Hey, Sewists! I am excited to share another Zierstoff Patterns creation for the Show Your Stoff tour. Before I talk about my new make, I have to confess that I am one of those who is completely obsessed with the HGTV show Fixer Upper. Chip and Joanna Gaines are totally adorable, share a deep love of each other, and keep humor alive in their relationship. Joanna’s design style has given me a newfound love of shiplap and shopping for antiques. More than that though, I am smitten with Joanna’s personal wardrobe style. She is down to earth and wears lots of flannel plaid and army green. Be still my heart! Okay, all gushing aside, she wore a navy and brown top in an episode that I loved and knew I had to make. Hours after watching her wear this top I saw Melissa’s call out for sewing bloggers to join this tour. I found the Alizia batwing top and knew exactly what I was going to be making.
For this top, I used all stashed fabrics! Can I tell you, I am feeling pretty confident in my stashbusting efforts so far this year. Anyways, for most of the top, I used 1.75 yards of Patriot Blue Rayon Lycra Jersey from Fabric Mart. I purchased this fabric in 2016 for $4.00 a yard. For my accent details, I used .75 yards of a tan faux suede 2-way stretch fabric. This fabric has been languishing in my stash for over 10 years! I think that it was purchased sometime between 2004 and 2005, with the intention of using it for a fairy type of renaissance festival costume. I figured that since I had not made the costume in the last 10 years that I was probably never going to make it and it was safe to use this fabric for another project. I have no idea how much I originally spent on it since it was well before started keeping track of that.
Much like the Pia Dress pattern I stitched up before, I have the same concerns for new sewists with these PDF patterns. Also like my Pia Dress, I still ended up with a great finished garment.
I did make a couple of changes to the neckband piece due to my fabric choices. Since the fabric is only a 2-way stretch I ended up cutting it two inches longer. This allowed me to be able to fit the neckline of the jersey into the neckband with l little more ease and help the neckline to lay flat without puckers. I also took a deeper seam allowance around the neck than the pattern calls for. The instructions say to use a 3/8” seam allowance, however, my neckband was not laying flat and stuck up instead. It was also a bit tight to pull on over my head. To remedy this I stitched the neckband at 5/8” This made all the world of difference. The end result was having a neckband that was just over a 1/2” wide and laid flat against the body. To help keep it laying flat, I topstitched around the neckline of the jersey. Topstitching this type of neckline is my personal preference, as I think it helps to give a cleaner look to the finished garment.
All in all, I am pretty pleased with how this top turned out. If you have not checked out Zierstoff Patterns yet, go do it now! Zierstoff is giving everyone 30% off your purchase.
Check out the rest of the stops on the Show Your Stoff blog tour.
Monday’s Bloggers: (direct links to Show Your Stoff posts)
Anne-Mari Sews, Inspinration, Tenille’s Thread, Sew Cucio, Embrace Everyday
Tuesday’s Bloggers: (direct links to Show Your Stoff posts)
Musings of A Seamstress, mahlicadesigns, Anna’s Heirloom Boutique, Ronda B Handmade, FABulous Home Sewn
Wednesday’s Bloggers: (direct links to Show Your Stoff posts)
Thread and Scissors, Kaleidothought, Idle Sunshine, mahlicadesigns
Thursday’s Bloggers: (direct links to Show Your Stoff posts)
Very Blissful, Sew A Piece of Joy, Zowie Zo, Nina Makes, Lulu & Celeste, Thread and Scissors.
Friday’s Bloggers: (direct links to Show Your Stoff posts)
Tales of a Tester; Anne-Mari Sews; Bless, by Tone; Life Sew Savory; Needles to Say, and Adventures with Bubba and Bug
Saturday’s Bloggers: (direct links to Show Your Stoff posts)
Musings of A Seamstress, Anna’s Heirloom Boutique, Ronda B Handmade, Glitter in my Coffee, Anne-Mari Sews, Stitches by Laura; Tea, Dust and Stitches
[…] about a little sneak peek of what Musings of A Seamstress, Anna’s Heirloom Boutique, Ronda B Handmade, Glitter in my Coffee, Anne-Mari […]
Your color combination is really cool with a slight retro vibe. I’m glad it worked out or you to knock off Joanna’s shirt for yourself.
Thanks! I thought the combo was a little retro too.
I love your shirt and have to admit to having watched a few episodes of Fixer Upper myself! It’s great to finally use those stash fabrics!
Thanks! My husband and I are definitely obsessed.
Cute! Joanna’s decorating style doesn’t always line up with my taste, being heavy on the neutrals, but I do enjoy watching the show. And it’s refreshing to have a female host who isn’t afraid to go around in t shirts, since that’s way more realistic for actually working on houses! The color blocking looks great, and good for you on the stashbusting!
I love that colour combination, and it looks like such a comfy top!
Thank you! It really is super comfy!