The lovely Gabrielle who owns the shop Heaven Wrapped gave me four scarves a while ago to make a top for her and a top for me. Terrifying! They are pure wool, shirred and quite fine and I wasn’t sure how they would make up.
I had a notion that I could get a yoke and sleeves in one piece (with a hole for the head) from one scarf and a body doubled over highlighting the fringing.
I was pulling patterns out of boxes, trying to jigsaw them onto the rather narrow piece of fabric. I pinned the Grainline Scout Tee onto the fabric and went for a walk. I knew that I wanted the frilly edges to be retained, and I thought that the neckline would be difficult on the Scout. Enter the Coco! The appeal of the Coco is the highish boat neck which meant that I might be able to keep the frill around the neck. Appealing. BUT, I have never seen a scout in anything but a fairly firm knit. How would it go in a really light, flimsy fabric? Another walk. I pinned on the pattern. Had a cup of tea. Looked for reassurance from Mark (hmmph!) then I thought about the Hermes scarf that I cut up and that worked ok. Deep breath then, got out the scissors and began cutting, trying not to think that each scarf sells for $70 and I needed two per top. Having messed around with these scarves for weeks, the top came together in a couple of hours (took longer because I kept sewing the French seams the wrong way – not concentrating). I was quite pleased with the result, but what would Gabrielle think? I nervously rocked up to her shop and delivered it. We had her stripped off and dressed in the top in a few minutes. Her reaction was a delight!
I generally don’t like making things for other people, but I would make anything for Gabby after this reaction. She truly was thrilled and kept saying that the top would be a lovely reminder of her shop when she eventually closes it down (sob!).