Tablecloth top

David was travelling back from the UK the other week and had the instructions to try to get me a sewing magazine - I don't get them all the time, but once in a while it's nice.  He let me know the options and I looked them up to see what I fancied.  I ultimately went for Simply sewing, but while I was browsing I noticed there was a free template to download for the Anna Tunic by Amy Butler in the Sew Home & Style magazine.  Now, of course you're meant to buy the magazine in order to get the instructions - but where's the fun in that? ;-)

I used the magic of the Internet to learn how the back is supposed to look, and get a few snippets about what people thought of the pattern - the general consensus seemed to be that it's a pretty simple pattern, that attaching the yoke had caused some problems and the armholes tended to be too high. 

In my stash I had some fabric which I picked up for free at a local street fair - so free pattern and free fabric, seemed to be made for each other.

So, it came together pretty easily, I didn't have problems attaching the yoke, but then I probably didn't do it the way the pattern intended, but it looks fine.

 I ended up reducing the height of the yoke by about 3cm as it was far too height around my neck and I found that the armholes were too high.... I lowered them by about 1 1/2".

The original pattern had a lining, which I skipped, so I used bias binding to bind the armholes and did French seams.

I also added a belt loop at each side to keep the belt under control a bit, it can then wrap around the back and tie at the front.

I found some pretty buttons in my stash to finish off the yoke at the back and to keep the free theme going.

I think I like the top, it's maybe a little tablecloth-esque and I think it looks better with trousers than shorts, but I like the colour and the shape and that I could make it completely from stash materials with a free pattern :-)