Pattern Review: New Look 6734 Rashguard

My kids both wear rashguards when they go to the beach - mainly because they hate having sunscreen reapplied every so often. So I thought rashguards could provide some protection from the sun even if the sunscreen was gradually wearing off their skin. And it doesn't hurt that they both look really sporty and cute in the rashguards too!

I'm pretty bad at applying sunscreen on myself so I thought why not make a rashguard for me too? I dug through my pattern stash and found New Look 6734. I also dug out some red and black remnant swimwear fabric (nylon with 20% spandex) that I used for the self-made red swimsuit and the black swimsuit. Voila! Out come this kinda-wearable muslin of a rashguard.

The pattern pieces seemed straightforward enough. I think I only read the instructions once and didn't look at it again (may be I should have looked at it again!). I shortened the sleeves and made my usual short waist adjustment and then added 3cm to the bottom hem. It came together fairly quickly except that the neckline wouldn't stay flat. So I took apart the neckline piece, cut off 5cm from it and resewed it hoping that it would fix the neckline but the collar was still standing up. You can see that in the photo. I pressed and steamed the neckline and it became a bit flatter. But after test-wearing it in the shower the collar stood up again. I'm not sure how I can fix it with the existing neckline pattern piece. I think I probably have to redraft a curved neckline to apply to this top in order for it to stay flat. Oh well! I'm still going to wear it this summer. I have too many other sewing projects in the pipeline so I won't play with the collar of this top for a while. At least I know I can colour coordinate this top with both my black and red swimsuits!

My hubby saw this and said I looked very broad and butch in this top. What does he know about fashion anyways? :-)