Simplicity 4589: Like it, but not *in Like*, Like

 

I'm looking for that perfect top/tunic with the perfect fit that will justify the use of perfect (read: expensive) fabric which has already been purchased. You see where I'm going?  This is a good pattern.  The neck facing comes together really well and looks purty from the inside, too, (which is a problem I often have with the Built by Wendy line-- also Simplicity).  The fabric was cents a yard and I used it last year to test out this top.  The sleeves are just about right, and better because they come together very nicely with a little rainbow FOE.  I lengthened the bodice a couple of inches, but that was very straight-forward and hardly an adjustment at all.  I would need to fix the fit a little-- go a bit smaller at the neckline and in the back.  But nothing major.  So, it is a good pattern, but it is not the pattern.  You know?  Has anyone tried the Lotus Top from Amy Butler?  I've tried just about all the Sew U/BBW combos. 

Anyway.  The freezer paper stencil elevates even the most mediocre of designs.  Besides words and phrases, dots, squares, lines and little bits of nothing, are my favourite things to stencil.  All you need is a hole puncher and a little bit of paint.  What you should do, however, is try to stencil it on the FRONT OF THE SHIRT if that's indeed where you are aiming to embellish.  As much as I've accepted the presence of a second set of hips, I'm not sure they need highlighting.  I could be wrong, though.