Once you get past the unfamiliarity of a new sewing pattern—modifications, assembly instructions, finishing details—a remake can be a breeze! Looking at my prompts for this year’s Make Nine Challenge, I’m glad I included a new “Make it Again” prompt, because now I’ve got not one, but three Bristol Tops to wear... the last two finished recently in record time.
The Bristol Top (times 2) is my first Make Nine finish for 2022.
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| Bristol Top from The Sewing Workshop made with knits from Art Gallery Fabrics. |
My wardrobe of Bristol Tops
I made my first Bristol Top [pattern by The Sewing Workshop] in 2020. It was one of the Wild Cards on my Make Nine list that year. The impetus of my Bristol re-make in 2022 was a beautiful floral Art Gallery knit that I spied at a local quilt shop and bought as a holiday gift to myself. (Yes, gift yourself fabric every chance you get!)
Cutting 2 tops at one time
The Bristol Top pattern has wonderful opportunities for color blocking. My collection of knits from Art Gallery Fabrics is admirable (wink, wink), so I had several options for color blocking this garment.
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| If you're going to use your lovely Art Gallery knits, you might as well cut out two Bristol tops. |
With a solid red knit and a black/white knit print from my collection, I decided on two different color combinations:
- the solid red to accent my new floral, and
- a black print and solid red pairing.
Having the fabric decisions made, I cut out pieces for two tops at the same time. Let me tell you... this is the way to go!! It was very efficient!
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| The Bristol Top: long sleeve and color blocked. Floral knit print is West End Gathers K-54720 from the Bloomsbury collection. |
The first Bristol (above) featured the new floral fabric on the bodice. The solid red was used in all the contrasting areas—yoke, cuffs and bands at the bottom.
A pattern hack for version 2
For the second Bristol (below), I tried a pattern hack to make a short sleeve version so I could have a soft cotton knit top for warmer weather. The following weekend, I finished the short sleeve version. This top has fondly become my NIU Huskies [Northern Illinois University] top since red, black and white are the team's colors.
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| The NIU Huskies top. A short sleeve version of the Bristol Top. |
The Bristol Top is an easy and fun pattern with lots of color blocking options. Or make it from a single fabric print, if you please. And now after this sewing endeavor, I have the pattern piece for the Go Huskies! short sleeve version.
My first Make Nine finish for 2022 is a multi-success!
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| The "Make It Again" prompt is the first Make Nine finish for 2022. |
You can be sure I'll be on the lookout for more Art Gallery knits in area quilt shops on my travels. And I hope you try a Make it Again project in the near future.
