Tula Pink Squirrel Top

I made the Sewaholic Cambie Dress pattern last night (well, obviously I am missing half my dress, haha). I basically wanted to test out and see if I liked the fit of the pattern, and I thought a top would be nice to wear with my new jeans (which I got on super clearance, and I thought were nice until one of my Facebook friends said that the pockets made them look like I was wearing them backwards a la the exorcist…lol).

Fabric – For the fabric, I used Tula Pink’s ‘The Birds and the Bees’, which literally just came out. I pretty much got my order in, washed, and cut on the same day, I just couldn’t wait. This particular fabric is Squirrels in Sunset. For the top version, I used approximately 1-1/2 yards of main fabric, just to give you an idea, since the pattern is just drafted for the 2 dress versions.

Pattern Pieces – There are not *too* many pattern pieces to cut out, considering this is a garment. It is fully lined (however, I did not line the ‘skirt’ portion, basically just to save fabric), and if you’re not that familiar with clothing, you’re pretty much sewing the same thing twice (main fabric, lining fabric). There are darts on the front bodice, back bodice, and both skirt front and back, to give it a more fitted look. Also there are pockets, which I decided to omit, just because of the fact that this was a top and I didn’t really need pockets if I was wearing with pants.

Illustrations/Instructions – There is a diagram for each step, and the instructions are brief and to-the-point. I would say the style of this pattern is similar to commercial sewing patterns that I have seen. I think that the patterns assumes you have worked with garment patterns before, so there is not a lot of lengthy instruction.

The only modifications that I made were obviously to make it into a top, and I also took in the sleeves a bit. It is probably not clear from the photos (although it is in the pattern envelope, pictured above), but the sleeves are gathered. I reduced the width of my sleeves about 1/2″ on either side. Maybe I just had something different in mind when I made this, but I almost wish it had skinnier sleeves or straps. Nothing wrong with the pattern in that way, I guess I was just going for something a little bit different.

Conclusion – I just adore this Tula Pink fabric. I made 2 other dresses from her new line, but in voile (you can see them here and here). I would really love to make a dress in this fabric – I had not really paid much attention to it since it is not one of the brighter-colored fabrics in the bundle, but as I threw my 1/2 yard bundle in the wash, this one kind of made me gasp.