Archways and undergrowth

Continuing on the Papercut love, here’s another Papercut make just for you.

That’s right, it’s the Ensis tee!

After we became accidental twinsies with our Bellatrix blazers, the lovely Mel and I thought it would be fun to carry on that idea and be Ensis twinsies, too!

And also use it as an excuse to go to random spots around Wellington and take photos together, just for the fun of it.

(And oh my, was it a fun way to spend the morning! Well over 300 photos, we may have gotten a little trigger-happy with all the fun spots to get shots, and the enjoyment of a) having someone with you who ‘gets’ why you’re taking photos, and b) not feeling like a complete idiot standing by yourself with a timer. Seriously, you guys who do the timer thing, I take my hat off to you – I am far far to shy to do that! 😦 )

We went for a wander up part of the Southern Walkway to Truby King Gardens. (A favourite photo/walk spot of mine – so overgrown and shabby and lovely.) Mel had never been there before so I got to introduce her to the little archways and the seats and the tumbling-down brick walls.

Our walk was punctuated by happy exclamations of “oh! There’s a log with ferns all around it! Let’s stand there!” and “check it out – a stump in a clearing, like a mini stage!”, followed by us taking turns dancing around and pulling odd poses just for the heck of it.

Culminating in a bunch of “twinsie Ensis tee” shots, oh yeah! (And a conversation with a couple of ladies who wandered by and were a bit bemused by our antics, haha!)

All up, a great way to spend a weekend – make a top on Saturday, go for a walk on Sunday with a friend for photos. 😀

So, the tee….

Quite frankly, I am now in love with this pattern. It’s super-fast to make up, you can use up little bits of fabric for the top contrast panel, and I can see lots of variation possibilities. The line between the two panels ends at a flattering spot, and the shirt is long enough to not worry about showing skin when you sit down (even for us taller girls!). It’s a good cut, too – not too tight, not too loose. The only change I made was shortening the sleeves for a summer tee.

I have a couple more of these planned already – one in black and silver with a lower neckline to wear tucked in to skirts for work – I think the contrast panel with a dressier fabric would translate quite well into office wear, we’ll see how that goes. I’m also thinking of using the Ensis pattern for a sweatshirt by cutting a size bigger and using the version with cuffed sleeves and hem. Could be cute, yes?

The entire thing was stitched up using my trusty four-thread overlocker, gosh I love that thing, makes things so fast and the coverstitch is great. Me and my overlocker, we’ve got a little love affair going on. (Complete with occasional tiffs where it throughs it’s toys out of the cot for no reason at all. Huh.)

The Facts

Pattern: Ensis tee from Papercut
Fabric: pink/navy stripe cotton knit from Levana; grey marle cotton/synthetic blend knit no idea it’s been in my stash for a while
Size cut: a straight XS
Alterations made: sleeves shortened to summer length
Verdict? Loving this far more than I thought I would! (Even though the pink stripe makes me feel like a bit of an 80’s throwback, haha!) I can see this getting a lot of use, and have plans for more already, maybe even this weekend….

And also – taking photos with another sewing-blogger is HEAPS OF FUN!!!! 😀