Tie Dye Diva Square Neck Butterfly Tops

Wait, you say, Tie Diva Patterns doesn't have a pattern called the Square Neck Butterfly Top.  What is this about?  Well, I combined my of two favorite patterns!  The Tie Dye Diva Square Neck Top Pattern with the her Butterfly Dress Pattern.  Et Voila!

  

In the children's boutique clothing world, there is a clothing company with the initials MJC and they made a cut top, last year, called the shabby.  I really liked it and a friend loaned me one, last year, so I could make a copy of it with the same Anna Griffin Riley circus fabric I  used above.  She sent me the shabby top and the fabric and I used the top as a model to make her daughter another one.  The shabby fit her daughter well and she wanted another top of that style. But, there were no patterns like it. Hence, she sent me the original to use. 

Cut to 2013. I wanted to make a couple of tops like this for my daughter.   Luckily, Tie Dye Diva has two lovely patterns that have elements similar to this cute top.  The Butterfly has the flutter sleeves and I also like the way the Butterfly bodice attaches to the skirt.  Further, the Butterfly has nicely done armhole facings. The Square Neck has the squared bodice as well as the length I like and the Butterfly has the tuxedo ruffle directions.  And I own them both.  ( I was a pattern tester for both!)

So, I put them together. Here's how I did it.   First of all, buy them both.  You won't regret it. You will use them over and over again.   

Next up, you are going to cut out the top following the Square Neck pattern directions. The only exceptions are the armhole facing and the flutter sleeve. 

For the flutter sleeve, I wanted to make it more narrow than the Butterfly dress sleeve.  The sleeve I cut out, in size 6, was four inches across at the point where it says "fold."  So, I took one inch off each side.  For smaller sizes, I suggest cutting off 1/4 of the width from either side, as I did.  

For the armhole facing, I made bias tape using the pattern piece from the Butterfly pattern.

First up, the bodice.  I followed the directions on the Square Neck pattern but added the flutter sleeves and tuxedo ruffle, as per the Butterfly's directions.  Below, you the steps as I sewed the ruffle and sleeves to the outer bodice and then added the lining.  Trust me, Tie Dye Diva's directions for doing these sleeves is fool-proof and simple!!  They will look great, just like mine.

The Square Neck top directions include sewing the skirt inside the bodice but I decided to just sew my skirt to the bodice and the serge and topstitch.  So, you see the serged product above. My fabric was fraying something awful so I wanted to keep it serged as much as possible. 

 

Next up, I added the armhole facing, following directions on the Butterfly pattern.  The Square Neck Top pattern has the option of just folding down the fabric to make a self seam.  I like the fun of doing the binding with a contrasting fabric.

I added some finishing touches. My daughter's name begins with E and she picked out these E buttons.  One went on front, one went in the back to close the bodice.

And the finished product, one more time.

I had so much fun doing this, I did it again! This time I doubled the width of the skirt and made it twirly. I made it shorter, too, so it is a bit more of a babydoll look. My daughter thinks it will be perfect for a hot, summer day.  

Happy Sewing!