Empire waist top by SBCCPATTERNS

Empire Waist Top by SBCC

Greetings! Welcome to my new blog! I was feeling very blah about my old blog, which made me never want to update it, and I kept thinking I needed to learn how to make it look cool myself, which of course I never did because I know nothing about web design, so I finally hired someone (searched Etsy for templates and found some really great one, ended up going with a girl named Carrie, who has a great website as well as an Etsy page called Carrie Loves Design. Her designs are modern, clean, and she worked fast!). I also switched over to Blogger instead of Wordpress so that it will automatically update on the website as well, and here we are! 

So anyway- on to the sewing! I made this really cute pattern after learning lots of new skills at the Washi Dress class here at the shop (more on that coming soon!). I definitely wouldn't have been able to do it if I hadn't taken the class first, because the directions were very sparse! Not bad if you know what you're doing, but for a beginner I probably wouldn't have succeeded. 

Last summer I bought this nice light-weight lawn by Yuwa when Textile Fabrics had their summer sale. Last year I used to buy tons of clothing fabric but I didn't know how to sew clothes! So now I am slowly working my way through it all.

Close up on my first buttons ever, and yummy floral lawn!

The pattern is a cute empire waist with gathered bottom and a hem that dips longer in the back, which I really like, and think this one is an especially good length. The construction seemed pretty basic, and I was able to sew it up in just one afternoon! For a newbie like me that felt pretty good!

Side view 

This was my first sewing project where I felt like I actually knew why I was doing each step, which made the process much more enjoyable, and I think the shirt turned out way better too. I also utilized Christine Haynes' great new book, Clothing Construction, to read about sewing gathers, sewing buttons, sewing facing, and sewing bias binding. A very handy book! (also available at the shop!)

Not at all awkward back shot!

So there ya go! A successful summer project. This is a pdf pattern but it didn't have many pages so it is pretty easy to tape together and then trace. If you've made this top too I'd love to see it!

Just casually drinking coffee!