Gemma’s Sagebrush Top
With some clever pattern cutting Gemma used the rainbow polyviscose in her Mini November Box to make a Friday Pattern Company Sagebrush Top.
When Hayley shared a preview of this fabric with us I was so excited, it looked truly gorgeous! The best of two worlds: tartan and rainbow! I had a little bit of a wait for this to be delivered, but it was worth it, as it was even more lovely than I imagined! As a more medium weight fabric, it made a change from cotton, more fitting for the transition into autumn/winter making.
As I had the Mini Box I had 1m of fabric, and I am always up for the challenge of what I can make with a smaller amount. I really wanted something that would show off this fabric beautifully, something I would be able to wear again and again, and set to work trying to figure out which of my blouse patterns I had in my stash I could use or adapt to fit the amount of fabric. Luckily for me I am not too fussed about stripe matching (although I know for some people it is a must!) and the fact that it isn’t too obvious a direction print also helped. As much as I wanted something with longer sleeves I just couldn’t make it work, but after playing the biggest game of pattern Tetris ever I managed to squeeze one particular pattern: The Sagebrush Top by Friday Pattern Company.
It’s a go-to pattern for me and a popular wardrobe staple, this is such a great blouse pattern. It has lots of little details that make it visually interesting, such as tie back, ruffle and very poufy sleeves! Being a short sleeved pattern meant I could just about cut it all out apart from the ruffle. I feel that it would have looked a little cluttered with it added so this wasn’t a hard sacrifice to make! I also cut the back piece as two pieces with a small seam and sewed them together in order to get it to fit, again, not something that particularly bothers me and luckily the stripy nature of the print hides it well!
Sewing the Sagebrush is a really enjoyable experience. It is relatively straightforward and after making a couple I can whip one up in an afternoon. This fabric made it even more enjoyable as it is such a great fabric to work with – it didn’t move around and went through my machine really easily. I actually won the pattern matching lottery when constructing the side seams, as I found that they unintentionally matched! Because of the structure of the fabric it holds the gather of the sleeves really well, giving it a great poufiness, which makes me so happy!
How awesome does this fabric look?! I’m super chuffed that I managed to get this pattern out of the amount of fabric I had, as it is so gorgeous, the colours together make me really happy! Even though it is a short sleeved garment, being a medium weight means it works well for this weird cold morning/warm afternoon weather we have been having, and I will happily add a long sleeved top underneath for when it is colder. I can’t wait to see what everyone who receives their boxes thinks of this fabric, and all the new things people will make with it!