Laughing up my sleeve

I’ve finally finished this one.

I’ve been working on it off and on for a few days, doing as much as I could each time before the eye gave out. I cut it all out on impulse before eye surgery, as a sort of distraction from pre-op nerves. Now, it feels almost like a secret sewing project, since I haven’t posted anything about it before, mainly because I had no idea how long it would take.

You may recognise the pattern, this time with a longer sleeve length than the Mango & Papaya top I made earlier. Speaking of sleeves, what do you think? Bright, aren’t they? I bought two half-metre pieces of Kaffe Fassett fabric from his Artisan range for Westminster Fibers. It’s gorgeous, but not cheap (AU$29/metre). One piece was this blue version, and the other is the same print, but in bright orange. In order to make something wearable from the small quantities, I also bought this blender fabric in the same blue. I didn’t have a plan or the pattern at the time, I just wanted to make something that didn’t involve totally cutting up the print.

By shortening the long sleeve from the pattern options, I was able to squeeze both sleeves out of just half the fabric, leaving me a reasonable amount to make something quilty with. I couldn’t resist the acid green binding for this top too, the remainder of what I made for M&P. It’s a great match for colour in the big print, and gives the neckline a bit of zing. The top probably wouldn’t work in northern Europe without sunglasses, but here in the very bright sunshine of a tropical summer, it’s just another colourful garment.

Now I need to get some fabric to go with the other colourway. I still have some coral pink binding from the sleeveless top variant I made from this pattern (did I show that one? I don’t think I did). I reckon coral and orange would work nicely… The question is, same top again, or something different this time? I have a pattern I haven’t tried yet which might utilise the print panel nicely.

Right, on with the next thing!

PS: the eye’s definitely mending. For those who wanted a status update, here’s the new yellow/ brown colourway!