Ruched shell is done!

I love this shell! At first glance, it looks plain, but the details are amazing. The pattern is the ruched shell from interweave knits winter 2007. The yarn is silky tweed from Elsebeth Lavold. The close up shot shows the color pretty accurately.
Customizations: I shortened the length everywhere except in the waistband height because I thought the pattern would be too long for my relatively petite (a.k.a. short) height and the armholes would have been too big also. I used a bamboo stitch on the waistband because I wanted some texture contrast since I was using the same yarn.
I used 5 rows for the folded hem instead of 3 and I used the trim color. Finally, I used only half the front gathering below the waistband because I was concerned about too much fullness over my stomach.

The body was a quick knit. The twisted I-cord trim took a little time, but I found it strangely satisfying to work on.