Floral Peplum Top with Heart Leggings

Project Run and Play is starting soon, and I am so excited to be able to sew along this time! The themes all sound so fun, and I am looking forward to seeing what everyone makes. I am always amazed by the beautiful creations I see every season, and feel inspired by each look.

The first theme is to use mostly knit fabric, and I will admit I felt a little nervous about this one. I do not have much positive experience with sewing knit fabric, and I cringe when I think of all the botched, weirdly stretched seams I have produced in the past. However, I decided now was the time to face my fear and give it another try.

My first order of business was to check out the fabric store and look for inspiration. I always feel overwhelmed by all the different fabrics, so I headed to the remnant bin first to narrow my choices and see if there was anything already cut that I liked the looks of. Sure enough, I found several pretty fabrics perfect for the challenge. My little shopping buddy also was pleased to find a remnant of Spiderman fabric, which he convinced me to add to the shopping cart. He was so excited when he found it and kept shouting, "Spidey-man!" How could I say no? :) It was his treat for being so good at the fabric store with me while his sister was having fun at school. I think I'll make a library bag for him with it.

After my daughter came home from preschool she was very excited to see the new fabric and thought the colorful floral print was beautiful. She absolutely loves skirts, and especially loves peplum tops, because the skirt is attached to the shirt, so I decided to make a peplum top with leggings. I gathered all my materials and drew a rough sketch of what I wanted to make. It was rough, for sure. I ended up not adding the bow on the front of the shirt because I thought it would overpower it. Sometimes simple is better. 

The gray and pink fabrics are both knits, and the colorful floral fabric is a light and breezy woven material. 

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To make the shirt, I took one of my daughter's shirts that fits her well and used it as the pattern for cutting out the gray top piece.


After I cut the first one, I flipped the fabric over and used the first cutting to cut an identical piece for the back of the shirt. 


Once I had both pieces cut, I sewed the tops of the shoulders together. Also, I have to give a shout-out to my cutting board pictured below. It is only made from cardboard, and I purchased it from Walmart for five dollars, but it is probably the best five dollars I have ever spent. I use this thing almost every time I sew (since my sewing room doubles as a guest bedroom and has a bed instead of a cutting table). 


I used a sleeve pattern piece I found in my pattern box for the sleeve on this shirt. I wanted a pretty little pop of color on the sleeves, so I sewed a casing for the elastic with the floral fabric.


Since I really despise threading elastic through casings, I sewed the casing shut with the elastic already inside, and cut the elastic down to size after the sleeves were attached to the shirt.


For the breezy floral skirt, I cut out a long rectangle of the floral fabric and gathered it to fit a pink strip of knit fabric the same width as the gray portion of the shirt. 


Then I sewed the skirt to the waistband, and sewed the waistband to the shirt top.


To make the leggings, I used a pair of her leggings she already wears as a pattern. Yet again, that glorified piece of cardboard was very useful and instantly transformed the guest bed into a cutting table.


My daughter loves hearts, and I thought the little leggings would be adorable with hearts on the knees. To cut out the hearts and keep them from fraying and losing their shape, I attached this water soluble stabilizer to the back of the gray fabric. I then traced two hearts, and cut them out.


I used a small spray of fabric adhesive to attach the hearts to the legging pieces so they wouldn't slide around as I was sewing them down. I also held another piece of water soluble stabilizer over the top of the heart as I was sewing to keep the little fuzzy pieces of the gray fabric from getting in the way and making a mess.


When it came time to make the collar, I didn't know what to do, so I googled it. Thank goodness for Google, it has gotten me out of many a confusing situation. I found a tutorial to make this neckband from a blog called Craft Stylish. I was a little skeptical since I had never made a knit collar before, but it turned out beautifully. I'll have to visit that blog again sometime. They had a lot of interesting posts with lots of fun new things to learn!


Finally I was done! I'm really happy with how the outfit turned out, and I realized I can successfully sew with knit fabrics. Knit fabric was not as scary as I thought. 


I love the little hearts on the knees. They are so fun.


I finished the outfit while my daughter was at school, and she was ecstatic when she saw it was done. She let out a squeal of delight and started jumping up and down for joy. I love how excited she gets when I make things for her. It is priceless. 


My little sweetie said this outfit was her favorite, and she would never take it off. It took a lot of convincing for her to change into something else to keep the new outfit clean for school the next day. 


What a fun project. I'm so glad I sewed along, and I now am excited to sew with more knit fabrics...and maybe sew a few things for myself. I may have even bought some more knit fabric and patterns for myself. 

What about you? Are you following along with Project Run and Play? Do you enjoy sewing with knits, or have you been afraid of them like me? 

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a great day!

-Bridget :)

Comments

  1. Too cute! Looks super cozy too. I was afraid of knits for the longest time as well. But now that I'm more confident with them a new world has opened for me :)

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    1. Thanks! It is very soft, and she loves to wear it. I think I may have caught "Knit Fever," because I keep thinking of more things to sew with it!

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  2. Very nice! I'm impressed you drafted all your own patterns.

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  3. Cute idea to use the floral for your elastic casing--I love the pop of print up there!

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    1. Thank you, I like how it ties the skirt into the rest of the outfit and keeps it from looking out of place. :)

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  4. I love the floral and grey together. What a cute outfit!

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    1. Thanks! I thought it was a fun color combo, too.

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  5. I love the floral and grey together. What a cute outfit!

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  6. I think every little girl would love these. The grey fabric is wonderful. =D

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  7. Great job on drafting your patterns and using those knits. It's an adorable outfit! Looks like you chose nice sturdy knits, too, which make it easier to delve into sewing them.

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