Butterick Pattern 6669

18 Jul Butterick Pattern 6669

There’s no doubt I work better under a deadline, otherwise it wouldn’t have taken two years to make a top for this skirt.

‘Why rush……. wait until I find the right pattern.’ I said.

Now, I’m happy about the delayed top because had I sewn it in a timely manner, I would not have sewn Butterick 6669 which is a great companion to my linen skirt blogged here. Two years ago I was inspired by the beautiful striped linen clothing of Luisa Beccaria. The Sicilian designer and mother of five, who cites many royal families as her clients, designs romantic, ethereal, and sophisticated clothing, but it was a pair of $600 culottes described in the skirt post that caught my eye.

In making the top, my goal was to create a summer two-piece dress; fresh, feminine and easy to wear whether together or separately.

I sewed the top pattern straight up with the intention of tucking it in, but the skirt sits low on the waist and it looked sloppy. The ensemble looked unfinished with the top pulled out, so I thought about adding a ruffle below the hem to echo the skirt ruffle before concluding a ruffle around the abs is a bad idea.

Alas, I thought a bias cut binding might give the top a finished look while also echoing the bias ruffle without the fuss.

To finish the top, I:

1. took out the hem and cut the top hem-length
2. cut a one-inch strip of bias fabric and stitched the ends to form a circle equal to the width of the top
3. attached the bias strip to the front side of the top and sewed a 3/8″ seam
4. pressed, folded and turned under the raw edge. I did not trim the seam.
5. Lastly, I hand-stitched the bias strip in place on the underside of top.

I learned to embrace linen wrinkles a long time ago – a must have attitude for wearing this wonderful fabric 😉 

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I’m reading a wonderful book entitled Dirt, by Bob Buford, the former fiction editor of the New Yorker, who moves his family to Lyon to learn the secrets of the French Kitchens. While improvising on a dish as an apprentice, the chef quickly exclaims  “You can’t be creative until you understand the basics, and you don’t know the basics!”

The same is true of sewing, but once you master the basics the possibilities are endless. The wonderful thing about this garment’s embellishment lies in its simplicity. Sometimes we get lucky 😉

Have a great weekend!