I had a small explosion of productivity in the sewing room earlier this month. We were getting ready for a trip up to Lake Tahoe and I figured I'd make myself a resort wear wardrobe. The first item was the Lacey dress from StyleArc and the second was the Lemont top from Itch to Stitch. Quite coincidentally, both patterns share a construction style that was, to me, unusual.
Both patterns have princess seams coming from the shoulder and for both the side-front, the side-back and the sleeve are one integrated piece. Which means you could have a ton of fun with color blocking or stripe manipulation. I'm too much of a stick-in-the-mud for that though.
The Lamont is like a woven tee with a twist. Those sleeves have a bit of a "statement" vibe without going too far and I like the shape of the neckline.
I'm not usually a statement person, so I wanted the sleeves to be more on the subtle side. I used a drapey rayon, even though rayon is one of my least favorite fabrics to sew. Second only to tencel, which I find even more slippery and fray-ie. Rayon is limper, though, so maybe it's even worse than tencel.
Anyway, the drafting of Itch to Stitch patterns is so clean and the instructions are so good that I hardly had time to hate my rayon before I was done.
The only change I made to the pattern was to sub out pleats for the gathers at the shoulders. I feel that pleats are a touch more staid, as befits a woman of my age.
The top is very comfortable to wear. It works with shorts to go casual and with black linen pants to get a bit more dressy. That's how I wore it for cocktails and a steak dinner, looking out over Late Tahoe at sunset.
My pattern review is at PatternReview.com here.
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