Back-to-back success
I’m not one to walk away from a cutting accident… In fact, I embraced this one wholeheartedly. I now have a colour blocked top which I like to think of as a happy accident.
Two weeks ago I was tidying up my sewing space and I came across my traced Olivia Oversized Tee and I decide to shorten it (as per my previous Olivia post) before packing it away. I removed the required 1 inch off the front and back, and before I knew it, I was cutting out another one. This pattern has that effect on you!
The stripes are from an ex-designer fabric store which is no longer exists. When purchasing this fabric I was told it was from the boys range at Seed (a clothing brand in Australia). The fabric has been in the stash for a long time. Yah for stash busting!
I didn’t have enough fabric to cut a back and front as per the pattern, but I remembered Lara’s trick of piecing together your fabric and including a centre back seam. My brilliant thought was then squashed when I discovered the hard way that two left sides do not make a whole!
Thankfully, the stash yielded some viscose/lycra that was a good match in weight and colour. I also decided to use the brown on the neck and hem bands. This meant there was only two seams (shoulder and side) to stripe match.
I secured the neckline seam with a twin needle and decided, purely for decorative reasons, to do the same with the shoulder seams.
Pattern: Maria Denmark’s Olivia Oversized Tee
Size: Medium
Fabric: Cotton/lycra and viscose/lycra from the stash
Alterations: Removed all waist shaping by drawing a straight line from the short sleeve underarm cutting line to the hips. Added a seam allowance to the centre back, cut the back in two pieces and joined them together before constructing the top as per the instructions. This version is 1 inch shorter than the xs hem cutting line.
Accessories: Sophie Digard scarf from Scarlett Jones
Some of my greatest works of art have come from”accidents!” Your top looks great.
Thanks for the kind words. I have to agree about accidents being the springboard for great outcomes.
Ohhhh, I love the sleeve! And how very handy to have the stash produce such a great match in the brown, it looks wonderfully deliberate 😉 Another fabulous top, and gorgeous photos!
The stash is large & able to produce lots on demand. Isn’t that the reason for having a stash? Tee hee. Another top finished today & it’s scheduled to be photographed tomorrow if this head cold doesn’t get the better of me!
You are doing such interesting things with top patterns! I’m so impressed. Great fabric matching and stripe matching too.
Thanks Oanh. It’s tops or dress for me until I overcome my fear of ‘bottoms’!
This is such a rad twist on a top- love the perfect brown and stripes match! All hail stash! And gorgeous pics as well!
Thank-you lovely lady. Stay tuned for another forest shoot… photos taken today!
I like it. You should even continue it around to the front. I’m already fantasizing about taking apart two tops that line up and splicing them together. It’s chic and slimming if one of them is dark like that.
What a great idea. Thanks for sharing. And in regards to splicing your two tops… go for it!
What a great save, this is better than if you’d done as you originally planned. You seem to be on a real roll of excellent clothes at the moment. I love your sense of style its great.
I agree Louise, this top is much better than originally planned. I’m really enjoying my sewing, styling, photo shoots and blogging at the moment. I hope that doesn’t mean I’m a due for a wadder!