is this bright enough for you Ann?

one of my work colleagues, Ann (hence the title) remarked to me the other day that all the things I had sewn lately were black or grey, or a combination of the two. Which is a very accurate observation which I think has come about because I have lots of grey and black fabrics in the stash, I am trying to build a wardrobe of basic pieces in neutral colours and also because when sewing maternity clothes there is a lot of fabric, so careful colour and print selection is required! Also it is winter here in Sydney, and I do tend to go for those sombre colours at this time of the year.

Anyway, it is quite boring (not that she said that of course) and I do have some colours and prints lined up for a few upcoming garments, but since I have grey thread in the overlocker at the moment I have a few more grey things to churn out. But I did whip up this very simple top over the weekend in a bright yellow lightweight wool fabric that I bought from an op-shop last year. The fabric is so lovely, it is light, soft and is a very cheery colour indeed! I used Simplicity 4589, and modified by lengthening the sleeves and the bodice, and adding extra fabric across the front. Instead of gathering the fabric across the bodice and sleeves, I made a row of little pleats which I think makes it look less casual but was still very simple to do.

Unfortunately it was an overcast day when I took this photo so the vibrancy of the yellow isn't apparent, but trust me it is bright! You can also see from the photo above that I added a thin black grosgrain ribbon across the front yoke to add a little embellishment. I'm not quite the master of embellishment as others are, like Caryoln over at diaryofasewingfanatic, but I'm learning!

To tone it down a little, I planned to wear it with this grey RTW suit but unfortunately I have grown out of this suit and I haven't done the waistband of the pants up, which is the why the top sticks out a little bit in the photo. I don't want to wear it with a black suit because I think it would resemble a bumble bee, so I guess I have to make something else grey to wear with it! Isn't that irony for you?

Happily I have taken the next three days off work so I could avoid the chaos in Sydney caused at the moment by all the Catholic youth of the world descending on the city for World Youth Day. St Mary's Cathedral, where the Pope will be finishing his motorcade and is the central focus of the celebrations is directly opposite my office and getting to work and around the city is becoming difficult due to the amount of people, street closures and barricades everywhere. Not that I have anything against young people celebrating their religion, but to understand the activity happening around my office just check out the blog of my aforementioned colleague Ann who has been taking some really great photos of it all.

So I hope to finish quite a few things in the next few days of uniterrupted sewing. Gotta make the most of the second trimester energy while it lasts I guess!