We’re halfway through May and if you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that I have been doing the Me Made May challenge for this month. Me Made May is an opportunity for people who knit or stitch handmade clothing to celebrate their wardrobe. I am NOT sewing a new garment everyday! I’m using this opportunity to celebrate my years of building my handmade wardrobe. I’m also taking the opportunity to document newer garments that I’ve never really shared and to re-document some old favourites. I’m loving looking into my closet each morning with fresh eyes and picking an outfit to share with you.
This is my second Roxanne top. I just loved the other version and wanted to try the second option with sleeves and the tie. I decided to use the beautiful Liberty of London Growing Fonder Print. I love the detail of this pattern and the fine lines. If you look closely you will also see there are metallic accents here and there. It’s just gorgeous. I decided to do some extreme pattern matching for this tunic. When I was sewing this, I was also watching the Great British Sewing Bee and imagined Patrick Grant judging my work. He’s a tough cookie, but he would appreciate these fine details. This really inspired me to push myself! I was very careful to centre the pattern on the front , the back and also each of the sleeves. I cut each sleeve separately and made sure the pattern was identical on each one. I also made sure that the pattern lined up as you go around the top from front to sleeve to back. To be extra extreme, on the back, I carefully calculated so that the pattern matched up in the centre from the back yoke to the back bodice, ACROSS THE SEAM! No one will ever know, but even the facing on the front neckline perfectly matched the piece it was sewn to. This took a fair bit of time, but I really enjoyed the challenge.
The one little snag I ran into was just a result of me not fully reading the pattern. When you sew in the sleeves for this, you use a smaller seam allowance of 3/8″ rather than the 5/8″ that you use for the rest of the pattern. When I figured this out, it really made a difference on how the sleeves fit!
I love the drama of this pattern! When you wear it, the way the back flows out and the way the back hem curves down just feels so fancy and fun!
I’m collecting all my Me Made May photos here and I’ll be posting lots of new garments for the rest of the month!
Everyday Skirt by Liesl & Co. Fabric : Zipline Rayon from Honeymoon collection Cotton + Steel Photographed in Hope Town, Elbow Cay, Bahamas Our spring session for the Everyday Skirt…
Portfolio Tunic : Lisette for Simplicity Liberty of London Tana Lawn : Claire Aude It seems like winter may never end, so it’s best to embrace it! Or in this…
The Staple DressĀ : pattern by April Rhodes Innocent Crush voile (Maybe print) by Anna Maria Horner photographed near the Humber River I’m giving myself a challenge for the month of…
I used to work in the garment district of New York City. I think that made me a bit spoiled for textile fabrics. I would spend hours after work wandering…
The end of the year is always about cramming in as much sewing time as possible for me. Unfortunately, I ‘holiday sew’ the same way that I ‘holiday shop’. Make…
I’m so excited to share my 1001 Peeps Summer Camp project with you today! Have you been following along with the other great camp projects every Friday? Since I love…
Sampler Quilt 2 class finished two weeks ago. It was a glorious ten weeks putting together this beauty of a quilt top. I don’t think I’m the only one from…