The Sew a Garment a Month theme for October is Octopus, and I might have had an inkling (no pun intended) beforehand! I thought long and hard about this theme and even did some research into the Greek origins of the name in case that helped, spoiler alert – eight footed was of no help whatsoever, although I did consider it as my teaser for the theme. Then I explored the ideas slide and decided that the colour blue (as in the blue blood of an octopus) might be easy, but I also experienced flexibility, transformation, adaptation and recovery during the make.

Stokx patterns are sponsoring this month’s challenge and so I really wanted to make one of Lindy’s patterns to pay tribute to her generosity. The Birdy blouse was obvious but it didn’t fit on the fabric, and I felt that it would be a longer sew.

I’ve long wanted to make the Tessuti Judy Top, so I dug it out. This pattern was given to me by my friend Jenny.

The Judy Top pattern is very simple. It’s described as “A relaxed, sleeveless-friendly layering top with drop shoulders, a curved hem, an under-button placket, and a row of multiple small buttons with rouleau loops”. I’m not a massive fan of dropped shoulders, but only when they have sleeves attached, so I like this pattern. The idea of being able to layer it is very appealing too. There are very few pattern pieces, and I therefore figured it would be quick to make – hah!

I had a rummage in my stash and was a bit surprised that I had a few pieces of blue fabric and settled on this piece of cotton chambray. I’m not sure what I used the rest of it for, although it could have been donated to my stash like this.

I laid the pattern pieces on the fabric and was quite pleased that I could just fit it on. I wasn’t sure about whether I would be able to get sufficient bias binding from the scraps, but in the end, with a lot of piecing, I managed it.

Then the sewing began! I made this the day before a major overseas trip and figured it would take me a couple of hours. After all, no sleeves, bound edges, and a simple placket. What could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot really. The pattern calls for 1/4″ seams and the neckline and sleeves have tearaway stabiliser. I need more wriggle room than 1/4″ and I kept finding that my seams didn’t line up on the raw edges as they kept slipping. The stabiliser didn’t help me keep them together neatly. So a spot of unpicking until I was happy. Then I had to make the tube for the rouleau loops and found it very difficult to pull the chambray through as it was quite thick and unyielding. The only way I managed it was in sections and somehow some of my loops were cut a bit short, so I had to redo them. Then they were sewn to more tearaway stabiliser, and it was at this point that I regretted not re-reading Liz Hayward’s blog post on rouleau loops. I have just had another look and will definitely take her advice for the next Judy top. Anyway, I had myself a bit of a mess, and discovered that tearaway is a misnomer as it does sort of rip off, but it leaves chunks behind, which will take me all summer to pick off. Luckily they can’t be seen from the outside. I’m wondering if I used the right vilene as tearaway. It was in my stash and I’m pretty certain that’s what it is.

I got there in the end, but it did take a lot more than the allotted couple of hours.

I’m also wondering if I should go down a size, but will consider that for the next one. I love the shape of the bottom and all those buttons down the front. I had to find 12 small buttons that matched, at least in size, which was no mean feat. I toyed with using odd ones, but then found these little round pearly ones and thought they were perfect.

I tried the top on with a few things, but I didn’t get my white trousers out, and I think it will look great with them.

I had a couple of goes at styling the top, just before having to pack for my trip to London, and also had a haircut in the middle of making it! I was a bit casual about how I put it on, but I think it will be worn a lot in the summer.

Given that I didn’t use one of Lindy’s patterns to make the top, I thought I’d team my new top with my red Square Pants, and I really like the combination.

Just to round off the Octopus theme: as mentioned earlier, I had to be a bit flexible with the cutting layout, as well as the amount of time I spent making the top. I transformed a scrap of fabric into a top I really like, I had to adapt the way I made the rouleau loops and finally, had to recover from what wasn’t as straightforward a make as I was expecting. I feel a tablecloth version of one of these coming on, possibly to donate to the charity I volunteer for.