Made With Harmony
With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays recently I haven’t been able to share projects as quickly as I would like, but guys I am so excited to share a super fun project/collaboration I worked on recently.
I was given an opportunity by Rachel, the owner of my favourite wonderland Harmony Provo, to make something special for the change of season. So this is a ‘gifted’ post. I was able to collaborate with Rachel on fabrics and patterns but all reviews and words are my own. I should note that, on principle, I will never work on a project or accept a gift unless I genuinely love the product, care for the company, and believe in what they do. I should also note, a blogpost was not required for this gift, this was written on my own accord. Now that the formalities are out of the way, let’s get into the juicy deets.
To begin, I went into Harmony Provo, and Rachel and I chatted about what would be an awesome outfit for Autumn. For those that haven’t met Rachel personally, she is just the kindest and most amazing human. She’s so knowledgeable and it’s just so organic to work with her. It really feels like you’ve just gone shopping with your best friend. You know that one that’s honest about everything and will never let you make a bad choice. So when we started chatting I told her I had been eyeing this incredible knit that was very retro inspired that she picked from her trip down to LA. To preface, Harmony Provo stocks a lot of deadstock that Rachel handpicks herself in LA. This means that there are so many unique fabrics that she finds and brings back to Harmony. Eco-friendly AND gorgeous fabrics, sign me up. Well obviously, since I practically live at Harmony. So, she digs through at a place called Ragfinders to find these one of a kind textiles. When I say dig, I literally mean dig. There’s no shelving there, it’s just fabric on fabric. So when you know that and see what she comes back with, it takes your breath away. Back to this knit, it was from her last trip and I was in love with it. But, as we all know I shy away from knits usually because I haven’t worked with them alot. This knit was as sturdy as a knit can be so I took the chance because, I mean, just look at it!
Next we chatted about the Jarrah Sweater from Megan Nielsen that I had cut out at home but had yet to make. Rachel mentioned that she’d been meaning to start stocking it, so this was the perfect push. It was decided. This retro knit was going to become a Jarrah Sweater, specifically view A. But I can’t just go pantless for this sweater so Rachel showed me this incredible Herringbone fabric. From afar you can only see this incredible green fabric but up close there’s a beautiful herringbone detail that is to die for. It matched perfectly with the green in the knit fabric so it made sense for these two to go together. Once I told her I’d never tried the Pietra pants from Closet Core Patterns it was just a natural progression to get some Pietra’s made to match my Jarrah sweater.
The plans were made, and I was beyond excited to make these two pieces. Despite my reservations about working with knits, I took it slow and this Jarrah sweater still came together in one naptime sitting. So 2 hours total from cutting to sewing and I had a new sweater. I didn’t have ribbing on me so I used this amazing tshirt material I had picked up as a remnants from Harmony ages ago. It was the perfect green match and I was beyond thrilled. I made a sweater in 2 hours! Like how can that not make your day? I used a stretch stitch on my sewing machine and tested the tension on a scrap piece before taking the plunge.
The Pietra pants involved a little more effort. The sew up was super easy, but once I got to inserting the elastic it was way too big. I kept trying on the pants and then adjusting my elastic accordingly. Do you ever sometimes wish you had more hands? This was one of those situations. I got there in the end and was happy with my comfy fit, but next time I will need to go down a size or two.
This outfit had its first test run with a walk up the mountain with the kids and it held up fabulously! Plus, I felt all dressed up for Autumn, so I would say this was a winning combination in look and functionality. I also paired it up with some geometric inspired Darlybird earrings. News flash, that’s Rachel’s other business. She makes the most incredible earrings and I could not resist pairing up this pair with the geometric print in the knit! I’m so happy with my new outfit that I’ve been living in it for a few days. Perks of a pandemic, I can live in an outfit for a whole week and no one will pull me up for it.
So as mentioned above, everything used in this outfit collab can be picked up from Harmony Provo or is coming to Harmony soon (i.e., the Jarrah Sweater pattern). I am so lucky and happy to have such an amazing local store. Everyone that works there knows their stuff and goes above and beyond to make sure you get what you need. The amount of times I’ve heard Rachel say “we’ll order it in” or “I’ll see what I can get” is incredible. You just don’t get that these days. I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey of this project and don’t worry there will be more to come!
