Sunny Side by Duchess and Hare

When it comes to my daughter growing up, I find it harder and harder to keep sewing for her.  She doesn't want the cute ruffles and pretty dresses like she used to. She tends to be a jeans and tshirt type of girl, especially for school.  When the Sunny Side pattern by Duchess and Hare came across my screen, I really liked it! The trick was going to be getting my daughter to like it too since it isn't a tshirt and it has a sweet little ruffle on it.  I showed her some photos and she wasn’t super excited about it… yet. Her biggest issue was that the skirt part of the top was too full and she didn’t want the ruffle to be so ruffley. Those of you with older daughters have probably had similar conversations and reactions from your own daughters.  I took her opinions into consideration and got to work!

The first thing I did to make it something she would love was selecting the right fabric.  I went with a beautiful rayon from Joel Dewberry in her favorite color. By using rayon, it gives it a really nice drape and the weight of the fabric pulls the skirt down so it doesn’t look as full.  Because I used the rayon, I ended up using a lace trim I had that happen to match. If you have ever used rayon, you know that making bias tape from rayon usually results in a ton of nasty words and something being thrown across the room.  The only pattern change I made was adding ½ inch to the length of the top ruffle and taking out a little bit of the width so that the weight of the fabric will work with pulling it down and making it look not as full.

In the end, my daughter loved it!  She has worn it non stop and she says it is really comfortable.  I like the way the pattern went together and I can’t wait to try some more from Duchess and Hare.  

 

 

 

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