Showing posts with label girl's top. Show all posts
Showing posts with label girl's top. Show all posts

Monday 31 March 2014

Another Peter Pan top


It feels so nice to see your project finished and to be pleased with the result.
A few weeks ago I asked a friend of mine to draw a top or a dress she would like me to sew for her daughter as a present for her approaching birthday. She told me she liked the Peter Pan collar (from "Crazy Chevron" top) and that she also loved that blue fabric I had used for the "Ocean blue" dress. I had a little bit left of the fabric, just enough for a top. That's how this project started.






Her pretty daughter turnes five so I had to grade down from size 7 to size 5. This was the first time I practiced grading. I wasn't quite sure whether it would work well, but it turned out it did. The only correction I had to do was to raise the neckline.
To complete the look I made two fabric flowers. If you have been following my blog you probably know that I like to make matching accessories to the garments. It is weird because I like accessories, but rarely put any on, as I am usually in a rush and don't have time to rummage around.




The initial idea was to make one flower with one layer of blue petals and another layer of smaller petals from the other fabric on the top. But when I started making it, it failed to produce the look I wanted, so instead I made two separate flowers.
They were intended to be used for hair, but while I was taking photos of my friend's daughter, she came up with the idea to accessorize the top with them. I love it when something happens to be so versatile.


























Monday 24 February 2014

An update on my latest project


I wish I could show you a completed garment, but unfortunately I am still somewhere in the middle of the project (a top with Peter pan collar for my niece).
Sewing-wise, I have done very little this week. It was half term which was meaning full and noisy home all the time, more playdough to remove from the carpet, more glue and spilled paint to wipe. There were a few friend visits, a playgroup, a birthday party and even a visit to a museum. So after all this, I was left with very little energy for something else. And when I feel tired I find that I get easily distracted by almost everything around me.
As always the most challenging and time-absorbing part was drafting the pattern. I used the new book ( 'Metric Pattern cutting for children's wear and babywear' ) to guide me through making the basic bodice, but I must say I wasn't quite happy with the result as armholes were too deep, so I had to redraw them.


Then I made a toile (a test garment). I used plain white fabric for the bodice and another fabric scrap for the collar, which was aimed to outline it so I could properly see the collar shape. This is how the toile looked.



The good thing is that a friend of mine, living nearby, has a pretty girl, who is nearly seven. I popped to her house to see how the toile fitted her. Now I am ready to start the actual sewing.

By the way I actually quite like the fabric combination of the toile. What do you think? I might make one for Eva (and maybe even one for me) when I get a chance.