Sew Grateful Week - Day 4: Project

Hello again :) Yesterday's post (share a tutorial, pattern etc...) didn't quite happen, I'm afraid, so here's a bit of a token effort:

• If you ever need to de-mystify bound buttonholes, The Little Tailoress's tutorial is beyond wonderful.

• I've downloaded this but haven't yet made it up so can't personally vouch for it, but SBCC's (Skinny Bitch, Curvy Chick) Tonic T-shirt looks like a really promising basic fitted top pattern. And the PDF is free :)

Onto the Sew Grateful Project:

Thursday the 27th February: Sew Grateful Sewing Project Day.  Showcase your latest sewing project. Whether it's a project using up that pattern that was a present from someone or that you won in a giveaway or using a tutorial someone has prepared, or even a project inspired by someone in the sewing community... the possibilities are nearly endless!

My project is made using fabric I won in a giveaway by Fabric Tragic last year. It's a drapey wine-coloured knit with a bit of a crushed finish to it. I almost made it up as a top, then a skirt, then another top, but wasn't quite sold on any of the patterns I'd planned so it's been sitting on the desk since September. A week ago I was wearing my kimono/jacket/shruggy thing and it struck me that it could work in a knit. This one, while drapey and reasonably light-weight, is pretty stable, so it ended up working pretty well:

The indoor photos make it look quite purple, but the outdoor ones are a pretty good match. The construction was the same as last time (link is above if you're interested), except that since the last one was chiffon I used french seams. This time I did the whole thing on my overlocker, which is a first for me. I usually just use the overlocker for finishing.

Some very quick photos before we lost the light - just remembered in time!

 This one is little bit warmer than my chiffon one, so I'm hoping it'll work well during winter, given a few long-sleeved layers underneath :)

The only change I made to the pattern this time around was to sew bands onto the end of the sleeves. Last time I folded the raw edge under twice and sewed it down, but I like this as a finish for knit garments. They look quite nice folded up (half the width below) too. (Is that the way the Renfrew top is finished? I really must buy that this year.) You can see the crumpled look of the fabric here - it's not just my ironing aversion... ;)

Judging by the amount of wear my last version has has, I think this is going to be a very useful addition to my me-made wardrobe. Expect to see it in May quite a bit! 

Thanks, Sarah, for a fantastic giveaway!