I missed last month’s project SewMyStyle– the Hampshire Trouser. I do plan to make them at some point, and I have some cotton twill prewashed and ready, but October ended up being a very busy month! November though is a little less crazy, and I’ve managed to be a bit more organised. The project for November is the Anna dress by By Hand London. I don’t really have a need for a more dressy dress this month though, so I did a bit of research about how else I could use the pattern. This is what I came up with- I found a really lovely pattern hack for a top.
The pattern hack involves shortening the bodice a little so that it is empire line, and then adding a circle skirt. The circle skirt calculator is really handy here to work out exactly what to cut. I went with a half circle skirt, but kept the length a bit longer than I expected to need, because I wasn’t sure what length I was going to want it. I ended up keeping all the length though, because this is really lovely at almost-tunic-length!
The fabric is a beautiful self lined polyester crepe in a colour called aubergine. I was given it to test by Minerva Crafts, and I managed to get this top out of the remnants of that project. You should be able to see the end result of my main project in a couple of weeks.
In the meantime, I will say that the fabric is lovely. The colour is rich, it drapes and it seems quite resistant to creasing, which is a little irritating when pressing up small hem allowances, but is actually very handy in wear.
This top is for me a great reminder to look beyond the styling, and the functionality of a pattern and look at what really matters- the cut and the lines. I think I will have to look through my pattern stack with new eyes looking at what else I can hack to serve a new purpose.
I have reached the point in the year where no matter what, I’m not going to be temped to take photos of short sleeved garments outside- hence the layering t-shirt, but I actually like it like this too. It makes a put-together, slightly glam top more everyday wearable.
Naomi Sews 
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