When Melissa started working for me about a year and a half ago as a studio assistant, she didn’t know how to sew. It may surprise you, but most of the work of running a small pattern business doesn’t involve sewing. There’s organizing and editing photos, categorizing expenses, printing pattern pieces, taping pattern pieces, cutting fabric, pressing, and plenty of other things to keep an assistant busy, so as far as the sewing goes, I can pretty much manage it by myself. Melissa really wanted to learn how to sew, though, so I’ve been teaching her basics like threading the machine and doing basic stitches. Last semester I decided it would be fun to have her come in a bit early once a week (she usually works a few hours a week, between her classes), so she could work on sewing something fun to wear. The result was this top that she cut and sewed herself, with some coaching and help from me, of course. We picked Astoria from Seamwork to start with.

I showed her how to add 2″ to the length of the bodice (you may remember from my Astoria pencil top that it’s a cropped length, and Melissa is even taller than I am), and I think it was the perfect amount. She picked the long sleeve rather than the 3/4 length, and now I think I need one with long sleeves too. We also flipped the neckband to the inside again, as you can see below.

I love how the snake print from Sidewalk (this print is called “Off the Trail”) looks with her white jeans. So awesome, right? I love how these photos turned out. This girl can rock anything.

I especially love this candid shot I got of her when she was picking music on my iPad at the beginning of the shoot. That red matches the snakes perfectly.

I’m excited to see what she sews up next!! So fun!

I think I might make a tee for Hugo with this print next. What would you make with these snakes??

Snake top by Melissa

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