jenny gordy | little home by hand

After making the dress from this pattern a couple of weeks ago, I really wanted to try out the top version as well.

The fabric I decided upon and waited patiently to ship to me is from the Victoria and Albert Collection The Grand Tour and it was a real pleasure to work with. The grey fabric I made the dress out of was slippery and shifty but this quilting weight print was wonderful to sew with.

And finally it looks just as good on the inside as on the outside! I have to mention again how very well made Jenny’s (from Wiksten) patterns are, this top has all french seams and beautifully neat binding finishes at the collar and arms. Very important details for us serger-less crowd!

I love how the top looks simple but classy but is so versatile at the same time! It can be worn with virtually anything both in summer and with a shirt underneath in winter, tucked inside pants or left loose. I think the simple graphic print works nicely with my favourite canary yellow cardigan or boldly coloured scarves and other prints. We’ve been having an uncharacteristically hot spring so this was finished just in time!

I am in full dressmaking swing again! After making the tova dress I was totally hooked on Jenny’s patterns so I went ahead and bought her tank top/dress pattern as well.
I ordered some beautiful fabric for it but it was taking a while to ship and when I found this lovely gray woven cotton locally I had to use it to make the dress.

I really really like how this turned out! It’s a simple dress but it will be great to wear in summer on its own and also as a layering piece the rest of the year.
The pattern is (again) so very well written and I didn’t have any trouble with the instructions at all. The pattern uses french seams which is great for me because I don’t have a serger. It looks so nice from the inside as well!

I must say it took longer than I thought it would to make it, mainly because there is a lot of pinning and pressing and topstitching and putting it together requires a lot of concentration (for the inexperienced sewer like me at least!). I had to take breaks in between doing the seam finishes and the fabric was a little shifty, so the finish on the inside is not as neat as I would like. I’ve seen this done impeccably by others and I am really wondering how they did it. Practice makes perfect I guess.

The fit (I made the extra small) is perfect (again) and this will get a lot of wear I am sure!

I actually wanted to wear grey tights with this but both my pairs had holes in them so I opted for a pair of dark jeans. I really want to get some funky leggings to go with it though.

The plaid scarf was an impromptu friday night sewing project and I am working on a tutorial for it, hope to have it up soon. Jenny’s patterns are really addictive, I predict a summer full of tank top and dress sewing for me 🙂