crescent

Lucky Me got to be a pattern tester for Megan Nielsen's Crescent Blouse! How lovely is the new line of patterns, you guys? So lovely. I've gotta get my hands on that Cascade skirt - I was all ready to pounce on the sewing kit because I'm literally dying over the fabric used in the look book, but they're all sold out!!  I'll just have to put my fabric dyeing pants on and get crafty...

But anyway! Here is my Crescent Blouse!! I was super excited to test this pattern - it's such a fun, unique design.  As soon as I saw the line drawing that Megan sent me I knew I wanted to try some sort of color-blocked scheme with it.  In my mind's eye I was envisioning a gradation of blue-y-turquoises, but of course those colors didn't exist at my local fabric store (why does that always happen??) so I just had to start playing around with what was there until I found three colors that I thought worked well together.  All three are a medium weight silk crepe, which worked really well for this pattern.

I really wanted to make this blouse sort of feminine and 'date-night-ish'.  Typically I shy away from sweet little collars like this one, but there was something about pairing it with the bare shoulder, and the echoing of all the curves throughout this design, that made me feel like I just had to go for it.  There's a nice balance of sassy and sweet in the Crescent Blouses' design. So I decided if I was going to do a feminine collar, than I was gonna do it up!  I decided to try my hand at beading.  You know, because I'm sure that's something you can just pick up... (wink) I bought purple and silver seed beads, did a "how to: beading" google search (which, surprise surprise... turned up some very strange things...) and went to Bead Town!

And then I left Bead Town. Because, turns out, beads are heavy! Even these teensy tiny seed beads! The three rows that I did already started to pull the collar down, showing the grey binding on the inside.  Also, it was time-consuming, and a bit boring. So I stopped. I figured it was fancy-fied enough!

This was my first time working with one of Megan's patterns, and it was an absolute joy.  Her instructions were thorough and easy to understand, and she was full of useful little tips (like trimming all those curved seam allowances with pinking shears instead of clipping/notching to get a nice, smooth line). This blouse may look a little intimidating at first with the shoulder cutouts and all the bias binding, but it's actually quite simple to sew.  Megan did a wonderful job of making this an accessible pattern for less-experienced sewists, and even those who suffer from bias-binding-phobia, like me!

I only have one, itty bitty complaint about this top - and it's a really curmudgeon-y one, at that. It requires me to wear... a strapless bra (looooonnngggg suffering sigh...) And anytime I'm required to wear a strapless bra I'm reminded that the only one I own is way too big for me (thus the odd lumps and pulling apparent in my boob region in these photos) and I really need to buy a new strapless bra.  I'm sure this is not an issue for anyone that has a relatively grown up underwear drawer, but the general state of pathos that my underthings have been in for, oh, I don't know, the last seventeen years means that me and strapless bras are not on good terms...

Also... I wish I would have made the top half some other color besides this dusty-rose pink. While a lovely color all on it's own, it's not exactly pleasing to my complexion... But! That's why there's always a next time, am I right?!

I coerced my husband to take these pictures of me the other night since our camera remote has decided to go it's separate way... Nick's always a sport about taking my blog photos, but I always find myself more self-conscious about posing when he's behind the camera!

As we were walking around the neighborhood trying to find decent light (and, you know, the perfectly disheveled looking abandoned house - because there's so many to choose from!!) we walked by our little neighborhood handmade ice cream joint.  Gotta love beach towns! Ice cream is never too far out of reach! So I suggested an impromptu ice cream date. After all, I was wearing my 'date-night' top... I mean... how could he resist this face?

Until next time!!

xx