velvet top - pattern trial

  

I bought this fabric a couple of years ago. It was £0.90/m so I got 3m. It was bought online and described as burt out velvet in a dark green. I think its more brown and I am not a fan of brown but it was not worth returning it at the price it cost. Postage back to the seller was more than the fabric so I hung on to it with the idea it will be ok for testing out new patterns so thats what I am currently doing. 

I traced the pattern last January 2022 but never got round to sewing it up so this is a first for me and this cheap fabric is ideal for pattern testing.

I cannot remember which Burda magazine this is from which is bad. Usually when I trace a pattern I write that information on the traced pieces because its easier later to find the instructions. Well not on this occassion!

Luckily this is an easy make, so I probably was better not reading Burda's usually very confusing instructions anyway.

 The fabric definitely looks brown here too.

Its got a short puffed sleeve with long lower sleeve which I find interesting and makes for  nice change to my usual basic long sleeves. You could just make this short sleeved too and of course make it in two fabrics Burda Style  (see below). There is another view in the magazine which is just one fabric like mine, but since I cannot remember which mag this came from I had to nick the photo from my New Years blog post!

It is though, on my New Years sewing aims list, so thats one I can cross off. I am aiming to make a skirt to match with the rest of this fabric - pop back next week and with a bit of luck I will have done that too, Thats the aim anyway. I found it much easier to sew this week so maybe I am getting back into it again.

So this is the Burda version:

Despite the suspect colour and the fact its very much a floral print, I do like this top, though possibly should have made it earlier when the weather was colder. Still its England/ UK and its going to be cold and rainy before we know it so it will get worn before next winter.

 Trousers are my work worthy tubular ribbed cotton ones.

You can also see the colour has now nearly washed out of my hair. Have to say this modern semi-permanent colour is much better value than the old 1970s crazy colour was. In this case I got sick of the blue ages ago and have been washing my hair every day to try and fade it. I will do a new colour soon though because there are so many to choose from but I think I might give indigo a miss in future. 

As for the pattern, well its a little loose around the waist but I like the sleeve length and the general fit so I might just taper the bottom in a bit next time. Though I do need to be careful. I lost quite bit of weight when I got covid a few weeks ago, and will almost certainly put it back on again because I am unusually thin to my norm, if you know what I mean. I actually like it, but I really do not see me staying this thin for long. I cannot starve myself to do so so will probably gradually get back to normal over the next few weeks so maybe I should not make any tops narrower round the waist area!

Have a great week,

Bracken