Reversible First Day Top
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Waaaaay back last spring, when I was still in a post-baby fog, I asked my friend Dana of MADE if I could help test her First Day Dress and Top pattern with some Lotus Pond, hoping to include it in the Lotus Pond Extravaganza. It’s taken me this long to finally post about it, which is somewhat embarrassing, but on the other hand is a great example of why blogging when you have a baby is tough.
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I love Dana’s design because it has a great fit and can be made super simple (or with sleeves and a peplum skirt, which is also super cute) — in this case I wanted to make a simple A-line top with no sleeves that could be reversible. The top came together like a breeze and fits like a glove (Dana actually addresses the fit in the pattern — in order to get this fantastic fit, you do have to put your arms over your head to get it on because it’s not designed with a ton of ease, but Clementine doesn’t seem to mind at all).
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I made one side with the blue diamond print, and the other side with the yellow snails from my line of quilting cottons, Lotus Pond.
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It wasn't the actual construction of the top that held up the entire make-photograph-post process. It was Clementine (is anyone surprised??). First, she refused to wear it as anything other than pajamas, which made it difficult to photograph. Then, when she finally agreed to put it on for photos, she would only wear it with the diamond-side out. So I got photos of one side in July, but not the other. Finally, last month -- IN SEPTEMBER -- after I bribed her with a marshmallow, she put it on snail-side-out. And here we are, nearly five months after it was completed, with a blog post about it. OY.
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One thing I do want to mention that you can see in the photo below is that if you leave clothing made with quilting cotton in a heap of clean laundry, they will get wrinkly. However, I’ve found that if you yank them out of the dryer right after they are washed and hang them up, they look nice and smooth. Little tip there for ya if you make garments with quilting cotton (thanks, Karen, for teaching me that one!!). This wouldn’t be a post about Clementine without a few zany photos, so here ya go:
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Fabric: Lotus Pond is still available in shops if you look around — as of this writing, a few of my sponsors have it in stock (Fat Quarter Shop and HoneyBeGood both have nice selections yet, and Fabricworm has a couple prints left, including the blue diamonds).
Pattern: The First Day Dress and Top Sewing Pattern is available from Dana as a PDF, and comes in sizes 2-10.
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Please do not pin or reuse photos of Clementine that show her face -- I've included some cropped photos without her face in this post and you are welcome to pin or reuse those. Thanks!