Screwdriver Top by Our Lady of Leisure
The Screwdriver Wrap Shirt by Our Lady of Leisure is quite possibly my favourite make so far! I just love the Lady McElroy Crowded Faces Cotton Lawn. I often find it hard to find a fabric that I love as much as the unique patterns I see on some ready-to-wear clothing but this fabric is an exception. I first started to see the Crowded Faces fabric on Instagram and couldn’t resist buying it. There are quite a few shops selling this fabric in the UK but I bought mine from Fabric Godmother. In the past, I always tried to avoid stashing fabrics without a purpose but I just couldn’t resist this one!
I decided that I really wanted to make a wrap top with the fabric so I started Googling for the right pattern. I was inspired by the below wrap shirt from Gorman, an Australian fashion label. it wasn’t as easy as I thought to find a similar pattern but I finally found the Screwdriver Top. This pattern is designed to have folded sleeves but since this fabric has such an amazing pattern, I wanted to make sure it was on show. I had also purchased the The Blouse pattern from The Avid Seamstress at the same time, so I used the sleeves from this pattern to create a simple straight sleeve on my Screwdriver Top.
Testing the sleeve from The Blouse by The Avid Seamstress on the Screwdriver Top
The sleeve on the Screwdriver Top had a much wider shoulder opening compared to The Avid Seamstress Blouse so I traced the shoulder opening from the Screwdriver Top and then tapered it to the much narrower sleeve on The Blouse. I had expected it to take a few goes to get it right, but it was surprisingly simple and I ended up with really nice sleeves.
Attaching the facing and the wrap to the top
I love the large bow on this pattern - it really adds to the look and in fact, I actually like this top more than the Gorman wrap top I was originally inspired by! it was a really easy pattern to make and I didn’t make any real mistakes - which is so unusual for me. The lack of fastenings also makes it so much easier to make - and wear. This is definitely a pattern I would consider making again.
