One Little Top

You may remember a while ago (back in February) when I posted about these  skirts which I made for my goddaughters and my niece. Well, when my little niece tried her skirt on her mum asked me if I had any of the fabric left and whether I could make a top to go with it. OF COURSE I said, completely DELIGHTED because NO ONE HAS EVER ASKED ME TO MAKE THEM ANYTHING EVER BEFORE and also I am SICK of that fabric, really truly sick of it. So I happily agreed.

Then I got home and started to look for the fabric and could only find the SMALLEST of pieces – maybe enough to applique onto something but certainly not enough for a top. No problem, I thought, I would just hunt through my stash for something co-ordinating to make the top from… and I found the MOST co-ordinating fabric… that’s right, more of the same. How I didn’t find it on the first search I don’t know, my fabric stash has been tidied since then… it seriously needed it!

Next I found this tutorial from The Sewing Dork – and what a fab tutorial it was too!

I switched it up a bit and lined the whole thing, it’s not overly visible in the pictures but as well as embroidery, the taffeta has sequins sewn into it – cute, but not great against the skin. So I lined it in the same lining fabric I used for the skirt.

This was a dream to sew up – and a really simple tutorial to follow. Although I confess maybe I enjoyed it so much because it was the first complete project I sewed on my Christmas present of my new Janome (you may have guessed that I’m blogging past projects at the moment, this is largely due to the amount of wedding sewing I’ve got to do this year that you will be able to see after September).

After I’d finished it, I had a few scraps left of the fabric, and decided that I wanted rid of it – I’d also noticed how much my niece had loved playing with the handbag she got in her stocking, so a matching bag was a must for her party outfit – a girl needs to accessorize! Even at three years old. I added a Velcro fastening on, as I figured that would be best for her – she’s not really up to working with complex fastenings yet. Also I do realise that the strap doesn’t exactly match, PSHAW I say. PSHAW. It was a bit of ribbon I had in my stash which was really soft and in my mind, comfort is more important than image when it comes to things for kids.


A quick note on giving this to my niece - when I first handed it over her mum looked very unconvinced, tbh, it doesn't look like much of a top when it's not on - but on, with the skirt, it looked AMAZING - I have decided I have a need to throw a party in which I can wear my ballgown made of this, and she can wear her matching outfit... it would be ADORABLES. Also, she loved it, the handbag even more so, she kept hiding things in it, and then spent the rest of the afternoon as I was sorting through a bag of fabric from her grandmother telling me what she wanted me to make into a dress for her (hint, she wants it to be pink and green... I think it's actually going to work... it was that or black velvet LOL, the girl has strange tastes)