Two-Tone Linen Top

Inspired by hazy image memories of designer colour-blocked sleeves, and also by the loose blocky styles that are in the shops at the moment, the other evening I found myself putting together contrasting linen fabrics and rifling through my second hand patterns.

I picked out a pattern that looked blocky in an '80s way, Vogue 7883. Here's the technical drawing:








It's only now that I check the envelope that I see it's printed in 2004 - not from the '80s at all - and an internet search shows it's a currently available pattern.  (Grrr should've checked PatternReview!)

 


The top went together quickly; linen is such a breeze to sew and this is an ultra-simple design - there aren't even any darts. I made really minor changes to put the hemlines on the selvedges (which also lengthened sleeves and body by 1.5cm), to show the selvedge edge on the waist seam, and to make the lower front pieces more angular than the pattern indicated.

Here you can see the selvedges:

and the neckline is unchanged from the pattern original:

 













This is the overall result (when the wind is blowing just the right amount to make a waist shape):

 

I thought it would be cool looking, but it's not. Then I thought it could be a beach cover-up sort of top, and was going to add some 'secret' pockets to carry a key and a credit card - but my keys are heavy and would have really distorted the shape of the top.

This is what it looks like when the wind blows from a less flattering direction:



Although the length is fine - longer at the front than the back - it's much shorter than I expected from the pattern drawings. And it's blockier than expected. And the two tone thing just makes me think of jockeys! Of course I am way too big for anyone to ever mistake me for a jockey - but might they think I was a horse racing fanatic - are these colours already taken?

I don't really like it on me, but I'm happy with my sewing. I suspect it might be alright on if it fitted...I think this pattern runs large, and I made the top a size larger (14) than I normally would (oops).

I will probably end up wearing this over the hot summer holidays as it will be light and give me good sun protection. And I do love these colours - so summery.  Maybe it just needs the right mango-coloured skirt or something?

14 mangos for $13

 Tomorrow we'll eat some more of these Calypso beauties and I'll move on to the next project.