Ottobre - 5-2008 #18 - Cowl-neck Top

I’ve been really crushing on Ottobre lately. Up until recently, I only had a couple of older magazines from 05/2008 and 05/2009. A few days ago, I received 05/2015 and 05/2014. I seem to like that Fall/Winter catalog. I’m not sure if I just burned out on Burda or what is going on. I decided that I will not renew my Burda subscription and get an Ottobre one instead. Gasp! I know! I find that I just seem to make one thing out of the Burda magazines lately and it’s only because of the Burda Challenge. But anyway, I’m taking a little break.

 

Which leads me to Ottobre. I really like some of their clothes lately. This top is from the 05/2008 magazine. Yes, I’ve had it a really long time, but I’m just now starting to love their clothing. Weird, I know. I’m still trying to figure out my sizing with them. This top is the 36 and I think it’s too big. I fall squarely between their 34 and 36. When I tried Ottobre a long time ago, it seemed like the 34 was too small. Maybe now that I know my fitting issues a bit better, it will be easier to wear their patterns. I decided to make this lovely tunic out of a sweater knit. I love the cozy shape and the tunic length.

 

 

These are iPhone photos in the back yard so they aren’t all that great. You can see the shoulders and arms are big. The pleats should be further in toward the middle of my body.

 

I really like it as a tunic over skinny jeans. I really like how the cowl lays and covers that pesky neck seam.

 

The collar is made with a french seam because you see both sides of the fabric.

 

Photo bombed by my chickens! Chickens that AREN’T laying eggs yet. They are five and half months old. They should start laying ANY. FREAKING. DAY.

 

Overall, I really like the top. Next time I will make the size 34 and add my typical 1” above the bust. I do this pretty much with all patterns. I didn’t do it here because 1) I wanted to see the fit “out of the envelope”, and 2) I didn’t think it would matter much with the loose fit of this. Some of us at PatternReview.com are thinking of starting an official Ottobre Sew-a-Long. I’ll post here if there are more details fleshed out.

Meet my little friends . . .

I haven’t been doing a ton of sewing and blogging because we were sidetracked. Yes, by this cute little lady. It started off innocently enough. One of my twins had baby chicks in her classroom they hatched from eggs. We took them home for one weekend. That’s all it took. Now I’m the owner of seven chickens.

 

The original four came from the classroom. Some of these (half? ish?) will be roosters and they will be enchiladas. Yum!

 

Then we bough three more hens that are the same age. We figure that five total will be perfect and with the enchilada-eating, we hope to end up with five.

 

So because of the feathery friends, we had to build a coop. It’s 4’ x 4’ x 4’ and insulated for the Alaska winter. When it gets really cold, we’ll put a heat lamp in it to keep them cozy. The run is 4’ x 12’ but they have free rein of our fenced yard during the day.

 

So far the ladies and enchiladas gents love their little house.

 

And I think I may be in trouble at enchilada time. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. These girls are in love.

 

The inside has two cozy nest boxes and two nice roosting bars. They don’t roost yet, but I’m thinking they will soon. The chickens are about six weeks old. There’s a door at the back of the nesting boxes so I can gather eggs from the outside.

 

Are any of you ladies chicken farmers also? It’ll be interesting to see how this all works once they are laying eggs. I can’t wait!!!