silk crepe de Chine | Pattern and Branch

Surprisingly Weather-Appropriate: McCall’s 6848 Top in Silk Crepe de Chine

Hey, everyone! Sorry I missed you last week. It was finally COVID time in our house after managing to avoid it for so long. Luckily, not everyone got it and it wasn’t too bad. I’m happy to be back to blogging this week, though.

McCall’s 6848 was my last summer project, finished in September. I really didn’t think it would still be weather-appropriate in November, but we have had some warm days here!

It’s been great to wear the shirt a bit and get a feel for what I do and don’t like about it. First, details!

This is McCall’s 6848, View C, which is technically a pajama top, but it’s just a good boxy top in general, so I like it for daily wear.

It’s from 2013, so it’s out of print now, but is probably findable on Etsy or eBay.

I have made this pattern several times before, making it a real TNT for me (a tried-‘n’-true pattern). I still have several of my previous versions of this around, and although I have changed sizes, they still fit since this pattern has a fair amount of positive ease. For this version, I made an XL bust, XL waist, and XL/XXL hip. I used a “neon highlighter pink” silk crepe de Chine (CDC) fabric from Fabric Mart that was one of their NY Designer fabrics. I don’t actually know which NY Designer this is from, but I picked it for the substrate and the color rather than the designer status. I really like silk CDC. It’s such a nice, drapey, wearable fabric. I don’t find it hard to sew, and I throw mine in the washer and dryer rather than dry cleaning. This was a great deal, too, at just over $10/yard.

This pattern is pretty quick and easy to sew. I used French seams on the shoulder and side seams, which looks so nice.

I did notice, at this size, that the shoulders seemed to be different lengths for front and back. It’s possible that I traced something wrong, or maybe it was the pattern. I didn’t feel like going back and checking the original pattern, so I just made sure the shoulders lined up at the neck. I figured I could trim the armhole if necessary.

The neck binding is a really nice touch on this pattern.

I suggest trimming down the seam allowances a bit before applying it to make things easier on yourself.

For the finish at the armhole, I skipped the basting and did a one inch double turned hem, sort of diagonally folding under the areas at the bottom of the armhole.

One additional thing I added that was not in the pattern, was some little lingerie straps on the shoulder seams near the neckline.

This top would really make a great pajama top, but since I wanted to wear mine as an every day top, I didn’t want it to keep slipping from one side to the other and showing my bra straps. I found some lace seam binding in my stash that coordinated remarkably well. After estimating the length by comparing it to my bra strap and adding in some extra, I sewed one end to my seam allowance and then sewed snaps to the other end at the part of the seam allowance closest to the neck. When I tried using these by snapping them around my bra straps, I initially thought things looked pretty wonky, but once I moved everything into the correct spot, it was perfect! The shirt no longer slid around on my shoulders. It stayed perfectly in place.