Oliver + S School Bus T.. with puff sleeves and gathered front

The Oliver + S School Bus t pattern is just beyond versatile! I brought size 5-12 yrs. Amy is 4, but I wanted the pattern to be able to do my other 3 boys.. and at $8.95, that is value for money. I cut size 5 which worked out perfect for this slightly more tunic style top. I wanted to make Amy a pretty white top like a Monsoon one she had.. that now barely fits. So I used the School Bus Pattern as a base and tweaked it to add some details.. here's how I did it. Firstly, in cutting the pattern pieces out: I cut the back normally and the neck piece. For the front, where the top half of the bodice pattern joins the lower, I left these apart.. making two front pattern pieces, not one. On the lower half of the pattern top, I cut the side seam to size 12, instead of the size 5, so it was wider.

NB. When cutting out the fabric, I added also, a 1cm seam allowance on the top edge of the lower half front.

For the sleeves, I pieced together the pattern than cut in half, and added 2 square grid leftover strips from the pattern pieces through the middle.. so I had a wider sleeve pattern. I hope the pictures help make sense here :)

For my fabric, I found a very soft almost silky Marc OPolo knit womens top in the second hand store for $4 and cut it up. White knit is pretty hard to find here in New Zealand. I utilised the existing hem for the front and back when meant one less job for me. First of all I sewed the sleeve edges using the serger and creating a gentle lettuce edge finish. I didnt remove any sleeve length in the process. Then I sewed the front. I stitched a gathering line as per below, and gently gathered up the top till it fit into the bodice. I stitched the pieces together and finished the seam on the serger. It wasnt necessary, but I wanted to stitch the seam flat so it wouldnt be scratchy on her skin, so I used a daisy cotton ribbon across the gathered seam, and stitched this down twice, holding both the serger seam, and the ribbon, in place. I love this detail! I then followed the instructions normally for stitching the shoulder and neck pieces, using the thin neck hand option. I love how that thin neck band is feminine! I then sewed another gathering line on the sleeve top, about 1/4 inch from the top and pulled this. I did the same to the other sleeve and matched them. I then eased the sleeves into place, matching the centre top, sides and gently easing the bits in between. It fit perfectly and with no trouble! I stitched the sleeves into place and overlocked the seams. I sewed up the sides and completed the sleeve doing one line of a shirring stitch on the wrist, about 1 inch from the bottom of the lettuce hem. Shirring is amazingly easy to do on the sewing machine, as simple as winding some thin white elastic thread onto a bobbin, with tension, and inserting it into the bobbin holder. Sew as per normal. To finish the top, I used leftover daisy ribbon and cut off flowers, stitching them into place and used my trusty embellesher to add on some diamantes.

This was THE most fun top to sew. Thanks Liesl and co. As per usual, an awesome pattern to play with and it fits just perfect!!