This little blog has been pretty quiet lately! That's not to say a lot of sewing hasn't been going on.  I guess with the arrival of instagram, I, like many other sewers who have blogs have been blogging less. Instagram is great because it's so quick and easy but sometimes I like things to be here too! So my first blog post for 2019 is a little top I made Emily.  We have been enjoying warm weather here (sometimes too warm), and the girls are on school holidays.  I love this time of year when they can play outside until bedtime and our days are free and easy.

I paired the print with a white and black polka dot fabric I had from an op shop.  Emily has been enjoying wearing shorts this summer so I decided to make her a top.  I used the half collar of the tic tac toe pattern and just made two gathered rectangles for the peplum frill.  Since I have been tidying out my fabrics, I am also trying to use things up before I buy more.  So I used a regular zip and exposed all of it.  To do this, I subtracted 1cm from either of the centre backs to create an opening, then I sewed the zip on top.  I left the centre back necklines open by 1-2cm to allow the top of the zip to sit inside the neckline,  then I top stitched it shut when top stitching the zip to the top.   I had to take care sewing the peplum frill to the bodice around the zip, but my sewing machine handled it ok!

Changing the tic tac toe dress pattern into a little peplum top was such an easy alteration and I really love how it turned out.  Emily LOVES this top and has worn it so much already.  It looks sweet with shorts and jeans too.