A bonus summer top.

The other day I was cleaning the house.  I'd been sewing my Emery dress over the weekend, so the dining room was a mess - bits of thread and fabric all over the place.  So I decided to sneak in one more little project before giving the place a good clean.  Here's a weird fact about me:  after I clean, I don't like to sew for several days, because I don't want to mess it up again!

Anyhoo . . . after proclaiming my dislike for bias-bound edges in the post before last, what did I make?  A top with bias-bound edges, of course!  I'm an enigma . . .

You might recognize the components of this top.  The outer eyelet fabric is the last 3/4 yard left from last summer's Hazel dress, and the bias tape is left over from my Robson coat.  I was inspired to make this top from some RTW ones I'd seen, but I really liked the idea of a bright, contrasting binding.  It mostly doesn't show, but every once in a while it peeks out.  I love hidden details like that.  I also love turquoise and orange together.

I'd been meaning to make this top for a while, and had planned to line it to the edge.  It's the same pattern as my New Year's Eve top, which I lined to the edge.  But then I realized that if I did it that way, the seam allowances would show through the large eyelets - yuck.  So I ended up underlining the top instead.  I basted the underlining (white voile) to each piece, then serged the edges at the shoulders and side seams.   I didn't serge the armholes or neckline because I didn't want the extra bulk there when I added the binding.

This pattern was drafted to be cut on the fold, both front and back.  But because of my underlining, I figured it would be easier to cut the back as two separate pieces, and then just open out the center back seam to create the keyhole opening at the back neck.

Yesterday morning I took some pictures, bright and early.  I really love this top with these old white jeans.  I also love the fact that I can still fit into these jeans, although they're at least 10 years old, LOL!

I really love the fit of this top - it's as if it were made for me!  Hahaha!

And you see that I styled it with some orange sandals, to pick up on the orange and turquoise theme.

And then I couldn't help myself - I had to get out my old, bright orange coat and put it on too:

I really like that ensemble!

I'm totally digging this top, and wouldn't mind making a few more in various colors.  This diet thing isn't going so well . . .

Thing One

I've been slowly working on a Robson coat, but yesterday I was seized by a desire to make up a pattern I've been wanting to make for the last 2.5 years:  the Burda Striped Top.

This pattern was in the September 2011 issue of Burda magazine, which I bought in Turkey (and thus, in Turkish) during Self-Stitched September of that year!  I've wanted to make this top and the maxi dress which uses this bodice ever since.

My fabric came from Morgan in my first Stash Diet Swap back in January.  I knew when I asked her for this fabric that I'd use it to make this top for spring.  I didn't get right to it because it didn't seem like spring would ever arrive.  But all of a sudden it's here, and it's time to get busy on all those spring sewing plans in my mind!

It took me almost exactly two hours yesterday to trace, cut and sew this top - pretty darn quick!  I traced a straight size 38, and effectively took 1" off the length of the sleeve by not adding a hem allowance, and 4" off the bottom.  The given length would have hit me mid-thigh!

This top is a slimmer fit than I was expecting, but that's not a bad thing - it makes it better for tucking into skirts, but it still looks good over pants.

I tried my best to match the stripes, and mostly succeeded.

But the way the top is drafted meant that I had to choose whether to match the stripes done the sleeve at the top or the bottom.  Of course I chose the top - so the underneath doesn't match up.  I'm OK with that.

I did my hems and around the neck with the coverstitch machine; everything else was done on the serger.  Here you can see the slightly denim-y quality of this French terry fabric.

I had a coffee date with Alicia this morning, and since it is lovely spring weather today, I wore this top with a floral skirt.  Believe it or not, I felt kind of hot!  Good thing I got this made up before it turns into summer!  (Skirt is old, from Anthropologie.)

So this is the first of the eight pieces I need to make to atone for all those fabric purchases I made.  Hehehe!

Magenta & Silver

I spent all day Monday sewing.  Come to think of it, I spent the better part of Sunday sewing too!  I seem to have a lot of projects on the go at the moment, but I'm just going to show you one today, as it's the only one that's finished!

This is my second Burda 7866, which appears to be out of print now.  This one is made from a magenta wool jersey - one of the fabrics that both Andrea and I bought at Fabrications in Michigan.

This top is just slightly different front to back.  I've found when putting on my leopard one that it takes me a bit of time to figure out which is the front.

The neckline on the front is a teensy bit lower.

BTW - this is closer to the true color

I was tired of having to spread the top out on the bed to figure out which was the front, so this time I added a little tiny tag at the back - made of some of my leftover selvedge from the binding of the quilt!

I like having a little bit of hidden leopard :-)

For such a simple design, for me this is surprisingly tedious to make, because I use all three of my machines.  The neck facing is sewn to the neck opening using the sewing machine; the seams are done on the serger and the hems on the coverstitch machine.  It's a lot of getting out and setting up, then putting away.

I like this one, but I don't like it as much as my leopard print one.  The fabric is less drapey, and since it's wool it's a tiny bit scratchy against my bare skin.   Also, I find that I have to ruche it around my tummy just so, in order not to draw attention to the little bulges there - both from my body and from the jeans button.

Still, the solid color makes it a great backdrop for some nice accessories.  I decided to dig out a couple of my old hand-made pieces that I thought went nicely with this top.  First is this drusy necklace:

Years ago when I was working in the studio, a friend purchased a bunch of drusy cabochons.  She offered to give me one in exchange for setting one in a bezel for her, so I chose this one and made this necklace for myself.  I also created the "chain" from sheet metal, giving a rough finish to the links, and formed the clasp.

I love this necklace, but don't have a whole lot of things to wear it with, so my new top fills that hole.  I layered it with another simple necklace I made - a super long chain interspersed with highly polished silver bars (again, cut from sheet) that I can wear doubled or tripled.  Here I wore it tripled.

And you may have noticed that I wore the top with my Jamie Jeans - I am loving these, and plan to make at least a couple more.  AND this top takes care of another piece of fabric from my stash!

Anaconda

Yet another Jungle January project!

When Andrea and I were in Michigan last month, I bought this beautiful "anaconda" print rayon/lycra jersey.  I almost didn't buy it - I looked at it several times and put it back, because I generally don't wear black/grey.  But when I saw that the description included plum tones, I caved.  I still don't see the plum, but the belief that it's there makes this fabric a go for me.

I didn't have a firm plan for this fabric when I bought it, other than "top."  So I looked through my stash of Burda magazines, and settled on this simple dolman-sleeve tee:  Burda 12/2013 #128.  You all know I love a dolman sleeve.

The sleeves on this top are very long, and designed to be pushed up I think.  They also have a double-layer cuff, which I think is kind of nice.

For this top, I traced a straight size EU 36 with no adjustments.  The only change I made to the construction was to do the neck binding in my normal, folded way, rather than turned to the inside.  Just because I generally prefer the look of it.

The recommended hem allowance for this top is 1 5/8", but because I'd only purchased 1.5 yards of this fabric, I didn't have enough to add on any length at all for the hem, so this top turned out an inch or so shorter than it ought to be.  I wish I'd had enough to make it slightly longer, which surprised me:  Burda tops are usually far too long on me.  I like this pattern enough that I'll be making it again, so for future versions I'll make them a bit longer.

I think this is a great little pattern.  It's very similar to the Cation Designs Dolman Sleeve Top, but without the waistband and with longer sleeves and deeper dolmans.  I was going to say that this is a good pattern if you like the Cation top but were sized out, because when I traced my Cation pattern it was only available in one size.  But as I linked it up, I saw that Cindy has expanded the range of sizes!

Here's how this one looks:

A closer look:

And check out how long the sleeves are!  I do have short-ish arms, but still!  Funny!  You can barely see the tips of my right fingers at the bottom.

I paired it with these coated spinel earrings I made a few years ago - one of my fave pairs:

And finally, here's your little bit of silliness - click on the picture below for a fun suprise!

Sssssssssssssssssss!!

MOAR Leopard!!

Because one can never have enough leopard, amirite?

I took advantage of being snowed in over the weekend to sew up a little top I've been wanting to make for quite some time.  I first saw this on my friend Debbie, and went nuts for it.  I knew I had to make at least one, so when I saw this fantastic leopard sweater print at Fabrications in Michigan, I picked some up for this top.

Later that weekend, when Andrea and I were hitting up the pattern sale at JoAnn's, we both picked up a copy of the pattern - by that time she was also in love with it!  This is Burda 7866.  Y'all know how much I love a kimono sleeve!

As you can imagine, this is a pretty simple top to make.  The only thing that's a little fiddly is the neck facing, which is cut in two separate strips and then folded back at the corners and hand-stitched to make a miter. 

Despite being so simple, it took me the better part of the weekend to complete this, because I used all three of my machines!  I sewed the facings to the neckline with a short, narrow zigzag on the regular sewing machine, then did all the construction seams with my serger.  Finally, I finished off my hems with the coverstitch machine.  So each time I switched machines, I had to dismantle the one and set up the other.  Gosh, I wish I had a sewing room!

coverstitched hem

I did the teensiest bit of adjusting on this pattern.  The entire top is a EU 36, and the yoke (waistband section) grades from a 36 to a 38 at the hip.  I probably could have gone with a straight 38, but since it was my first time using this pattern I wanted to make sure the garment wasn't too overwhelming up top. 

I really love that the hem allowances for the sleeves and the bottom are very wide - 1 7/8 inches.  It gives the edges a nice substantial feel.

After I finished the top and put it on, Hubby liked it so much he immediately took a picture and sent it to his sister!  Awww!  My honey is so supportive of my crafty obsessions.

so interesting - you can really see my forward shoulder!

This morning I decided to take some pictures, and so that you guys don't think that the only bottoms I have are skinny jeans, I put on this old suede skirt (GAP, circa 2003!  I love when the label states the date) with the top.  I'm really loving how this looks!  But it also looks great with jeans :-)

Check out my sleeves:

When I was laying out my pattern pieces, I got a little confused because the sleeves are actually much wider than the body section, LOL!

And because it's Jungle January, I had to have a little fun.  So I put some bones in my hair and pretended to be a cannibal. 

Come here, you!  I'm going to put you in a pot and cook you!

They aren't really bones.  They're my hair sticks :-)  Also, I'm a vegetarian.

And this last picture, because it's the only one that shows the neckline well, even though I look like a goof with my hair up like that!  I was worried that the neck opening would be too small even for my tiny head, but it worked out OK, and I think having it smaller helps the top not to fall off the shoulders.

So there you have it!  My first FO of 2014, which is also my first Stash Diet FO, and my second Jungle January make!  Hurray!

As Promised

Going back to the second sequin top I made.  As it turns out, the pictures from NYE were truly horrific - the lighting at my friend's house wasn't any better than it is at mine!  So I donned the outfit again the other day while I was taking the photos of my third (and for now, final) sequin top.

Not much to say about this that I didn't say in the construction post!  So here are a slew of pictures of me wearing the top.

fit pic from the front

fit pic from the back

I discovered that those sequins in the hem really like to get hung up on my pants, so the thing pretty much never lays flat.  For the first few pictures, I wore the top with the jeans and flats I had on, and I don't think it looks bad that way!

But here is how I wore it on NYE - with black wool ankle pants and gold heels.

Let's take a closer look at those shoes, shall we?  Kirsty B, I'm sure you recognize these - I became completely obsessed with them after seeing them on you, and finally tracked them down at a great sale price!

Pour la Victoire Elle in gold snake.  Can you hear the angels singing?

And because I'm in a generous mood today, I leave you with this silly pose: