I Should Go to Hawaii

One of the things I do love about summer is the fact that it gets light so early. I went into town around 7:30 yesterday morning. The farm store was my first stop, followed by Walmart for a few miscellaneous items. Kalispell was deserted and it was lovely. I didn’t have to fight traffic, wait in line, or deal with hordes of other human beings. I finished up with a quick trip to the grocery store—butter was $2.98 (!) with no limit so I stocked up—then came home to unload.

After checking on plants and animals, I went to sewing at the community center. Oh my, I never laugh as much as I do with that group. Show and tell was fun and I got to see what people have been working on for market. At noon, I came home, ate some lunch, then went upstairs to sew. I thought about making another Simplicity or New Look blouse, but then I remembered a pattern I downloaded some months ago for a lightweight summer blouse. The design is the Déclic Top from Atelier Scammit and it is offered as a free pattern on their website.

I located the pattern and pulled up the Lifting Pins and Needles YouTube channel. Karina made this blouse, which is how I first heard of it, and I wanted to review her comments. Karina and I are of similar height and body shape, and I’ve learned that if she has to adjust an area of a pattern, I’ll probably have to adjust it, too. She shortened the upper bodice of this pattern to make the armhole openings and V-neck a bit more modest. She also shortened the length of her top because she likes them a particular length. I shortened the upper bodice per her instructions, but in any pattern, I always trace the length of the largest size. In hindsight, I should have added the inch I removed from the upper bodice to the length. That’s a fairly minor detail and easily corrected in the next iteration.

The design is very simple: two pleats at each shoulder, a V-neck with facing, and slightly extended sleeves. I’m not a huge fan of dolman or grown-on sleeves; however, this is a lightweight fabric and in the summer, I don’t mind this style.

The fabric is a FIGO rayon challis, purchased at the quilt store south of town. It was lovely to sew and gave me no fits at all.

I could tell as soon as I dropped it over my head that this is going to become a favorite summer top. It fits beautifully, and all the colors in that print mean that I can wear it with a variety of bottoms. The husband said I looked like I was ready to go to Hawaii. He doesn’t care one bit that I dress like a parrot.

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This morning’s first task is cutting the grass in the garden, followed by laying out and hooking up the hoses. It’s an elaborate system but it allows me to get water where I need it. One hose comes out of the water line in the greenhouse. That hose is hooked up to a manifold with four valves. One valve is hooked up to a hose that feeds the west side of the garden, and that hose will split at least once more with another manifold. The other three valves are hooked up to hoses on the east side of the garden. The main hoses are hooked up to soaker hoses that snake around the plants. We have excellent water pressure even at the far edges of the garden.

Once I get that done, I’ll straighten up the house—entropy took over last week while I was getting ready for the plant sale—and then see what mischief I can get up to in my sewing room.