Vogue 8636, the Marcy Tilton Tee

This is one of those garments where the fabric and look are much better in real life. I think this top is really pretty and I love the fabric.

Pattern:
This is Vogue 8636, a Marcy Tilton design with raglan sleeves and a relatively wide neckband on what I think is a pretty high neck. I used the Extra Small size and petited the garment, taking out length in the sleeves and upper bodice. I morphed out to a size 12 in the hips, my usual.  The neckline needs a bit of fiddling to lay flat and it is actually part of the design. You are instructed to make little darts in the neck band, after installation, until it fits. I think that's a bit vague for most people and could be flummox for some. I handled the extra band width in a way not in the pattern which I will show below. I have seen others interface the neckband as well, something not called for in the pattern. I didn't need interfacing for the way I finished it.

Fabric:
 This is another ITY knit and I think this one is rayon with lycra. I love the color and very slight sheen none of which is as pretty in these photos, I had to give thought to the placement of the stripes but that was pretty simple for this design. The fabric does show every detail and clings enough in the shoulders to show the indents from my bra straps from carrying around the girls for a lifetime. I have some bras with wide straps and will make sure  I wear those when I wear this top.

 Construction:
This was pretty simple tee shirt construction other than handling the collar band. Rather than make the suggest darts I gathered the neckband up at the sleeve/bodice seam and used navy embroidery floss to stitch that up as you see above. But while cutting out this pattern I noticed this:

Crosswise strips of fabric, when pulled, curled into these perfect little non ravelling strips. Eureka!  I decided to put a little bow at each corner. Here is how I make perfect little matching bows:

First, you need one of these.

That is a potato masher you see  with a pile of those strips.

Wrap a length of tube around the potato masher.

Cross over the loops.

Pass one of the tubes under the part of the tube that is behind the potato masher.

Tie a knot.

Voila! A bow with both side perfectly matching . Slide off the potato masher and stitch to your garment.

These were attached in those spots where I did the embroidery floss which now can't be seen and the looseness of the collar band is under control.

Conclusion:
All in all, this is a great raglan tee. I need to finesse the fit some more and think that is simply a matter of making it out of the envelope with a bit of FBA. I will definitely make this again. I am pretty sure next time will not have the collar band and I will scoop the neckline lower. Most who made this the second time around, per PR, did that. Once I get this to Tried and True status I can see myself making it over and over. Nice pattern!....Bunny