It's Curtains for me....

Nope fooled ya.  It's actually a bedspread that I'm using/wearing for my latest project  :  ).  Remember Scarlet and her drapes and Lucy and Ethel in their very stylish burlap bags in Paris.  Well, when practicing your skills or just when in a pinch for something to wear we crafters get thrifty and make do with what we have.  There are plenty of fabrics out there in your local thrift that can function as either a practice run fabric or the material that makes it as the final wearable creation. So here is the 5th in a series of fittings.  The first 3 test samples were out of gingham fabric that I bought at the thrift.  Once I had cut that all up I started eye balling my bed spread and it was so perfect for this project since it is an Indian print and this top is a kurti/kurta type garment.  My friend Pattie was nice enough to humor me with taking my picture in this get up.

So here you have the front and back of this fitting.  One of my favorite things to do is to safety pin a garment together for a fitting.  You can take it on and off without getting stuck by the pins.  Here you see the sleeve cap with the safety pins used along the seam line.  So the whole garment is safety pinned together along the seam line and then you can try it on and alter it if needed by just moving the pins.  I'm thinking this may need a bit more length at the bottom.  In drafting the pattern from the class taught by Cal Patch on www.creativebug.com she gave info on how to include a dart in the top pattern as well.  I didn't include it in this top since I wanted more room and with this patterned fabric I'm not sure it would work. Now I have to decide on how to treat the neck opening with a placket of some sort.  I've already drafted a stand collar using 3 different techniques and will show that later once I decide on the way to do the placket/front opening.

 Here is a pic of the gingham versions that preceded the purple bedspread version.  The fit was too tight on these but it is a great basic shell that could be used for knits.  I'm pleased with the fit and the sleeve came out better than I thought it would.  The nice thing about using a bedspread/sheet etc. is that you can work with pattern layout and line up the hems on the already finished edges of the fabric and avoid having to do any hemming.
  My challenge for 2015 is to take this pattern into many different versions of itself basically to morph it into many other garments and see where I can take it.  Hopefully I can avoid being overly critical of myself and just have fun with it.  Often I find myself getting bogged down by the, It's not going to be perfect enough, critical talk and find myself never finishing anything.  So here's to 2015 the year of getting it done and having fun : )