This is the second creation from the Goldhawk Road stash I bought in October. It was a complete impulse buy as I wasn’t sure what I would do with it, I just loved it! It’s linen with a digitally printed pansy design, I love the colours, it’s vibrant without being gaudy! It was £15 a meter so I could only afford 1m, however that is plenty to make a sleeveless top for the summer.

I used a Butterick pattern I’ve had for a few years. It is fully lined, the pattern suggested using the main fabric to line the front pieces however I felt two layers of linen would be too bulky, I decided to line it in a co-ordinating cotton from Leeds market, there’s a few good fabric stalls in the indoor market and one had a perfect colour match.

It went together fairly well, although I did need two attempts at the curves on the  centre back hem. It was a weird fabric to match anything too, which colour do you go for, and none of them are standard colours! I went to Samuel Taylors for buttons, these were the only ones that seemed to match well. I was tempted with some delicate pewter ones but I had a bad experience of metal buttons years ago; I made a beautiful silk dress with buttons all the way down the front, the first time I wore it they all popped off one by one, I just about saved my dignity with a safety pin at upper thigh level!!!

If I use the pattern again I’ll probably make the hip area a little bigger as it is a bit snug, I’d quite like to use five smaller buttons too, instead of the four 1.5cm ones it recommends. Looking forward to wearing it on holiday 🙂