Papercut Patterns / Moana

Hello there! As I told you in my last post, I was ready to try all of the latest Papercut Patterns and here I am with another super cute number from the Ahoy! Collection. It’s the Moana, which can be made as a dress or as a top and I preferred to start with the latter to check the fit.
As my previous make, this one too involves ruffles! “Meaning “sea” in Maori, this relax-fit dress or top features a ruffle waist that dips slightly at the back with gentle shaping though the body. The Moana dress includes bust darts, exposed back zip, back darts and optional gathered skirt”. Lately I’ve been attracted by loose fitting garments, I don’t know if because I think they’re easier to fit (they’re not!) or because it’s finally warm here and I like to feel comfortable in not so tight clothes. Anyhow, I really like the silhouette of this top and can’t wait to make the dress version too.

Before cutting in this lovely fabric, I made a muslin first and initially cut a size S, but it ended up being too large in the underarm area so I traced again the pattern and cut an XS with few adjustments. I did a FBA to the XS, adding 5/8″ to each boob, creating more room in my chest area and eliminating a very unattractive front armhole gaping.

For the FBA I followed this tutorial here by In-House Patterns, which includes two very interesting variation on how to avoid adding waist girth to your pattern. I’ve followed the first method, but I didn’t have a waist dart to play with so I had the remove the amount added at the waist by eliminating the same amount from the lower side seam.
I’ve also moved the bust dart down by 3/8″ and raised the armholes by the same amount. Of course all these changes affected the facings as well, which I’ve simply retraced from the adjusted pattern pieces.

I’m pretty happy with the front of my Moana, but I’m not 100% satisfied with the back. The slit gapes open and even if I didn’t use the zipper as per pattern, it shouldn’t come open like that, right? My guess is I need a broad back adjustment, but what do you think? It’s obvious I need more room there, but I’m not sure for which reason!

The fabric I’ve used is a leftover from a BHL Flora Dress I made for my sister a few weeks ago and it’s perfect for this pattern, very lightweight and with a nice drape too. As the print is already very busy and the voile almost sheer, I used a solid color for the facings, choosing a matching aqua green, to avoid any print overlapping.

I finished all the inner seam allowances with the overlocker and used a rolled hem for the ruffle. I love how tiny and perfect is.

The Moana is another super pretty and easy pattern, made a bit more challenging thanks to the exposed zipper (which I swapped for a button closure instead) and the circle frill hem. Its a very cute and girly top and has already became a summer staple!

Have a good weekend everyone!