On Top of Old Smokey

No snow, but wickedly smokey here. While temperatures have dropped considerably, the smoke from multiple fires in Northern California have made it impossible to ride.  The sky is hazy, and it still retains a heavy wood scent day and night.  If we did have a fire up here, who would know?

Late August always seems to be the busiest time for spectacular (and not in a good way), emergency calls. The Greensprings Fire & Rescue had three this weekend, one requiring a Mercy Flight off the mountain. The other two left in ambulances. One year we had a string of awful motorcycle accidents, another some pretty bad hiking falls and another, multiple small set fires kept popping up.  The only thing they have in common is the time of year. Beware the Ides of August!!!

I pretty much stuck to my sewing room this weekend. Got myself sidetracked with more shelf shifting but did manage to finish a couple of things. The second Victory Patterns Anouk came out well.



This is probably the only Eichler I'll ever own!



 I love this print and the organic cotton is crisp and full of body. It reminds me of  old fashioned cotton Percale sheets. I have some ideas to change this pattern up completely but am putting it away for now. The second top I snuck in.



 I ordered this pattern (Anna by Amy Butler), and it came in Thursday at Fabric of Vision. I was so smitten with the looks of it, I grabbed some sale cotton and did it soup to nuts in about three hours. It's a wonderful summer top pattern and ladies, you'll like the little bit of coverage that yoke/sleeve offers! Rhonda doesn't do this top justice.



 The back buttons give an interesting detail to an otherwise plain top.



 Now that yoke was a bit of bugger to fiddle with, but it all comes together in the end.
This is the first run through and it's always a little rocky on those. Amy Butler tends to draft her patterns for 20 somethings, so like me, if you try it, you might want to add a bit to the hip area. I graded about an extra inch in from waist to hip. I did not line the body either preferring to do a narrow bias binding for the lower armhole portion. You have to do this before you attach the collar/yoke.  I can see this done up for winter. Grade a little more room in it and do it up in corduroy or a stable ponte knit, add pockets and it would make a cute jumper over a turtle neck with some leggings.

Got to some reading over the weekend also.  I'm almost done with "Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion" by Elizabeth Cline. It will be an eye opener for you. Scan the reviews and I highly recommend it.

Parting shot: Domestic Terrierist!