Pattern Review: the Zsalya Top

the Zsalya top (left) and dress (right) by Kate N Rose on Etsy

This pattern testing thing...I LOVE IT.  I recently made the Zsalya Top by Kate and Rose Patterns.  When we had originally been asked to test, I had all kinds of time at my disposal.  But, you know how life goes, there were some understandable and unavoidable set-backs so we didn't get the pattern until a couple weeks later.  By that time, of course (it's just the way it goes) I was up to my ears in other deadlines and projects.  But, I went out and bought some fabric anyway.  I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed to make the blouse when I had enough time in between projects.  I left my little stack on my sewing table where I could see it every day, where it would just sit there and say, "Hello!  I'm here!  Make me into something fabulous!" I admit, it sat there a few weeks taunting me until one evening I sat down to work on it and realized that I didn't have any black thread.  Oh sure, there was two spools of yellow, one grey, two pinks, one aqua and four different shades of white but no black.  So, back to the Other To-Do List I went, and my little top-to-be continued to sit and wait.

Simple Luxuries- Mesh Dot Black Nylon Spandex on JoAnn.com

Slowly but surely, my list began to shorten, I remembered the spool of black thread the next time I was at the store and that evening, I found myself with a free evening and an empty sewing machine.  

(I won't mention that I ran out of scotch tape while putting the PDF together, and I won't tell you how the roll of packing tape sort of came to my rescue.  I say "sort of" because have you ever ripped a piece of packing tape from the roll in a mostly empty apartment with a sleeping 5 year old?  The sound really ricochets off the hardwood floors and empty walls.) 

Seriously, though, at this point nothing was going to stop me from sewing that top!  It was easy as pie to put together-possibly even easier, I mean have you ever made a pie??  I'd rather sew a blouse any day.  Anyway, one of the things I loved the most about working with this pattern was how easy the instructions were to read.  The diagrams were clear (and cute!) and not complicated to look at.  Sometimes a pattern gives you too much information in a diagram and it's hard to know what you're supposed to be doing.  Not the case here.  Plus, the instructions were so personable and friendly, reading through them was almost like having a friend sewing along with me, I loved that!

I didn't have any trouble putting the top together, and I even used a crazy fabric.  I LOVE how the top came out, and I love the way it fits.  What do you think?

I hate having my picture taken like this, ha ha.

Just a little pattern size FYI, I cut out the medium.  I wear a street size 8 in jeans, but a large or extra large in shirts and blouses due to my 36DDD bust size (thank you pregnancy for enhancing what I already had and post pregnancy for not giving up on it... O_o)  I am happy with the way this top fits me and would sew the Medium again from another fabric with stretch.  I have an Anna Maria Horner voile to use next, but in that case I think I will cut the large.

You can buy the Zsalya Top pattern by clicking here.

Happy sewing!

Kristi

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