I got more done than I expected yesterday!  I whipped up this little ruffley top before work (I work in the afternoons, by the way).

Now, if you’ve been following me for a bit, you may have noticed that ruffles are not really my style.  Not that I have anything against ruffles!   Because I think they can be pretty darn awesome and, in some cases, they can truly make an outfit (here is where I’d include a lil round up of ruffley things I like, but alas, no time).

Anyways, for whatever reason, I usually just stick to simpler lines and don’t think to embellish with ruffles.  But I had this idea to use a striped fabric and mix up the directions of the stripes to create an interesting look (I think I saw a kid run by me wearing something similar – that’s where I get a lot of my inspiration). Plus with RUFFLES 2012 going on over at See Kate Sew, I guess I was hit with a bit of ruffle-mania.

The top came out pretty fun, though I don’t know if the different angled stripes POP as much as I thought they would.  It’s pretty girly and flouncy huh?

I used the Every Little Thing pattern for the bodice because I’d used it before and I knew it’d fit.

Either way, Yuki’s got a fun new (slightly dressy?) top for the spring/summer.  The felt bow is a removable pin and was a last minute add.  I thought the shirt needed something to lighten it up and add some interest (the fabric/color is a bit serious for a toddler, no?).  I seriously just cut 2 pieces of felt, grabbed a glue gun and a pin back and threw that bow together in 2 minutes.  And without any burns!  I always seem to burn myself when I get out my glue gun . . .

RUFFLES!!

Looking at the back, I bet I could put this top on her backwards with the buttons in front and it’ll still fit/look cute.  Fun!

In the evening I worked on step 2 of my Jump Rope dress: the collar.  It took FOREVER.  Mosty because I’m slow and there was hand stitching involved.  But it’s so exciting to see this coming together!  The placket and the collar were definitely the two most unfamiliar pieces to me so it feels good to have those done.  And how handy are those skills?  I want to put a placket and collar on everything now!  (well, not really – they were both pretty hard :P)

Hand stitching damn near killed me!!

Collar looks uneven, but don’t worry, it’s not 🙂

Oh, and someone asked me what fabric I’m using for the dress!  I’m always so bad about paying attention to the fabric designer and line and that seems unfair!  Their art makes ours what it is!  So this awesome fabric is PR426 from the line Maya by Leah Duncan for Anthology Fabrics and I got it on my trip to Britex with Kristen.  In fact she picked it up first and I stole it from her!  Hah!

Part of me feels like I’m moving quickly through my projects and I might even be able to add one more to the list.  But I’m also pretty tired and today’s project is a bit trickier, so we’ll see.

How are you doing?