Sewing inspiration from South Lake Union

Late last week I had to go to South Lake Union (it's one of Seattle's up-and-coming neighborhoods, and a biotech hub) to do an interview for work. The interview itself was great, but as soon as I left the building a seagull pooped all over my head and shoulders. I cleaned myself up (very poorly, as I later found out), and thought I would go get some lunch at a Tibetan dumpling place a few blocks away that I'd been wanting to try. When I got over there, I found that the dumpling restaurant had closed down. Phooey on you, South Lake Union!


In an attempt to salvage the whole experience, over the weekend I made a sketch of an outfit I saw while wandering around looking for the restaurant. I liked the mix of browns in the outfit (and if I'm remembering correctly the woman wearing it had auburn hair, too). But what really intrigued me was the top: a loose-fitting sweater with a waist tie that emerged through two buttonhole slits in the fabric, and a floaty, ruff-like collar made from white chiffon.

Of course, she may simply have been wearing a sweater layered over a chiffon-collar shirt, but I decided I really liked the idea of a knit top with a woven collar. Perhaps that pattern I recently traced off would be a good candidate, if I can get it to work. I bought a jersey knit sheet at the Goodwill and cut out the pieces for a muslin on Friday night, so now I just need to sew it together. I'm realizing this is the stage at which my attention/motivation often flags. That's right, I love everything about sewing, except the sewing part.


Anyway, my girl got in on the fashion illustration action too, and has requested a purple dress with a print of pink and green roses, and solid purple short sleeves. (About those funny lines emanating from the dress--she colored in so thoroughly that the paper warped from the wetness!) So I guess I'd better get busy.