Completed: Hi Vis Geometry Top

I'm writing this post with at least 3 unpublished posts sat waiting patiently to see the light of day. I just need to get photos, which I've not had time to do. I can't even blame the lack of daylight hours, although I could blame the weather.

Anyway, it seems this has won, and been published first!

On to what I'm here to talk about today. This is the Geometry Top by Katy & Laney, which was released last October. I'm surprised this pattern doesn't seem to have seen much love within the blogosphere, particularly since their first pattern, the Tap Pants was all over the place last summer. I think the only versions I've seen have been made by Busy Lizzie. That said, I only just got round to buying the pattern last week. I loved it when it was released, but didn't buy it as it was approaching winter, and this felt like a summer top. No point creating something with clever angled panels and lovely colour blocking and then covering it all up with a cardigan!

The fabric is Cotton + Steel rayon, and I've had this particular top in mind for a very long time. My issue was always what to use for the contrast panel. I knew I wanted yellow, but I also knew it was going to be difficult to find something in the right weight, and shade, and I put off buying it for this reason. I eventually bought the last metre of the rayon from Miss Matatabi, thinking that if I couldn't find a good contrast I could at least make another Scout/Eucalypt/Emmeline. But really, I knew that wasn't what this fabric wanted to be.

I eventually settled on this bargainous £3/m neon (and it really is hi-vis day-glo) yellow polyester, which I bought from Edinburgh Fabrics at the excellent meet up last week end. (If you are interested, both Kerry and Debi have written posts about the meet up, which you can find here, and here). The neon is considerably brighter than the yellow in the rayon, but it tones OK, I think. I did almost immediately regret buying it though when, as soon as I left the shop, we passed a bin man wearing the exact same shade in the form of a hi vis vest...

In the end, I figured go with it, and if it's awful, I'll just need to keep looking for something else, but, luckily, I really like the end result. It also got a fair bit of IG love. Yes, it's very bright (Small Boy does call it my hi-vis top, but he is obsessed with hi-vis for some probably boy-related transport-related reason), but I kept the neon to a one small section, and as far away from my face as was possible. I think it provides enough contrast without taking over the garment, and without making me look like I work in a warehouse. Not that there's anything wrong with working in a warehouse, obviously, but it's not my casual evening/daytime look of choice. I find a forklift a difficult accessory to style.

The Geometry Top is a lovely pattern. It comes with 3 different variations, which I'd like to make in future. It is quite a paper-hungry PDF though. The version I made is 48 pages, which initially I put down to bad design, but actually both the front and back pattern pieces are asymmetric, which of course means they have to be full sized and cut flat, rather than cut on the fold. Add an impressive size range, and the uncut pattern pieces become pretty large. What is brilliant is that the pieces that can be used for more than one version are marked accordingly, for example the contrast triangle and the sleeves in my version ares the same pattern pieces as those used for View A, so if I wanted to now make View A, I would only need to print the pattern pieces I didn't already have.

The process of making the top was pretty straightforward. I did struggle a bit with notches matching up, but I'd put that down to my sloppy cutting out, rather than any drafting issue. The pattern suggests French seams, which I used across the board - even on the sleeves. I cut the size 4, based on my measurements but this pattern contains a LOT of ease. I tried it on after the first pass on the French seams, and it felt too big, so I increased the seam allowance for the second pass. I like how it now fits, although it still feels bigger than it looks on both Katy and Laney, so I think next time I'll cut a 2.

I really love the shape of the hem from this side

I read through the instructions at the start, but didn't really follow them after that. It's pretty intuitive to put together. When it came to hemming, I had a dilemma. I used a pale grey thread for construction, which matches the background colour of the rayon perfectly, but I didn't want to use that for the yellow section of the hem, and funnily enough I had no neon yellow thread in the stash. I considered hand sewing the hem, but wondered if that would look off balance, since the sleeve and bias faced neckline were topstitched (overthink things much?). In the end I machined the hem using the grey for the grey section, and a charteuse green for the yellow section. It's not a perfect match, but it tones reasonably. However since it's really visible, I had to up my topstitching game, and actually unpicked and redid a section. Annoyingly the polyester laddered in a couple of places while hemming (that's £3/m fabric for you), but really to the naked eye/non sewer/sewer who isn't under my armpit inspecting my handiwork, it's not that visible.

I'm a bit uncertain on the sleeves. I really like it without the sleeves (see above IG photo), and I notice that's how Lizzie made hers. I did consider leaving them off, but they were already cut out, so I went ahead with them, but I'm unsure. I think I prefer the kimono sleeve effect that leaving them off gives. I like the idea of the dropped shoulder with the sleeves, but in reality they feel kind of flappy and superfluous.

Another variation I'd like to make is to change the neckline. It's nice as is, but I think a wider, higher neckline - a kind of slash/boat neck - would look amazing with this shape.

I'm definitely planning more versions of this pattern. My issue will always be finding contrasting/co-ordinating fabrics in similar weights, but there are ways around this. I think this would look lovely in one fabric with some flat piping to define the angled seams. Or you could use a fabric with an interesting wrong side and use both. You could play with texture, or even mix wovens and knits. It definitely needs to be made in a drapey, fluid fabric, but since I seem to be falling in love with rayons and viscose, I won't find that a problem!

What do you think of this pattern? Have you seen it made up anywhere? If so, be sure to let me know!