I loved the early versions that Debbie posted on her blog, so I was very excited to be able to pattern test the Branson Top. I made my version using the test version of the pattern, but I don’t believe any substantial changes were made to the final pattern pieces. I cut a size 10, although I suspect I could go down one size next time for a closer fit.
If you know the pattern you’ll be aware that I made one alteration – as the pattern has two variations, long sleeve or sleeveless. I tested the long sleeve version for Debbie, but cut the sleeves down to a short length, post testing. The sleeves have a very distinctive style and look great on Debbie, but with my shrimpy statue I felt a bit engulfed. I think the short sleeve looks nice and summery.
The fabric is a lightweight cotton from Birmingham Rag Market, which features a paint splatter type design. In a light fabric like this the waist ties would perhaps benefit from interfacing to give them a bit more body.
The Branson Top is a really quick make; I made mine in one evening. I’d recommend it as a project that looks like it requires more effort than it actually does!
Debbie has such a distinctive style. I love her blog and am really excited that she has begun designing patterns as they’re sure to be unique.
You can’t see in the photos above, but I’m wearing my Branson Top with a pair of handmade espadrilles. Calling these handmade shoes sounds a bit grand as they are super easy! I made them using Prym Espadrille Soles purchased from Guthrie & Ghani.
The soles come with a paper pattern (which needs to be traced as it’s double sided) for the toe and heel sections. There aren’t any written instructions included, but there’s a video on the Prym site to follow instead. I used some mid-weight cotton stash fabric purchased from Barry’s, and previously used for this skirt. Once you’ve prepared the toe and heel sections, they are sewn onto the soles by hand The soles are soft, apart from the very bottom where there’s a plastic layer, so easy to sew through. These are really comfy, and I’m now wearing them around the house. If I make another pair I’d buy some matching (thick) thread to sew the fabric to the soles, as I used what I had in my sewing box this time, but a matching thread would have looked much neater.
In other news, I’m getting more obsessed with knitting by the day, and am currently making good progress on Unicorn Parallelograms.
