“I’m excited to share my second brand ambassador project with you all today. It’s a special one and close to my heart given what’s been going on in Ukraine. Elliott Berman Textiles kindly reached out to me and offered to send me a blue and yellow fabric in honour of Ukraine.
I chose this beautiful Max Mara large floral cotton and silk voile. This fabric is lightweight and semi-sheer, with a beautiful silky sheen and a nice body to hold shape. I washed it by hand with a gentle soap and air-dried it, just as I will do with the garment. I noticed a very faint technical misprint on the white flowers, there seemed to be areas of a light tan colouring in certain areas. I chose to cut around them, which worked well even despite my pattern having very large pattern pieces, notably for the sleeves.
I wanted to make a pattern with statement sleeves, because this silk cotton voile is perfect to show off volume, so I went for the popular McCalls 7969 pattern.
I underlined the front and back bodice with some black silk cotton voile I had in my stash, which worked perfectly because the two fabrics have the same hand and feel.
I chose to leave the sleeves and the ruffle unlined, as I love the subtle sheerness of this fabric. I finished everything with French seams, which is in my opinion the best finishing for such a delicate fabric.
I altered the pattern slightly for more coverage in the bust area by increasing the overlap of the wrap. I also added very long ties (about 1.2m long each) to wrap around the waist for a more cinched in look. I really love this top and will wear it lots this summer!
It really feels like being enveloped in a feathery cloud 😍 “
