Monday, June 29, 2015

Box Pleat Tunic plus separate Ash Pants.

This top, or more precise the bow on this top, is a good example of sometimes mistakes happen for a reason. I will explain a bit further down in this post....


This top is from one of my newest purchases of Japanese sewing books (at least until those 3 news ones I have ordered arrives, ahem! Yikes, I might need an intervention, ha).

It's pattern b Box Pleat Tunic from the English translated books called Girly Style Wardrobe by Yoshiko Tsukiori. HERE is a link to the great blog Japanese Sewing Books that always makes great reviews/presentations where she goes through the book style by style.

The book is one of my favorites simply because I actually want to make a big number of the styles. Some of my books I just enjoy as inspiration and eye candy and then there is maybe one or two I want to make but this one is really worth the money.



The style is simple. A raglan style top with wide sleeves, a big center front box pleat and then the cute bow.

The printed fabric is THIS cotton poplin from Organic Cotton Plus.
The baby pink in the bow is a cotton voile and the mustard is a viscose found in my leftover bin. Actually it is a leftover from my first STYLO contribution which you can see HERE.




So let's talk about the mistake which turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

I had a hard time deciding which fabric to make the bow with. And I didn't have enough of the printed from the bodice so that was out of the question. In the end I decided to go with the mustard and then I made a piping with the pink. First mistake since the piping made it all too bulky! Second mistake was not to put interfacing on the mustard viscose. I had one of those discussions with myself....to interface or not to interface....and I guess the lazy gambler won....well, until I finished sewing and it just looked so bad.
 Overall the finish just looked...not very good. BUT lazy still won and I went on with it....until I had to rip up some of the very last stitches from when I closed the bow by sewing in the ditch from the front, catching the inside of the bow. Well, it had slipped a few places and when I ripped up the stitches to try again I somehow managed to cut a hole in the fabric. And THEN I finally decided that enough was enough and start all over again with a new bow, ha.

This time I swapped the colors so pink was the dominant and mustard the 'piping'. Except this is a faux piping which is part of the bow and the inside of the bow is mustard too. Together with some added interfacing this created a result that was SO much better it is almost incomparable.

The morale of the story:
Yup, cutting holes in your fabric sucks but sometimes it's just the universe trying to tell you that you should not have gone down this road in the first place.
(Okay, I made that up, hehe).



And then we have these lovely, loose and easy (in every way) pants. The pattern is the pants from the Ash Jumpsuit from Petit a Petit Patterns. The patterns comes with a separate top and pants pattern pieces too so you do not even have to make a pattern remix....it is all being served to you for the low price of $10.



I made these for spring but they ended up hanging in my sewing room for like two months before I came around photographing them. Jeez! Well, they will be perfect for fall too!
Actually W is wearing them again today since we are having a just-hot-not-scorching day which means we take advantage of the opportunity to wear someting else than shorts and t-shirts. 
Yeah, boohoo I bet you feel really sorry for us and our semi-tropical temps, haha.




These are made with tencel denim which means this is the third post in a row I'm giving you made with that material. I told you I was not quite done using it, ha.



The style is ultra simple which is exactly what you need sometimes (both to wear and sew!). An elastic waist and hem plus some side inseam pockets. Clean, simple and ultra comfortable, ahhhh!



There was something about this photo above that just screamed black & white to me...so here you go. I hope you agree?!

Thank you!!

11 comments:

  1. Awesome top! You're right - that bow was meant to be! And you know to me, I LOVE these photos in color. Now granted I generally prefer color to B&W but in this case, your daughter's hair is just so stunning! It looks gorgeous against the greens and the golden hues of the sunset. So I am really into the color versions in this case! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rachel I totally agree with you. And after your comment I realized that I wrote 'photos'...instead of just photo (above)....I just meant that last photo since it had a certain something that screamed b&w, haha. All fixed and edited now :-) Thanks!!

      Delete
    2. oh i really hope that my comment didn’t sound contrary! i was truly admiring how beautifully all of the colors were working together. pure magic, Mie! <3<3 (as an aside: i used to dye my hair that color, back when i wore it short, but it was sooooo hard to maintain. what a lucky girl to have it naturally! )

      Delete
    3. Oh gosh no!! And I shouldn't ask a question if I didn't want to hear opinions....agreeing or not agreeing :-)

      Delete
  2. <3 <3 <3 everything about this! and thank you for using the ASH- they look perfect, not that I expected anything else from you. It's all sooooo good and I need to check if I have this book already!

    ReplyDelete
  3. So so pretty! Love the bow, the Universe was correct. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is all so beautiful and perfect as usual! I love the bow colors so much, agree that the universe was totally right. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like the simplicity of the style! Looks very chic and at he same time kid friendly (comfortable) I think sometimes "accidents" happen for a reason and really the bow is magnificence!!!! Lovely color choice by the way :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. It is such a pretty outfit! Love the color combo on the bow, it's perfect. :)
    And let's not talk about Japanese sewing books addiction, shall we? :) That one is one of my favorites!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Such a gorgeous outfit and the bow looks like it was meant to be! Great idea to use flat piping the second time. Those ash pants are the perfect colour to co-ordinate with so many tops and look so comfy!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy accidents are the best kind! It's all lovely!

    ReplyDelete

I love your comments.
Thank you!