Crotchet Top

Last year, I decided to try my hand at crocheting to know if I liked as much as I like knitting. This pattern is from Katia, it includes some lace and it uses a cotton I love, so it was a good choice, I thought. 

I followed the pattern, first making the back and front pieces and finishing with the lace in the back, the straps, and the scythe's closing. 

I finished in mid winter, so it has been in my wardrobe unworn for half a year, but I was finally able to wear it this summer. When I tried it on I realized my nipples could be seen, and I had to sew and underlying piece at the breasts zone. It is a knit, flesh coloured, invisible underlying, and it does the trick perfectly, as you can see in the pictures: it maintains the sheer vibe of the top, buy my nipples are no longer visible.

Ravelry entry

Emilio Dress

 I bought this gorgeous fabric in Firenze, summer 2022. The seller that helped me took this fabric from out of the counter, as if it were illegal. I marvelled at the stunning silk, and then he pointed at the signature: Emilio (Tucci). Shirts made of this were being sold at 1000 € in fashion district (another instance of how good at marketing Italians are). It cost me 60 €, and it was aprox. 1,5 m. 

It sat in my stash almost a year, until I found the perfect design: a bias cut long dress, inspired in the sateen long dresses of the cinema divas of the classic Hollywood. 

I looked in my magazines for a blouse cut on the bias with that high ruffled neck cut I fancied, and then I lengthened the sides in some evassée shape. 

I cut the dress on the floor, very carefully not to distress the seams, to prevent them from stretching. I was very careful about that along all the process, specially when I stitched it in the machine or when I ironed the seams. In previous attempts to sew bias silk I ruined it in the machine and with the iron, so I was very careful and it did not happen this time, I managed to keep the bias silk in shape.

The result is spectacular. It certainly raised some praise. I am glad that the design and the execution were up to the wonderful fabric. I've worn it twice, at my dear students' graduation party and at my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary celebration.