Trying to get back into the swing . . . and striking out.

Do you guys ever feel like it's hard to get back into the swing of sewing after being away from it for a while?  I definitely get rusty if I don't sew for a couple weeks.

I thought I'd get back into the swing with the Maria Denmark Day-to-Night Drape Top - a pattern touted by everyone who has made it as being a quick, easy sew, and one which has been on my to-do list for well over a year.

I guess I'm the dunce in the class, because I have had nothing but problems since taping and tracing the pattern on Tuesday!

First I couldn't decide on a size: XS is too small, but S is too big.  Then there are the seam allowances, which need to be added - how large is right for me?  I finally decided to trace a size S (graded out to L at the hip, and lengthened to size L) and cut it without seam allowances - theoretically giving me a size when sewn between XS and S.

Yesterday I figured I could certainly knock out the top in the afternoon.  But I got completely waylaid by this, my nemesis:

{clear elastic, a.k.a. the devil}

I could use F.O.E., but I'm not a huge fan of that stuff either, especially on a top that's meant to be a bit dressier.

And then I realized I have no matching thread, so even if I figured out the elastic, I couldn't make the top anyway!

So I spent a good part of the afternoon making samples, trying to get that darned elastic right.  Here are just a few, and I'm not happy with any of them:

Aside from not laying flat (or evenly), they look a bit "home ec" to me . . .

So I got on Pattern Review and found a good suggestion:  serge self-fabric binding to the edges, then turn those back and do a line of edgestitching.

 

 

I didn't even get as far as the edgestitching part - this is way too bulky, and still doesn't lay flat!

Help! 

Have you made this top? 
How did you attach your elastic, if you used it?
If you didn't use it, how did you treat your neck and arm openings?

I'm completely flummoxed!