Just for Me January: Sis Boom Tortola
By Not Sew Selfish

I’m very excited to be part of the Sis Boom Just for Me January Tour. The Sis Boom Dana pattern was the first (wearable) thing I ever made for myself. I knew how to work a sewing machine, but the instructions in most patterns went straight over my head, and the resulting garment straight into the bin. I stumbled across a sew along for the Dana top on Facebook about 4 years ago, and discovered Sis Boom patterns, full of instructions and diagrams so clear and detailed that it was like having a friend watching over my shoulder helping me the whole way. I proceeded to make pretty much every Sis Boom pattern in the range before venturing out to other designers, and I’ve never looked back. But I will always have a special place in my heart for the designer that got me started on this journey!

I’m not much of a pattern hacker … yet … that’s something I’d like to do more of this year. So for this tour, rather than changing or restyling a pattern, I wanted to share a story of how sometimes (let’s face it, often, actually!), the first time you make a new pattern for yourself, it doesn’t necessarily work out perfectly. I got the Sis Boom Tortola pattern when it was released a couple of years ago – I’d seen lots of blog posts and photos, and everyone looked great in it. There aren’t many easy top patterns around like this for wovens (i.e. no zips, no buttons, easy rather than really tailored fit), so I was excited to give it a go.

Spoiler alerts …
(1) it was worth the excitement in the end
(2) make sure you read to the end of this post for your chance to win a copy for yourself

This is what I made, and it’s OK, but it’s a bit… meh. There are a few issues here, and all of them down to choices and adjustments I’d made that meant it just didn’t really sing for me. So, let me take you behind the scenes on some little things that made a big difference.

Finishing reading the blog post on Not Sew Selfish…