Simplicity 9605

Sharing a great little top pattern today that’s about to go out of print, so hopefully can convince you to pick up a copy before it disappears. I’ve made it twice so I’m going to comment on both versions in one post.

Simplicity 9605 has quite a few tops included but I love view B! It’s the easiest throw on top, with a fun sleeve detail and isn’t that fabric hungry. You might remember me using this sleeve frill on my pattern hackathon entry. Sure I’ll put the sleeve onto several more dresses in the future too.

My first version was made in 1 metre of a lovely floral bubble crepe from Rainbow Fabrics. It has a soft handle, so skims the body well. The second is made from 1 metre of mediumweight bow print poly from Abakhan fabrics Blackburn which I found in the remnant bin. Fun story, I found the same print as a crepe de chine in the remnant bin as well, so I can have a second top in this fabric later down the line!

I did a rolled hem in coordinating threads on my Janome overlocker at the frill edge to avoid bulk on both versions. You could make a narrow hem if you prefer. The rolled hem tucks under the fabric as it wraps the threads around the edge in a more dense pattern than normal overlocking. This is great for lightweight fabrics where you don’t want a thick hem AND if you don’t want to hand-stitch a rolled hem.

I love a keyhole back facing because I can use random cute buttons from my extensive vintage button stash. It’s spread across 7 tins in my sewing room making it hard to look through them all to find the right choice.

I know pale colours don’t suit me as well as vivid ones but I just LOVE the bow print so that might be my favourite version of the two.