completed: collette sorbetto top

So, one week in, I've finished my first major project with my shiny new sewing machine... and it was (more or less) a success! I chose Collette Patterns' Sorbetto top, mostly because it was pretty and free. Who doesn't love pretty and free?! That and I had hemmed all the curtains in the apartment and had had enough of straight lines.

It's listed as a 'beginner' pattern and while it did have some tricky bits, Collette gives some lovely detailed instructions which are so easy to follow. I chose this lovely spotty pink cotton and white bias tape (try as I could, I could not find a bias tape maker in the sewing shop which thwarted my plan of making it in the same fabric... but actually, I really like the white. I also learnt the German for 'bias tape' but other than the fact it begins with an s, I can't remember it again. So that was a lesson worth learning.

I usually wear a size 12 (UK) or 40 (European) on top, which I worked out roughly equates to a 6 on the pattern. This was a nice ego massage while I was making it but things are rarely as simple as they seem, huh?! Turns out I must be more of an 8 around the chest and a 4 around the waist, as it's straining a bit at the top and has overstepped the line of 'baggy' round the waist. I sneakily got round this by just tucking it into my (almost) high-waisted jeans. Done. 

I finally got into the sewing shop today.... and ran into a friend of mine there who I had no idea also sewed! We both did a double-take (double-took?!) and she's invited me to come sew with her and a couple of her sewing friends some time next week. What timing!

Next project? A skirt, I think! I'm eyeing up Tilly and the Buttons' Picnic Blanket Skirt: I'm in desperate need of some 'sensible' skirts for work this summer and I love the shape of this one. And it's free. Yup.

Have a lovely day, hope it's sunny where you are!