Dear readers, I want you to understand the huge sacrifices I have made to bring you this blog post. I sewed this summer top in October. I couldn’t very well just take pictures of it while shivering outside in front of a flaming orange maple tree, now could I? My discerning readers deserve better than that! So after much deliberation, I made the tough decision to do a photo shoot on location in Jamaica. No expense was spared for your reading pleasure, dear reader! And I endured daily tropical rains and dozens of mosquito bites, not to mention the horrors of eating succulent jerk chicken and fried plantain along with soursop mousse for dessert! I know what you’re thinking…that I’m such a selfless person to go to such lengths for you. I know, it’s true.

Ha! Of course it went nothing like that. The real story is that my brother moved to Jamaica over a year ago and it was high time for a family visit, which I managed to plan for the fall reading week. And I couldn’t help myself but to sew something new for the trip. (I did attempt to sew a bikini but only managed to finish the bottoms before the deadline. Luckily for me but sadly for my half-finished bikini, Jamaicans aren’t so big on going topless on the beach.)

I first spied this amazing octopus print fabric — Cotton and Steel’s “Tokyo Train Ride” — on Jolies Bobines. Then a few months later Annie from The Enantiomer Project posted the Scout Tee she’d made from a Craftsy kit featuring this fabric. I succumbed to temptation (and of course, to the sale Craftsy was having) and grabbed the kit. However, I didn’t find the Scout Tee design terribly inspiring, so I used the fabric to make Burda 7051 instead. The kit came with almost 2 yards of fabric, and I managed to eke this top out of half of that.

This is my second version of this pattern. I made one in summer of 2013 in green woodgrain fabric as one of my first projects after getting into sewing again after about an 11-year hiatus. While I think I mastered the fit on this one, I’m not in love with the shape of this top (somehow I feel a bit dumpy in it), and wearing it reminds me that non-stretch wovens don’t make terribly comfortable clothes. This isn’t UN-comfortable, but I find myself having to readjust it fairly constantly after raising my arms up or bending over or whatever. Maybe that’s actually a fit issue but all I know is that stretch knits don’t generally cause that problem for me.

I picked up a selection of empty snail shells as well as some coral skeletons to use in a mold-making workshop I’m going to be taking soon. I’ve always wanted to craft a silver ring out of a snail shell (I was really inspired by this Shell Ring by Helena Perez Lafaurie) and these shells seem to be the perfect size for a statement ring. I can use the coral as a texture for silver metal clay.

I used navy blue bias binding on the armholes and neckline, accidentally creating a funnel neck — the collar stands up rather than lying flat — but I actually really like the way that looks. Well, either that or I am deluding myself in order to avoid having to rip out the neck and shoulder seams to resew it.

I know it’s practically expected on sewing blogs to apologize for the slightest of wrinkles showing in the pictures, but I have to say that  that drives me around the bend. Since a freshly pressed cotton woven shirt only stays crease-free for about 4 seconds into wearing it, this is exactly what this top will look like in real life every time it’s worn. Full of wrinkles. I’m thinking about trying to start a #StopApologizingOnYourBlogForWrinklesAnd PointingOutThatTopstitchingMistakeYouMadeOrThatYourHairLooksABitFunny OrThatThere’sCatHairOnYourShirt CuzNobodySeesItButYouAndThat’sRealLife movement. (Even tho’ I’m guilty of such transgressions, too.) Let’s shed the shackles of perfection! Who’s with me? I promise to try to come up with a shorter hashtag. 😉

Anyway, it was a lovely few days in Jamaica. If it makes you feel any better (if you’re the envious type like me), it actually did rain every day we were there…but it was warm rain and didn’t stop us from enjoying ourselves, so please continue to be envious.

Here’s a little fellow that liked to hang around in the garden of the hotel we stayed at called Goblin Hill.

And the little fella below was clearly VERY happy to see me.

And here’s me trying to impersonate an octopus, and failing miserably. #outtake

Thanks for stopping by!