30 July 2013

The Grass is Always Greener Top


Have you ever started one dressmaking project only to change your mind mid-process and end up with something totally different? I was all set to make an elasticated waist batwing dress - this one, to be precise - using this dreamy Elk Grove organic (yes, organic!) knit (yes, knit!) from Birch Fabrics. I'd been thinking about it for weeks, had sourced the elastic, and it was all cut out and ready to go. Yet when I pinned it together and looked in the mirror to check the fit, well... it just seemed a bit too... no, not elky... but a bit too green.

Not that there's anything wrong with green per se, obvs, but I recently resolved to stick to a signature style colour palette (which I can share more on if you're interested), and green doesn't feature. A bit of green is fine, but a green dress may be a bit "off message", as marketeers would say.


So I decided to just sew together the top half and make a simple batwing top. I do so like a good batwing top. Once I'd decided what to do, it took less than an hour to put the whole thing together using my overlocker. I finished the neckline with a facing as I didn't want to break up the print with a band or a line of stitching. If I make this again, I'd lengthen the hem and take some of the curvature out of the shoulders (is it for shoulder pads??).

With the scorching hot weather we've been having in London recently, there's something so comforting about slipping into a snuggly long sleeved top sometimes. I know, I know, the grass is always greener...

[Soundtrack: 'Steel Your Girl' by Neon Neon]