Cropped Ikat Beatrix

I made this Beatrix last May with a small bit of cotton ikat I had in my stash. Since the piece was smaller than the recommended yardage, I had to get a little creative. I opted to use the selvages for the hems of the top and sleeves, which meant I had to cut it on the cross-grain, but I did a quick stretch test before cutting and surprisingly it had more stretch vertically than horizontally so this wasn’t a problem.

For the cropped length, I used the “cut here for view B” line that is currently on the bodice pattern piece as my hem line and that worked quite well. It took a bit of time for me to take photos of it partly because it went immediately into my closet. It’s quite comfortable and nice for cooler spring weather.

A note on the sizing for Beatrix:
One other reason I didn’t post this last year when I made it is that I’ve been spending less time making and promoting my patterns that have a smaller size range (Beatrix is in six sizes — XS-XXL — and is designed for chest measurements 34”-44”), and at that point I was still quite a way off from grading it into new sizes. Happily - I can report that we’ve graded it into 14 sizes, and I am currently fit-testing it with a few friends. Fit-testing is the stage before group testing, so hopefully we’ll begin testing it in June.

If buttons aren’t your jam…
I do love the visual effect of the button placket down the back and have seen this design out and about; it seems to be very popular right now. However, I do think that sometimes it’s nice to skip the buttonholes and either opt to just tack the buttons on over the placket (see this example), or cut the back out on the fold and skip the placket/buttons altogether (see this tutorial: How to Make Beatrix without Buttons). And putting the buttons in front instead of in back is an incredibly easy hack, so maybe I’ll do a tutorial for that at some point!

Here’s how I wore it last week! Whenever I wear this top, I like to balance the navy (what I would personally consider a “neutral”) with a flash of red.