FO: Wiksten Tova shirt

It wasn't long after I discovered sewing blogland and started learning to sew that I came across Wiksten patterns, designed by Jenny Gordy (she also has her own lovely clothing line). Unfortunately the patterns (hand drawn!) are often in limited supply, but I finally managed to get my hands on both the Tank and Tova sewing patterns.

So here's my wearable muslin:

Fabric choice aside (we'll come to that later), I just love this shirt. It's a great casual style, and I think it's universally flattering. The pattern comes in a shirt and dress length, but I made the former (adding 2" length at the hem). I cut a small, but next time I'll merge to a medium at hip level, and may only add 1" at the hem.

The pattern itself is wonderful. There are lots of detailed instructions, with photos and drawings, and the shirt comes together wonderfully and very quickly. And best of all... no closures! Whoop!

I'm definitely going to make up some more of these - I can see myself living in these at weekends! (It will make a welcome change from the usual uniform of jeans and stripey T).

And yes, the fabric choice. Those are indeed elephants. I just love elephants. I met a baby  elephant once. I was about 8 years old at the time and it was an orphan living at the Sheldrick elephant orphanage. It stuck its trunk down my shirt (true story - it was looking for treats). And since then, I've been a big fan. I have a small collection of ornamental elephants, and friends/relatives often bring back an elephant souvenir from their travels. But I'm not sure it's a good enough excuse for this fabric. I don't own or wear animal prints, so I can only put this purchase down to momentary "ah-elephants" madness. And I'm not sure what the fibre content is (I did a burn test, which suggests that it's some kind of plant fibre, but it doesn't feel much like cotton).

Anyhoo, I expect I'll get loads of wear from this shirt if I ever go on safari. Until then, it will do nicely for working-from-home days.

As this was my wearable muslin, I'm planning to whip up another version very soon in a cosy cotton flannel.

But there's just so much on my "what to sew next" pile - I don't know where to start! What about you? What's on your sewing table?

have a lovely weekend & speak soon!
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