Sometimes some pieces in your wardrobe stand out more than others.  This is the story of one of those pieces, my all time favorite Liberty of London Wicksten  Tova.

In 2013, many moons ago I was designing my second sweater to wear to my very first New York Sheep and Wool Festival.  It was all star eyes and love and absolutely amazing for me. I was knitting be best possible sweater and I was going to have the best possible hand made top to wear with it.  The Wicksten Tova was a popular  sewing pattern at that time, and I had sewn a few with other fabrics from The Crooked Stitch.  For this festive and maker-centric occasion I needed something extra. I needed Liberty.

I promptly procured from some unrememberable online retailer enough Liberty Tana Lawn to make my extra special top. And some more. And a one more 3 yarn piece just to make sure I had exactly what I needed.  It must have been on sale, because I certainly would not have spent $300 in one go on fabric at that point. At least not for my own sewing… I did own a shop that was chalk full of fabric. Just not Liberty.

I stitched up a trusty top in my all time favorite print from Liberty, Betsy and with all the luck in the world version D had the perfect green color leaves to coordinate with my sagey green Swans Island Merino sweater.

I wore it proudly to Rhinebeck, and then dozens of other times with my trusty Elm sweater (which I have yet to publish). I had professional pictures taken. I had the best of intentions for the whole outfit.

The soft merino of the sweater became worn in and loved, it stretched and eventually became an at home only garment. All the while the  Luxurious Liberty Of London Tana lawn top stuck with me. I had worn it three times a month easily for as long as I can remember until the faitful day in 2017 a very exuberant and very large Goldendoodle caught it with his pointy tooth.  Much to my chagrin he had torn a neat little corner out of the sleeve.

I promptly shared the sad news on Instagram, and went on with how to mend this beloved shirt.  Honestly, I had enough fabric left to replace the whole sleeve. Problem solved. Then I started thinking about how I could neatly stitch a small patch. And that would allow me to continue hoarding the remaining yard of fabric, as well as the other two prints that I was marinating in my stash. Well, I guess it wasn’t a top priority and the sadness of the event left the favorite languishing in the back of my closet until last week.

I pulled out my favorite top to throw on with my favorite grey sweater, realizing that it still had a hole in the sleeve. D’ough! Maybe I really should get on that. After lots of compliments from my lovely husband and making the realization that it wasn’t the hole stopping me from wearing the top, but the 3/4 length sleeves!!! They felt bunchy under the sweater and since sweaters are an essential part of the uniform, I needed to **FINALLY** fix the sleeve. I removed the sleeves, with plans to add the salvageable fabric to the doll clothes/ scrap quilt bin.  I pulled out the trusty  pattern and went stash diving to find the remaining fabric.  I added 6″ of length to the sleeve pattern piece and opted for an elastic cuff, giving a new detail to an old favorite.

I couldn’t be more happy with the outcome. Saving a favorite piece that had been briefly forgotten feels like finding buried treasure. Since I had no recollection  of the other Liberty Prints I had on hand, I went ahead and cut out and stitched a second Wicksten Tova Top in the Wiltshire Berries print. The pinks and Cinnamon reds have me just itching to make a new red sweater to go along with this soon to be treasured favorite.