Adventures with cowl neck tops

One of my daily exercises is to go upstairs to my closet (small room next door to the sewing room) to pick out something to wear.   It's good for me to go up and down the stairs several times a day.   DH hung upper and lower rods along the walls so I have coordinates hanging in order by color group with coordinating colors next to each other.   That way all I have to do is look around and pull the pieces.    Just spending a little time with the changing of the seasons and the weather shows me what have, what I wear and what I don't, or won't and what I might want to sew to fit into the mix.     Shoes are a different story since I can't wear slides or heels right now.    I keep the faith that I will be able to wear them again.   I don't have so many shoes that I need a separate Emelda Marcos room for them.   I store them in a couple open wire stacking cubes from Target I bought years ago.   You stack them and the shoes with wide heels sit on the shelf while the ones with heels are stuck in the square holes in the wire.   Very easy to see what you have.

Yesterday I wore this cotton lawn tunic top with a big cowl neck from Anthropologie.   Those are some heavy linen crop pants I've had for years.   It took some effort for me to raise my foot like this, and keep it up,  but I did it!

I tried the tunic on during one of my snoop shopping trips to the store.  I do that to see what works for my age and body, and what doesn't.  It was an intriguing style with details I thought I'd like to copy,  so when this went on half price sale I ordered it.   The interesting thing about the cowl is that it is not cut on the bias and is about a foot high.  The cowl is actually the top of the armhole and can be worn spread out over the shoulder.   I liked the shape, the pockets and the outside casing with a drawstring to draw the waist in.   It's fun and versatile.   I wore this black eyelet NOW shirt jacket from the Sewing Workshop pattern over it for dinner on the patio last evening.

Black eyelet SW Now Shirt

CLD Pure & Simple top modified

Today will be in the 80's here and I was feeling like wearing cool orange and white.   So I pulled out this cowl neck top I sewed last year by modifying the Cutting Line Designs Pure and Simple top pattern.    Note  the nice cap sleeve on this pattern.   It fits great and after looking at these photos, thought what  a super easy dress!   Just trace/split the pattern and add inches along the lengthen/shorten pattern line - connect the lines with a French Curve.

I'm wearing it over a pair of Louise Cutting One-Seam Pants I sewed from a textured rayon herringbone fabric I bought from her at an Expo.

I love wearing orange with neutrals as well.   If you have a pink/peachy complexion like me grab some flattering bronzed coral lipcolor and wear warm oranges and corals that are very flattering around your face

This photo shows how putting a coral jacket over the light orange/white top bumps up the orange.   That is an unlined lightweight stretch Ultrasuede jacket by Doncaster from their 2002 or 03 spring collection.  I loved the color and the classic lines and neutral horn buttons that allow the jacket to coordinate nicely with beige and tan pieces.   I also bought a pair of great fitting pants from the same collection in the same color stretch Ultrasuede fabric