Me-Made-May Day 11 - What's in my scoop pocket precious?

Guess what, I've finally finished something new!  It's the Scoop Top from the skirtastop blog....but what's that in my pocket? Is it a chicken?

Maybe it's a crab.

Uh Oh, that monster has a wrench.

Pattern
Scoop Top a free pattern from http://skirtastop.com.  It only comes in a medium size but I'll show you how I made mine a large.

Fabrics used
A thin jersey roll end I got from Hotpattern's Esty shop, sometime last year or maybe the one before that.

Pattern changes/alterations 
Despite earning a Fashion Design degree I know almost nothing about grading, so this is my "just winging it" method. Those of you who do a lot of FBA's will notice that's pretty much what this is.  I did this set of changes to both the front and the back of the pattern. My measurements are 37" Bust  34" Waist and 42" Hip.

1. Starting with the front pattern piece, draw a vertical line through the entire length of the pattern, I put mine about 2" away from the neckline.  Cut the pattern in half along this line and then tape in some extra paper to the CF side. I added an 1"of extra width to the pattern so draw a parallel line to your slash line (Translation - the line you cut on) and 1" away on the added paper.

2. Go to the shoulder seam line and draw in the shoulder seam continuing with the existing angle.  Tape the other side of your pattern 1" away but following the shoulder angle.  This will make your hem line uneven, that's OK cause we'll take care of that later.  Repeat these last two steps on the back pattern.

3. I felt the diameter and length of the kimono sleeve need to be larger.  To do this tape extra paper to the sleeve hem area and trace out an extra 1/2" on both the hem and the underarm area.  Blend the new underarm curve into the side seam. Repeat this sleeve alteration to the back pattern.

4. Now it's time to fix up the hem area.  Up to this point the front and back adjustments have been the same amounts, but that is going to change in the hem area.  Probably because of boobs and personal hem preferences I decided to add 2 3/4" additional length to the front and only 1" additional length to the back.
First make sure your front and back side side seams match and make any adjustments there.   On the front piece square down 2 3/4" on the CF (Translation - measure down 2 3/4" on the center front at a right angle. See you're keeping things "square.")

 Now draw a nice shirt tail like hem curve up to the side seam edge.   On the back square down 1" and then draw in the hem curve to the side seam.

5.  With big boobs come big responsibilities.... I mean big pockets.  This is a personal preference change, if you like small pockets floating on your bust line by all means go with that. I personally think it looks like a tiny life raft lost at sea.  All this is a long way of saying I added 3/4" extra width and 1" extra depth to the pocket.

Non size related changes I made were moving the entire shoulder seam 1/2 forward for my forward shoulders and a 1" swayback adjustment.

Confessions/Advice
1. Make sure to use a light weight jersey or something that has plenty of drape for this pattern.  Otherwise all that hip ease is gonna make you look like you're wearing a smock.  There's an cotton interlock muslin of this pattern so I know from experiance.

2. A light weight rolly edged jersey does make neckband insertion challenging.  This would be a great time to baste the two edges of the neckband together before trying to sew it onto the neckline.

3. If you have a coverstitch machine you can skip using interfacing on the hem, I had no problem with wavy hemlines.

4. Sewing a knit pocket onto your knit T-shirt on the regular sewing machine will always make you want to stab random people.  Maybe have a shot of alcohol to keep family interactions on the up and up.

Husband Comment
"Hey that's a nice color and you got the pocket on straight.  Are you gonna put stuff in your pocket?"  (He didn't know about the photos yet.)

My Final Thoughts
I was actually thinking about drafting a top similar to this and was super excited that one already existed.  Guess lately I've not been in the mood to draft from scratch so altering "seems" easier.
The shirt is very comfy for lounging around the house or running after crazed toddlers.  I really like the shirt tail hem and the kimono sleeves.  I was able to get this shirt out of a yard of 58" wide jersey, which means it's costs hardly anything to make.  (Used stash but you know I'm always looking at other fabrics on-line.....ALL THE FABRICS!)