With this year’s French adventure in the rear view mirror, we are back to the basics of sewing garments that look and feel great. Our current home page banner offers a look at some spicy summer looks that can be stitched up in a hurry. (See an image of the banner at the end of this blog post.) It is especially useful if your wardrobe need a lift during the dog days of summer. Here is a close look at each garment in the banner and some links to read about the delicious details. Of course all these looks can be fashioned for the weather wherever you live; we are just totally focused on some hot weather/cool garment alchemy. We also observe that all of these fun Fit for Art makes will ease seamlessly into our fall wardrobes too.
Carpe Diem Tops and Tunics
Let’s start with Carrie’s notched neckline tunic made with some fine handwoven Indonesian cotton. Read about this easily achieved neckline modification for the Carpe Diem scoop neck tunic in the post Notched Carpe Diem Top.
Carrie’s daughter Meg loves her Butterfly Batik top Carrie made with the Carpe Diem pattern’s cap sleeve, which can be seen in the Photo Gallery.
Rae’s raspberry colored linen with silk appliques was the first in a series of garments made with leaf appliques copied from a favorite vintage garment. Read about these tops in Spark New Sewing Ideas.
Tabula Rasa Jackets
The softest colored garment in the group is Carrie’s ruched band Tabula Rasa Jacket variation, featuring lovely cotton lawn floral print and a lace over cotton band. The secrets to this top’s success are found in the post Ruched Lace Tabula Rasa Jacket.
Rae made the red printed voile Tabula Rasa Jacket, opened up for a cool summer look to wear to a wedding. It is so light, yet cheerful on a really hot day. The details for this top and the info about how the fabrics were sourced are found in the Colorful Summer Jacket post.
Tabula Rasa Knit Tees
Three of Rae’s go-to summer tees are photographed in the remainder of the banner.
Front and center is a terracotta colored light cotton jersey floral with ivory colored scalloped facing details. So easy to dress up or down and perfect with tan, ivory or olive neutral colored Eureka Pants. See how she changed her neckline and hemline in the post Elegant Scalloped Tee.
On the far left corner of the banner (possibly not even visible to your eyes depending on your screen size) is the rose colored tea with stenciled fluid fabric paint details featured in the posts Painting Knits and V-Neck Tee Tips.
On the other far right corner is the Patchwork Tee featured in the post Summer Tees—Finished and Enjoyed! These are super light weight embellishment options for cool and comfortable knits like these Sew Batik cotton jerseys.
Make One Yourself
Why not find a fabric in your stash or on the sale table of your favorite fabric store to add an intense color to your wardrobe as the seasons change? Be sure to pick a fabric that coordinates with your pants, shorts and other accessories so it will be easy to slip the new make into your wardrobe rotation.
Happy Sewing, Rae and Carrie
Such cute and cool summer tops!! I’m going to have to make one or two!!
So many ideas! So little time!