One of the things that I’ve really enjoyed about Pattern Union’s new Sumekko pattern is that Sarah has urged makers to hack the pattern. I made the long dresses as per the pattern, and also made a short dress, but the time came to make a couple of tops. I had bought remnants from Woven Stories Textiles and set about eking the tops out of the tiny bits of fabric.

I happened to be with Sarah when I bought the fabric so we headed back to her atelier to play. We cut out this gorgeous blue cotton knit first, and the fabric had a long piece which was begging to become ties. Unfortunately the way this remnant was cut meant that I had a big “divot” right at the centre front.

I fiddled around with it, a bow looked terrible, so I resorted to a large buckle. I couldn’t handle the amount of skin I was flashing, and depending on what I wore, my navel was exposed – quelle horreur!

I knew I would never wear this top as it was, so it needed a creative solution. I’m not sure my solution is that creative, but it does work. I simply filled in the gap with a scrap of fabric.

I made sure that said scrap had some of the lovely gold print on it. You can see that the gap at the front is much smaller, and I feel much happier.

The back view highlights this gorgeous fabric better. I really like the gold print.

My second remnant was this really bold bird painted on red cotton knit. Again, it was a tiny piece of fabric, which made it perfect for the Sumekko.

I didn’t have enough to give the top any sort of length so added a band and ties from some black cotton knit which was in my scrap box. Unlike the blue top, I simply turned the armholes and neck under and reverse coverstitched them.

I didn’t have enough fabric to do pattern matching, but like the fact that the birds are in full flight on my back.

I really love these birds and decided to add a little bead where the eye would be on the one on the front. I am also considering putting red beads on the red dots on the tail.

I have worn and worn both of these tops and envisage having them in pretty constant rotation as the weather warms up.

The Sumekko is the perfect pattern for making simple tops that are super quick to whip up. I have one planned without ties, perhaps just a band round the bottom.