Liberty Linden Love

Ok, so I wear, a lot, of Melbourne Black, 

and navy....

and some other colours..... 

which escape me at the moment...

One colour that's pretty much missing from my wardrobe is shocking pink.

Of course, it's the perfect colour to add a bit of brightness to my winter palette. Primarily as it can't clash with anything ;)

I'm not usually a huge Liberty print fan (sacrilege, I know), I adore the feel of their Tana lawn, but the prints don't often grab me. This is Kindle* a tonal print with subtle little florals and foliage, totally gorgeous, and, well, yes, very, very pink.

*(from the Liberty of London website): Kindle Liberty print was sketched while listening to the Elysian singers perform at The Royal Festival Hall. The final hand drawn repeat has the design Elysian woven into its sound waves.

I actually had a shopping cart open on The Fabric Store's NZ  site when the word went out that it had landed in the Melbourne store... I blame Instagram (you know who you are... yes ... you... and yes, you too....)

And yes, a family trip was made the next morning so I could feel it IRL and once patted, it came home with me.
It's very perfectly fleecy, and even more so after a trip through the washing machine.

Essentially it is a woven though. I considered making another drop shouldered top, in the style of my much adored black wool awesome thing:
And then my love for my new vintage wool woven Linden won out and I made View A.
This is the size 8, with 2cm taken out of the back raglan seams, reducing to nothing by 7cm.
The sleeves are simply turned and stitched. I know much has been discussed of the long arms of the pattern as drafted and I didn't include the cuff. I do like warm hands however and would use the same arm length if I made it again (with added cuffs)

Silliness prevails. The weather conspired against this photoshoot for nearly a month.

Removing 4cm from the back neckline has brought it in nicely as well, as drafted, the Linden is a tad wider than I prefer in a rounded neckline. The boatneck on my black top is just a bit wide for many layering options and I wanted this top to be a non-drafty winter staple.
I felt very indulgent as I cut my neckline on the bias - such an inefficient use of fabric! It was worth it though. I had previously stabilised the entire neckline with iron on stay tape (yes, I love it!) and after carefully stitching the bias on, it was 'sticky-uppery' ;( I nearly cried.

I do love the cross over of our fibre arts though, I channelled my inner knitter, went into blocking mode and ignored that I wasn't playing with wool . I simply saturated the neckline pieces and patted them back into shape. After some steaming with my iron, the neckline was perfectly snugged - yes, I'm rather chuffed with my neckline.

The hip hem is taken straight from my black jumper. It's a piece of straight grain fabric, the circumference of my hips, folded and sewn to a slightly gathered bottom edge of garment. It keeps out any winter breeze and allows the top to blouson over a belt or winter padding.

Silly poses aside, it's the first top in a while to have elicited random unsolicited compliments - although, they were mostly on how lovely it was to see me in pink....

*For a hint on my previous (BL, Before Liberty) pink aversion, I mentioned a pink 80's windcheater with koalas in my 2014 black post...

Autumn 2016! : Woven Linden for the win

My most loved and frequently reached for winter top is the black/grey boxy felted wool top with the cool tree design.

This is a lighter weight and colour alternative to keep it company. It's also a test for me of the well loved Grainline Linden that took the sewing world by storm on it's release in 2014.

This is a straight size 8 Linden, view B in non-stretch woven fabric 

Sewn with 70cm of opp shop sourced vintage wool, washed (read as mildly felted & pre-shrunk) & slightly itchy. It's all good though as I love the speckled wool and it's a layering piece, part of my armour against the winter winds that come straight off the Antarctic.
*Update after wearing this almost every day for the past 5 weeks - it's not itchy IRL! And the neckline lets everything layer well, I adore this SOOO much!!

I was pleasantly surprised at the swiftness of putting it together and of the fit straight from the pattern. I've knitted a raglan sleeve cardigan, but never sewn one, being of the belief that they 'don't work' with forward shoulders. News flash, they do, and I can't believe I've dismissed them for so long! The sleeves are 3cm shorter than the view B pattern to fit on my wool remnant, and in this woven fabric, they'd not have worked any longer without darts and shaping.

I did take in the back raglan seams by 2cm at the neckline, grading to nothing by 7cm. Amanda gave the heads up on her rad quilted Linden & back breeze from Antarctic wind is not welcomed down here anymore than it is in Canberra. It also has snugged the neckline nicely, so I'll continue with this for the next version.
*photographic evidence is in the pink version, up next!

Such a gorgeous paisley match

I used a lovely vintage Liberty to face the neckline, it came from my $10 bag at the first Phillips Shirtmaker sale.
The sleeves and split hem are simply pinked, turned and hand stitched, invisibly in the wool, giving me the option to adjust them if I wish.

Woven vintage wool = swing!

A wildly pink Liberty in Kindle, view A, is up next to brighten my winter.
Yes, you could say my sew-jo is back ;)

More mad and crazy antlers in the next Linden post!

Mosses in AcCord

According to the dictionaries in Casa Maci, accord (the noun) is to agree or be in harmony with opinions, actions or characters - so, let's be in accord that MossesForAll is a valid aim ;)

Mosses For All!!!

 I missed #mossmakingmonth in April - and Thank You to Jenny for bringing it to my attention - and for facilitating my purchase of a remnant of fine black cord from Tessuti.

Half way through May #MMMay14

RenAlex&KMoss&CDSS, ClegsSS, CSS&Renfrew, SDT.

Top pic is V1250&ClegsSilkScarf 

The texta garments are MeMade, the pencil indicates RTW

One of my favourite online community events has to be Me Made May each year. This is the first year I've participated, but seeing sewists from around the world in their 'everyday' outfits is one of the most inspiring things - and of much more use to me for coordinating my wardrobe than any number of 'stylist' articles or photoshoots ;)

Week One had 4 days & was accompanied by Melbourne having a cold snap that took me completely by surprise - I couldn't remember what I wore last winter to stay warm!

Koi Mini Moss

Moss selecting Liberty for Scout

With many thanks for Jen at Grainline's Thanksgiving Give Thanks pattern sale, and enabled by every blogger who's made the Moss, Archer or Scout before me….  - I've finally jumped onto the Grainline wagon with both feet and hands ;) I've added the Scout & Moss to my repertoire, while Archer & the Maritime shorts are waiting impatiently in the sewing queue ;)