Hey Internet Friends!

Today I have my two January makes to share with you, my first Matcha Top and my second pair of mid rise Ginger jeans!

Let's start with the matcha top! I was super excited to sew up this pattern when it appeared in the indie sew winter collection, I've been looking for more tops with interesting sewing details to help fill some wardrobe holes in my closet. I was really intrigued by the neckline, especially the way the collar construction makes an interesting and flattering diamond like shape.

After downloading the pattern and reading the instructions I was pleasantly surprised to find that the construction of the neckline was decidedly un-fussy! Basically the neckline is made with some well placed gathering which is then attached to the collar and then tension between the smaller collar and the v neck at the front holds everything in place :D All in all this was a really quick sew! After cutting it I finished in about an evening (a plus of reserving fabric cutting to the weekends is that when I get home from work I can dig right into sewing!) and that's even with the doing the gathering for both the front and back of the top!

I will echo the recommendations from both the written instructions and the indiesew blog, the fabric choice really helps make this top, you really need something that flows to give this top enough swing. I made mine out of a very fluid viscose from dresssew, to me it has the perfect balance of fluidity and structure for this kind of top. I can't wait to churn out a few more of these, with several sleeveless versions on the docket next!

You may notice that with this version the shoulder seams are not quite where they should be. The sizing on this pattern relies heavily on your shoulder width measurement, it's highly stressed in the instructions to use this measurement to choose your final size even if that size does not match you bust or waist size...but in my case my shoulder measurement was two sizes smaller than my bust or waist size so I was really concerned that the top would be too small....turns out I should have just trusted the pattern since there is ample positive ease. So my next iterations will be two sizes smaller :D

Since the Matcha top looks best with higher rise jeans due to it's slightly cropped nature, I went ahead and made another pair of mid rise ginger jeans! (sewing rationalization for the win!) I ended up loving the first pair that I made so so much, which is strange for me since I've always been a low rise jean lover. I got super duper lucky and snagged a 1.2m remanant of charcoal 9.25oz Tencil and cotton S-Gene stretch denim from Blackbird Fabric's monthly remnant sale! Being short sometimes saves my butt since this length was just long enough for me to cut these jeans! I really love this grey, kind of distressed looking colourway, although it dosen't quite photograph well since it appears blue in some of these photos.....

Since this is my 5TH PAIR OF JEANS (wow this time last year making jeans was still a pipe dream!) I'm really getting to know this pattern and how I would like to tweak the fit. I re-adjusted my calf adjustment to make it slightly wider since I'm still having some issues with fabric pooling at my knee and the side seams around my calves on my other pairs are showing some strain. I also added the crotch adjustments recommended by Heather since she updated the pattern which did help with some back of the thighs excess fabric. I also interfaced the waistband of this pair, I found that my first pair would kind of bag out a bit by the end of the day and I would have to pull them up a bunch, that's less of a problem with these guys :D

That's it for now guys! I'm on to Febuary sewing now, which includes finishing the waterproof jacket for the #fluffyblonde monster, a long sleeve kalle shirt and another pair of mid rise ginger jeans (I'm seriouslly addicted to jeans sewing at this point guys!) I'll hopefully get a chance to grab some picks of my other January make, a geodesic cropped sweater and post about that soon!