Ahoy, Bronte! I’m still in love with my first Bronte top and I’ve been thinking that I need some more long-sleeved t-shirts this winter, so a long-sleeved Bronte was a nautical….ahem, natural….choice.

I’ve been obsessed with nautical prints lately. Maybe it’s because I got married on a boat (well, the actual wedding was on land, but the boat took us there), maybe it’s because we almost moved onto a boat last summer. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because nautical prints are super cute and super trendy right now. Whatever the reason, I had anchors on the brain and Robert Kaufman was more than happy to oblige with the Laguna Stretch Jersey Knit in Anchors Nautical Navy.

Based on my last Bronte top, I knew that I need to cut 2″ out of the hips, so I cut a size 20 in the bust and waist then scaled down to an 18 for the hips. I also knew that I needed to add 2″ in length to the body, so I assumed that I needed to add 2″ in the sleeve length as well. Not so! Once the shirt was assembled, I promptly cut that 2″ right back out, did a double turn hem and still have plenty of length in the sleeves!

My obsession with the twin needle continues. It just makes such a lovely edge, how could I resist?

Unfortunately, it makes it quite a pain in the butt to unpick it if you make a mistake.

So imagine my dismay when I realized that I had somehow managed to turn my hem the wrong way when I was hemming the bottom of the shirt. Duh! I thought about unpicking the entire circumference of the shirt (which, of course, is how long it took me to realize my error) for about a millisecond before I rejected the idea as ridiculous and just did a triple turned hem instead. The result is a bulky hem and a shirt that is about an inch shirt than I had intended. But you know, that’s still way better than unpicking them hem. Ammiright?

The other thing I unfortunately struggled with this time was the neckline. In fact, it took me three tries before I got it right! When I sewed my Sangria Bronte top, I had forgotten to transfer the markings for neckline placement onto my fabric, so I kind of just estimated and moved it around until it all fit together. This time, I diligently transferred the pattern markings to my fabric, but when I tried it on for the first time the neckline was gaping so much that I thought I must have sewed it backwards!

Rather than doing something reasonable, like double checking with the pattern piece, I immediately unpicked the whole neckline and switched which piece overlapped which at the shoulder. When I tried it on that time, I realized “Oh. Now this is sewn backwards”.

Unpick, unpick, unpick.

Finally I hypothesized that I just needed to tighten the neckline up a little so I pulled each piece so that it overlapped the other by about an inch more than suggested by the pattern. This meant though, that now the sleeve didn’t line up properly with the armscye. Lucky for me that a little gather makes pretty much any sleeve more adorable because I sure as heck wasn’t unpicking that thing again!

If only I had noticed, at some point before I sewed it backwards, that I had sewn the whole shirt using a regular needle instead of a stretch needle!

Geeze Louise! As I’m writing this post I’m wondering what the heck I was thinking while I was trying to sew this top!

Unfortunately, you can still see the faint trace of the holes from the top-stitching made during the second neckline attempt when I sewed the front bodice piece over the back (oh yes, I top-stitched that error and everything), most visible in the white of the neckline in the close up photo above. But really, it’s not that noticeable when I’m wearing it. And it certainly doesn’t detract from the adorableness of this top. And I’m hoping it might bounce back a little after I wash the shirt. So there’s still that hope.

This fabric is a bit lighter weight and has a bit more stretch than the knit I used for my Sangria Bronte, and I’ve found it doesn’t make as much of a flattering shape as my first top from the back view. That’s not to say that it makes an unflattering shape. On the contrary, I think it looks quite nice. Just that it’s not as flattering as the first.

All in all, I love my nautical Bronte! I think the choice of the white jersey for the neckline really brightens it up around my face and brings attention to the shoulder detail. I’m already pairing my nautical Bronte with my new Miette skirt in my head and wondering if a pair of red tights would make it all just too “outfitty”? Thoughts????