Trying to Spring Into Color

Spring is almost here and I’m loving the slightly longer daylight hours! I have such a hard time getting creative during the dark winter months. If you hadn’t noticed, I haven’t shown off any new makes for myself since I made a Piko Top in early October! I’ve found myself reaching for that top over and over this winter, so I figured Tibeca’s Spring Into Color tour would be the perfect opportunity to make myself a Piko for warmer weather!

I was wavering on what fabric to use when I spotted this beautiful rayon spandex over at the Simply by Ti shop. The mauve and orange floral pops just enough to lighten the navy background enough to qualify as springy, right? (If not, don’t tell me cause I’m trying and I’m gonna wear it anyway.) I ordered and it arrived super fast and I tossed it right into the wash, as I was anxious to get it sewn up.

When I pulled it out of the dryer, I realized the leaves match perfectly with the olive double brushed poly that I bought from Simply by Ti months ago for the purpose of making a pair of ‘Get Moving’ Leggings (and never got around to it) … so I went ahead and made myself a whole new outfit this week! I love double brushed poly for leggings, though I used a bit of Ti’s black cotton/Lycra for the waistband since it has a little better recovery when stretched.

I pulled out my copy of the Women’s Piko Top that I used last fall and was getting ready to lay it on my fabric when I remembered how wide it was. While I love the coziness of my French terry version, I decided to size down this time for a look closer to the LuLaRoe Irma. I measured the pattern piece and compared to my measurements and determined that I could go down 2 sizes and still have enough ease to be comfy, although I had to then widen the sleeves to fit my larger-than-normal upper arms (thanks for those genes, Grandma! LOL).

I was so focused on measuring and changing my printed copy that I did not compare the length of front plus back to the length of fabric that I was working with. I cut my front out and then realized I didn’t quite have enough fabric left because I had lengthened my pattern by 5.5 inches last fall. I did that to make myself more comfortable when I paired it with leggings and then kinda forgot that I’d need extra fabric to account for the added length. Ooops! I sat back and thought for a second and then my eyes alighted on the scraps left from cutting out my leggings … color blocking to the rescue!

I first cut what I could of the back from the floral. I let the pattern hang off the top of the fabric, using the curve where the front hem had been cut out as the top of the floral blocking. I carefully marked where on my pattern I needed to cut the olive to make up the shoulder/yoke area of the shirt. My scraps weren’t big enough to fit the entire yoke on the fold as needed, so I cut two mirror images with a seam allowance added on the “fold” edge and sewed them together before attaching to the floral bottom piece. After piecing the color blocked back together, I continued construction as per the pattern. The only other detour I took was to make a neckband rather than hemming the neckline (and this was purely me being lazy since I think neckbands are easier, haha).

After putting together this outfit, I can’t believe there was ever a time that I wasn’t fond of the Piko Top! I can’t wait to wear this over and over until it gets to hot for full-length leggings … and then I’ll pull it out again when the weather cools off next fall!

Happy Sewing!!  ~  Joelle

P.S. Make sure to visit all the stops on this month’s Spring Into Color Tour. These bloggers have worked hard to put together some inspiration for spring sewing! (Note: The direct links below won’t work until their scheduled date, but feel free to click through and check out their other blog posts any time!)

Thursday, March 1st: Sewing By Ti- Intro
2nd: Tenille’s Thread

Monday, March 5th: Confessions of the Pink Obsessed
6th: Sewn By Lone
7th: Sewing By Ti, Stylin Stacy
8th: EYMM
9th: Stitched by Jennie
10th: Elli and Nels

Sunday, March 11th: Make it Sew with the Bear and Pea Atelier
12th: Very Blissful
13th: My Heart Will Sew On
14th: Sewing Blue
15th: Seams Like Style
16th: Kate Will Knit
17th: Twinado Alley

Sunday March 18th: Mermaids Den
19th: My Sewing Roots
20th: Our Play Palace
21st: Kathys Kwilts and More
22nd: The Fairy Dust Bin
23rd: Oak Blue Designs
24th: Aurora Designs Fabrics

Sunday March 25th: Flaxfield Sewing
26th: Seams Sew Lo
27th: Ma Moose
28th: Back 40 Life
29th: Auschick Sews
30th: Manning the Machine
31st: Mermaids Den