Spring Tops

I started to make several things this week to enter Rae's Spring Top Sewalong.  I found some great brown jersey knit at the thrift store, but it turns out it wasn't enough for a top for me from any pattern I had!  So, I ran to Joann's while the clearance items were still 50% off and bought some knit.  It's striped and I love stripes, but I had passed it over earlier because it's sheer-ish and not as "stable" as the knit I had used for the Renfrew.

Holy double hockey sticks (I think my mom reads this blog) was it horrible to work with!!  Lesson learned on working with more "stable" knits.  The fabric curled all over the place and stuck to itself (and everything else) like a suction cup.  I spent more time arranging the fabric for cutting and then pinning seams together than sewing.  I decided on a pattern from Tanya Whelan's book Love What You Sew.  There are several other patterns I'd like to try with better fabric.  The neckline gave me some fits and I ended up ripping out stitches and using some Lite SteamASteam2 (double sided fusing) to help secure the neckline and stitch it down.  It's just a quick and easy dolman sleeve type shirt (easy with better fabric).

I finished just before we needed to head out, so I grabbed Phil for some quick shots and then decided to enter the Renfrew, too.  (Even though it is too small, like, really too small...)  So, I did get two shirts done and entered and that's been on my to do list for years (kinda like the 10-15 pounds....).

The lovely orange band is on my wrist from our Earth Day activity today - protesting the possibility of cutting down Stadium Woods for an athletic facililty on Virginia Tech's campus.  A cause my kids can get behind.

Tomorrow KCSC begins!  (I am already behind!)