Hot Air Balloon Peasant Top

This is the top that I mostly made on the last day of Kids Clothes Week. I had finished all but the hand stitching on the applique which I finished up Monday morning. Naturally, it is Friday before I manage to take pictures and post. 🙂

I love all the things I made for KCW, but this one really expresses my true aesthetic more than the others. The very neutral base fabric, with just a small pop of muted tones, throw in a little imperfect hand stitching and I am smitten.

The main fabric is a cotton that I picked up at Hancock’s on super sale on MLK day. I think it was 2 something a yard. I’m not even sure what it is except that it is 100% cotton. It was next to the muslins, but looks so different and was the only one that seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. Perhaps it is just a looser woven muslin. I don’t know, but I love the loose nubby texture going on.

The fabrics for two of the balloons are Hello Pilgrim Jewels in two different color ways. The largest balloon is a scrap of silk that I dyed eons ago in college.

I really enjoyed KCW. It was a great motivator to make some things for Norah, and hopefully next time around I’ll make some things for the boys as well.

KCW- Modified Peasant Top

This top has been in the works for some time. I’ve been trying out different ways of modifying the basic peasant top/dress. I love the ease, but wanted to try and get a more polished look without upping the work too much. I have gotten a couple of looks I like now, but I’m not sure I succeeded in keeping the work low!

I initially intended to put a rounded collar on this, just like the Little Folks dress, but once I got the main body sewn together and saw it hanging there I knew I wanted a more square neckline. I turned to bias tape and between this top and another similar one that I’m working on for my niece I must have attempted to put on binding at least 6 times! Of course I had to rip it out each time. I don’t have to tell you how fun that was, right? If I weren’t so in love with the way this fabric comes together in this little top or if I had enough of the fabric to just start over I probably would have cut it into scraps long ago. It’s not that I’m a quitter, I just don’t have time for all these little hiccups!

So, I still don’t know exactly why the bias tape didn’t work, but I finally gave up and just made a fitted squared piece. I kept it pretty thin so it wouldn’t be that different from binding.

It’s not perfect (so don’t look too close!) but, I do adore this little top. I had no idea what I was going to do with this fabric when I bought it, but now I want to buy more! It’s from Anna Maria Horner’s Little Folks Voile and it comes with 4 large squares (the front and back) and 8 little squares (sleeves) per yard. I just love looking at it and thinking about how those squares might come together in different projects.

So this wraps up KCW for me. I did start on another peasant top last night, but didn’t quite finish. It’s totally sewn together, but I decided to do a bit of hand stitching embellishment while watching Sherlock. Perhaps, not the best idea if you really want to finish, but what a great show! I’ll be sure to show the finished top here when I finish it, hopefully soon.