Charming Progress

Things worked about how I suspected, and after sewing everything together it was increasingly clear that I needed to come up with something else to add length in one direction in order to come up with a final shape more pleasing to the eye. Since I had been mostly prepared for this, I've been thinking on it during my non-sewing hours and had an idea. I whipped up a little border piece that could be added on top and bottom and took it for a test run.

It does distract from the overall top a little bit, but I think it's worth it to have the top overall shape looking more rectangular and farther from square - although I suppose I could have embraced the squareness and gone in that direction instead...

Attaching the four additional pieces took no time at all - and I even managed to get a photo in natural light of the finished top.

Of course, the wind came up right as we started, so this was about the only picture we got that shows the whole top - but it doesn't seem like we needed any more. It's looking pretty good - and I'm much more pleased with the overall size and shape now.

The next challenge will be finding fabric for the back. These colors don't seem to coordinate with anything in my stash, and so far shopping trips have only turned up one option (that I wasn't thrilled over). I hadn't expected to love this top as much as I do, so I don't want to just settle for a back that isn't right. I'm also hoping I can find a good shade for binding. I'm leaning towards one of the darker blues, but the olive green or either red could work as well.