A review of the Cuff top sewing pattern by The Assembly Line
Despite it having been released nearly three years ago, I only came across the Cuff top pattern by Swedish pattern company The Assembly Line this year. As soon as I saw the pattern, I was rather smitten. I just loved the combination of the boxy shape and the oversized elasticated cuffs: so simple yet effective.
In this post I’m talking all about the Cuff top, including: fabric choice, sizing, adjustments, construction process and quality of instructions. So let’s get started…
Fabric choice
I initially came across the Cuff top pattern when I was browsing Instagram for inspiration on what pattern to use for two fabric remnants I had in my fabric collection. I wanted a pattern that would work well with colour blocking for these two leftover fabrics.
The two fabric remnants in question were two different colours of the same fabric, a really silky cotton lawn by Lady McElroy. It is a beautiful fabric featuring a large scale leaf print and it is really cool and breezy to wear. This fabric is still available to purchase from Minerva and I have included a link here.
I originally bought the blush colour of this cotton lawn to make the Closet Core Kalle shirt, which I hacked into a dress with a gathered skirt. I love this dress and I made a YouTube vlog talking all about this make (link here).
I loved the fabric so much that I couldn’t resist buying the marine colour next. I snapped it up to make a pair of Tilly and the Buttons Jaimie pyjama bottoms.
I thought it would be lovely to combine the two colours to make a new garment. I didn’t have a great deal left of each colour, so I looked for a suitable top pattern. With its centre seam on both front and back pieces, the Cuff top was just made for colour blocking.
For the Cuff top pattern, the Assembly Line recommends light to medium weight fabrics including cotton, silk, lawn, linen, crepe de chine or wool crepe. So the cotton lawn was perfect.
Sizing
The Cuff top is available in two size ranges: XS – L and XL – 4XL. The smaller size range features a boat neckline and the larger size range has a keyhole opening with a button at the back.
I chose to make size XS, which fit my measurements. The pattern only includes measurements in cm and I would love it if it included measurements in inches too. I ended up converting the cm measurements to inches. Size XS is designed for bust 32 waist 25.6 hips 36.4 inches. My measurements are 32:26:36.
Unusually the measurements given for the finished garment in the pattern did not include waist or hips measurements. It did include the finished garment bust measurements as well as a few other finished garment measurements (upper sleeve, sleeve from centre back, bottom, sleeve cuff). However I would have found the waist and hips measurements useful as a guide too.
Pattern adjustments
After reading a little about others’ experience of the pattern and looking at the pattern pieces, I made the following adjustments to the pattern pieces:
- I narrowed the neckline by 1cm at either side. I had read quite a few reviews of this pattern saying that the neck opening came up quite wide, resulting in visible bra straps. I am pleased I did make this adjustment, as the reduced width was just enough to cover my bra straps whilst still maintaining the boat neck feature.
- I dipped the front neckline by 1cm. From browsing Cuff top photos on Instagram I could see that the front neckline comes up quite high. I find a too high neckline can be a bit irritating so I just dipped the neckline slightly. This is most likely a personal preference of mine rather than an issue with the pattern!
- I lengthened the bodice by 4cm. I have quite a long body and I also wanted to make sure that the top was long enough to tuck into jeans without popping out. I am really happy with the revised length.
Construction process
The Cuff top is a fairly simple top to construct and would be perfect for a beginner sewer. It consists of five pattern pieces: two front pieces, two back pieces and a neck facing.
If you preferred, you could remove the front and back seam allowances and cut the front and back pieces on the fold to eliminate the centre seam. This would work well if you had a patterned fabric that would be challenging to pattern match. I really like the effect of the centre seams though. They worked perfectly for my colour blocked top and the smaller pattern pieces also enabled me to squeeze what I needed out of narrow fabric remnants.
I found the instructions for the Cuff top to be really good. At the beginning of the pattern they include lots of information on pattern markings and examples of different seam finishes. This information is very clear would be especially useful for new sewists.
The construction process for the top is broken down into clear, simple steps. I like how the pattern includes details of when to overlock seams, I always think this is a nice touch when pattern companies include this.
One extra step I took, which is not included in the pattern instructions, is to stay stitch the neckline within the seam allowance before attaching the neck facing. I always opt to stay stitch the neckline of a woven garment, to avoid any stretching out of the neckline when attaching the facing. It would be particularly worthwhile to add in this step if making the Cuff top in a less stable fabric, for example double gauze.
Also the pattern recommends a double topstitch 2mm from the edge to finish the neckline. I chose instead to do a single topstitch 5mm from the edge just for personal preference.
One bit of the construction I found slightly fiddly was attaching the cuff elastic. In this pattern, the elastic is sewn into the sleeves instead of being inserted into a casing. I found it was quite tricky to make sure the fabric was stretched out enough to avoid any folds or rucks in the fabric when sewing the elastic in. However, I do really like the finish given by sewing the elastic in – and there won’t be any issue with the elastic twisting.
Summary
I really love the Cuff top pattern. It was fun to sew and it looks great – such a clever design, so simple and stylish. It is quite an expensive pattern compared to others on the market especially given you only get one variation. However, I think it has the potential to be a real staple in your Spring/Summer wardrobe. I will definitely be reaching for this pattern again. And again.