BurdaStyle 04-2013-119

I finished up BurdaStyle 04-2013-119 this week.  And I'm going to have to call this one a fail.  It looks okay at first glance, but it has some serious issues that make it highly unlikely that I'll ever wear it.

You may remember the sweet picture in the magazine.  The blouse looks fine on the model, but who knows what kind of clips, pins, or what-have-you they have holding that top in place.

The top is great in theory:  A wrap front blouse with pleats, held together with ties inside and two small buttons on the outside.  The short sleeves have nice wide bands, subtle gathers, and pleats at the shoulder.

 Here's a side view.  Not too bad.  I could work on the fit in the back- I have some sway back wrinkles going on.  This was actually a muslin.  If I were to go ahead with a "finished" version, I would tweak the back, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Here is the back.  Again, not too bad.  I cut a size 42 at the shoulder, eased out to a 44 at the bust, and then gave myself a little extra room in the hips.  I ended up having to let the back darts out about 1/2" each.  Otherwise it was too snug for comfort.

Here is a close-up of my closure.  I used two pearl buttons from stash and loops made from 1/8" elastic rather than fighting with bias tubes.  You can't even see the loops so it worked out perfectly.

This is the nifty pleat at the sleeve head.  The shape is nice and keeps the sleeves from looking too precious.

Here is where the problems begin.  The neckline gapes something awful.  Now I could have stretched it a little bit during sewing.  And it's possible I messed it up when I adjusted my facings- I made a petite adjustment above the bust (standard for me) and maybe I didn't get the shape of the facing just right, although I double checked it and it looked pretty good.  So it could all be user error.  But you can see in the photo below that when I put my hands on my hips, suddenly the neckline isn't even touching my body anymore.

And in this photo I simply shrugged and all of a sudden I've got major gaping, pulling, and serious bra visibility.

I figured I'd have to sew a snap in it to keep the neckline closed, but I attempted to pin it for the photos, and I found that even pinned, the front pulled open and the facing simply rolled out and stayed pinned to the bottom layer.  A snap would probably do the same thing.

I also noticed that I just kept feeling like I needed to adjust it, to tug it into place, to keep checking that the front was closed.  I'd never be comfortable in this top.

It's a shame really, because I like the look Burda was going for.  I think a wrapped front woven top is a great idea.  It's just not working for me.  I could tweak it some more- work on the sway back, pinch out a bit at the neckline, lengthen the sleeve a little so the bands are parallel to the floor.  I'm just not feeling it.  Other patterns are calling my name.

Other patterns and other fabric.