Bronte top

 

Perfect Pattern parcel are a company who collaborate with indie pattern designers to offer people like us bargain priced bundles of patterns at the same time as raising money for children's education. Throughout the year they release a bundle of patterns for limited time only and you have a choice of how much you wish to pay for them (too good to be true huh). If you pay $32 or above you not only get the 5 patterns in the bundle, you also get a bonus pattern! So that's 6 fantastic patterns for $32 - wow!

 

The last pattern parcel for 2014 was a bag pattern bundle which looked fab. I have so many bags patterns I haven't tried yet, I decided not to purchase the bundle - totally regret that decision now its too late of course!

 

 

 

In October 2014 they released a bundle of women's patterns which social media went crazy for.

 

 

The parcel included dresses, skirts, cardigans, tshirts and lounge pants. Most ladies would be able to make a new wardrobe out of these beauties. I had actually purchased the Julia cardigan pattern previously, but even with that the parcel was well worth the money.

 

Deciding what to make first was difficult. I have so many ideas for fabric choice, its hard to chose, but I needed a quick make and I saw other bloggers post how quick and easy the Bronte top was I chose this.

 

 

The Bronte pattern is by Jennifer Lauren Vintage. Its a cute fitted top, made with knit fabric. What makes it different from most top patterns is the lapped shoulder detail. It reminds me of my daughters baby grows. The top can be made for causal wear or with more interesting fabric can be made suitable for a night out. The pattern came with the option of short or long sleeved.

 

I have been browsing the Girl Charlee website for some months before I took the plunge last year and did my first overseas fabric order. Girl Charlee are a US company who specialise in knit fabric, offering quirky designs that can't be found elsewhere. I ordered a lot of fabric from them (and ended up with a customs charge :( ), but was worth it as I haven't found a UK company that offers as good a fabric as they do. I ordered a yard of a grey marl knit with cute foxes on it. I initial planned leggings for my daughter, but as its turned cold here I went for a top for me.

 

I had used some of this yard of fabric to make a hair turban for my mum (more on that in another post), so I had a little under a yard. Girl Charlee provides info such as percentage stretch for all the fabric on their website. This print had a stretch of 30%. The Bronte top recommend at least a 40%, and I should have cut a bigger size to take this into consideration, but I didn't and it ended up ok - just.

 

The pattern was really easy to follow. The diagrams help with placement if the pieces to create the lapped neckline. There is a Bronte sewalong on the Jennifer Lauren website and can be found here. I didn't see this till I had made my top, but looks good so I will use it when making my next.

 

I see myself making lots more of these as they are a quick and easy addition to the wardrobe.

Can't wait to see what Perfect Pattern Parcel bring us in 2015!