Diamond Peplum Top - Sugar Ink Peacock Feathers

*****UPDATE*****

I entered my top in the Pattern Anthology Unbiased Collection Contest and I am a finalist for the Grand Prize! Please do me a favor and vote for my top. Voting is quick and easy - and ends on Saturday. The winner will be announced on Monday. Vote HERE.

http://patternanthology.com/pages/unbiased-contest-rules

Thanks!!!

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I received a strike off of these gorgeous peacock feather print from Sugar Ink Fabric. Sugar Ink's cotton lycra fabric is printed in Europe on GOTS certified organic cotton lycra - and it's wonderful! This print will be available for pre-order beginning November 27th on their website - www.sugarinkfabric.com. 

The peacock feather kaleidoscope print is named Pavoescence. The colors in it are beautiful - jade green, deep dark purple, ruby red, indigo blue, and many colors in between. The pattern is playful, yet sophisticated. 

The pattern I used is the Diamond Dress and Top from Shwin Designs. I bought it from Pattern Anthology as part if the Unbiased Collection. This pattern will be on sale for one day only for $3! Use the code "Diamond" to get the sale price on November 15th HERE. 

Here are a few photos of me in my Diamond Top. I love this pattern and how you can do color blocking. It's hard to tell from my photos, but the center front of the top is shaped like a diamond. The back piece wraps around to the front to make the triangles on the lower sides on the diamond. 

I went with the flared peplum bottom. The pattern also has a gathered bottom option.

Pink Zeppelin Poly Lycra Jersey Knit Peacock Feathers

Are you curious about the poly lycra Pink Zeppelin Fabrics is now offering? Yvi Osorio sent me a strike off. Here's my take on it. 

It's lightweight - nothing like what is offered by Cuddle Muffins or Zenith & Quasar. But that's okay. That makes this poly more drapey - it's very fluid. It would be great for those summery tops, dress, and skirts that need a lot of drape or are very flowy. 

It feels silky. I wasn't sure at first what I had. It has almost a swim feel, but not quite - it's almost like active wear. 

It has great stretch and recovery side to side, and has some vertical stretch (about 20%). 

The print is crisp and the colors are rich and amazingly vivid. 

I also love the price - it's $15/yard! 

I'll definitely buy this in addition to the cotton lycra. I can see using this for a lot of patterns where cotton lycra doesn't have enough drape to look right. The top I made is the Lotus Blossom Top from Love Notions. I made this top before in a custom cotton lycra (See post HERE) and was unhappy with the result since it did not drape properly for this pattern. So go give Yvi's poly lycra a try. The preorder closes on November 6th.

This is a closeup shot of the front of the top - to show the great drape and vivid colors.

Me in the top.

The back detail on this top is so cute and great for when you don't have enough fabric for the front and back since you can add a little of the design fabric to the top of the back.

Another photo of me in the top - since the top makes me look so thin.

And another - I need ,ore of these tops in a drapey fabric. I need to find a way to make it long sleeve.

Greenstyle Creations Laurel Tunic

Greenstyle Creations had a 40% off sale awhile back and I bought a few patterns to try. I have fallen in love with the Laurel Tunic and Dress. It's easy to make. Has several options. And best of all - it's very figure flattering. You can buy it HERE.

I used a winter sweater strike off from PNW Fabrics for the bodice and a solid dark blue I bought from the Dallas Fabric District for the rest. You can purchase PNW fabrics HERE.

Here are all my pieces cut out.

Here is the pattern cover page. It has a cowl neck, but for this top I decided to do a banded neck.

First the bodice front and back are sewn together at the shoulders and sides. I cut the front neckline higher than the pattern.

To do the neck band, I used a measuring tape to measure the length around my neckline. I then multiplied that number by 0.8 to get the length needed for the band. I cut my band 2" wide and by the length I calculated. I then sewed the ends together.

Then I pinned the band to the neck evenly all around.

I then serged it on.

Then I topstitched the seam down with my coverstitch.

Then I sewed the seam of the sleeves.

I then turned the bodice inside out and placed the sleeves inside right side out and pinned them in place.

Then I serged them on.

Now for the skirt. I did the tunic length and I did the pleats in the front and the back. Here I am marking my pleats.

Pleats are marked.

Pleats are folded and pinned into place.

The pleats are then sewn down with a long straight stitch.

The font and back of the skirt are sewn together at the sides. Then the skirt is pinned to the bodice and serged on.  I then hemmed the skirt with my coverstitch and I added a band to the sleeves.

Here is my finished Laurel tunic.

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Thanks!

KZJO Studio - Pattern Test - Cosette

Here's another pattern test I did for Kaysie at KZJO Studio. This is the Cosette and it's a really cute semi fitted top perfect for fall.  Buy Cosette HERE. Use the coupon code "Cosette20" for 20% off the regular price of $9 through October 20th.

The Cosette is perfect for flannel and other fall wovens. It's unique in that the side panels are cut on the bias which adds some stretch and interest to the top. The wide v-neck is great to wear over another top or camisole.

Kaysie had some challenges with this pattern and the pictures that follow are not exactly how the final pattern turned out.

The first version I made was from a gauzy/flannel like woven. I'm not sure where I got this fabric, but have had it a long time, and never knew what to do with it. It was perfect for this top.

Here are all my pieces cut out.

First the front and back are sewn together at the shoulders.

The pattern has 2 options for finishing the neckline - binding or facing. For my first version I decided to do a binding since I had some ready made Anna Maria Horner binding in my stash and it went well with my fabric. Here is my binding pinned in place.

Sewing the binding on.

Sewn on.

Now to trim the excess.

Turned in and topstitched.  The bottom of the wide v neck was a little tricky.

Now to sew on the side panels to the front.

And then sew them to the back piece.

Then to put some basting stitches along the top of the sleeves.

Then I sewed the seams of the sleeves and then attached them to the top.

Here it is before I hemmed the sleeves and the top.

Here I am in the finished top. This one needs a tank top under it.

For the next try - I used a green and white light weight woven I purchased for $1/yard at Golden D'or during one of their inventory sales. Here are all my pieces.

I id the facing on this one. Here are my facing pieces.

Here my facings are sewn together and the front and back of the top are sewn together at the shoulders.

The facing is pinned in place and sewn on.

The facing was then turned to the inside and ironed in place.

Side panels were sewn onto the front.

Then sewn to the back.

Stay stitches on the sleeve tops.

Sewed the sleeve seams and added them to the top.

Here I am in the second try. This one turned out much better. The final version of the pattern includes a few more tweaks that make it a perfect fit.

I made one more Cosette that you don't see here. I'll reveal it later on when Kaysie does the Cosette for the pattern of the month. I already have another Cosette cut out and ready to sew. This is a pretty quick sew and I definitely prefer the facing over the binding for the neckline - but to each his own.