Winter Wear Designs Traveler Tee

I love Winter Wear Designs patterns, but I always seem to miss the cut off on Suzanne's tester calls. I think she felt sorry for me this time, because she told me she'd make room for me! I was thrilled as I was head over heels in love with the line drawing she had posted of the Traveler Tee.

I am a sucker for patterns that allow me to mix wovens and knits together. This is mainly because I tend to save scraps and have a tendency to pick up amazing remnants in the fabric district that are not big enough for an entire project. I used a mauve poly jersey and a rayon woven (if you recognize it, I've used it for 2 different tops,  both of which are Winter Wear patterns).

The Traveler Tee above was the first one I made and I made a size too big! My bust is 37.5" and the size large stated 38" and I figured my bust was closer to the large than the medium. Suzanne pointed out my mistake, but it was too late - I had already cut out another one. See below.

I used a poly jersey and a satin-y woven for this Traveler Tee. Both the one above and this one I made the cap sleeved version. To get a perfect corner, you must follow the instructions exactly! I love to add a strip of interfacing to my knit piece to prevent it from stretching as I sew it to the woven bodice.

Before I sewed up the Traveler Tee above, I cut out the Medium and sewed both at the same time. I decided to use the same satin-y woven I used above for this Traveler Tee. But this time I used a different portion. It gives it a totally different look. This time I paired it with a brushed nylon knit from Zenith & Quasar.

 

I removed 2" from the length of all the Traveler Tees I made. As you can see, the medium is significantly shorter on me than the large ones above.

  

This one is also a cap sleeve and has the longer back.

The pattern got a final tweak - although no changes were made to the size medium, I still printed it out and made another Traveler Tee.

I made this Traveler Tee with a rayon spandex knit and a cotton voile. This one is the short sleeved version with the straight hem in the back.

The pattern includes an elbow length, 3/4 length, and long sleeve option in addition to cap sleeve and short sleeve. If we were not entering Spring and Summer, I would have made a flannel and sweater knit version with long sleeves. I'm putting it on my fall sewing list now!

I really love the fit of the Traveler Tee and have already worn 2 of the tops I made. I'm debating on trying to take in the large ones or give them to my mother. I did wear the first large one and loved how it felt on. The only problem with it is that the armholes are a bit big and you can see my bra when I lift my arm. I will definitely be making more of these not only for this summer, but I will make a few for this fall & winter.

The Traveler Tee is part of the Winter Wear Wardrobe Builders Collection. All patterns in this collection are $5! They are all great basics that are beginner or adventurous beginner friendly.

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Itch to Stitch Chirripo Top

Kennis at Itch to Stitch always has amazing patterns. I am in love with the newest pattern - the Chirripo Top.  The Chirripo Top is a loose fit top that has 2 options - sleeveless or with flutter sleeves. I chose to make the sleeveless and was thrilled that I found I was able to make my size (I'm a size 10 A cup in this pattern) with just 1 yard of 60" wide woven fabric.

The details in this top are beautifully made and the finishing touches in the sewing construction give you a garment that looks professionally made. The square neck yoke is a welcome addition to my closet full of round neck tops.

My friend Sharon was also a tester for the Chirripo and we met up for photos. I was taking the two photos above when she arrived to the nature preserve where we decided to meet for photos. As usual, when she arrived we began chatting about all the things that had been happening in our lives and I completely forgot that I needed to take photos of this top. I did snag several good ones of Sharon and I together.

The Chirripo is made for wovens. In particular soft drapey wovens. Sharon's Chirripo is made with a crepe (not sure if it's a rayon or poly blend). My Chirripo is made with a cotton voile. My cotton voile is soft, but probably not quite as drapey as needed. But I absolutely love how it turned out in this double border print.

You might notice in these photos that my Chirripo is a little longer than Sharon's. This is because - I made it longer - but not intentionally. My double border print did not have an even amount of border at both ends. I was doing my best to line up the design on my pattern pieces and intentionally left the extra at the bottom with the intent to cut it off before I hemmed. I then decided to keep as much of the print on the very bottom as possible and decided to only trim the back which was longer.

Since Sharon and I had found this noce shady spot on this 100 degree day, we stayed put and took photos of our second Chirripos we made. I did not realize it at the time, but in the time it took us to change tops, the sun had risen just enough to cause a bit of a sun flare in these photos. Let's just act like this was done for artistic purposes.

We both used a poly blend woven for these versions. They were light and drapey. Be sure to read Sharon's blog post at Sweet Mama Life!

The Chirripo can easily be dressed up or down. I'm wearing mine with knit slacks. I'm most likely to wear these pants with my Chirripo to work with a jacket or cardigan. While Sharon paired her Chirripo with some cute shorts and sandals for a casual but chic outfit.

I did manage to get a few photos of just me in my Orange Chirripo!

Here's a look at the back. It has the same square yoke in the back as the front. The back is just higher.

I love the way this top feels. It's so soft and silky. But this fabric was such a pain to cut! It kept shifting around. The yokes and side pieces gave me the most trouble and I think I cut out 6 yokes before I decided to just line the yoke with a cotton woven.

I love the side panel detail! It's so cool and gives the top a great shape on the sides.

The front gathers are very light - it's not heavily gathered. I gathered using my serger and had to ease them out as it had gathered them too much. But I did end up with beautifully even gathers.

The Chirripo is on sale for one week for $8! I'm eager to make one with a flutter sleeve. I'm also toying around the idea of making one with a cotton woven yoke and side panels, but a knit body.

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. These links provide me with a small compensation if you make a purchase using my link. There is not cost to you when you do this. My thoughts and opinions given in this blog post are mine.