Spring Top Sewalong Top #2

When we went to Tokyo 2 years ago, my souvenirs of the trip were four pattern books (two women's clothing, a children's clothing and a handbag book).  Since then, I've occasionally pulled them off the shelf to browse the pretty pictures, but other than some adorable monkey pants for my baby, I hadn't made anything yet.  I've admired the interesting neckline detail of this one and decided to give it a try for the Spring Top Sewalong:

 With summer approaching, I went with a semi-sheer white cotton lawn with rows of faggoting throughout that I had in my stash.  If I remember correctly (ha!) it was part of a collection of vintage apparel fabrics my local quilting store acquired from a shop in San Francisco that went out of business. 

I do not speak any more than the most rudimentary 18 month-old level Japanese (thanks to my 18 month old going to a Japanese language-only daycare), but thankfully, it was a pretty simple garment construction and the book has copious images:

With this fabric, it was super important to line up the faggoting on the yoke and the body of the top, so turning 1/4 inch under for the yoke (which was the outside-facing edge) had to be done perfectly.  The instructions didn't specify, but running a basting stitch along the edge and easing the curve was the ONLY way to do it.

I wasn't sure of the sizing--I'm 5"1 and petite, but being small in the US doesn't mean I'm small in Japan, so I went with a size 11 (no idea the actual conversion, but there were two sizes smaller).  I should have gone with the 9, as the whole thing had to be taken in quite a bit to avoid looking like a giant tent (though I think that may have been the intention of the pattern).  I also added a bust dart to make it slightly more shapely. 

The top is lovely and I'm so pleased with the construction--my grandmother always extolled the importance of the finish on the inside of a garment--but it is quite sheer and needs a camisole under to be decent.