Lousy Draft? Butterick 5387

 

I actually really like this and may even make it again. I do think it has major drafting problems as will become clear here in a moment. Unlike some I had no problem at all with the directions and actually thought the text was pretty clear although the tech drawings for #18 could be confusing.  I will run you through a detailed tute of how I did this neckline. (picture heavy)

First you stitch of the center front. I suggest you go up another inch and a half higher unless you really want the girls on display. The CF seam is catchstitched down to the fashion fabric inside before proceeding. There is a lot of hand stitching here. I think that fact could be why many did not like this pattern. It is not a whip through knit pattern. There are hand stitches and tweaking needed here. Also, before I forget, I cut my pieces upside down, so if you are following directions in the pattern, my blouse will look opposite, no biggy. Above you can see the neckband stitched to the bodice with the left and right extensions hanging free. The edge of the under band is shaped and pressed. 

 Here the outer neckband is stitched to the under neckband, still keeping the extensions free. The pleats are basted down and the outer band has the edge trimmed and pressed under

Once the two collar bands are stitched together the underband is understitched. I use a triple zigzag to do that. Learned that one from Nancy Zieman many years ago. It does a much better job at keeping it all flat than just one line of understitching. 

Here you see the completed neckband with the extensions still free. Now comes the part where many  poured that second glass of wine. 
Here you have the bodice laid out looking at you. The pleated extension goes on top of the free band and the non pleated extension goes UNDER the band. Importante!

 

Here comes the infamous step 18. Match the right side of the pleated extension (on top of the band) and the wrong side of the plain extension (under the band). This is your seam. Match at the seamline, not the edge. It should look like this with both extensions facing up. 

Here is where the drafting issues show up. I was extremely careful here but ended up extra fabric looping up from the flat extension. The seamline needed to be closer to the bodice where it connects. You can see here the tuck of extra fabric. The pattern tells you to hand stitch, once again, this area to the neck band. I did, taking the tuck until the fabric looked flatter. 



So when all is said and done here's what we've got: The flat extension requires fiddling because it will not lie flat with the seamline where it is. The pleated extension could use a bit more volume, something many eluded to on PR. I would do this next time by cutting and spreading the pleats further open. The neckline gapes, another sign of poor drafting. Many on PR complained of this too.

But like many on PR, I LIKE THIS PATTERN! I think my fabric pattern helped camouflage these issues to some extent.  l really like the way if fits as well, other than the gape. I did my usual petiting, cut a size 6 above the bust,  Pivot and Slided out to a C up, went back in at the waist and back out to a twelve at the hips. I wish this were a plain Tshirt. I do not like my knits to have negative ease. This just skims the body and I like that. So with some tweaking of the draft, I can see myself making this again. Would I recommend? Well, only if you don't get frustrated at tweaking, can possibly redraft the neckline, and don't mind doing handstitching. This is not a whip out but it took me maybe a total of 4 hours total to pull off.

Bunny with the peekaboo neckline and who just noticed that the print and neckline make one boob look bigger than the other. They are not but even if they were, so what?