Italian Brocade Holiday Top - Simplicity 2305

Every year it happens, you blink and the holidays are upon us. It is the week of Thanksgiving and starting on Black Friday the official holiday season begins. I purchased this Italian "Sequin" Teal and Silver Brocade in September with plans for a holiday top.
 

I fell in love with the photograph and then with description, "If you love sequin fabric but shudder at the thought of sewing with it, then this is the brocade for you. From Italy, this poly fabric features a sequin design of teal and metallic gunmetal. It's lightweight with a crisp drape, and would sew up perfectly as dresses, tops, jackets and so many other items. We adore this trompe l'oeuil fabric! " Another plus, it is wide, 59" wide. I have always wanted a fancy holiday top with shimmer, glimmer and glitz, well this Holiday 2013 season, I have just that,

  In my mind, I had the idea of a glamorous sleeveless top, with possibly a slit in the center back, then reality sunk in. It is usually freezing in the Midwest in December, add to this our annual work party is in a very cold and drafty club. I decided sleeves were in order for my holiday top. I selected Simplicity 2305 for my top. Yes, this is a dress pattern but the features were just what I wanted. Dramatic sleeves, a shirttail hem and a scoop neck. all parts of this pattern.

  My first step was to eliminate the waistband from this dress, which was just not using that piece! I then overlapped the bodice and the skirt, adding some width to the skirt through the hips, it is very straight. I also, raised the neckline 1", remembering just before cutting the facing to do the same adjustment. On my muslin, I included the sleeve cuffs, sometimes those are tight on my biceps, must be too much lifting of the little guy. The brocade tends to fray, so I serged all the raw edges before construction. Also, serging the hem and then turning it under twice for a nice clean finish.
 
 The waistline was shaped for a more fitted look, maintaining a bit of a oversized look to balance my new ponte pants.

    I did use facings on the top, something I don't do very often but with this top I wanted a nice, clean, smooth finish. I used a clean finish facing technique . Fusible interfacing is stitched to the outer edge of the facing, lining up the wrong side of the interfacing (non-fusible) to the right side of the facing. Stitch a narrow 1/4" seam, turn right side out, working that seam with your fingers to get a smooth edge. All the interfacing should be hidden and then press the interfacing in place. From the right side of the facing, you shouldn't see any interfacing and you have a very clean finish on your facings.   Just check out the neckline and the close photograph of this beautiful fabric, how real do those sequins look?

 Also, if my Santa is reading this, I sure could use a new dress form, since I just recently broke mine (see the duct tape).   This fabric would be perfect in a jacket, skirt or dress, whatever your Holiday plans require, it also comes in a black and gold colorway. I knew for my party with the farmers, ranchers and cowboys a shimmer, glimmer and glitz top was just the item. Heck, they might not even recognize me in such fancy clothes.

    The wreath is hung on our front door, the Holiday season is here and I am ready for the party in my shimmer, glimmer and glitz new top. Who knows maybe I will have another one or two parties to attend this year