The Late Night Sewist

Hi!

I actually did not plan to write a blog post about this top at all, but the drama around it made me change my mind.

To start from the beginning, I ordered this mini cable knit jersey a while ago and expected it to be more “knit” and less jersey. So when it arrived, I just put it away without any inspiration what to use it for.

Then came the testing opportunity for Itch to Stitch Coimbra top, and at first I felt really “meh” about the pattern. Nevertheless, I tried to rather think “how to”, not so much “why not to” and suddenly remembered the fabric in my stash. They really seemed to be a match!

When I introduced the idea to my husband, he looked at me in disbelief and said: “So you think that you put two things you don´t like together and expect to like the outcome?” Well, actually his choice of words was a bit more juicy, we have a saying in Estonian that “you can´t turn shit into bread” meaning that when the starting point is not good, the outcome cannot be good either.

But, when I finished the top, I was actually really pleased with it and the fabric and the pattern DID turn out to be match made in heaven! The fabric has good recovery and is the right weight for the pattern, so that I can wear it either as a separate top or layer it on a v-neck t-shirt like I did the other day for work.

For the first time, I tried turning sharp angles with my coverstitch machine and it was much easier than I anticipated.

My initially skeptical husband loved the outcome and I got many compliments from my colleagues as well. So all was good until I posted the top to the biggest Estonian sewing community on Facebook after the pattern was released. Many positive comments and lots of “likes” until someone just blurted out a comment: “In womenswear, the wrap wraps to the opposite side.”

Honestly, I was completely baffled. First of all, I admit that I never gave it a thought and it turns out that at some point in the pattern testing phase there was a confusion indeed and later the instructions were corrected, but I ended up following the initial version with the results you see. So yes, I accept that historically in womenswear it is more correct to wrap the fronts the opposite way, but I was bothered by the rudeness of the comment (it was followed by expressions like “it hurts my eyes to see it” etc) and secondly…. who cares? Apparently a few people did and the comment feed got really busy with people commenting on both sides, the administrator deleting some of the comments and so on. I couldn´t believe it!

And while I still don´t think that it matters to which side you tie your wrap in 2023, at the same time I was annoyed with all the fuss and definitely it was not the way I wanted to be highlighted. And then, the next day, I got a message from the fabric shop I had ordered the fabric from, offering a long term collab because they liked the top and the matching Liana stretch jeans I made, also using their fabrics!

Never did I expect a little grey wrap top to cause such drama and variety of emotions, but this is how it happened. I know that a lot of people loved my example and went on to buy the pattern to make their own version and I can guarantee that when they follow the instructions of the released pattern, they will end up with correctly wrapping top.

If you got interested now, the Coimbra top is 20% off still today, shop here. The Liana stretch jeans are my 6th pair (I am starting to lose count actually) and if you like them, you can shop the pattern here.

Until soon!