More Amare, toddler outfit

Last week Sofilantjes released the Amare pattern and in my previous post I showed you a dress and a top which I made with the pattern. I managed to create two different bows, so when Anne asked if somebody from the testers wanted to write a guest post on bow construction, I (digitally) waved energetically with both hands. You can find the bow tutorial that I wrote here.

Because I was sewing for the tutorial I decided to make a full top for my middle daughter who had remained loveless (amare means love). People that read my blog know that I am trying to reduce my fabric stash, and this fabric had been in my stash from the beginning of my sewing passion. When I bought it, I thought it was so special and pretty that I didn't dare to cut it (this was in the period that I only had seen fabric on a local market and this was my first internet buy). Then the world of fabrics really opened up to me, and this relatively thin cotton was moved to the back of my closet.

I bought one meter from this fabric and I felt that I therefore had to use the fabric for a dress. Cutting a piece from it for something smaller feels like a waste, it might happen that I will not have enough for a full dress next time. In my active tackling of fabrics I just decided to cut the top from it and worry later. I like a challenge any way.

The bow and ties are made from Soft Cactus fabric, I also used it for the lining. I still have to practice my bow tying skills. This time I closed the top with transparent snaps.

To finish the outfit I sewed a pair of leggings. I used a pattern from Ottobre 1/2014, which has a nice extra effect on the lower part of the legs. My girl apparently has thicker legs than her waist and hip suggest, so the leggings are a bit tight. I am planning many more leggings (to accompany all those non-dresses that I will be sewing), so this was a great test.

The fabric is from Hilco, the fabric wasn't long enough to cut the leggings from vertically, so I actually cut them horizontally. The stretch is four way, so cutting "incorrectly" was a good solution. I do feel that if I would have been able to cut the correct way, the leggings would have been slightly more stretchy though. I made a yoga waist instead of one with an elastic. The color isn't exactly the same as the bow, but it the closest that I could find in my fabric closet and better than any of the legging my daughter owns.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).