Stretch or stable fabric patterns

If a pattern is designed for stretch fabrics, it is designed with far less ease than a pattern designed for stable fabrics. Ease is the difference between the body measurement and the finished garment measurement at various spots. Ease is what lets the garment move with your body rather than split open on the seams. Stretch fabrics need less ease, and can fit much closer to the body because they stretch.

If you make the top out of a stable fabric, it will be too small for you. What you can sometimes do is adjust for the fabric and make a larger size garment. You need to look and see how much stretch it calls for. (If it calls for a lot of stretch, or stretch on both the horizontal and vertical, it's not a good candidate for using stable fabric.) Then you need to see how much ease they allow in the pattern. Look at the bust and waist measurements it is designed to fit and then measure the pattern to see what the measurements actually are. I believe Kate has a chart on her website that covers ease and how to allow for it. That will let you know what the rule of thumb is on how much to allow. Then you will have to add those amounts to your pattern when you cut it out.

Now, you do need to keep in mind that some patterns just won't work well in fabrics other than those for which they were designed. What pattern are you using? What fabric did you want to make it up in? Someone else may have already done that pattern and know it well.

Sharon