Just For You: Vernazza Top

A new book was released this month focused on sewing for women.
Just For You

It's a compilation of bloggers' patterns and projects.  I have a women's top in the book, and....

we get to give away a copy of the book!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED, WINNER CONTACTED. THANKS!
GIVEAWAY ENTRY:

just leave a comment on this post and include your email address.

winners in the United States will receive a book in the mail, international winners will receive a code for a free digital version as an ebook

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The projects are categorized by months, and my top is under May.

It's the Vernazza Color-Blocked Top.

The inspiration for the name is from a fishing village in Italy, Vernazza.

It's one of five small, amazing coastal village that make up Cinque Terre.

My husband lived in Italy for a few years, and would visit this area.  

We didn't go on a honeymoon really when we got married but saved up for a few years and were able to visit Italy for 2 weeks.  Cinque Terre was one of my favorite spots.

One afternoon we hiked from the second village to this third Vernazza, it was a warm summer afternoon and a flowy blouse would have been perfect for the occasion and weather.

The structure of the blouse with the vertical color-blocking kind of mimicked the construction of all the buildings smashed together in different colors.

We spent 2 nights in Cinque Terre and one of the magical moments of the trip was falling asleep with the windows open and hearing the sound of the ocean and the jazz band playing at the restaurant below.

So after all that romantic inspiration, hopefully your own version on this design will have a mix of structure, color, and a flowy, drapey fabric that is comfortable and memorable.

THE FIRST TOP:

About a year and a half ago I made a this top after I had Izzie.

I was excited about the color palate, light blue, champagne, and ivory.

It was a simple dolman sleeve top and I color blocked the top and sides.

To cover my bum, I also added a high-low hem.

My original top was made with the wrong side of satin so it was a matte finish, but ended up being really comfortable to wear.

these are the photos I submitted in the beginning:

I wear this blouse often and really love it in the summer when it's hot.

The relaxed fit allows it to stay cool and breezy, and I wear it casually with jeans or throw a skirt on top to dress it up a little.

This was another prototype during the pattern process, using coral, navy and cinnamon.

I've not had the chance, but I always liked the idea of taking this blouse, adding a skirt to make it a dress.  It would look similar to this dress I made for my 10 year high school reunion, but have the color blocking sides. So many ideas!

I designed the top in a woven fabric, and the published blouse uses knit, so the project in the book has an added band at the neckline, but the concept of the color blocking is the same.

So if you prefer the comfort and ease of knit, I'd recommend a thinner, slub or tissue knit for the drape effect on the high-low hem.
You could also use the pattern from the book to try it in a woven, and if so this video may help you hem the neckline so you don't have to have a facing.

This is just the beginning of the blog tour where each blogger that contributed gets to share their project!
Be sure to check out the other projects in the Blog Hop!

It's been exciting to see my concept published in a book, all my work was done last year, so it's cool to see it in real life after all that time!

I wish I had time to sew the projects from the other talented women, but for now back to my crazy life of house building, school, kids, and everything else!  Maybe for 2015 I can pick a few months to sew for me! (or at all)