Guest Post: Diane from Gatorbunny Sews - "Aubrey and Me" Top

I know I've said this before, but, if you're a piece of fabric in my sewing room and you hang around too long you're bound to get embroidered.  I am and always will be in love with fabrics but more and more embroidery seems to be taking up residence in the creative side of my brain.  Fabrics can now be canvases since "Aubrey", my embroidery machine, moved in (yes...I named my machine…don't judge).

This blouse inspired my "Aubrey and Me" Top.  The combination of the embroidery, lace and silhouette makes a top that's feminine without being fussy.

Because a simple pattern lends itself to embroidery, I chose Salme's Kimono Style Angel Sleeve Top for my blouse. It's a two-piece pattern plus facings (it doesn't get simpler than that) with a soft flutter sleeve.  I lowered the neckline 3/4" because it's more flattering on me and left everything else the same.  I chose this dreamy blue/gray J. Crew voile from Fabric Mart (the color is out of stock but this color would be lovely!) and a cotton crochet trim for the neckline and hem.

The Mendhika Medallion machine embroidery pattern from Urban Threads is stitched three times at the neckline. The middle medallion is sized to 3" in diameter and the two outer are 2 1/2" in diameter.  The medallion comes as a three color design but I changed it to two colors, dark ecru and ecru, and stitched it out in 40 weight rayon embroidery thread.

In constructing this blouse, and for almost all of my embroidery projects, I have "Aubrey" do the embroidery before I actually cut out the pattern piece.  This makes hooping and placement easier. This voile is very lightweight so after a couple of test runs I found wash away stabilizer the best choice for stabilization during embroidery.  My final step before actually sewing the blouse together was adding 17 rows of twin needle stitching in ecru thread.  I know 17 rows sounds like a lot but none are more that 2" long and the result is a design that looks pulled together.  

I'm looking forward to wearing this blouse all spring and summer with jeans and skirts.  Thanks "Aubrey"! ~Diane

Thank you Diane for a great post and for incorporating some embroidery into your project. Check out Diane's blog: Gatorbunny Sews. If you would like to be a guest blogger, email fabricmartblog@gmail.com.