Today, I want to show you the first one I made from the book – the Palermo. This is a peasant style blouse or dress that surprised me with how easily it came together. This pattern is designed for woven fabrics and has a raglan style sleeve.

I have shorter arms than most patterns draft for, but I did not remove any length from my sleeves. I wanted them to be shorter length long sleeves that I push up to be 3/4 length.

The pattern has a center front seam, which means you need to be extra careful matching plaids and stripes. I tried my best on this, but you can still tell where the plaid is closer together down my front. The good news that I did a great job matching my side seam. :/

My favorite thing about this pattern is probably the elastic in the neckline. Seriously! I am sure that you are thinking that is the oddest thing for me to point out. The reason I think it is so helpful is because it was perfect for this unruly crinkle rayon gauze fabric that I used. I have had this fabric for such a long time and have wanted to use it on a top. I knew the fabric would be awful as bias tape or to use on a neckline facing so I just could not find a pattern that it worked well for. The way that this neckline is done, though, I don’t have to worry about this fabric crinkling up in the dryer or about it getting overstretched under an iron.

Speaking of this fabric getting crinkled up or overstretched, have you sewn with a crinkle gauze before? The first time I used this type of fabric, I ironed it out perfectly and sewed a gorgeous top. Then, when I pulled it out of the dryer it was tiny!!! I shrieked. I had prewashed my fabric and thought it would be fine. The lesson learned was that this fabric is INTENTIONALLY crinkled up. If you iron it too flat when sewing, your resulting garment will not fit after you wash it again. I did use a very low setting iron to push out obvious wrinkles but I took extra care not to flatten the intended crinkling.

So, now the big question is…. will I make this top again? YES. It is quick to sew (I made it in one evening, even with attempting to match plaids!). It is comfortable to wear, and I love the style.

The pattern also has a dress option with tiers. I think it would be lovely to make as a dress this upcoming spring!

Resources

• Pattern – Palermo, included in the Sew Beautiful Book
• Fabric – remnant table at Wherehouse Fabrics Dallas

Hope you are having a wonderful fall and enjoying time in your sewing space! I would love to stay connected with you. You can find me on Instagram. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel HERE. If you want to take a look into the things that inspire me, you can follow me on Pinterest. You may also follow my blog with Bloglovin.

Disclosures

I received this pattern for free to show how it looks sewn up. I do not have an affiliate link for this pattern.