Here, fishy fishy fishy!

Finished this week: A pair of summer tops for me and Elliot...too bad it's already fall!

For Elliot I modified the basic boy's collared shirt with a placket and mandarin collar (here's the you-can-do-it tutorial), and added two pockets low down; I know it looks a little odd but this way he can stash his matchbox cars in there.

And here's mine:

(I tried to do a cute mother-son photo shoot but most of the pictures are of him squirming out of my arms...)

I spent a couple of naps messing around tension, stitch length, and how tight to wind the elastic thread on the bobbin and I think I finally figured out the shirring thing! Hooray! Victory is mine!!! This has got to be the easiest top in the universe, it's basically a tube of fabric that you shirr (is that a verb?) for about 8 inches down (or so) and then plop a pair of ties onto. I serged the bottom and top with a rolled hem so the most time-consuming thing about the whole deal was pulling out the extra shirring; I originally did about 10 inches which was too much. The Mendocino Sundress pattern came from Heather Ross, as did the fabric. This is the Mendocino line which you've seen on this blog before (click on the Heather Ross label at the bottom of this post to see more). I shortened the pattern so it's a top, not a sundress.

I think it makes a great post-partum top, and doesn't everyone have a little flab around the mid-section they'd like to hide? I would imagine this looks good as a maternity top too.
The funny thing about the shirred top is when it's off, it's actually narrower than the toddler shirt:

And here's my little man showing his off for the neighborhood: