Little Black Top - Sagebrush Top

The Sagebrush Top by Friday Pattern Company scored a place in my Make Nine this year in my quest to make myself a new black top that wasn't going to be boring.  I feel like I've ended up with the perfect cobination.

The fabric is this Swiss Dot Cotton from Blackbird Fabrics. I purchased this in their Black Friday Sale and the discount pretty much ended up covering the shipping cost. It's been a few years since I purchased from Blackbird but I'm pleased that the quailty is still as good as ever.

The ruffle along the front yoke of the top adds a beautiful detail, and in conjunction with the sleeves creates a modern classic silhouette. I'm convinced this top will get plenty of wear. It's classic but still so much fun.

 I did make a couple of changes to this pattern.  I lined the back yoke pieces so that there wasn't a need for visible stitching on the back, I also used premade bias tape for the neckline and ties. This was the right choice as I think the texture of the Swiss Dot would have caused more problems than it would have been worth. Next time I think I'd end up lining the front yoke too, to enclose the seam with the gathering as I think it would really elevate the finish.

Helen's Closet Gilbert Top

I think there is something really classic about a white button up shirt. I made one a few years ago, however was chasing a replacement in my wardrobe.  I knew I didn't want a plain shirt, my previous shirt was a Cheyenne/Lucerne Mash up (both by Hey June) featuring the fabulous tie sleeves of the Lucerne. However, for some reason the Helen's Closet Gilbert Shirt wasn't top of my list when looking for replacements.

That was until I checked the fabric requirements.  I'd managed to score 1.4m of white cotton crepe as a remnant from The Fabric Store during a visit and hoped I'd be able to squeeze a sleeved top out of it. The Gilbert Top View A (short sleeves and tie front) has a maximum fabric requirement of 2.3m for 115cm wide fabric, as I had 150cm fabric I was able to play a bit of pattern tertis and get it out of what I had. Though there wasn't much room for error!

I'm really happy with the fit of this one - the only adjustment I made being a full bicep adjustment.  The sleeves still feel a little snug, I think I shouldn't have raised the sleeve cap as much as I did in the end. However it won't stop me wearing it.

 I think this is the perfect shirt which can either be dressed up or dressed down depending on the occasion.  I know I will get plenty of wear out of this in the future.

Peplum Days - Sew Over It Ella Blouse

If you're anything like me you've got a bit of a pattern and fabric stash that always seems to grows.  One of my goals for this year is to end the year with less fabric in my stash than I started it with, its a good thing it's only March as I'm about 20 metres up.

I purchased some Gertie Rayon from Spotlight about a year ago and it's been sitting in my stash waiting for the perfect project ever since.  For a while it was earmarked for a wrap skirt, until I came to the realisation that I rarely wear skirts and I'd be better using it for something I thought would actually get some wear.

Enter the Sew Over It Ella Blouse, I purchased it last year either as part of the PDF Club or during a sale, I can't quite remember.  I traced it off not long after buying it but never got around to actually cutting out what I had traced, that is until Friday night.  I should have been doing some stuy but I really, really didn't want to.

It was actually a quick sew, I cut out the pattern Saturday morning and had it finished to wear for dinner that night even though I had lunch out and went shopping as well.  There are actually only 4 pattern pieces so it does come together fairly quickly.

I decided to add a peplum onto the bottom of the pattern as I don't really wear that many high waisted things and I love the look of a peplum.  I simply measured the bottom circumference of the blouse and then used the By Hand London Circle Skirt Calculator to calculate the radius needed for a half circle skirt.  I ended up adding a nine inch half circle peplum as that was as much as I could get out of the fabric I had (I purchased about 2.2m from memory).   Given that I added the peplum I added a button hole to thread the straps in order to allow them to still be tied at the waist.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and considering I'd been wearing  it for all day when I took these photos it wrinkles less than I imagined.  I also just noticed in this photo I never ironed off my marks from where I traced the peplum, oh well, that's life!

Anyway, I'm hoping to get a bit more sewing completed over the next few weeks, I've been sewing little things for a friends daughter and really enjoying the process but I'm actually hoping to try a few new patterns when I have some fabric arrive during the week, when I can fit it around some study obviously!

Pattern - Sew Over It Ella Blouse

Size/Changes - 16 I think, maybe it was a 14, added peplum

Fabric - Gertie Rayon from Spotlight in Navy ( no longer online)