Jumping off the sewing cliff

My nine year old and I are obsessed with Project Runway. OBSESSED. We have been hanging out for months waiting for Season 14 and after seeing episode one, I have a feeling 2015 is not going to disappoint. Right now we're on team Ashley. Or maybe team Merline. Still haven't decided yet but what I love about both these ladies is that they are not afraid to rock a good print.

This is Merline:

Seriously stylin'

And this is Ashley:

Watermelon skirt! Won't you be mine?

Checking out what the designers are wearing every week is almost more fun than seeing the creations they come up with. They're real people, only super stylish, and most of them do not look like models. Hooray! I'm kind of bored of looking at ridiculously tall skinny people for fashion inspiration. Enough already.

Which brings me to my Flutter tunic by Papercut Patterns.

Too short? What can you do?

It's a sweet, easy to sew pattern, but the floaty, fluttery sleeves make it something special. I love Papercut Patterns but I always feel like I'm taking a bit of a gamble sewing up their designs. Hello, there is no way I even remotely resemble the models they choose to showcase their pattern collections. It makes me feel like I'm jumping off some kind of sewing-related fashion cliff - will I land in a pit full of pins or onto some nice soft cashmere coating?

I think this half works. Being a pear shaped lass, I generally look better in waist-defining pieces, but sometimes a girl just want to shakes things up a little. This particular pattern only requires about 1.3 metres so it's a good one if you want to splurge on some special cloth, like this beautiful silk print I scored from The Fabric Store. Not that I need any more fabric right now, but I kind of wish I'd bought more of it when I had the chance.

Restraint, Winnie, restraint...