McCall of the Wild from 2001

 "Jungle January" hosted by Anne of  Pretty Grievances provided me the inspiration to use a leopard spotted crinkly poly woven that has been in my fabric stash for 9 months. This pattern has been in my stash for awhile (since 2001).  I purchased it due to view "A" in the animal print.

Pattern Description:
From 2001 (out of print): Pullover or wrap front top, with front darts, sleeveless, long or three-quarter length sleeve variations, neck and sleeve flounce options.  I sewed view "A" in a medium.


Instructions
They were satisfactory for view "A".  It was mentioned by Debbie Cook and Skye  (in their pattern reviews in patternreview.com) of the horrible directions for the view with the neckline ruffle.   As for view "A", I was able to sew it minimal guidance after a quick glance of the diagrams and skimming the directions.

Fabric Used:
Crinkled polyester (acetate/poly blend) from gorgeousfabrics.com.

Favorite Features
 I like view "A" due do its simplicity in construction, the front tie detail and ruffled sleeve flounces.

Not-so Favorite Features
The only thing I dislikes are excessive ease of the sleevehead,and the neckline finished with an interfaced facing.  I wish I had reduced the diameter of the circular sleeve flounces to reduce the "flare".  The hole to be cut at the center of the flounce piece would need to be cut wider to accommodate larger hands and wrists.  If my hands and wrists were any larger, I would have struggled slipping them past the lower edges of the sleeves that lead into the ruffled sleeve cuffs.


Alterations/Modifications

* Performed my typical narrowing of the upper back and a 3/4" petite adjustment at the waist.

 

* Trimmed the neckline facing (back facing flanked by two fronts) and converted them to strip 1 1/4" wide to encircle the neckline.  I stitched it 3/8" to the inner edge, turned it to the outside, pressed under a tiny hem and topstitched.  I added a center seam at the "v" point after topstitching the trim to the neckline.  I basted the front ties to the inner edge instead of the outer edge (per McCall's) before attaching the strip trim. 

* Instead of hemming the circular hem of each sleeve flounce, I cut an additional pair of the sleeve flounce circles in the same fabric to "self-face" each flounce.

* I took in the side seams an additional 1/4"

* Had to machine gather the lower edge of the sleeves to ease the sleeve flounce (the center hole of the flounce piece) onto the sleeves.

Future Plans/Conclusion:
I plan to sew another top from the same view . Despite the mediocre directions, I still recommend the pattern due to its fairly simple construction and the styles still being on trend. I spent more time with the neckline than expected due to drifting from the directions regarding the neckline and fiddling with the sleeve flounces.


Current tops with the front tie detail.  The Pucci top at the lower right has the flounced sleeve cuffs.