the summer top

I don't know about you, but pretty, affordable, ethically made summer tops proved to be elusive to me this Summer. So, encouraged by my last project (and thank you for all those top pattern suggestions left in the comments), I dusted off another pattern from my collection.

I went through my stash and came up with just enough Anna Maria Horner voile for a simple top. I'd had this McCalls patterns for quite some time. I had planned to make this into a maternity top while I was pregnant, but I just never got around to it. I've often tended towards tunic and empire lines, as I find them incredibly comfortable and, well, they just feel like "me". If you know what I mean.

It took me almost a week of working on it on and off late at night. Though I did have to re-do one little yoke section, the rest was pretty straight forward.

I made the size 8, but found that I had to take the sides in about a centimeter on both sides. The straps also needed shortening which was not really a problem. This pattern was definitely on the generous side as far as sizing went.

Though right at the very end, just when I thought the project was in the bag,  I went to cut off the excess fabric for the hem (and believe me there was quite a lot of excess fabric - I wasn't after the sack look) and of course you can guess what happened. Yes, I chopped too much off. I can only blame the late night hours involved. Not fancying the belly top look, I found a little more of the voile from the same range and attached it to the hem to lengthen it. And surprisingly, I'm quite happy with how that turned out. Sometimes mistakes can lead to better outcomes. Or at least more interesting ones.

And most importantly (becoming increasingly more important the older I get) it is light and comfortable.

More creative spaces to be seen over here.