Astair Tee

Here is the Astair Tee by French Navy, made up in a bamboo knit from Maai Design.

 

Pattern details include sleeve cuffs, deep hem and side splits.

In these photos, the shirt is looking a little tight.  All the shirts in my photos lately look a little tight.  The photo below shows the real problem.   I'm trying to kid myself that it is swimming muscle, but possibly all my extra iso weight went to my back??  Is that a thing??  Anyway, I have only recently come to the realisation that I need to start doing broad back alterations.  

It was only after I bought this pattern that I realised that it was similar to one I already had - Jalie 3352.  That can happen when you own too many patterns :)  Anyway, I pulled out my Jalie for comparison, and you can see the difference in the photo below (back pieces).  It looks like the Jalie has a little more room under the arms, so I might be better off using it next time.

I am wearing the shirt with cuffs and not sleeves in the above photos, but you can see in the pattern comparison below, that the long sleeves of the Jalie are more tapered than the Astair.

French Terry Swimsuit Cover

I have been living in Perth for nearly a year now.  This year I'm going to be a bit more prepared for the weather and dress accordingly.  I have learnt that Perth can be cold, even in summer.    I swim early in the morning, and not only can summer mornings be cool, but the wind is often blasting across the ocean. 

This week I dug into my winter clothing to pull out a long sleeved knit dress to throw on to get to the pool.  This gave me the idea to use some French Terry from my stash, previously earmarked for a winter sweater, for a swimsuit cover up. 

I used Simplicity 8790, which is a Sew House Seven pattern.  I modified the pattern to use ribbing on the neckline, cuffs and pocket openings  I cut a size M, grading out to an L.  I ended up taking the side seams in a little, which reduced the pocket opening, but because of the stretchy ribbing, I can still easily get my hand in.  I didn't have enough fabric to make the kangaroo style pocket, so made my own pattern piece for individual pockets on each side.  They are just one layer, top-stitched to the dress, which both reduces bulk and drying time for the terry.  The rib on the neckline has a cross-over detail, similar to the original hood, but this detail doesn't show up well in the photo.

Side photo to show pocket openings.

See below photo for stripe matching.  I didn't get too obsessive about stripe matching; just enough so that it doesn't jar the eyes.  This requires fudging the raglan seams on the front and back, easing in as required and then stretching as required, which is okay in a stretchy knit.  I bought this See You At Six fabric from Maaidesign (still available).  It has stretch in both directions, which is good because I cut this dress across the fabric to get the stripes horizontal.

These photos were taken at the beach, but I actually swim in a heated pool next to the beach...I haven't acclimatised enough to swim regularly in the ocean yet!

Shorts are my favourite thing to wear

I have just returned from an extended holiday in Queensland.  I only took a handful of outfits and wore them over and over.  I love warm weather and I loved that I could wear shorts every day.  I made these green shorts a few months ago, but only wore them for the first time on holiday.  I didn't iron much on holiday, so they are a little crushed.

The pattern is from La Mia Boutique, with the same changes as my previous pair using this pattern.

The fabric is a tencel twill from MaaiDesign.  I wondered if the shorts were a fraction too loose and long, but tencel is notorious for ongoing shrinkage, so I have left them for now.

The colour is gorgeous and also paired nicely with a white linen shirt as one of my other holiday outfits.