When the Hot Patterns Three Graces top came out I immediately loved it for the crossover view. I didn't realize until later that it was a knockoff the Rick Owens twist top we were talking about on the blogs last year and that's why I liked it so much.
Before I finally bit the bullet on this one, I hadn't purchased a Hot Patterns before but when Fabric.com had a 20% off sale on everything I went ahead and got the pattern. I was excited that it had not only the Rick Owens top but two other fun drapey views, but having never sewn a Hot Patterns pattern before, I had no idea how to do the sizing.
This pattern has been spectactularly popular but not so many people have made this view. Argh! However, it does appear to run large based on the small sample on PatternReview. Froggiegirl is most similar to my shape and her top fit quite well. She said that she went down two sizes from the envelope measurements (so, for her from a 10 to a 6) and the fit looks good on her. My bust is a 6 and my underbust is between a 6 and an 8, so I figured I had better at least grade this to a 4 at the top, and cut an 8 at the front hip rather than 10. However, I cut the back hip at a 10, based on suggestions from my pleat front knit dress that I might need more room in the back to accommodate my rear view.
Unfortunately, I think this pattern just is not designed to fit my body. I know that HP has drafted its own sloper, and I am guessing that it is designed with a very large cup size, perhaps a large C or even a D. Which I totally understand because Trudy is a large cup size, but I think those of us who are small of chest are kind of out of luck with this pattern line. You can see in the photo at left that once I finally (finally!) got this together there was SO MUCH fabric flapping around under the arm. In general it seems that when that happens it is because I am expected to have a bust large enough to push all that fabric toward the front. I took about four inches out from under each arm by re-stitching the sleeve and side seams as a quick and dirty fix, but the fit on this top just isn't great and I have NO idea how one would alter the crazy origami pattern to take out the extra fabric.Speaking of the crazy origami pattern...OMG. Wow. This was SO HARD for me to put together. I spent two hours--literally, no exaggeration--with my dress form watching the YouTube video (instructions for this view start at 4:50) over and over. I watched it around a dozen times. I appreciate the video assist, but I found it very frustrating that Trudy used different numbering terminology for the seams in the video than those used in the instructions so I couldn't really match up what she was saying with the fabric in front of me. I do not have a 3D brain, as I've mentioned before, and this brought me to tears. I finally got it done, or so I thought, and sewed it all together, and then realized that somehow I had done it wrong and there was a twist that wouldn't come out. Luckily, the second round only took me half an hour.
My favorite feature of this pattern is the back collar. It's nicely drafted and gives a nice finish to the back neck. But I am otherwise not wowed. Well, I'm wowed that they figured out how the Rick Owens top works (mostly, although I think the crossover is too high and wide) but these patterns just do not work for my body. I thought I might try the other views but I think at this point I will cut my losses and move on from this pattern. I am just too different from their sloper. It's too bad because the line has some cute styles, but at least now I know I'm not missing out!I made this in January but have procrastinated in posting because I can't get my camera to focus properly on this red top. I don't know what it is, but all the pictures came out a little fuzzy (I desaturated the thumbnail photo to try to show more details). So I can report that I've only worn the top a few times. The baggy fit just isn't me. Too bad!
All photos are here and the pattern review is here.
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