Spring Top Week Entry #1

I am very excited!!! I finished my first entry for Spring Top Week over at Made by Rae! I actually finished it Thursday and wore it to work. I'm very proud of it. Why so proud? I created the pattern myself from a shirt that I had in my closet. And this is my first top with sleeves, a collar, and buttons. And, I got the fabric from Hobby Lobby in the clearance section for $3!

First, here's a side-by-side comparison of the 2 shirts. The shirt I used to create my pattern is the pink on the left and my creation is the lavender one on the right:

Some construction notes:

I used my little bias tape maker to make the trim on the sleeves and the hem of the shirt. For the button and Button-hole placket I folded the fabric over a few times and top-stitched it down. I used the buttonhole feature on my machine for the cute buttonholes and for the first time ever I used my machine to attach the buttons! It was so easy. You find a zigzag stitch that is wide enough to go back and forth between the holes and you make sure to change the length to zero.

Here's some close-ups shots. 1) My awesome collar, 2) & 3) the bias-tape I made for the hem and the sleeves, and 4) a beautiful button:

And here's the Front and Back of the shirt on me! What do you think? I love the seam that goes across the back. That was on the original shirt, I wanted to make sure I had that detail on my version. Yes I changed hairstyles in between pics. I wanted to make sure you could see the awesome collar :-)

Here's the pic I am going to add to the Spring Top Week Flickr photo pool:

Voting will take place during the first week of May. I hope you all will be sure to vote for the best spring top!

Thanks for looking!!!
~Christina