interfacing around the zip. No other interfacing used.
• Added 2″ to body, forgot to add any length or hem allowance to sleeves