The Late Night Sewist

Hi!

Well, I managed to celebrate the 10th anniversary of my blog by not creating a single post for June and while I thought I would be able to show you my recent wedding guest outfit in detail for compensation, that plan did not work out either so here we are… I have long given up on trying to “cover” everything I make in the blog format (but almost everything can be seen on my IG account, even if only as a single photo).

But today I took some photos of the top I made in April to match my daughter on her 4th birthday. Again, could´ve planned better and got her dressed in her dress for a cool me and mini me photoshoot but… Honestly, blogging and social media is a full time job if done well and since I already have a job, this is what you get 😀

The top is Itch to Stitch Azores and I also happen to wear my all time favorite (I have made 4 pairs by now and will make more, don´t care that skinny pants are supposed to be “out” by now) skinny jeans Liana from the same pattern maker. The top is cute but I doubt I will repeat it again, just proved the point to myself once again that I am not too thrilled with elastic on my waist when it comes to tops and depending on the style, sometimes dresses.

I lengthened the bodice by 5 cm and I also suggest initially cutting it longer at the hem, because the shirring is riding up on the body to find the narrowest spot and that might leave you with a bare belly if the peplum part is too short. I can´t recall now whether I lengthened mine at the hem too, but I think not. It also stays put most of the times, but today I needed to handle two toddlers while wearing the top and had to tug it down occasionally.

Otherwise the pattern is very good as usually by Itch to Stitch – clear and detailed instructions and if you follow them it i impossible to go wrong. I guess what really “makes” this top is the fabric though. I almost bought it when it was more than 25 euros per meter but then dropped the idea just to have my sewing buddy go fabric shopping one day and let me know that they have discounted it by 70%!! My initial idea was a maxi dress of some sort but when I saw the release of Azores, I knew I could use the wonderful border print to underline the design details. It was also a dream to sew and proved to be perfect for shirring (also the stripes of the border print helped immensely, saving me from tediously marking the stitch lines). It is polyester bubble crepe but really good quality, breathable and delicate.

It is loud, I agree, but sometimes I just get the mood for loud! I posted the top on the local FB sewing group and someone commented that they would never ever have bought this fabric and that they can completely understand why it was so heavily discounted 😀 My concern was rather, whether the combination of the fabric and pattern would look too peasant-y, maybe especially since I used cobalt blue faux suede tassels and string instead of the button and loop closure as suggested by the pattern.

As a funny coincidence the top and the pants share not only the pattern maker but the fabric is from the same shop, just bought at a different time. For skinny pants, there is nothing better really than bengaline in my opinion. So here I used blue bengaline with a waxy or somewhat leathery surface to make my Liana pants. Although I have another 3 pairs, this is the most worn and mostly due to the fabric.

And last but not least, a couple images of my daughter´s matching dress, made for her 4th birthday! I know it is crazy for many sewists but I actually used a pattern for this (Style Arc Pippa) since I hate guessing and I wanted to increase my chance of making her something that has the right amount of shirring.