Welcome to today's edition of Summer Friday. Today we're doing a head to head comparison review.

In our line up the Colette Sorbetto and the Sisboom Tortola. Why the head to head review? I've got a stack of BEAUTIFUL cotton wovens and summer is coming. I promised here that I was going to cut my good fabric. But before I go cutting the good stuff, I need to be sure everything is going to fit right. I want to apologize in advance for the HORRIBLE fit on the shorts in these photos. They obviously don't fit well and have wrinkles all over the crotch <gasp>.

Round 1- Winner: Sorbetto
Let's go with, for starters, the Colette Sorbetto is FREE. That automatically gives it a one up on the Sisboom Tortola. And that does seem a little unfair, but I don't make the prices here, I just tell it like it is. :)

So price aside, what have we got to work with?

Round 2- Winner: Sorbetto
Colette seam allowances are 5/8". I like that. Lots of room for making tiny adjustments if you need them. Also MUCH easier to finish off the seams.

Sisboom Seam Allowances are 1/4". I hate 1/4" seam allowances. Sure, it saves fabric, but it also means that I can't really serge all my edges and then sew the seam together and press them flat without switching to a 3 thread stitch and that's a hassle. I like pressing the seams flat. Round 2 goes to Colette.

Round 3- Winner: Tied
Tortola finishes the neckline and armscyes with facing. VERY professional.

Sorbetto uses 1/2" bias tape. What a great way to mix up the look of an otherwise simple top. Also professional looking. It could also be fun to use bias tape on the hem. There's no valid reason why you can't use bias tape on the Tortola.

Round 4- Winner: Sisboom
Tortola has a built in Full Bust adjustment. That could save you hours of sewing time (or not, you know, whatever).

Sorbetto, nothing.

Round 5- Winner: Sisboom
Tortola is specifically drafted for woven cottons cut on the bias.

Colette relies more on drape. You can cheat and cut on the bias, but you're still not going to get the same "look".

Confession time. I've got no winner for you <blush>. But I can talk you through what adjustments I've made and what still needs to be done to make either of these work for me.

Colette Sorbetto
Please note, I did NOT do the center front pleat on the Sorbetto. This is an easy part to leave out, which means you can easily get 2 looks with ZERO effort once you're done with your muslin. It also saves you fabric while you're doing your muslin. :)

With the Colette I did NOT do my usual adjustment of shortening at the high bust. I found that the armscye was already pretty small and the bust point was really high. I didn't want to play with that part too much. If you have larger arms in the smaller sizes, you may want to bring the armscye down. The advantage on a sleeveless top with bias tape is that all you have to do is smooth out the curve and add your bias tape. No fiddling with adjusting the sleeve cap.

I obviously had to do a Full Bust Adjustment on the Sorbetto. On the Sorbetto I made a size 6 (36" bust) to fit my shoulders and then mashed to a size 4 to fit my hips. Since there is minimal side waist shaping, I did not have to do any adjustments for my waist. I added a 1/2" full bust adjustment by adjusting the included bust dart. The bust dart on the sorbetto cuts straight across to point at the bust. I prefer the bust dart to approach slightly from below (as this makes the bust look perkier), so I rotated the dart down a tiny bit. I found that the dart on the Sorbetto hit just right on my body without too much fiddling. This was nice, as I normally have to play a bit with the length of the dart so I don't get a random pointy spot somewhere on my bust.

This was actually my 3rd muslin and I'll probably wear it once I take in the side seam a bit. I can't remember if I remembered to rotate the side seam back in after I added the width for my FBA. Either way, I need a little less ease at the waist/hem. You can read more below about my struggles with woven shirt hems.

I love that this goes together super fast and as much as I loath making bias tape by hand, it always looks really fancy. I can think of some really amazing ways to use bias tape to make this pattern pop. Next time, I need to scoop the neckline more.

Sisboom Tortola
The Sisboom Tortola was a tricky one for me. I used the size Small even though technically if I went by high bust I could have used the size XS. I didn't want to deal with the giant full bust adjustment, so I opted for the small. The small fits good in my shoulders, so I feel ok with the size I picked. BUT, it'd probably be a better shoulder fit in an XS.

I did shorten the top at the high bust as the armscyes would have hung low and showed the side of my bra. After I shortened the top, I brought the neckline back down, since I like a nice low scoop. I like the scoop shape of this pattern better than the Sorbetto. But that is an easy part to reshape.

HOWEVER, I found the drafted Full Bust adjustment too big! I know, how does that even happen to me when my bust technically fits in the full bust size? I don't know, but it did. what I needed was about 1/2 of the full bust adjustment. Please note, that I may have been making a much more fitted woven top than the pattern intended.

I also needed to bring the bust point WAY down and also away from center front.  Chances are the bust point would have been too high, even without me shortening the high bust. I still need to adjust the bust point more as it is hitting me at a strange point. I'll just shorten it back some more and it should be good.

Because this pattern doesn't actually go all the way down to the hip, the hem area was WAY too wide for my body. The complication is getting this area thin enough to not look strange but still be able to fit my wide shoulders and large bust! My shoulders are 41" around (the widest part of my body!) and my hips are only 37". That means I need a minimum of 4" of ease at that area or else I won't be able to put my shirt on and even then that 4" is a TIGHT squeeze. I'm considering resorting to including a side zip at the hem on all my woven shirts just so I can get a nice fit!

My high hip is TINY compared to my full hip so this area always looks strange on me without pulling the width of the pattern in. I really wish designers would include "high hip" on patterns that are drafted to fit as a shirt as that would save me a LOT of muslining time since I won't be wearing this shirt as a full tunic. I need to figure out how to measure that area as a flat measurement so I can bring it in BEFORE I get to cutting my fabric.

Please note I've already spent WAY more time on the Tortola than the Sorbetto so the hips are better fitted. I think this was muslin #6 or 7... And while there is a wrinkle from the bust to the waist, that is happening from the shifting of my body and placing my hand on my hip, not because I need a bigger FBA.

All in all, I REALLY like both patterns. They both have a pretty nice fit now that they're muslined (although they need a little more tweaking). I will say the bust dart on the Sorbetto was easier to adjust, but I think that is because I didn't have to move it substantially up or down, just rotate it. BUT, I really like the curved hem of the Tortola as opposed to the Sorbetto which is quite nearly straight across. Like I said before, there are no winners/losers here. But I do think mashing the hem from the Tortola onto the Sorbetto would give me an awesome looking top. Perhaps you'll see that at some point on the blog. :)

Also, who knew my skin looked so amazing with navy next to it?! I'm so glad I'll be adding a TON of navy colored things to my capsule. Until next time. :)