Last week I realized that Willow was rapidly outgrowing all of her clothes and I needed to get a few new tops and pants for her. I made a quick trip to the mall and picked up a few essentials but nothing I saw got me very excited. I decided to make her something fun. This little top is adorable! I used less than 1 fat quarter of the floral print for the yoke (from Garden Party Tango by Iza Pearl Design which I’ve had since 2015!) and the seabreeze gingham is a remnant my mom had leftover from a dress that she made for my sister when she was 10 years old. So, a solid 20 year old remnant. Way to be a hoarder mom!
I am obsessed with Made By Rae’s Geranium dress/top pattern. I made a smaller version for Willow last summer, look how tiny she was! I pretty much think that it’s one of the only dress patterns I’ll ever need for Willow because it is so versatile. It has many customizable options in terms of length and sleeve design and embellishments - the #geraniumdress hashtag is full of inspiration. The pattern comes with an expansion pack for all sorts of other details to make each version unique and I’ll definitely be getting it soon because I want many more Geranium dresses and tops. This version has me weak in the knees!
I’m really happy with how this top came together but was worried that I’d ruin it with sloppy buttonholes so I got myself a snapper? A snap installer? A snap gun? A thing that looks like pliers that allows you to put snaps on fabric and it’s the best thing ever! Willow is at risk of never learning how to manage buttons because I am going to be putting multicoloured snaps on everything from now on. I’m also pretty pleased with my hand sewing. I stitched the top lining down by hand and it looks neat as a pin. The inside is almost as nice as the outside and if I knew how to make the skirt hem and side seams invisible I bet this top could be reversible. Will have to look into that.
Even though this top is definitely more spring/summer appropriate I am too excited about it to wait for the thaw to have her wear it so for now we’re layering with sweaters. The lovely cardigan she wore yesterday was a gift knit in our Orchid colourway, the pattern is Mavis baby set by Oomieknits and it’s perfect. Even though I am a huge fan of super colourful knits I’ve found it extremely useful to have a few solid coloured pieces as well to layer over her more patterned clothing.
Lastly, I never knew that I would be a baby headband person but guess what… I am! Willow is pretty tolerant of them too. Micah calls them bow-danas, like bandana but with a bow. Get it? I thought that was pretty clever.