Francine Top in Stretch Denim

Great design and I’m happy with out the final outcome, but I found some of the pattern drafting and instructions to be a wee bit on the sloppy side, especially for a Merchant & Mills product, hence 4 out of 5 stars.

Made this in a slightly stretchy, light to mid weight denim. This was my first time trying this pattern so I went for a more subtle top stitch thread color in teal – should have gone bolder. Because of the stretch in the material, I sized down to 8 and that was pushing it. Suspect this is pretty true to size in a non stretch fabric.

I had a couple of small issues with the pattern/instructions: 1) No interfacing is suggested for the neck facing and collar even though light fabrics like chambray are recommended for this pattern. I added some lightweight fusible interfacing and I’m glad I did. For heavier fabrics like traditional denim, this is probably not necessary. 2) The pattern is missing some useful notches (but chock full of notches throughout), such as joining the facing and collar, joining the facing to the neckline, and joining the shoulder seams, the last of which is particularly troublesome because there appears to be about 3/4″ difference between the length of the front and back shoulder seams without any mention in the instructions about easing one to the other – a notch would have been helpful here as well.  As a result of these admittedly picky issues, I believe a Confident Beginner (as this pattern is rated by M&M) would be challenged. Note – I’m being picky here because I usually find M&M patterns to be outstanding.

I made a couple of modifications including lowering the side split (usually find these to be too high and I have an average length torso) and added an inch in length as well with a hem facing. I also did my usual narrow shoulder adjustment which actually served to mostly address the shoulder seam issue cited above (happy accident).

I would like to make the dress version at some point, maybe in dark green denim. On that version, I’ll move the button loop down about 3/8″ – looks a tad high to me now. I adore the design lines and 70s vibe of this pattern. This will get a lot of wear.