Next week, we'll be welcoming a new pattern to the Twig + Tale collection - a floaty, elegant top that we've named Cascades, in honour of those billowing sleeves that make it so special.
While we put the finishing touches on the pattern and get all our ducks in a row for the release, we thought we'd share just a few of the inspirational photos and stories from our Sew + Show team. It's always so exciting to see a new pattern come to life in the hands (and imaginations!) of our lovely community.
Flowing, elegant, and perfectly at home on the beach, Julieanne's Cascades top shines in this olive crepe fabric. This fabric has a soft drape that gathers beautifully at the waist, but enough body that the curves look almost sculptural.
Margaret made her Cascades in Liberty Tana Lawn cotton, which is such a luxurious fabric to sew with - the finely woven cotton feels almost silky and has a beautiful drape. Special fabric deserves a beautiful finish, and Margaret was particularly pleased with the neat French seams and the construction of the flutter sleeves.
As a side note, it's currently summer in New Zealand, so the Cascades Top is perfectly in season here. Of course, our Sew + Show team are international, so we'd like to give a special thank you to those in the northern hemisphere who braved snow, ice, and arctic winds for photos. We hope you love wearing your tops on warm summer days!
This stunning blue version of the Cascades Top was made with thrifted silk fabric. Shirley was concerned that the fabric would be a bit too crisp for the style of the Cascades top, but ended up being very happy with the sculptural result.
We love it too Shirley! It's so lovely to see just how different the Cascades looks, depending on the fabric choice. The body and structured drape of this silk fabric really highlights the curved shapes, and results in an elegant, statement top that wouldn't be out of place at a fancy occasion.
Sewing with lightweight, slippery fabric can be intimidating, but Melanie handled this pink rayon beautifully. She said that going slow was key, and using cotton bias binding for the neckline helped stabilise it and prevent stretching - a useful tip, especially for those who are new to sewing with slippery fabric. Well done Melanie - it turned out beautifully!
One of the lovely features of the Cascades Top is that it's very simple to adjust the height of the waistband casing. For this lovely blue top, Katherine raised the casing to an empire waist height, which she found more comfortable to wear than the natural waist-height casing. We appreciate that Katherine sewed a muslin and worked with us to figure out her custom fit Cascades.
If you'd like to see how to adjust the height of the elastic or drawstring casing on the Cascades, there's a blog post here.
Watch for the release of the Cascades Top very soon!
~Lovely images by Margaret Doten, Julieanne Cavender, Shirley Pascas, Melanie Wallace, and Katherine Andrews.
