Sail Away, Baby Girl

beach baby outfit for 2 yo Vivian Rose.  The jumbo rick rack is really bright pink, almost the same color as the pink on the sails.  Oops–just noticed that unstitched section of the neck casing.  Thank goodness it’s an easy fix.

Summertime is beach time.  Our daughter and her family are 30 minutes from our home, staying at a friend’s oceanfront condo.  This little outfit was made for 2 yo granddaughter Vivian Rose to wear if her mother can ever get her out of her bathing suit and swimmies.

I’m generally happy with the finished product but it is not as I planned it.  Do you carefully plan your projects in great detail?  I just can’t get the hang of doing it like that.

My original plan was to make a quick beachwear set using this sweet Michael Miller fabric, Sail Away.  For the top I chose Children’s Corner Jane.  This is a favorite of mine because it is quick, easy to make, comfortable and cool for summer.

It did not go as planned.   As I changed my mind about one thing and another, but turned out to be not very quick and also offered some challenges.

Can you see the soft grey seagulls in the sky?  And that rick  rack is NOT red!  It’s bright pink.

I was compelled to buy Sail Away fabric last summer when I saw another to-die-for outfit made by Cheryle Cole-Bennet.   But I digress.

The first challenge was working with such a large border print.  Given the width of the pattern piece, I could either center one ship and have two half ships at the side seams or cut the front and back larger by 6″  which is what I did.   It seemed to me  that the excess should be gathered up at center front and back before sewing.  Otherwise the ships would be so far from center that they would only be seen from the side.  Hmmmm…that took some time.

After sewing the top completely and top stitching the neck and arm casings with a soft blue thread to match the clouds, I decided to add the jumbo rick rack–a last minute decision that took extra time.  So much for quick.

The rick rack was in one of those fabulous bags of miscellaneous trims offered a while ago by Farmhouse Fabrics.  The piece was less than 2 yds. but I knew that was plenty for the top hem.

I sewed it on, covering up most of the hand stitched hem.    After sewing the neck and arm casings in soft blue, I  decided to restitch in bright pink.  It took a long time to pick out those stitches and as soon as I saw the newly sewn pink, I  regretted it–last minute wisdom  that took more time.  So the sleeve casings were left in blue.

tag cut from selvage

Ooops–forgot the tag to mark the back.  Thanks again to Jo who shared a tip to use the selvage for the tag that marks the back.  Another delay as I picked out a section of the neck casing yet again.

Navy poplin shorts are hemmed with a triple zig zag stitch in 30 wt. cotton thread.  The waistband casing is a triple straight stitch.

The shorts are a modified version of the one which is included with Bonnie Blue’s Lydia.  That was chosen over the very nice shorts/pants pattern included in Jane.  It had a waistband which seemed unnecessary since the top was loose.

Bloomers have always been included with the outfits I have made Baby Girl.  But I thought shorts might be cooler with the open leg. That same rick  rack around the shorts hems would have been nice, but I didn’t have enough.

Now this is the color of the rick rack.

So the side seams were drawn up with elastic and then covered with the little bit of trim that was left. Another change in plans from that quick and easy little outfit I was making. But there was more.

The blunt top edge of the rick rack was not pleasing so the sailboat buttons were pulled from my novelty button drawer and hand stitched in place.  So you see, the project changed  again and again from what I expected to make.

I’d  really like to hear how your projects are planned. There are always several things I would do differently if I made a second one,  Do you change horses midstream or stick with an accurate vision from the get-go?

I’m really looking forward to seeing Vivi model this tomorrow.  Film at 11.

Happy summer sewing to all.