Re-fashioned Hadley Top

I know, I know, the incredibly grey end to the summer makes sunshine seem like a distant event buried deep in the past and it may seem that this top is the most seasonally inappropriate thing I could possibly talk about (although to be fair I could be posting this in December) and it probably is but... I just can't resist sharing some summer makes that I made before I went on holiday. And yes, believe it or not, when I made this and wore it it was entirely appropriate for the crazy heatwave we were having! I took these photos while I was on holiday - it was very hot and incredibly beautiful - so in a way this top is a lovely memory of my summer too.

This top is actually a re-fashion project which I find adds a lovely bit of character to a garment. I love the idea that it started off as somehting completely different and it always makes me smile to think that whenever I put it on. Having recently cleared out some old clothes, I decided to keep too-small jeans for their fabric. I love the faded look that denim gets after it's been worn for a while and old jeans are perfect for achieving this affect. I think I used the best part of 3 pairs of jeans and a pair of shorts for this top, although they were mainly children sizes and so there was less fabric. Last time I sewed a garment out of an old pair of jeans it was my button-up skirt which I love and have worn a lot and this time I decided to make a top.

I was completely inspired by this gorgeous dress by Megan Nielsen when I made this top. It was one of those projects where I absolutely didn't have it in mind and then made it almost immediately after forming the idea. One of the things that I love about this top is that the back is completely different to the front and that despite using only jean denim each denim is a different of the colour and has been worn and faded in different places.

As you can imagine there were quite a few pattern pieces for this make and I had to keep checking the formation of the pattern as the pieces fit together a bit like a jigsaw puzzle. For the pattern, I used the Grainline Studio Hadley Top which I love the shape of. The fabric is probably a bit too heavyweight for it making the top slightly more boxy, but I found that this really doens't bother me as much as I thought it would. I would really like to make another Hadley top for myself out of a drapier fabric, especially because my Mum has worn the one that I made her a lot and every time she wears it I want one for myself!

You can see how I divided the pattern piece into sections, the back is pretty similar to the front. It was surprisingly easy to do, I just sewed the pieces together to create the bodice pieces and then sewed the top as per the instructions. 

I really love this top. The colours and proportions are just right and I wore it a lot in the summer. I debated for quite a while wether or not to use contrast topstitching along the centre front and back and in the end I went for a contrast light grey and I love this addition, it reminds me of topsitching on actual jeans. Overall, this top just makes me really happy and reminds me of a lovely summer - I'm just counting down the days until it's warm enough to wear it again!