Hi folks! Hope you all had a lovely Halloween and are enjoying the end of autumn. It’s been beautiful here in the PNW and I’ve really been enjoying the season, which has always been my favourite. I do miss Bonfire Night around this time, but we get to celebrate Thanksgiving and, even though I’m not American, I think it’s a great holiday actually. I sort of wish we had it in the UK because it seems to me that it rather effectively splits the whole “family together-big meal preparation” and “Santa Claus-gifts-religious festivals” craziness of Christmas into two more manageable holidays.

Anywayyy, because there has been so much going on socially, I actually didn’t get to sew too much through October and am definitely trying to catch up now by whizzing up a few things. The first thing I actually completed was this Tilly and the Buttons Agnes top. I’ve had this pattern on my radar since I began sewing, because it is a dead ringer for an H&M RTW top I own that I have worn to death – and so I’ve actually been meaning to make it forever.

Well, I’m glad I took the plunge, because I LOVE it. I’m sure you must have heard of this top, but if not, it’s a jersey top with several different versions. I made the cropped ruched arms and scooped neckline, which is the same combo as the RTW top I was trying to replace. There are also options for a longer sleeve length, a sweetheart ruched neckline and non-ruched sleeves. I happened to have this in paper format and the packaging is very retro-cute and the instruction booklet nice and thorough. This is definitely a great pattern-with-a-twist for beginners.

I made the largest size 8, even though my measurements are more similar to 7. However, I was using this lovely cotton-lycra knit from Lillestoff and cotton-lycra tends to cling a bit more in my experience, which you can see in the pics. I definitely made the right decision for the boobs down, but my shoulders are too wide, so I would start with a smaller size next time and grade out. My overall impression though, is that the sizing runs pretty true.

Speaking of the pics, I look pretty miserable in some of them, which is not how I was feeling at all, haha. I’d forgotten of course how hard it is to take pics now the clocks have changed, so ran out with my little tripod before the sun set and snapped a couple really quickly, setting my phone on a 10 second timer, as I can’t find the remote thingy. The pics were therefore totally luck of the draw! I even put in some bonus tripod for you in some of them, lol. Sheesh.

Anyway, construction was very straightforward t-shirt style assembly, with the ruched sleeves being the only new and potentially tricky part. But, my word, the instructions from Tilly were so complete and logical that it made this so simple and fun that I can’t wait to do it again! There’s something very satisfying about seeing the sleeve gather up into these big frothy balls of stripy fun. Can you tell I like this top?

There’s not a whole lot else to tell you about the Agnes. I like the length of both the body and sleeves and used the recommended 3/4″ seam allowance on both (I’m 5’6″ for reference). It was a really fast sew – one to two hours max and less next time, no doubt. And I really didn’t rush this at all, so that gives you some idea. If you like this style, I highly recommend the pattern and I definitely have another couple in my sights to fill out my wardrobe with more “interesting” tees.