Blue and White Boatneck: McCall’s 6755

I’ve been avoiding writing about this top. Usually I love the reflection that comes after a completed project. I just, uh… don’t have a lot to say about this one.

The pattern is McCall’s 6755. This is a Fashion Star branded pattern, from the good old days when McCall’s was trying to compete with Simplicity’s Project Runway licensing, and Jessica Simpson was still relevant. Pretty sure I bought this to have a cute, basic top pattern on hand, and well, that’s pretty much exactly what it is. (The skirt is rad, but I’ve never been able to commit to three coordinating fabrics for it. Maybe someday, but probably not.)

This pattern is designed for a woven, but I opted to use a knit. The blue and white knit is from Girl Charlee, and I got it for a steal. Seriously. And since this top takes less than a yard, I still have some fun scraps to use up. I treated the fabric like a woven, and used woven fabric for the neckline facings.

Dude, I nailed the print placement on this top!

The features of this top that caught my eye were the French darts and back button placket. Oh, that back button placket. I knew I was in for trouble when (with fabric already cut out) I checked the reviews on Pattern Review and saw that fellow sewers had issues with the instructions for the placket. (“Nonexistent” was, I think, the term used.) So it was no surprise when it came time to assemble the placket and I was left scratching my head.

I’ll be honest, I completely botched the placket, and I don’t even know what happened. The end result is shockingly not bad (meaning only not visually horrific), but… there’s no placket. I mean, the fabric just pretty much lined up along the back center seam. It’s not supposed to do that. I decided not fight with it, and just stitched it that way. If I was making this in an elegant fabric and really wanted to highlight that detail, I would’ve overhauled. In an everyday t-shirt, it was not worth a fight. The two sides overlapped enough to accommodate buttons & buttonholes, so boom — done.

Then there were the buttonholes. My machine is in desperate need of maintenance, as the tension is super out of whack, and the basic checks and fixes aren’t correcting the problem. The buttonhole feature is also giving me issues. Two out of the three buttonholes went hincky. Since this neckline fits over the head easily, I didn’t fuss with them. The top buttonhole is functional, and the bottom two are decorative, and I stitched the buttons on through all layers. Sure, I’d rather that the workmanship on this garment was better, but really? It has zero effect on wearability, and no one is ever going to notice or even realize.

But seriously, where did the placket go and why does my seam look so crooked?!

What’s good about this pattern? Um, it’s a nice length. You can leave it out or tuck it in. It has a lovely high neckline. (Though it kind of rides up easily, especially when you’re layering with cardigans and such.) The sleeves are cute, though the armholes are too low. (Seriously, no one needs to see flashes of my ugly nursing bra.)

The whole thing comes together pretty easily, and it’s a good better-than-basic tee option that would work in a variety of fabrics (cute cotton, elegant linen and shantung, rayon, novelty knits, etc). I like this garment, but I can’t recommend this pattern. If you have it in your collection and want to try something new, I’d say go for it. (And let me know how to do the back placket if it works for you!) Otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend seeking this one out — at least not for the top.

Tuck that top!

I realize I used to talk about the budget for each project, but stopped doing that somewhere along the way. The fabric for this cost $3, and the buttons were another $3, making this a total of $6. That means it comes in under the $8 I subtract from the cost of any project before calculating cost-per-wear, and my cost-per-wear is already less than my $1 goal. (I discussed my dorky tracking system previously — you can read Sewing Spreadsheet Nerds Unite here.) To top it off, I’ve already worn it twice, and it’s been a comfy (if not easy to coordinate) addition to my it’s-okay-if-Baby-JuJu-spits-up-on-this top collection.

So, finally wrapped up! Welcome to the closet, my Boatnecked Budget-Friendly Top!