Sofia Top

I downloaded the Sofia pattern and used it today to generate my patterns. I haven't sewn it yet, but I am looking forward to it. The top seems to fit well in the croquis generated by the Fitography software.

I finished my Sophia top today, except for the buttons. It fits so beautifully! The princess lines are right where the belong, the ease is perfect, the fit is amazing for the first run. I was sure some alterations would be needed.

I hate going to the store, nothing fits, and I go home frustrated and my purchases are too tight or too long. In the time it takes to go to the mall, try on everything in my size, and come home, I sewed up my Sophia Top. I so happy! I made no changes from the printout.

I will be making ALL my clothes if this is how other styles turn out fitting perfectly.

Thank you Sew Fitography!

I made the Sofia Top, using the default ease settings, and with no adjustments to my Outline prepared by Sew Fitography. The only change I made to the pattern was to make short sleeves for a summer blouse. Fabric is a cotton batik. It sewed up easily and beautifully. The best testament to its success is that my husband spontaneously complimented me THREE times the first day I wore it...this from a man who I have to coax to get any comment at all about what I am wearing. What I particularly like about the style of this top is how the princess lines show my waist in the back and hips. It is not just a boxy top. The one future change I will make is to move the buttons an inch or so higher (for modesty when bending over). I am thoroughly enjoying the confidence I have gained by using the Sew Fitography software for my patterns...knowing that what I am making will actually fit! Thank you!

I used the bodice from this pattern with 2" ease at bust, waist and hips to form the basis for a French jacket. I then combined this with the three piece sleeves from Susan Khalje's french jacket pattern. Turns out the Sofia has perfect bones for a close fitting shoulder princess jacket! I made the jacket from Linton Tweed as part of a class with Susan Khalje in Melbourne earlier this year. The only change to the pattern was to snug up the princess seam under the bust to give a little more shaping; adding 1/2" at the shoulder seam (this is normal after you have quilted a French jacket ... not a pattern fault) and reshaping the hem to give a more graceful shape (turning the blouse into a jacket). I think using this pattern saved me hours and hours of bodice fitting. Which is just as well, because I substituted that with hours and hours of fell stitching lining, trim and chain!

I guess the first thing to say is that that I sewed this top exactly as printed from the software with no fitting changes at all. I used an extremely shifty and light rayon crepe fabric that was a nightmare to work with but I am very happy with the final results. I topstitched all the princess seams since laundering and ironing this rayon shirt would take me forever if I didn’t. One thing I would change next time is the sleeve angle. After finding my sloper quite tight in the sleeve I printed this version with a 25 deg arm angle (pattern offers angles from 20-35 degrees) but I now find the sleeves and cuff quite roomy. They obviously have more built-in ease compared to the sloper. I also felt that there was a little too much ease in the sleeve cap for my personal taste so next time I will measure this and reduce it a bit if necessary (reducing the arm angle might change this though). The shirt is a bit of a fabric hog as I am used to buying only around 1.5m of fabric for a shirt and this took over 2m so most of my pretty stash fabrics were not large enough to use. To be fair this design does have lots of pieces with all the princess seams so I guess the fabric requirement is not completely surprising. Next time I could reduce the seam allowances to squeeze my pattern on less fabric as well as reducing the ease (I used 2 inches but can take some out). The pictures below show my outfit as estimated by Fitography and then me in the shirt. One tip I would like to share is that when you print a pattern from Fitography, take a screenshot of the User Measurements and Garment parameters. Also, make a note the outline file that it was based on. Print these out and keep them with your pattern pieces as it is really easy to neglect to save a copy and then forget the parameters you used when you want to reprint the pattern again. Ask me how I know! Anyway, if you like the style I can highly recommend this pattern.