Ruffled ikat cotton top

Not my first foray into ruffled sleeves, this top was based off of the Beatrix pattern, similar to this Beatrix top (awww!! Baby Rae!) and a Beatrix-based dress which…*rifles through blog archives for five minutes*…I must have forgotten to post, but I did sneak a peek at in this IG post. Reminder that Beatrix has just recently been updated with new sizes and more (details here)!!

I love playing around with my patterns and this one in particular required a decent departure from the pattern, enough that I would consider turning it into a standalone pattern at some point. However, knowing as you probably already do that the turnaround time for Rae from concept to actual pattern is not exactly….erm…prompt, let me just briefly outline the mods for now:

  • cut back and back facing on fold, modified facing to include a notch and ties

  • cropped length at ~7” below armpit, added 10” wide ruffle at 2x width

  • added length to short sleeve, added ~9” wide ruffle at about 2x width

[See this tutorial: How to add a ruffle to Gemma for some guidance on adding the ruffles]

The fabric is a Merchant and Mills ikat that I purchased at Oak Fabrics; the little squares are a deep blue. I love the way that patterns are created on the ikat fabric due to the way the threads are dyed before weaving — super cool! If you’re looking for some fun ikats, Stonemountain and Daughter also has a comprehensive ikat selection as well.

I decided to use the selvage for the ruffle hems rather than hemming them, which leaves a cool band of uninterrupted cream fabric along the hems.

Turns out it was perfect timing as this top and my red beanie and jeans created an appropriately patriotic ensemble to wear to drop off my ballot earlier this week. Like many of you, I’m feeling anxious yet hopeful for our lil’ ol’ democracy, but early voting started this past Saturday in Michigan (as well as many other states) so if you haven’t already, get out there and VOTE!

PS. Channeled some of that not-going-back energy into painting a set of signs for my front yard this week:

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