I don’t usually post twice in the same day, but I had to share the story behind this simple little top….
This pretty double brushed poly fabric (from Sly Fox) has had almost as many lives as a cat! I ordered it with plans for (yet another!) raglan, but got derailed by the last minute chance to take family photos last weekend in a local orchard. We live in an almond farming area, and when the trees bloom, it’s just magical (see the photos we took last year at this time!).
Unfortunately, the bloom doesn’t last for very long, and can easily be derailed by things like heavy winds or rain, so you have to jump on it when you’ve got the chance. A sweet friend offered to let us take photos in her orchard, and I couldn’t resist the chance to make something new, and a little fancy, out of my pretty fabric.
With 24 hours notice, I decided to “whip up” a new dress for the photos. Does anyone else cringe when they hear those words? Things don’t just “whip up”. They take time, and I had precious little of it! I decided on a dress pattern by a popular, but new to me, designer. All my measurements fit her chart perfectly, and I had no doubt that it would fit like a glove.
WRONG. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The fit was off by so much, there was little I could do to fix it. I was in denial at first, and spent hours unpicking and re-serging, only to find that it was getting much worse, and was at a point where it really couldn’t be salvaged. To make that dress work for me, I would need to do extensive pattern adjustments- not the kind of thing I could do on the fly.
Now, normally, this is where I toss it in the corner, (or in the bin, if I’m really mad!) and go shopping. But, I have joined the RTW fast of 2018, so shopping wasn’t an option, and I didn’t want to waste these pretty flowers. So, I mustered up my best Tim Gunn, and made it work. Due to the seaming of the dress, I didn’t have alot of fabric to work with, despite originally having 2 yards.
I dove into my pattern stash, and came up with the Megan Nielsen Briar top.
I’ve made it before, but didn’t have enough for the full length version- so I cut out the crop top, wondering if I was about 10 years too old for this style. Fortunately, this was a quick sew, and while it wasn’t quite what I had in mind for our Orchard shot (I did manage to make something for that, stay tuned!) it did turn out pretty cute!
Honestly, I’m still a little unsure about whether this style is too young for me- and I don’t think I can get away with showing my belly button as a thirty-something- but its nursing friendly, and I’m proud of it because I was able to overcome my frustration and make lemonade out of lemons. A friend calls this “Plan B: Fabric Edition”, and I’m inclined to agree!
Side note: Husband could not figure out why I was so fidgety during this shoot! Can you spot the problem? Here’s a close up:
What do you think? Would you wear this style? What do you do when a project goes awry?
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