Handmade Batty Top for Halloween

I am waaaaay too excited about this little top!  :-)  I was at JoAnn Fabrics to get who-knows-what, and I saw a display of Halloween fabrics.  The cool thing was that these were not quilting cotton fabrics but knits!!  Now, the designers may have envisioned some cute pjs for little ones, but that's not what I saw.  This bat-printed interlock spoke - no - screamed at me to become a top for moi.

  

To make this basic raglan-sleeved top, I used a pattern so old that it doesn't even show up on Vogue's out-of-print archives.  It is Vogue 8670, and I used it once before, 3.5 years ago, back in the final days of the old blog.  One thing I didn't like about that original top was that the sleeves are 2-pieces, with a seam running right down the outside of the arm.  This time, I did some creative taping and eyeballing to eliminate that seam.  It worked out great!

I sewed this top mostly on my serger, but I did use my regular machine to sew the neckband and the hems since I would be covering them up with non-stretchy trim anyway.

Please excuse the dog hair right in the middle of my hip here, but here is a closeup of two fun trims that I used to jazz up this top.  First, I machine stitched the top edge of this narrow velvet ribbon right on top of the hem stitching.  Next, I lined up some lace underneath to be caught in the second row of stitching at the bottom of the velvet ribbon.  I also bought the black lace at JoAnn, but unfortunately, I can't find it online.

So there it is!  My fun new Halloween top.  When I want to be a little less conspicuous about it, I wear a black cardigan on top so it's more subtle, but I love that it doesn't scream orange Halloween.  It's like classy Halloween.  

Itch to Stitch Arenal Top with lace shoulders

This is my third and final (for now) Arenal top by Itch to Stitch.  You can see my other two Arenal tops here.  It has taken me a long time to post these photos because there is some seriously weird lighting go on, and I planned to take better photos.  It hasn't happened in the past month, though, so I am just going with these.  Seriously, though, how is it both overcast and too sunny?

I used the 3/4 sleeves and standard hem on this version.  The knit fabric is from Pennie Fabrics in Sarasota and is very lightweight and drapey.  I have quite a bit more, and I'm not sure what to make with it.  Suggestions?  I am thinking of checking if I have enough for the dress pattern that I used to make my red tunic.

For this version, I used a little lavender lace I have had in my stash for eons.  I wanted to use the scalloped hem edge, but I didn't want to worry about bra strap show-through, so I just layered it on top of the standard tee.  For the knit fabric, I overlapped the front pattern piece and the front yoke pattern piece (the shoulder contrast) to make one whole front up to the shoulder.  Then, I used the yoke piece to cut my lace.  I just layered the lace on top of the knit fabric and constructed this as a regular tee.  Super simple, and it is a fun extra detail.

 I was a pattern tester for Kennis, and the links to Itch to Stitch pages in this post are affiliate.

Simplicity 1609

Hi, everybody!  Things have been a bit slow here since I've been away a lot this summer.  Here is a cute little dress I made a month or two ago and have worn a bunch to church.  The inspiration was this blue dress from the Lily Pulitzer for Target collection last spring.

The fabric is a textured cotton I got at Pennie Fabrics in Sarasota.  It has a bit of stretch to it, too, which is nice. 

The pattern is Simplicity 1609.  I'm surprised how well this fits with the darts.  It skims like a princess seam shift.  It looks like it's may be a little snug in back but it doesn't feel that way.  Might just be how it's hanging after several hours of wearing.

The trim on the front is three pieces of lace and some ribbon from JoAnn's, which I hand stitched to the front piece before sewing anything together.

I'm not sure when the next post will be.  No sewing happening due to vacation, but I have been knitting quite a bit! :-)

New Look 6808 Lace Tee

I made a lace tee shirt.  I'm so trendy!  Who knew?  

(Yes, Anthropologie is the epitome of "trendy" in my book.  I'd consider myself more of a Boden girl, stylistically, though.  UK people, do you really walk reindeer around on leashes, though?  jk... kind of)

 This is how I wore it to church.  Looking a little frumpy in this pic, though.  Oh well.  Let me take the sweater off so you can see the top...

 Voila!  The fabric is from Pennie Fabrics in Sarasota (I've been typing that a lot lately).  It's a pretty pale pink color and has 3 dimensional flowers tacked on top all over for a really lush look.  "Tacked on" isn't really the right phrase, though.  I tried to remove them from the seam allowances and they are really sewn on well.

 The pattern is New Look 6808.  I thought I'd used this pattern to make this top (which I'm totally wearing today for Halloween with an orange cardi) but I have a different pattern on that post.  Oh well.  Same shape anyway.  Like that other top, on this one I left out the vertical darts and side zip and only used the bust darts from the side seam.  I can pull this over my head without a zip.

I used the same techniques as this dress to finish the neckline with the lace border.

 I wore it with a pink cami underneath.  What do you think?  Any other ideas how to style this top?  How would you wear it?

In other styling news, I've figured out a way I really like to wear this top - jeans, cardi, and a long necklace.  I really like it like this.  Win.

Also, there is only one more day to enter the giveaway for the Marbella dress pattern.  :-)

Happy Halloween!