Drape neck top and python jeans

I just love the stuff young teenagers can get away with.  They can walk the very edge of the trends because they have such a sense of fun.  Their energy  makes just about everything workable.   Case in point, bright nearly neon python print jeans.

That's Burda 9500 for the jeans.   It was easy to work with and fits pretty well.  It is designed for a younger figure.  My 13 year old started growing her grown up figure this summer so the seat of the pants was a little too flat for her.  We took in the waist, but if I were to make them again, I would cut the back yoke 1/2" taller in the center and grade into that from the sides.  She needed the extra coverage there.   

I asked her to do some model poses for me, which got me a duck face . . . and then a laugh.

 Love it.

 I took the time to do true flat felled seams everywhere I could.  Then I top stitched in hot pink top stitching thread.  Coats and Clark has added some great colors to their jeans threads lately and the hot pink was absolutely perfect for these pants.

I am pretty darn proud of that top.  I designed the pattern myself from scratch.  I used an old book called Debbie Moore's Pattern Drafting and Dressmaking to draft the pattern.  I worked directly from Marilla's measurements and created a basic bodice first.  (The method was similar to this one.) Then I followed the instructions in the book on how to convert it to a drape neck top and add drop sleeves.  I did about three drafts of the pattern and four muslins (good thing I had a ton of knit too small to use for anything else stashed around here) also working from the fact that we found the jersey knit fabric on the same day we bought the denim.  It was in the remnants bin and there was not enough to cut sleeves, hence the drop sleeve.  I'm really happy with how it came out.   My sister even took a tracing of the pattern for her very style conscious 15 year old girl who loved the shirt too.

I love it when my first try at something comes out so great.