Sewaholic's Renfrew Top

I've been stalking sewing blogs for about two years now.  I spend WAY too much time being inspired by other people and the amazing blogs they maintain.  I have also been a loyal follower and sometime contributor of Sew Weekly for the past two years.  After awhile you notice certain pattern maker's names keep popping up and the great thing is - they are always small independent pattern makers. 

One name that always gets fellow bloggers raving about is Sewaholic Patterns.  As one of my sewing goals for 2013 is to learn how to sew knits, I felt confident that the many reviews I've read about the Renfrew top  made it the perfect pattern to get me started.  I wasn't disappointed! This is a great pattern to help conquer the (irrational) fear some of us have about sewing with knits.  The more I do the more I question why I have been so scared of them!

Top 3 of my sewing frenzy - I did view B in a very soft black & white striped (one of my all time favourite things) knit.  I overlocked (serged) all the seams.  I used a plain black for the bands, which I overlocked to the sleeves and neck and then top-stitched with a double needle.   The most difficult thing was getting the neck point right.  Mine isn't perfect, but not too bad for my first attempt (I did unpick it once, but unpicking knit fabric isn't an easy thing to do and after the second attempt I decided near enough was good enough!).  I will definitely be making more of these. I will cut a size smaller next time.

Details:

Pattern:  Sewaholics Renfrew top - $24.00 (the pattern is $16.00 (Canadian), & $8.00 postage)
Fabric:  mid-weight knit purchased from Spotlight for $9.10 & $6.50 for the black trim
Notions:  thread from stash
Total cost:  $39.60 (that seems a lot - but I will use this pattern heaps).