My favorite summer top

Click here for Norwegian

A bit after I opened Cotton Candy, I decided to make a 2018 Make Nine list for Cotton Candy as well. There were a few reasons for that:

1. I wanted to showcase some of the nice fabrics I have (obviously).
2. I wanted to inspire sewists in Norway (and maybe outside of Norway too) to make their own pretty clothes and not limit themselves to a difficulty level thinking some project or other is hard.
3. I wanted to make video sew-alongs that show the process of creating a few garments step by step, again to show that anybody can do it.

I wanted to choose a good variety of patterns to cover most types of garments, so my selection fell on these:

Let me talk you a bit through them...

I selected three different "tops": A simple one that's easy to sew, but still has a nice details at the back with the V-neck and the strap across, a slightly more advanced one with the overlapping front detail, neckline bias binding and set-in sleeves and to up it a notch more: a classic shirt with numerous darts, back yoke, patch pockets, collar and stand, cuffs...you know, more or less the whole shebang 😄.

I also selected two dresses: One that is mostly a simple T-shirt dress with the added twist of a polo placket at the front, the other is a two-layer shirt dress that simply looks so trendy and cool 😊.

For the "bottoms" I selected 3 items: A skirt, a skort and skinny jeans. The skirt for the interesting way the wrap part of it works, the skort to show how easy it is to make something with legs and the skinny jeans for a more advanced option again with all bells and whistles: fly zipper, 5 pockets, top-stitching...the works.

That leaves only item number 9. It's a jacket and I think it's the most advanced sew of them all, but again the point here is to show that even difficult projects are doable with a bit of patience and taking the time.

Now let's move on to my first finished item on this list: The simple summer blouse. The pattern I used here is Burda Style 04/2016 #114.

The fabric I chose is one of my favorites in the shop. A beautiful - love at first sight - Egyptian cotton voile with big flowers on. I loved the colors, this blue/red mix is just so me.

The sewing was as easy as expected, I followed the instructions as they were and made only two modifications:

• Ditched the button or snap fastener or whatever they wanted us to sew to one side of the back strap. Because it's pointless, I can get my head through the neckline with a lot of extra space without having to open this, so I sewed it the same way as the front strap.
• Lifted the bottom of the V-neck opening at the back by 5cm to hide my bra. Both modifications are described in the video I made.

And here it is: my sew-along video for this blouse, this time in English as well 😉.

Here's a list of the outfits at the end of the video:

1. Boyfriend jeans from Lindex and shoes from Puma.
2. Denim skirt from KappAhl (Hampton Republic 27) and XIT sandals from Din Sko.
3. Me-made viscose twill trousers and shoes from Mani (closed now 😔).
4. Me-made jersey skirt and the same XIT sandals as before.
5. Super old wide trousers from Silvian Heach and the same shoes from Mani.

I love this blouse and have been wearing it loads, both in Egypt end of June and here in Norway since I came back. It's beautiful, it's comfortable, it's light. If I knew I'll like it this much I would've sewn it a lot earlier.

This is also an entry for Burda Challenge 2018 and my second lot of 2018 Make Nine, let's call it Cotton Candy edition.

Pattern: Burda Style 04/2016 #114

Fabric: 100% Egyptian cotton voile from cottoncandy.no

Photos taken at home in Asker, Norway.