Daughter Judy | Barons Top

There’s a new indie pattern designer to check out — Daughter Judy. Chelsea launched recently with four patterns and I immediately bought three of them!

I’m not in the brain space for pants fitting right now – even though I really need pants – so I decided to make the Barons Dress before diving into the Adams Pants. I really love the red photo sample and wanted to create something similar. I chose a 10oz bleached denim from my stash that even had some of the sun bleaching the red canvas sample has.

This top has lots of fun topstitching, a high collar, center back button closure, and 3/4 length sleeves that are more like full length sleeves on me.

Because I love pockets, I added some side seam friends. Here is a lackluster photo collage of how I did this.

Things I would do differently next time.

• Make the buttonholes on the placket before installing. I used a 10oz denim so the seams were THICK. I can’t quite remember which two I made first but ultimately I had to change the direction of one set, so the top two are vertical and the bottom two are horizontal. Even with my compensation plate, my machine was struggling.
• Use lining fabric for both sides of the pocket to reduce bulk.
• I’d serge the side and underarm seams separately, then stitch, and then press open if I plan to use a heavyweight fabric again. I had a little woopsies with my serger on one side seam. It was a case of not paying attention and rushing, so please don’t give me serger tips – I know exactly what happened. The patch is pictured below.

I’d recommend this pattern for advanced beginner to intermediate folks who have a good understanding of garment construction. The instructions do kind leave some things up to the maker, which I’m fine with but might be a little frustrating for some.