When I blogged my blue linen Maya top a month ago, I mentioned that I’d also sewn a winter version.  Here it is!

Normally when I look at small lengths of wool, such as this check, I think straight winter skirt. This time around I thought how about a layering top? I’ve traditionally shied away from short sleeves with long sleeves underneath, but over the past few years have been experimenting with it more often. I have realised that I have a whole lot of internalised clothing/fashion rules that I don’t necessarily need to stick to!

I doubt that the Maya top was designed for fabrics of this weight, but like many things with sewing patterns, it’s sometimes worth going outside the box and trying something else. You do however need to make appropriate modifications to accomodate your fabric choice (and be prepared for the garment to be a wadder that just didn’t work out at all). In this case I ditched all the facings, and finished every edge with bias binding turned to the inside like a facing.

As I was working with a limited amount of fabric I chose to focus on keeping the checks centred more than matching them across seamlines. The fringed selvedge provided a nice detail on the small chest pocket.

I think that this top deserves a styling session to figure out what combinations of underlayer and bottom work best with it for me. It definitely provides an extra layer of warmth without bulk, and the colourway works well with many of the scarves in my collection.