Black & White Peplum Top - Version 2.0!

Like yesterday's post, this is another project that I squirreled away for a while now.  I actually completed it right after the peplum skirt, partially because I felt like I needed to get the first challenge in order and partially because the first version was taunting me!

Here's my second crack at the black & white challenge!  While I don't love love it, I think it would be a perfectly cute top under a cropped cardigan during the fall months.

If you want to read about the pattern and fabric, here is the full post on the original.  Last time, I just snapped a low quality picture on my phone of the first top just before my flight to Europe.  This time, I included a close-up of the fabric below!

By the way, I bought for (you guessed it) less than $1 per yard.  The invisible zipper was probably around 20 cents, so this top is less than $2 thanks to my swap meet skills.  :)

See, it's just a little bit of a fuzzy knit, so not the best choice for summer.  Fall's just around the corner though!

As you may remember, these were the problems that I encountered with the first, which are all fixed!

1. Strange sleeve length.
2. Weird collar, which resembled a bow tie (in a bad way).
3. Too high peplum.

Cute side view, but I definitely should have ironed it a little before the photos.  I forgot yet again!

The fixes that I employed were the following:

1. Cut down the sleeves to make a traditional tank length.  This was a little awkward because it was designed as almost a raglan sleeve, but I did my best and it looks okay!
2. Convert the high neck and collar into a more flattering scoopneck, which involved cutting the whole thing off.  Somewhere in my scrap stash, there is a floppy collar...
3. I didn't have to do a thing!  Once I removed the restrictive neck, the fabric seemed to settle to a more flattering length.  Either that or somehow I got shorter?

Here's a back view, which looks horrendous on Lily but better on me.  I didn't pull the top down evenly, leading to a weird humped left shoulder.  Oops!

Overall, definitely a big improvement because the other version just made me feel like a stuffed sausage.  It may come out of the closet sometime, but it hasn't yet due to the warm weather.

I do love the silhouette and I like the paneling concept even if it is a bit strange due to my pattern alterations.  It's almost a like I had a warm up for the refashioning challenge!

On a side note, the neckline was a big problem for me because I tried to use a French curve without any sort of direction.  I asked Cheryl at Sew Can Do today and she gave me a few sources that I'm going to read through pretty soon.

Any hints for a French curve beginner out there?