Cute Bear Top for Sophia

It feels like a while since I last shared something I've made for (not so) little Sophia! I often get asked if I make lots of clothes for her and I wish I did, lack of time is my biggest excuse really!

When I saw this really cute bear fabric at the Sewing Bee live show on one of the other stands I couldn't resist it! She loves bear and shouts 'bear! bear!' while hitting her chest so I knew she'd be as excited about the fabric as I was.

Most of the patterns I have for her are either for stretch fabric or have too many sections or details that they would break up the print too much. I just needed a really simple plain a-line top so I decided to make my own pattern using the Building Block Dress Book by Liesl Gibson.

I've made a little vlog for Youtube as well if you fancy a listen or read on for more pictures and details!

I did a full review of this book last year (see link to the post below) so I knew it would be a great way to get the style of garment I was imagining.

In summary, the way the book works is, using the basic dress dress pattern that comes with the book (in size range 6-12 months up to 12 years), you choose what features or style lines you'd like your garment to have from lots of different options. You then follow the instructions of how to alter the paper pattern, and then sew it together.

You can download and print off design templates to sketch your ideas down and note your chosen features, along with what page number you need to refer to.

Then following the really clear diagrams and instructions, the book walks you though what to do once you have traced off your desired size from the basic dress pattern.

This is what my pattern pieces ended up looking like. They were lengthened, slashed open and the sleeves were shortened and rounded out. I also drew a facing piece for the eyelet opening at the centre back.

I'm really pleased with the a-line shape of the top and I think it looks really cute on her.

The sleeve ended up a bit longer than I had imagined but I think it works well as it means a whole bears head fits on nicely.

The one mishap I had when making my pattern was that I made the eyelet opening at the centre back neckline a bit too big. After taking a slice out I had forgotten that the seam allowance would also make it a bit bigger. It meant when I drew the edges of the opening together, the neckline was just too small as it is quite high at the front.

To get around that, I ended up sewing on little tabs and putting in a press stud as a closure, which meant that it could all just lay flat.

It means there is a bit of a gap at the back but she always wears a vest anyway so I don't mind. The larger gap actually helps me get it over her head much easier and I've convinced myself that it's now just a nice design feature - even though it wasn't intended!

Sophia seems to like it anyway which is the main thing!

If you haven't come across the book before and like altering patterns, then it's a really useful one to refer too for simple and clear instructions on making adaptations.

You can also apply the methods to adult patterns too and Liesl has written a really comprehensive blog post about how you can do that (link here) as well as how to use it for knit fabric and designs (link here).

Fancy trying it out? Order the book from our website and put the code PAPERPLEASE into the comments box at the checkout to get 5m of FREE dots and cross pattern paper to experiment with!