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. The label said Dry Clean Only, and how can you have a top which you can’t launder? So I decided to give them a quick wash to eliminate the possibility of shrinkage or colours running. There didn’t seem to be any issues, and I was totally impressed with how quickly they dried, so I thought about what I was going to make with them. I didn’t want to cut the fabric so I spent hours draping and futzing about. 

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. Probably looks ok on Doris the dummy (actually, no, it doesn’t) but I knew that it was going to be difficult to pull off. When I laid the fabric along the back of the sofa I could see that the pattern was strong and that I would need to do some matching.

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! Front view – check Back view – check And then such excitement! 

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!). The details: Pattern is Tilly and the Buttons Coco top with the neckline altered to take advantage of the edge frill on the fabric. Fabric is two scarves from Heaven Wrapped in Claremont. Model, benefactor and recipient is Gabrielle.