After a couple of wadders (a Victory Patterns Roxanne made from nightmarishly slippery and shreddy fabric turned out too tight across the shoulders, a Workroom Social Tate top had irredeemably low armholes), I needed a refreshing, simple make. Bonus points for being able to use stash fabric.
I'd been admiring the Maya top by Marilla Walker for a while now, but was worried the boxy style wouldn't do me any favors. But a trip to her inspiration Pinterest board pushed me into Camp Maya. So much room for experimentation and customizing!
Maya looked like the perfect backdrop for some of my crazier fabrics. See, after living for 2 years in Indonesia, I accumulated quite a prodigious (translation: ridiculously large) stash of handmade batik (wax resist) fabrics. Most of the batiks are pretty intricate and colorful (translation: a bit loud) and lots have a difficult-to-match diagonal design, so they need a simple silhouette without a lot of seams to allow them to shine:
So here she is: an Indonesian batik Maya. I kept it simple for my first Maya: no buttons, curved hem in the front and back.
Verdict: I love it! Somehow, even though it's basically a box, it's a stylish and comfy box. I love the curved hem and then neckline turned out perfectly. Plus, not having to set in sleeves is always a win in my book. And it goes with a pencil skirt, jeans, shorts, leggings...
This Maya is a teeny bit stiff, but I find that batik always takes a few washes to soften up. I think it's residual wax from the dyeing process?
Visions of my next Maya are dancing in my head: some colorblocking, perhaps? buttons in the back? drapey fabrics? contrasting facings on the outside? If I go that last route, I might draft a facing for the hem so that it mirrors the sleeve and neckline facings.
Here's me wearing my batik Maya on Thursday, which is "traditional dress/fabric" day in my office here in Bangkok. My colleague started a fun trend: every Thursday, many of my coworkers wear traditional clothes or fabrics from Thailand or one of the other Southeast Asian countries we work in. Then we take photos, because if you didn't take a photo, it didn't happen, right? I love seeing all of the cool local fabrics and styles!:
