It was an honor to teach at Whipstitch in Atlanta a couple years ago with my friend Rae. It was there that I had the pleasure of meeting Shannon of LittleKidsGrow.com when she was just getting started. Her first pattern for Tweens arrived recently, and I knew I had to make one up for my Ella. It’s not easy to find patterns that work without significant alteration for Plus-sized girls (other than my own, of course!) so I pre-ordered this one because I just loved the style at first sight.
I have a feeling Ella will wear this for a very long time, and we’ve already made plans for a second one.
We chose to sew up the knit version, because Ella prefers knit to wovens every day of the week and twice on Sunday. We chose some gorgeous organic cotton knit from NearSeaNaturals (which has since changed ownership – but I’m hoping the high quality remains, because this is my favorite solid knit…) and some lovely Cloud9 Organic Voile designed by Rashida Coleman-Hale. If you haven’t tried this voile, you must get your hands on it. Pictured here is The Way of Flowers.
My favorite details of the Breeze Top are the cleverly constructed elastic-back yoke which lends a lot of flexibility in sizing, and a nice roomy arm opening for a full range of movement. The gently gathered skirt portion of the top is comfortable and roomy enough for any toddler-belly a girl could still have. Shannon’s instructions are clear, and nicely illustrated. I was able to put this top together in around 30 minutes, not including cutting. That’s because Ella helped, and she did all the cutting (beautifully, and safely, I might add) about a week ago.
Note here, that I made the size 14, but Ella is 4’7″, so she’s really a size 8 or 10 in height. We wanted to use the longer length of the 14 so she’d have more seasons of wear. Of course, it’s also a style that lends itself well to adding a band for length once your darling grows too tall for her tunics. We may end up adding a band anyway at the rate my girl is sprouting up; you can see how tall she is at 7 1/2 compared to her dad, who is not a tiny fella!
There have already been some great posts this week with some lovely versions of the Breeze Top on all shapes and sizes of girl (yay!) and more to come, so please be sure to check out the other reviews.
If you’d like to buy one of these sweet patterns for yourself, you can use the code BREEZETOUR for 25% off in Shannon’s Etsy Shop while the tour is still on.
Do you sew for a plus-sized child? What do you wish we patternmakers would include to make fit simpler and more successful for you? What are your favorite patterns to sew for your kid? I’d love to know, so please share your answers in the comments.
