Floral Squareneck Baby Blouse

I am waaaay behind on blogging all the stuff I've been sewing.  Last week I had a fire under my rear or something and just couldn't stop.  So this week you get to hopefully (?) see the fruits of my labor. I know this is going to sound dumb but I also think I'm getting faster at sewing. I think it's probably like anything that you practice, you just get a little more efficient the more you do it?  Anyway, here's one of the finished products:

I know I say this alot but I'm still not completely sure I like this one. It all started with a "I-could-make-that!" moment at Janie and Jack recently (here's the top I was looking at).  I knew I had this faux-Liberty floral print by Alexander Henry and thought it would work for a knock-off.  I was drawn to the square neck in particular.

 

As I neared the point of adding the bias tape to the neck it started to feel a little "Crazy Aunt Maude" and I started to doubt myself. Then I decided just to go over the top with it and add the red Anna Maria Horner voile. The effect is a top that is a wee bit too busy even for me, Queen of All Things Bright and Crazy. Perhaps this is all par for the course with the sort of stuff people are sewing for little girls these days, but to put things in perspective I think everyone should read Liesl's posts on selecting fabric for children's clothing.  One of the things that resonated with me about those posts was that I find even though I like really bright fabrics, they don't always work for clothing, especially baby clothing. This print might be better off in a quilt or on a shirt for me, no?

But that's not going to stop me from adding a pair of red cords.  Heh. Heh.

Pattern
I took a dress pattern from Ottobre magazine (on page two of this issue) that I used for C's Christmas outfit last year and redrew the neck, reworked the pleats and lengthened the sleeve. OK, so it's almost a new pattern but not really.  And I don't know if Finnish babies are just naturally ginormous or if it's just me but I don't ever seem to be able to nail the right size with Ottobre. Even though the size I traced last year was supposed to fit her at 3-6 months, I'm still using it now and she's almost 15 months old. And it's still a bit big, more like an 18 month size (I know!?).

It is so incredibly difficult to get clear pictures of the ever-in-motion young Clementine, so we're settling for these. Here she is with my mom: