a Deer and Doe Plantain top

What can I say....  I'm probably the last person on the planet to make the Deer and Doe Plantain top.

And I love it!  And it's my new favorite tee.  And I've already worn it three days in a row.  Above photo, and both photos below.  :)  I'm also wearing out my Ottobre pants I love.  Bottom photo right is topped with a rtw cardi.

The Plantain pattern is a free download from Deer & Doe you can find here. 

I made a size 38 with 1/4" serged seams with no modifications except lengthening the sleeves to a long-sleeve length.  I tried hard to match the stripes at the sides.  The stripes are a little 'off' at the shoulders of the sleeves, but that's okay.

I take that back..... I modified the neckline and instead of using the Deer and Doe instructions, used the Narrow Binding on Necklines in Knit Fabric tutorial by Deepika Prakash.  This is the nicest, neatest knit binding I've ever put on by machine and will definitely use this technique again in the future.  I used the rose color stripe of my fabric as the binding color and after trying twice to sew the binding on per pattern instructions, the third time was the charm using Deepika's technique.  By then my poor knit binding piece was stretched out and since scraps had been sewn together to create a length long enough for the binding due to fabric shortage in the first place, I had no choice but to use my stretched out piece of binding for the final application.  As you can see in the photo below, there are little gathers/pleats at the neckline because this neckline was too low, and would not lie straight due to being stretched out, so I came up with the idea to use Coats and Clark Button Craft Thread and a blunt end needle to 'sew' a long length of thread in the wrong side of the binding casing, pulled and knotted it where I liked the way the neckline looked, and tied it off.  Perfect!  It pulled the neckline up enough to where I feel decent, and the top is easy to get on and off anyway AND the little gathers/pleats adds a nice little design feature methinks.

The back.  This top has a little flare from the waist down that is very flattering.

Okay, another modification made was to use one of my decorative stretch stitches to hem this top instead of a twin needle.  (I twin-needle stitched the sleeve hems though)  Anyway, in my sample pieces in the photo below, you can see how the decorative stitch (top piece) lies nice and flat with no puckers.  The bottom piece, that was twin needle stitched, has the typical-to-me channeling and a few puckers.  I got this idea from the Ottobre Women's Design magazine patterns that recommends using a decorative stretch stitch like, this to be used in place of an overlocker, for stitching that will be seen on the garment.  I like it and will definitely use it again. 

This top also fit my daughter and was almost hers, but she wasn't too keen on the stripes.  For the next Plantain, I may narrow the center front and center back widths a little, as well as raise the neckline.  Otherwise, this top is perfect.  I can see many more Plantain tops in the near future!

This project also completes Make a Garment a Month's 'Jump into January' theme of using a pattern from your stash.  After checking the download date of January 2014, this pattern has been unused in my stash far too long.

Happy Sewing Everyone!