I made another one! This time I made the Matcha Top (pattern by my dear friend Meg of Sew Liberated) with this beautiful Nani Iro double gauze that I impulse-bought last summer from Jones and Vandermeer (great shop for both double gauze and Liberty, by the way, also a former sponsor, full disclosure) in what might have seemed at the time like a moment of weakness but as you can clearly see now and time has revealed to me was really just a moment of serendipity, as it’s now a frequent flyer in wardrobe miles. I can’t decide if the base color of this cloth is a pale grey or a pale lavender, but I don’t think it matters, it’s a lovely print. Some of the flowers even sparkle.

What makes this Matcha especially special is that I made it at Squam, in Meg’s class, which was really fun. You might ask (as a fellow a Squam-mite, who already knew I was a fairly experienced sewist did, upon learning I had signed up for the sewing class) why i would take a sewing class, as someone who has already taught her fair share of sewing classes herself. And I would tell you that I have made the delightful discovery of finding that I still love to learn, so I try to seize every opportunity to take other peoples’ classes, because I always learn something new. I’d even go so far as to say that I’m better now at learning — as a teacher — than I ever was as a student.

And guess what?? I learned something new! Never fails. It was great. In addition to enjoying Meg’s instruction, having an entire day to sew for myself, and having the lovely experience of sitting next to Charlotte who had the best English accent and made the best table mate ever, I learned how to sew a Hong Kong seam finish:

In retrospect I can’t believe I’d never done this before; I’m positive I’d seen tutorials online for the Hong Kong finish, but I’d probably skimmed them and thought, “now THERE is something I do NOT have time for!” I suppose I thought it was too fussy or fancy or something but now I can’t believe how easy it was. It turned out to be different than I had imagined so now I’ll be adding it to All the Things. Perhaps there’s just something about having someone show it to you in person, you know? Meg is of course an excellent and patient teacher, so of course there was nothing intimidating at all about it.

Pretty rad, right?

I find — and tell me if it’s the same for you — that if I have high expectations for exactly what I want to accomplish or learn in a class, I often end up kinda stressed out or even disappointed by myself. It always seems to be when I approach a situation with a more open attitude (like “maybe I’ll learn something cool today!”) that I come away with the most. An open mind is really key. A curious spirit is also helpful. And of course it doesn’t hurt when you’ve got a fantastic teacher, either.

The Matcha Top Pattern can be found in the Sew Liberated pattern shop. You can also Instastalk other great versions online by going to #matchatoppattern.

Nani Iro Matcha Top

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