Here's the work version - made out of a delicious silk twill. It's such a gorgeous top!
I do feel awkward saying something I made is gorgeous, but LUCKILY it's OK this time. I didn't make this top - my mum did. One evening when she was visiting my place she mentioned there were a couple of tops in her car boot that she was going to leave in a charity bin; she'd made them but they were a big disappointment and didn't look good on... of course I was curious! Can you believe this was one of them? (It's gorgeous in real life, trust me!).
From the side: it's very loose, which is ideal for sticky summer days and great for catching a breeze!
Turn around, would you!
It turns out this is a very practical shape. Being so loose makes it very comfortable in humid weather (like now), and I like that it doesn't need tucking in. Not tucked in means even more comfortable in the heat (and also means you won't notice that my pants are too big at the waist). I also think it's a pretty stylish shape - I really like that the nicely sewn neckline band sticks out intentionally (cut on the straight, not the bias), and the oversized sleeves with a bit of fabric heft seem cool.
OK this is nearly a proper front view:
These photos were taken just before closing time in the grounds of one of Sydney's historical buildings, the Hyde Park Barracks - same place I took a photo last May :). It's a lovely photogenic spot and there weren't too many people about, just a few staff who politely checked I wasn't taking commercial photos. However, this time I noticed that the grounds are overlooked by office buildings. I hope the people working in there had their heads down :)
And here's the front view - I love, love, LOVE the sticking out sleeves:
Do you recognise the pattern?
Here's a link to the pattern, and to some reviews.
Vogue 8879 is a relatively recent pattern from the "Very Easy" range, released about a year ago. It's not one that instantly appealed to me - I had no idea it would look so good in a woven - but I did think it might work as a t-shirt basic. The silhouette is so simple that of course, the fabric is everything.
This fabric is a silk twill from The Fabric Store in Surry Hills, and even though I know it doesn't have the right 3 / 2 pattern for the ebonies, it looks to me like stacked keyboards. The top was cropped significantly shorter than the pattern intended (variant C with the length of variant B) due to fabric limitations, but this length is just perfect for not tucking in (which is the way those of us with short bodies are supposed to play).
Interestingly, the pattern is not recommended for woven fabrics.
I've been wearing this to work a lot, with these and other too-big black pants.I recently lost some weight around the middle (yay!), and half my wardrobe and all the pants are now too big (boo!). I've been trying to make some new pants, but it's all ugly stuff ups so far and very discouraging. Just when I thought I knew what size I was, it changes...
When your pants are too big and your sewing efforts are failing, you might be tempted to look in a shop. I trundled into Veronika Maine to sample their pants wares and try to work out my size (hmm it's the in-between size), and the staff started asking me about the top - "you got that here, didn't you"", "it's a Veronika Maine top, isn't it?" and scrunching up their eyes as they tried to remember which range it came from. It gave me such great pleasure to tell them my mum made it!
And a quick summary of the sewing:
- Made in a size 12-14 (M). In RTW Australian tops I'm a size 10-12, which would equate to a US 6-8 and I can't remember what size that is in the UK.
- Made from silk twill. The pattern is recommended for two-way stretch fabric, but it's a loose enough pattern to go with a woven.
- Shortened due to lack of fabric.
- Sleeve band ruching omitted
Let's move onto the second top, the angled stripes 'play' top. This one too is a salvage job from mum's car boot - honestly, the stuff I find in there!
This is exactly the same variant of the same pattern, only sewn to full length and sewn from a stretch. It looks so different, doesn't it - very slouchy and relaxed.
This fabric is a beautiful cream jersey with angled blue stripes - I wish the angles were showing up a bit better in these photos. Again this fabric comes from The Fabric Store, and I think they also had it in a cream / red colourway.
I'm looking very serious in these photos because I was keeping an eye out for movements from the neighbours' place - I just hate it when they catch me posing for blog photos!
Nothing much more to say - and even though I took a ton I haven't managed to get very nice photos of the top - so can I give you a glimpse of the greenery in my corner of suburbia?
I look like I'm having a terrible time climbing the hill here, but at least you can see the top in a front view. Somehow amongst all the photos I took, very few showed the front, and very few were not blown out or too dark.
When I tried to take photos of the back, I only got half of it - this is the best of the back views, sorry!
What you can see here though is that the neckline is quite low at the back. If you preferred you could pull it forward to make a lower front neckline, but for me the front is low enough as is. The sleeves are drop sleeves (again, the ruching was omitted), and the top falls to below hip length with a bit of a flared shape.
When I was a teenager, I had a friend who wore different coloured versions of exactly the same outfit to school all through the warm months, and then different coloured versions of another single outfit to school all through the cold months - like a uniform.
I like this pattern so much I'm planning another in a happy pink for my wardrobe. In fact I like it so much I'd like one in each of my favourite colours... but I really should have another go at the pants, shouldn't I!
See you soon
- Gabrielle x
