Drop (Waist) and Give Me 20!

For the first time ever I am participating in the sew along for Project Run & Play. I generally sew for myself because I get the most enjoyment out of that. 

This is her muscle pose

The set up this time around is pretty intriguing so I decided to join in. The pattern is the free Mademoiselle Muscle Tee by Susan from Living With Punks. It's done in size five so I figured it would be perfect for The Pink Blur, who is four. It was a little big for her but I worked with it, as well as adding modifications.

This is her favorite pose. You'll see it more as the pictures continue.

A new pattern deserves new fabric. I took the leap and ordered two Girl Charlee KnitFix bags from the February sale. Pink Blur loves knit floral dresses like nobody's business. When she saw this floral she immediately claimed it and asked for a dress. The blue is from my stash and I was glad to find something that matched so perfectly. It really brightens up the dress and makes it playful.

Same pose from the back

I modified the muscle tee pattern into a drop waist dress by finding her hip and cutting the pattern off there. With the remainder of the pattern pieces I just slashed and spread to get the fullness I wanted, then added length. I prefer the look of sleeves and added flutter sleeves to keep it simple.

Aaaaaand looking over her shoulder.

The blue waistband was for added definition and color, as well as to tie in the blue on the neck band. Before I started cutting out the floral I knew the dress was going to need something more. That was when the idea for the layered sleeves and skirt was born. I'm happy with the effect. The dress then looked like this:

Quick reference pic for sending out

At this point the dress was okay but I thought it needed something more. Everything I thought of just didn't look good in my head. I sent out the above picture to my mom and a friend to ask their opinion about a couple of my ideas. One suggestion I got from both of them was to gather a strip of fabric and make a corsage applique with it. This is meant to be a play dress and I wanted something less fussy than what was showing up in my brain. I wanted to keep it really simple.

Drop and give me twenty smiles!

I did end up using the idea of gathering a strip of fabric, but I used it to make a straight strip down the center front. It gives it the added embellishment of blue that I wanted without competing against the busy floral pattern. The strip was created by gathering down the center, placing the strip, and sewing over the gathering stitch. Easy peasy.

The response to "Show me a different pose, sweetie."

The final adjustment I made was on the neck band. I didn't like how it was laying on her little chest, so I took a tiny wedge seam on the band. Ta-Da! Now it's a V neck. I didn't bother too much with pictures because she just wanted to play and also because I have a three month old baby who is teething and wants to be held. Poor boy. :(

How long are you going to make me hold a plank? It's hard!

The Pink Blur absolutely loves her dress. Her big sister wants one of her own and has already chosen her design modifications. I'll get around to that. Some time. For now I'm really pleased that I got such a great result from a floral fabric that I would not usually have chosen. See the other Mademoiselle Muscle Tee challenge creations over at Project Run & Play!

The final muscle pose. This little cutie makes me smile every day!