First SWAP top is finished

I finished the buttons and loops on the collar and cuffs this morning and since we had some rare sunshine (cold but some sunshine) I braved the elements and took some pics of myself wearing the top.

I think the top is going to work really well with the jeans and trousers I have in the SWAP. You will need to take my word for that currently as I saw the pics and suddenly realised just how ratty looking the purchased jeans I had on today really were... so with the miracles of IT, I've expunged them from view in the photos.

I've also included a close up shot of the buttons at the back neckline. I am not sure if these will count as my unusual/statement closure, but in any case, the "law of buttons" mentioned in a recent post has come into play. In a whole shop of buttons, there was not one single blue, glass, faceted button to be had. So I have black ones with a silver ring round. Which work... but are not the blue, glass, faceted, shiny, perfect buttons I had wanted.

And today, I have cut my second SWAP top out. A tie collar blouse in a print, which will be my pattern match entry for the SWAP. The pattern is a "Bitsa" one; It started out as BWOF 05-2007 No. 116, which is a darted shirt with short sleeves and a choice of two different shapes of collar on a band. This version has the long sleeves from McCalls 5138, together with its cuffs, plus the tie collar from BWOF 08-2009 No. 103. It took three hours to lay it all out, single layer, and cut it out, despite it being a reasonably simple pattern. It is another semi sheer poly print, this time in greys, lavender and lilac. It was very, very wriggly fabric. So far, I've only got the interfacing in and the darts marked and have left it for the day. I can only cope with wriggly fabric for so long before I have to stop.

So, instead of being sensible, and cutting out SWAP top number three, I gave in to distraction and the need for warmth... I cut out BWOF 11-2007 No. 124, a hoodie which I am making in soft grey fleece donated by RuthieK last February. I hadn't any ribbing the right colour so it was a choice of bright red or soft navy for the rib. I've gone with the soft navy as the red was a little too "in your face" with the grey. Ruthie is visiting me next weekend and we are going on a trip to Leeds to a habby shop, where I am hoping I can get a heavy, open end, soft navy zipper. The intention is to finish all the seams with overstitching in soft blue/grey thread, or in variagated, so the whole thing looks deliberate, rather than the result of not being able to get decent ribbing in varied colours.

Tomorrow I am going to pop in to see my tailoring tutor after I finish work. I got my collar pad stitched and will take that so I can be shown how to shape it. I also need advice on setting in the sleeves as they didn't go in as obediently as they should and I can't seem to get them hanging straight without wrinkles. Which is rather annoying as I know they do fit, beautifully... or they certainly did at the last fitting.