Today’s Sew & Tell feature is from Anh-Chi of Sew Love Le! I’m so thrilled by Anh-Chi’s wonderful take on the Carousel Top and Boardwalk Skirt! Both are available over at the shop – the Boardwalk Skirt is great for any level sewist, and the Carousel Top is a wonderful basic girls tee with lots of fun details.
Take it away, Ahn-Chi!
Fabric
For the boardwalk skirt, I chose a birds with wheels cotton fabric from JoAnn’s. I thought it was a nice little touch of spring during these very cold winter days. For the inner skirt, I chose a printed pink calico fabric, also from JoAnn’s, and used 2″ pre-cut chiffon from AFC-express to trim the lining. The carousel top is made from a basic white knit and sparkly pink knit was used for the contrast bands.
Boardwalk Skirt
After receiving the pattern, I was pleasantly surprised by the very well illustrated digital diagrams. What’s even nicer about this pattern is that you don’t have to tape up the individual pattern pieces. You just have cut out the appropriate measurements provided for each size. The instructions were very clear and extremely easy to follow. The only part of the pattern I was nervous about was the insertion of the eyelets. The instructions and accompanying diagram on where to insert the eyelets were very clear. But I learned the hard way that it is best to use a solid concrete floor (ie garage) instead of a soft carpeted floor for eyelet insertion. Lesson learned. I think the eyelets really make the skirt… it is definitely my favorite part. I chose the full elastic casing with the faux tie since I know my daughter would inevitably play with the functional tie and the skirt would inevitably come loose and fall to the floor.
Carousel Top
This is not just another basic t-shirt pattern. Andrea provides some very important tips for how to sew with knits and provides a great tutorial on the different kinds of knits. I even learned how to apply stay tape to stabilize the shoulder seams. It has so many cute little design features that I thought was really worth highlighting, so I decided to go with a basic white knit fabric so the design of this top really stands out. The first thing that really stood out for me was the keyhole opening in the back. You can either close it with a button or close the keyhole by overlapping the opening and sewing the neck band over it like I did below. I chose the pink contrast band to really highlight the keyhole design.
And I just love the little gathered details on the neckline and front shoulders and the slight puffy sleeves. Sorry it was covered up in the outside shots… but it was a bit chilly on the day of our photo shoot. So chilly, in fact, that I had to modify the sleeves to make it long-sleeved.
I was extremely impressed with these two patterns and will definitely be making a spring and summer version of these two pieces. I am also looking forward to making more of Andrea’s awesome patterns. And most importantly, my daughter loved the final product!
