Often, after working on a quilt with a lot of math and small pieces, I feel like I need a good, easy, but still interesting project to work on. A palette cleanser of sorts. I've been in the mood to sew some clothes, but I am not ready to undertake my big clothing project of 2016 just yet. (Spoiler alert: The big project is JEANS! You all, I'm saying it here: I am going to make my own jeans!) While scrolling through Instagram, I saw something that lead me to the Ryan Top by Whitney Deal. It's a sweet, cute, simple top and I knew it was just the kind of project I needed.

I purchased, download and assembled the pattern Wednesday morning in a spare hour at home while washing the fabric at the same time. Skills, I tell you! I cut it out early in the afternoon and set it aside for after school sewing. And by four o'clock, I was stitching away. With a small hiatus to cook and eat dinner, I had the entire thing finished by bedtime. Man, did it ever feel good to start and finish something in one day!

I pulled the fabric out my stash - it's a lightweight cotton yarn dye that I picked up in Nashville last summer. It is lightweight with a nice drape and beautiful hand. I love it. The pattern contains five pieces - a front yoke, back yoke, front facing, back facing and the bodice (you cut two of this one piece). The pattern is well-written and is geared towards beginners. My only issue was that some of the seam allowances were 1/4" and some were 1/2" so I really had to pay attention to exactly what each step called for. Not a big deal - just something to note.

Instead of using the front and back facings on the neckline, I decided to finish it with a bias binding. This all personal preference. I don't care for the way facings feel on my neck while I am wearing a blouse. First I cut a 1 1/2" bias strip from some Liberty scraps. (This was a little too big - I could have done it with a 1" strip). Before sewing the shoulder seams, I stay-stitched both necklines at 1/8". After the shoulder seams were completed, I sewed the bias tape on with the 1/4" seam called for when attaching the facings. There's a good tutorial for this method over on Grainline if you don't know what I am talking about. I followed the pattern as written for everything else.

My bust measurement put me right in the middle of a size L so I felt confident making this without a muslin. I do think the pattern runs a little small - I feel like I could use a tiny bit more easy under the arms. I'm a C/D cup for what that is worth. I think if you are much bustier than that, you would have to make some adjustments. If you are on the high side of the measurement range for your size, I'd say go ahead and make that muslin. I know. Boring, but better safe than sorry. Even though I feel I could use a tad bit more room, I will still wear this a lot as it is. It's comfortable and cute - a perfect summer shirt.

Note: this top is long! Almost tunic length, I think, although Jane told me that it is too short to be a tunic. What do I know? Regardless, I like the extra length as I am long in the torso and normally have to add a couple of inches to compensate. Not this time. It's perfect as is for wearing with skinny jeans or leggings. I could make a darling dress if you lengthened the bodice piece or be a super cute top with even five or six inches less length. I can envision many different iterations of this pattern in my closet. I'm thinking about a shorter one in a sweet Liberty floral to wear with shorts this summer or even a two-fabric version, one for the yoke and one for the body. I could go on and on - you get the drift. Bottom line: I recommend this pattern.

Unrelated: something prompted me to go back and read some of my archives last night. What a trip down memory lane! It's hard to believe that I have been writing in this space for almost 10 years (RIGHT?!?). It made me realize just how much I miss sharing some of my process and daily thoughts. I am on Instagram daily, but I don't think that is the same. I feel there is just not the space to write about some of the things swirling in my mind on that platform. I'm not promising anything, but I am wondering if you may just see more of me around here with small bits to share instead of just finished projects.

Happy Friday, friends! Enjoy the weekend.

I whipped up this sweet little lap/baby quilt a couple of weeks ago. I used my GO! Cutter and I'm sharing the tutorial over on the Accuquilt blog. It's a very fast make with two different blocks finishing at 6". I made this quilt specifically for donation to a local hospice organization. They ask for quilts that are between 36" and 48" and this design is perfect for that. It also would make a sweet play mat for baby and can be easily sized up into a throw or bed quilt. While I chose decidedly feminine fabrics from my stash (Amy Butler's Gypsy Caravan), I think this would be stunning in solids or as a scrappy quilt.

For more details, check out the tutorial over at Accuquilt.

I started this sweet Mustang quilt last spring while I was working my way through quilt kits and going through the motions of making to keep myself engaged in something creative. I was excited to see this one come together. I love the fabrics and the piecing was varied enough to keep me interested through every stage. It should have finished around 42" x 55", but I had trouble with the half-square triangle border.

To this day, I do not know where the mistake was. I followed the pattern directions, but the borders did not fit as they should have. I went ahead and sewed them on anyhow - always a bad idea - and then shoved the entire thing to the side until this past January. In an effort to #finishiterin, I decided the best course of action would be to take the borders off and see if I could fix them. I spent some q.t. with my seam ripper and removed the four borders. Then as I looked at them, I really couldn't remember what the original issue was. Were the HST units too big? Too small? It just seemed easier and more efficient to plow ahead without the borders.

And you know what? It's still a sweet quilt, albeit slightly smaller than the original one, about 38" x 51". It is missing the interest that the border adds, but if I didn't tell you, you would know. And it made the perfect gift for a baby girl whose mother loves horses.

The details: All of the fabric is by Cotton + Steel and, as of this posting, the kit is still available (and on sale!) at the Fat Quarter Shop. The pattern is available for free on the Cotton + Steel website. The backing fabric is I Heart Bees in Denim and the binding is a random pink solid from my stash. I used a cotton batting and quilted it with straight lines on either sides of some of the seams. I chose to quilt it rather lightly so it would have some drape after washing. I add the entire binding by machine and it came together well.

Did I mention that this is the year I perfect my machine binding? It is! If you have a favorite machine binding method or tip/trick, I'd love to hear about it in the comments.