I was intrigued by the bold V-neck and simplicity of the Sonia Estep Designs Lena bold v-neck dolman top when I saw it in my Facebook sewing feed, so I decided to purchase it and give it a try. This is my first pattern from SED. From the measurements, it looked like size 4 would fit me but would be tunic length on me, so I shortened the pattern by 4 inches (I just took it off the bottom).

It was very fast to cut out the three pattern pieces (front, back, and neck band) from the black modal spandex fabric that I bought on sale from Mily Mae. I thought I could sew the whole top in an hour, but sadly the v-neck construction was non-trivial with my stretchy and slippery modal spandex. I’m not entirely sure why, but I think I spent almost 2 hours on the v-neck and about an hour on the rest. And even after all that effort, the point of the V is slightly off and the shirt doesn’t lie as smoothly as I would like where it meets the neck band (but top-stitching with a shallow zigzag stitch helped smooth it out somewhat). Next time, I would try zigzagging along the long edge of the neckband to hold the two layers together before trying to assemble the neckband. The sleeve hems were also more difficult than anticipated and might have benefited from pre-hemming before sewing the side seams. I like the drape of the modal spandex and it is very comfy to wear.

I’m glad I shortened the hem. This is a good length for me to wear tucked in or out, and it looks great with my new tweed pants!