I absolutely adored the new Lily Sage & Co Sea Change top when Debbie debuted it on instagram and rushed with unseemly haste to sign up when she called for testers. My love has not diminished upon making up a few either.
The top can be made in either a stretch or a woven, and I elected to make up one in each.
Exhibit A is in a deep blue stretch panne velvet, from the leftovers from Sam’s Magicka robe here. Basically, it’s a big, roomy, cropped, oversized velvet Tshirt. Ha! I know that sounds weird and like the kind of thing that has potential to be hideous, but I think it turned out absolutely not. I love it, unequivocally.
So, that’s top numero uno.
And theeeeeeeen…
Having done a little cleanout recently I realised that I had very few skirts that matched my lovely new top… the horror! I raced to rectify this terrible situation.
I unearthed from le stash a few smallish pieces of bright blue cotton corduroy, the leftovers from my dyed blue ray dress here. I had just exactly enough to eke out the pieces of Vogue 1247… o joy! It’s bordering on embarrassing how many of these skirts I have made by now. It’s such a fantabulous little pattern; a. on its own merits, nothing else considered; and also b. for using up a pile of awkwardly too-big-to-throw-away leftover scraps, and also c. it’s hard to have too many of these classic little A-line skirts in winter.
The brightness of the blue is borderline OK/not-OK for me. I’m humming and haa-ing about it a bit. I’ve been entertaining very tempting thoughts of dyeing it a deeper darker dirtier blue; a colour which I think will blend in a lot better with my current colours hanging in the wardrobe. But for now I’m just going to live with it for a while and see how it goes…
I bound the inner seam allowances of the skirt with some pretty pink and white polycotton gingham, itself the leftovers from a lemon-butter bottling project, and also used for this nightie. I have now used up every. Single. Last. Weeny. Scrap, of this stuff. Hurrah!
The only thing I had to buy new for this entire outfit was the invisible zip for the skirt… and then this is a whole new outfit ALL from leftovers! So it feels kinda free, in a way. Double hurrah!
But wait, there’s more…
Exhibit B.
My second Sea Change top is made from a very lightweight and drapey crepe from Fabulous Fabrics. All new fabric for this baby! It is a rather divine and heavenly pale pink in colour, and sheer enough that I decided to underline totally in a slightly deeper pink, poly chiffon. By “underline” I actually sewed all shoulder and side seams, the sewed the two different tops together around the neckline, right sides together, turned the chiffon top to the inside and under stitched and top stitched around the neckline… then, from then on, treated the two layers as one. So, that’s not really the same as underlining, but I have no other, more accurate word for that process. All seams are concealed away within the layers of the top and bands.
The armbands are the same stuff, in a garish lime-y greeny yellow that I was drawn to immediately. While I was petting it another lady in the store remarked, “that is your colour!”
*cue immediate purchase*
I bought enough for a matching skirt too. I’m rather excited about the skirt; which I have to confess is already made, finished and hanging in the wardrobe but not yet worn or documented, whoops!! anyway I’m excited about wearing it because I think it will go very nicely with both of these tops, and a whole lot of my current existing tops too. In fact, I’m quite looking forward to mixing and matching all these things in with my new and existing winter wardrobe.
Details:
Tops; the Sea Change top by Lily Sage & Co, (1) dark blue stretch velvet, and (2) pink and green poly crepe lined with pink chiffon
Skirts; Vogue 1247 lengthened, (1) blue cotton corduroy, and (2) yellow cotton corduroy, details here and my review of this pattern here
