Labour Day long weekend is coming to a close now and school starts on Wednesday for the kids. (I've already been back since last Monday). The hectic fall season is upon us for sure, but this weekend the weather has been gloriously summery - sunshiny and warm, so I'm wearing a last minute summer sew that I almost had finished whipping up before we went on holidays - all I had left was the shoulder straps and hem for when we got home. Not having had an opportunity to wear it since finishing it, I totally forgot about it until this morning.
Of course, it's the new free Orchard pattern from Helen's Closet that you can get just by signing up for their newsletter! It's such a simple make and comes with a top version with two lengths and a dress version also with two lengths (that even has pockets!).
I knew as soon as I saw the pattern that I wanted to make mine out of leftover linen that I had in my stash. Because I was working with scraps I knew that I'd need to do some colour blocking to make it work. I used the "Summer Breeze" linen in Pomegranate from Pure Linen Envy that I used a couple of summers ago to make my Helen's Closet Ashton Top along with leftover bias binding and a small strip of fabric that was all that remained from cutting out the linen blend from Minerva that I made my Zadie Jumpsuit with (also a couple of years ago). I also seamed the back of the top because I didn't have big enough piece of the solid linen to cut out the entire back piece. Scrap busting at it's finest!!
To make my colour blocked version I went the easiest route possible. First to make sure my top would be long enough for my liking, I added 1 1/2" to the pattern right off the hop. Then I traced out the cropped version and added 5/8" seam allowance. For my contrast band I traced off the rest of the top pattern from the cropped version line to the cut line and added 5/8" seam allowance at the top. I cut both pieces on the fold since I had the room for it on my strip of linen blend, then it was just a matter of stitching the band to the bottom of my front and already sewn back pieces. Then I continued on with the pattern as directed. I lucked out having enough of the patterned linen bias tape left over from my Zadie to finish everything off with so I didn't even have to piece any teeny tiny bias strip scraps together.
I am really happy with how my colour blocked top turned out and now that I know how darn easy the Orchard Top and Dress is to sew, of course I can't help but thinking of some fall print fabric to make a dress with to pair it with a mock neck Dawson Top. Hmmmmm... Before I ponder that too much though I have a couple of other projects in the works - right now I'm working on a Moss jacket and some Winslow Culottes (Helen's Closet has ALL my attention right now apparently!!) and then I have dress I'm planning for early fall and I still want to get the pants hack of the Brampton Shorts made. So many plans... so little time.
Speaking of time I have to dash. It's football practice night and the boys need to be at the field in less than an hour. Gotta go...
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