is this bright enough for you Ann?

Wednesday 16 July 2008
one of my work colleagues, Ann (hence the title) remarked to me the other day that all the things I had sewn lately were black or grey, or a combination of the two. Which is a very accurate observation which I think has come about because I have lots of grey and black fabrics in the stash, I am trying to build a wardrobe of basic pieces in neutral colours and also because when sewing maternity clothes there is a lot of fabric, so careful colour and print selection is required! Also it is winter here in Sydney, and I do tend to go for those sombre colours at this time of the year.

Anyway, it is quite boring (not that she said that of course) and I do have some colours and prints lined up for a few upcoming garments, but since I have grey thread in the overlocker at the moment I have a few more grey things to churn out. But I did whip up this very simple top over the weekend in a bright yellow lightweight wool fabric that I bought from an op-shop last year. The fabric is so lovely, it is light, soft and is a very cheery colour indeed! I used Simplicity 4589, and modified by lengthening the sleeves and the bodice, and adding extra fabric across the front. Instead of gathering the fabric across the bodice and sleeves, I made a row of little pleats which I think makes it look less casual but was still very simple to do.


Unfortunately it was an overcast day when I took this photo so the vibrancy of the yellow isn't apparent, but trust me it is bright! You can also see from the photo above that I added a thin black grosgrain ribbon across the front yoke to add a little embellishment. I'm not quite the master of embellishment as others are, like Caryoln over at diaryofasewingfanatic, but I'm learning!

To tone it down a little, I planned to wear it with this grey RTW suit but unfortunately I have grown out of this suit and I haven't done the waistband of the pants up, which is the why the top sticks out a little bit in the photo. I don't want to wear it with a black suit because I think it would resemble a bumble bee, so I guess I have to make something else grey to wear with it! Isn't that irony for you?

Happily I have taken the next three days off work so I could avoid the chaos in Sydney caused at the moment by all the Catholic youth of the world descending on the city for World Youth Day. St Mary's Cathedral, where the Pope will be finishing his motorcade and is the central focus of the celebrations is directly opposite my office and getting to work and around the city is becoming difficult due to the amount of people, street closures and barricades everywhere. Not that I have anything against young people celebrating their religion, but to understand the activity happening around my office just check out the blog of my aforementioned colleague Ann who has been taking some really great photos of it all.

So I hope to finish quite a few things in the next few days of uniterrupted sewing. Gotta make the most of the second trimester energy while it lasts I guess!

7 comments:

  1. Very funny, especially as I'm wearing black today. 'fraid I'm not a lover of yellow, its almost as bad as that lime green coat of yours:) It was lovely and quiet this morning (day of silence and reflection) but they've just started singing and dancing around the Archibald Fountain. Have a good break, see you Monday.

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  2. Very nice top.Hope you are feeling well.

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  3. Cute top! I would have taken those days off too. I used to work in downtown Cleveland [Ohio] and I would take off St. Patrick's Day every year for the same reason. I won't piss on a parade, but I will take the necessary precautions to avoid one.

    Happy sewing!

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  4. Very cute. Looks quite comfy. It looks nice with the gray, but I do not think it would be too "bumble bee" like with black. Black, yellow and white are all the rave right now. Great work as always. have a wonderful long weekend

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  5. I tend to wear a lot of grey and black in the winter too - it coordinates well with the grey skies that we have... Your yellow blouse is just the right punch of color.

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  6. Kristy - embellishment is learned one piece at a time! :) And I am loving your first time...btw brown looks good with yellow as well as green or blue...all those nature colors! I am loving what you are making for your maternity wardrobe!!!

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  7. Love the top and the grey dress in the next post. You really are sewing up a storm. Could you just add a button and button hole to a piece of elastic to keep the grey pants up? You can't see that the zip is undone with such a long top.

    My eldest DD is up in Sydney today to the WYD weekend activities. It certainly is a big thing!

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