Clara Wrap Top- Reviewed by Ari

I’ve only wanted a wrap top for like a year, i think they get a bad rap honestly (i swear i didn’t mean the pun!), but it’s something I’ve seen styled on various people and decided it’s something I reallywanted. When i was trying to choose fabrics from my stash to sew it up, my sister (always constructively critical of anything i wear)(but honestly she is my biggest supporter too!) looked at me, then back at her phone and remarked “nobody looks good in a wrap top.” i laughed, because i knew i was about to prove her wrong. It’s sort of our natural state, really, someone tells me i can’t do something and then i immediately need to do it! (and as you can see, Ronda made up the exact same top and looks so flipping amazing in it also!)

I love the wrap top because it’s cropped, which is my new favourite length shirt to wear since i discovered high-waisted leggings accentuate my favourite parts of my body (my butt and my long legs!) and hide the bits i’m learning to love (my mother-of-three-and-too-much-chocolate-milk belly as well as those breastfeeding boobs that look down at the ground these days), but the wrappy part makes it look like i actually have a waist (my torso was built like a tree stump).

Anyway, she did help me choose a fabric and i sewed up a fabulous silvery clara wrap top and the moment i put it on to show my husband he laughed and said, “oh you like lary things don’t you.” He claims it was a compliment but wow i felt a little put out. I honestly tone myself down a lot! I just didn’t want to make something ridiculous to show off the sew fab bundle patterns so i decided to make another one. A less lary one. One in a colour that was literally called sand.

To be fair i bought this beautiful merino wool jersey from the fabric store in brisbane, i was so excited because i’d never touched/sewn with it before and i knew i wanted to make a t-shirt – but it would up becoming a clara wrap top instead! No regrets, either, even though i do feel like a jedi in it (not even close to a bad thing) because of my colour choice.

the clara wrap top!

The clara wrap top is way easier to sew up than i thought it would be (don’t ask what i was expecting, i don’t even know). This is definitely a beginner pattern and while there are bust darts there are instructions for easily omitting them. My absolute favourite thing about this pattern was that it’s no trim – meaning that you can just overlap your pages after you print them and stick them down without sitting there with your scissors and trimming yourself! It’s the little things, my friends.

There’s also more options that i didn’t take advantage of, like different sleeve lengths (i used the short sleeve for my sand wrap top and the three-quarter sleeve for my ‘lary’ silver wrap) but the coolest thing about it all is that there is an option for THUMBHOLES in the long-sleeved one! I didn’t style it as such, because i can’t imagine wearing a sand-coloured or a silver wrap top to the gym, but if i sewed up another it would be the cutest thing to wear to yoga or just as a cover-up. I mean it has <i>thumb holes</i>!

So i did sew up two of these, and i even sewed up some pants to go with them (but those are non-bundle pants so i will cover that in another post!) and i would love to share them with you! I tried to come up with a few different ways you could wear this top and honestly i think if you did make one in a fairly neutral colour (i cannot believe i am talking this way right now, who am i?) you would be able to wear it literally anywhere!

i’m leaving the house today and it’s not just for the school hustle

So this look is for when i actually get to go and do errands and chores (yay) and i’m not just throwing on my leggings and a t-shirt to get the kids to school. I know maybe not everyone bothers to dress up when they’re just going grocery shopping but as a mum in a tiny, tiny town i use any excuse i can get to throw on some make up and a cute outfit. My style is always a little <i>more</i> than people around me, but it’s okay because i am me and they are themselves! If it make me feel good, i’m going to wear it!

I paired the jedi sand wrap top with some me-made leopard print pants, some black boots (they’re actually my rain boots) and a black hat from kmart! I did feel pretty trendy, is this what trendy people feel like? Maybe if they bought a nice supportive bra instead of nursing crop tops like yours truly here.

i’m going to dinner with my friends and this is the one time i get to look like a discoball

Okay i actually do get to go out whenever i feel like it, but i really like sitting at home and sewing, HOWEVER there’s not many opportunities to wear a silver me-made mermaid skater dress and a matching wrap top. SO when opportunity knocks, i fling myself at it with my hands in the air like i just don’t care!

I’m wearing my black rainboots again with this outfit because i legit wear this whenever i go out with my wolfpack of mama friends. It’s stretchy which means i can eat as much turkish/indonesian/thai as i want! Also i popped on a holographic choker and my nine year old stared at me with the biggest loveheart eyes on: “mum you look like a space girl”

and in my family, that is a compliment!

i’ve asked you to put your shoes on forty-nine times already, we are late for school

I wear beanies and hats whenever i haven’t washed my hair, but it makes me look like a cool accessorising person, right? Even though i don’t normally wear two plain colours together (i love my prints) this is one hundred percent an outfit i would pull out of my closet and throw on before piling everyone into the car. Me made black leggings (high waisted of course!), a pair of my favourite sneakers, the clara wrap top and then a beanie to pretend like i got to have a shower within the last 20 hours.

You can get the pattern in the Spring ’19 Bundle. And don’t forget to enter our giveaway to win fabric you can use to sew up your bundle, more details here.

Reviewed By Our Sewing Ambassador: