Nikko Dress & Top

True Bias are making huge waves in sewing world with their latest releases and Nikko is no exception. Perhaps one of the draws of the Nikko are the options to make it as a either a top or dress/sleeveless or with long sleeves.

There are a lot of turtleneck patterns out there, so I wasn’t really sold by the Nikko top alone. I fell for the styling and dress version completely, but actually ended up making the top as I had just enough of this Stoff & Stil rib jersey leftover from a previous project.

I cut the size 6 Nikko Top, grading to a 4 at the waist and hips. I did a bit of comparison with the front and back pattern pieces laid on top of the Rise Turtleneck pattern to show the difference in drafting, which you can see on my blog if you’re interested!

Nikko is drafted with negative ease and is noticeably longer in the body and sleeves. Also, interestingly, the neckband of the Nikko is drafted with a slight curve, meaning it sits closer to the neck than the Rise Turtleneck.

Nikko is drafted for a C cup – arguably quite generous as far as sewing patterns go – and I’m a not so modest FF-G cup and it still fit just fine! The rib jersey unfortunately turned out to be way too stretchy for this pattern and I actually had to do quite a bit of taking in. I was quite surprised as the pattern specifically lists ribbed jersey in it’s recommended fabrics, so I guess the amount of stretch is still definitely something to watch out for.

Overall, I really love my finished Nikko. It sits a little wider on the shoulders than I had expected, but this again could be related to the excess stretch in my fabric. It was a good first run of the pattern and use of leftovers and I’m looking forward to trying both the top and dress in fabric with hopefully more suitable stretch soon.

My matchy skirt and accessories in these pictures were all about using leftovers to make a more cohesive wardrobe. More thoughts on this and the Nikko Top are on my blog if you’re interested: http://www.magnificentthread.com/2018/03/new-outfit-ft-nikko.html