Color My Summer: The Baby in Red

Of course we have to continue Evie's wardrobe (there are just a few more items ha!). I have been waiting and waiting to do this project for Color My Summer over at Kojo Designs! I have to say this has absolutely been one of my favorite series to be a part of. Stopping by every day instantly brightens my day, literally, my screen gets so bright ha! I adore Kristen and Jordan, their emails never fail to make me laugh out loud. They were so much fun to "compete" with on Project Run and Play and oh my goodness were their designs fantastic. When they emailed and asked me to take part in Color My Summer I was thrilled! Somehow I got super lucky and snagged the color Red. When I went to Jakarta there was a tiered ruffled dress that I was dying to recreate and this was the perfect excuse to come up with the Baby in Red top.

I am thrilled with how it turned out and how easy it was to make! I thought it would be a perfect little top to share on the summery and color filled Kojo Designs.

Since I was so close to the finale I wanted to make sure I did a super cool photo shoot. I built a little A Frame Tent and we headed to the rocky beach to fake a little girlie camp out

I loved the contrast of Evie's sea of ruffles and the grey sky. She was even good about wearing the little headband I made out of twill tape and little felt flowers. The back has a tiny strip of elastic so it is super comfy.

The top has a single button closer so it is easy on easy off.

I am absolutely making more of these in fun bright colors and have even thought about making one in rainbow color, how cute would that be? Now grab your munchkin and your measuring tape and lets get to work!

What you will need

1/2 yards cotton fabric

Tiny piece of Elastic

Button

Sewing Machine

Scissors

Measuring tape

The first thing you will need to do is measure your cutie. First measure around their "bust" for a lack of better word. Measure right up under their armpits all the way around. When you get your number make sure to add at least 2 inches for seams and wiggly room. This is going to be how wide your main rectangle is going to be and how long you need to make your 'neckline band' piece. Now measure where the center of their collar bone down to where you want the top to hit. Again add some for hemming etc. This is going to be how long your main rectangle is going to be. Now the last measurement you need is for your straps. measuring from the top of the front of your munchkins arm puts across the shoulder and back to the top of the armpits in the back. Now that you have all your measurements lets cut some fabric! You will need a main rectangle. Cut this using the two main measurements you took. I made mine flare out just a bit at the bottom since Evie has a fun little pot belly. Next lets cut the neck band. This should be long enough to go all the way around the main rectangle. How wide it is depends on how chunky you want the band to be. I cut mine so it was 4 inches wide.  Next use your measurement for your straps and cut two straps as long as your measurement and again as wide as you would like them to be. Again mine were 4 inches. With the fabric that remains you are going to cut ALOT of long strips of fabric. Mine were as long as I could make them and 3 inches wide. I ended up using 8 strips. I serged one raw edge of all of the strips. 

At this point I got my straps and neck band ready. I ironed over both long edges of the strips then folded them over again length wise and iron them. Topstitch the straps closed but leave the neck band open.

(I serged the ends of the straps but you don't have to) Now set these aside, we'll come back to them :)
Now comes a bit of monotony. You are going to hem and ruffle all those loooooonnnng strips of fabric.
If you serged one side then hem the other. Once hemmed stitch a gathering stitch the length of the strip on the opposite side of the hem. Repeat this for all of your ruffle strips.

Now take your main rectangle and hem the bottom. I wanted to make sure I topstitched my ruffles on nice and straight so I took a ruler and some fabric chalk and drew nice straight guide lines. This is totally optional but I think it helps :)

Pin your first ruffle on the right side of your fabric just on top of the hem you sewed earlier.

Topstitch it in place. Now repeat this process with all your ruffles with the top of the one you sewed previously being covered by the bottom of the next. Repeat until you have all your ruffles to the top.

Once you are done grab the neckband piece you ironed earlier. Slide the top of your tiered ruffles up in between the two ironed edges of your neckband. Pin in place and then topstitch



Now grab your two straps that you created earlier and pin them in place.

Your all done!!!! Now YOU:

go make a cute little ruffle top! Thanks Kristen and Jordan for including me in Color My Summer I have absolutely LOVED all the posts!