It is no secret I love to sew for myself.  I am the type of person that will whip up a dress when I am having a bad day or throw together a quick shirt because it is date night and I want something new to wear.

What I love even more than sewing for myself is when I can create something new that doesn’t require taping another pattern together.  Because lets all be real, taping a pdf pattern together is the pits.

When creating the Ballard pattern I was focused on the fun and different open back detail for the shirt.  I wanted to create a shirt that is not only comfortable for every day wear but something that is also just a little bit interesting.  I think I have achieved what I was going for with this pattern and people seem to really like it, I know I adore this pattern.

Last week though I was thinking about how I would really like a relaxed fit top to wear that was the same shape a the Ballard but with a closed back.  It never went beyond that thought until with the nudge of the lovely Allie from Indiesew, we started talking about adding alternative versions of the Ballard to the current pattern.