kitty top

Not much of a title, but it's accurate. This is one of those pieces of fabric that I bought because I knew both Ellie and I would like it. Kitties for her(hopefully she can overlook the puppies on there too) and a vintage feel for me. It's been in the stash for a few years just waiting for a pattern. I finally settled on Butterick 4176. She really wanted it in a dress, but what she's short on for summer are tops that can be paired with shorts or jeans - something more of the playclothes variety. Dresses get caught under her feet too easily when she's climbing.


I altered the pattern just slightly in the length making it longer. I added topstitching on either side of the inverted pleats in the front. They lay much nicer with those in place. Also, bias tape was placed on the outside of the neckline (the pattern called for it on the inside) to add some contrast. The tape was thrifted and is that great vintage salmon pink color. I used up the entire piece I had on this project.

Sorry about the blurry picture here. I also used the bias tape as a channel for the elastic to gather the sleeve. I think I'll be repeating this trick a lot in the future. The sleeves sewed up faster this way and it eliminated pressing up those tiny allowances to make a casing out of the sleeve fabric. (I cut off the extra seam allowance before sewing the tape in place.)

Final touch - a fabric covered button with one little flower centered on it. There's an elastic loop that completes the closure. All the edgestitching was done with a foot designed for that kind of sewing(mine is a Bernina #10).

If you look very carefully in the second picture you can see some crayon marks that have already found their way onto this. See what I mean about playclothes?