Day 28 / Me-Made-May 2015 / Ottobre no. 10 Sculpture

Welcome to a beautiful little spot in the wilderness the locals call Sliding Rock!  It's since been renamed Long Shoals Park, but I sort of like Sliding Rock better....

.....as that's what you're supposed to do, if you can brave the cold mountain stream..... is slide from up here.....

 ..... to down here.   Down at the bottom of the stream, you can barely see in the photo below, is a large boulder rock the really 'brave' (I use that term loosely here!) kids jump off.  The water is deeper, and the boulder is a pretty good climb up.  No sliders, nor jumpers today as I had this beautiful place all to myself.

This is the tiny, little trail that opens directly onto the rock outcroppings.  I tell you, my dear friends, I was most brave this day..... as the trail was more overgrown than I'd remembered and we've had a few cases of copperhead snake bites in our area recently, so there was lots of talking to potential snakes and making of much noise as I traversed this narrow mountain trail that leads directly down from the parking area to all the gorgeousness.

I'm wearing another new Ottobre No. 10 Sculpture top, so thought I'd talk a little bit about this pattern today.  I've now made 2 versions..... a knit....

....and a crepe de chine.

First time I'd seen this magazine at a local Barnes & Noble and what a terrific magazine it is, chock full of wonderful patterns.  Ann at Sew Baby Sew blog has made this top, as well as almost all the patterns in this issue.  She also reviewed this issue in full.  Just look for the other links at her blog.  This is the women's Ottobre Spring/Summer 2/2015 issue.

The line drawing shows No. 10, Sculpture an asymmetrical draped blouse recommending lightweight linen or well-draping viscose crepe.  Within the magazine this top's description reads "The otherwise loose-cut blouse is a snug fit around the hips."  Not sure I wanted a 'snug fit around the hips' I modified that part of the pattern, otherwise, it was made per instructions.  May I also add that it uses a mere 1 1/8 yard of fabric 60" wide.  What drew me in were the lovely pleats on one shoulder.

Be prepared for baby hems!!!!  OppKnits sent me Coletterie's 'How to sew a baby hem' that helped a lot on this top.  The instructions have you jumping straight away into a baby hem for the neckline.  The neckline is cut almost directly on the bias so it's a little tricky to keep everything laying flat.  I did a pretty good job with the mostly-stable knit here.  The sleeves are also hemmed with a baby hem.  You can see the pleat detail at my right shoulder here, and not my left, because I got it turned 'round backwards on this top.  Minor detail.  Left seam edges raw because this is knit.  This top turned out much looser than the crepe one, so I've got it tied at my waist.  Sort of added more asymetrical lines.  :)

Now let's look at the crepe de chine.  Took me two tries on the neckline and I still got two little puckers.  Sewing is teaching me that 'good enough' is 'good enough'.... so called that okay.  Here, below, is the set up for try #2..... lots and lots of pins with s-l-o-w sewing.

And here, below, is the result.  Not bad.  This was done before I'd complained discussed this neckline headache with OppKnits.  :)  This also lies nice and flat.

The crepe de chine sewed up more 'snug at the hips' and I like it.... a lot!  The looser part of the top sort of 'drapes' over the snugger fit at the hips.  For some reason the knit top did not sew up snug at the hips, but that's okay.  I'm not happy with the way the sleeves on the crepe de chine hemmed, so I've already got those stitches ripped out and will be putting in baby hems there, that hopefully will not curl.  All seams finished as french seams.

Meanwhile, I'd like to share a photo of Table Rock Mountain, located a short distance from Sliding Rock..... along with the smaller Stool Mountain in the photo below.  This area was sacred to the Cherokees who named this chain of mountains Sah-ka-na-ga loosely translated to mean 'the great blue hills of God'.  The smaller Stool Mountain was thought to be where the great God sat as he ate his food on the larger, flatter Table Rock Mountain.   This is part of the Appalachian Mountain chain.

Lovely Lake Oolenoy reflections at its base.

I'm also wearing the NEWLOOK 6192 skirt.
Hope everyone is having a good day, wherever you may be!  And thank you for letting me share a little more about beautiful South Carolina, U.S.A.!

UPDATE: I've also made a linen top. More can be read about here, including instructions on how to hand-sew a rolled hem.  A perfect technique used for the neckline of this top.