Chambray Ruffle Set

 Happy summer!  Wow, so, global warming, huh?  I was swimming in Lake Union for hours on May 2nd.  Anybody else worried?  Anyway... Lovely weather for outdoor concerts at the winery.  Here I am in a little self-made set waiting for the doors to open to see Bob Dylan at Chateau Ste. Michelle.  It's a great venue.  You can bring in blankets, low chairs, and any food you want.  We packed a lovely picnic.  They sell the wine at normal price, plus the wine club discount... too easy!

  

This is the Coachella Shorts in the smallest size, high waist, short inseam, with an extra-wide waistband.  I trimmed them with a ruffle made of 2" bias strips folded in half and gathered.  The crop top is modified from my block without the front waist darts, and... some "make it work" moments.  I used chambray from Joann's.  I bought a lot of chambray to use for wearable muslins and experiments.  

 

I swear that back keyhole sits flat. 

 

No, it sits flat, really. 

 Ok, it might sometimes sit flat if tied correctly when I'm not throwing my shoulders around self-consciously in pictures.

 

 Flat shots: 

 Above, you can see where I had to piece the back of the shorts because of a cutting error.  I wanted to shorten the front rise, and cut it from the center back by mistake.  Oops, new design lines! 

Similarly, the top, below, is a saga of botched ideas that finally worked out pretty well.  It was initially envisioned as more plain, cut from the top of my shift pattern, but with the back darts and ruffles at the shoulders.  The ruffles looked ridiculous hanging off those wide-cut shoulders, so I removed them and intended to just cut the shoulders in a bit...  But I cut out the neck hole more instead!  Bah!!  So I gathered the front to bring it in, and pinched out darts as a "design line" at the high bust to deal with the creases that caused.  At the back I made a centered dart to pull it in, plus keyhole... finished it all with self bias tape, and I love it!  Ah, lucky save.