A little taste of Pavlova

It took some serious pondering, but I decided to go ahead and post what I could of my ill-fated Pavlova cardi. After all, I did sew it. I did wear it twice before it got destroyed. And it was a stashbusting project, which means it did fit that particular sewalong.
As you can see, this was during the wedding planning stage, since I've got all of those little paper sunflowers there! I took some pics on Donna so that I could capture a few of the details, figuring I could just get a pic of me actually wearing it on the honeymoon when I wasn't so crunched for time. I ended up not actually wearing it at all while I was in Jamaica, because the nights were warm enough that even cold-blooded me didn't need an extra layer! But I did wear it on both the first and last days for the airplane, and was glad for it-- I just didn't get a pic because I was in grungy travel mode (and wearing glasses, and tired).







I was really proud of how nicely the edges of these sleeves were finished! I had to think about it, with the somewhat bias cut to it, and the crinkled, lightweight nature of the fabric. But they were both serged and topstitched a bit so the seam would stay where I wanted it to. This was one of the details that survived, so I guess I did a good job there!



The hem wasn't so lucky. I serged this to keep it from fraying, and then double-rolled it to enclose the serging and stitched it down. I kid you not when I say that the washing maching managed to entirely undo this hem, back down to the serging!

I would have been able to fix that, though it would have been annoying. The real problem is that it also ripped the neck facing apart, leaving a big, gaping, ragged-edged hole. And the fabric is so lightweight to begin with, that I don't think it will hold up.

It's a shame, really, because I'm still adapting to the temperatures that my new husband likes to keep the house at, and a lightweight layer would really come in handy here! But this really was an experimental top, and I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Also, the fabric was free, so aside from the time investment, it wasn't much of a loss. I guess I can chalk this one up as a muslin. Of course, this means I'm also afraid to wash my new Hummingbird top until I have a chance to photograph it, just in case!