Here’s what I discovered when I made the gathers on the bust, as suggested by the pattern. When I tried it on, I felt stupid to have such a lot of gathers on my bust. Then I decided to use a trim to deflect the gathers at the bust.
After sleeping on the idea over the weekend, I extended the bust gathers and voila, it felt more comfortable and it overcame the neckline gaps that appear, when you least expect it.

After adjusting the hem, prior to cutting out the fabric, there was no additional hemming required. This is also one of those patterns that allows you to keep creating, without stopping ie for zippers, buttons etc.

I have a couple of quilting fabrics that I’m thinking of using for the next version of this shirt/top.