Izzy Top - A Favorite Free Pattern from Climbing the Willow

I loved my first Izzy Top made last year, but it was time for a new one. You can find the pattern HERE on the Climbing the Willow website. I traced the 3T and went to look through the stash.(The stash has grown recently due to the generosity of a woman whose children I babysat as a teenager. Vintage fabric and patterns galore. Yay!)

Anyway...

I've been playing around with mixing knits with wovens for tops lately. I like the idea of the knit top portion because then there is no need for linings or closures, and I like the wovens in summer a lot too because I find them to be lighter and breezier than most knits. This top portion was made from the above mentioned recently inherited supply of 1970's green terry cloth. It's pretty lightweight and decently stretchy, with a cool texture. I was a child in the 70's so it reminds me of things I wore. It wasn't stretchy enough to use for the neckband though so I used a scrap of cotton Lycra in purple. The only pattern modification was to remove the center back seam allowance and cut the back piece on the fold as well.

 The skirt portion is made from a thrift store scarf - with fringe! It cost only 50 cents and was just big enough. It was meant to be, right? This skirt is a 3T in width and about a 4 length, plus the fringe, in case you're thinking of checking your thrift store now. (I don't think it would work for any size above 4T.) It is so light, soft, and bohemian looking and I just adore it. Elena loves swinging the fringe around and twirling. I love making something out of nothing. I really get such a kick out of that.

I have come to realize that my favorite part of "sewing" is actually the designing and planning and choosing materials. The actual sewing is just a necessity, but not the best part.

We had a lovely day out at a nearby park. We stopped at the garden center and farmer's market on the way home. Then we worked on planting some of the garden since rain threatens for the next few days. There is so much more to do. We've only planted onions, potatoes, and a fresh strawberry bed so far. We've gone a few years without strawberries, but I love being able to feed my family organic berries so I'm bringing them back. We have red raspberries already, but I'm adding in blackberries this year too. We're already eating our well-established asparagus. Every day at this point, but we still need to plant sugar snap peas, beans, peppers, and lots of tomatoes. So much more to do in the next week or two.