Finished Baby Wax Cloth Tunic

I mentioned a few weeks back that one of the things my Pop asked me to sew with the pile of wax cloth he bought for me in Ghana was a dashiki style top for the youngest grandchild, my nephew.

The middle fabric is the one meant for the baby top.

I finished the top just in time for the little guy's 1st birthday party on Saturday.

A Mini Dashiki-style top

 
Isn't it cute? The pattern I used is Made By Rae's Charlie Tunic. I give it a thumbs up.

Charlie Tunic by Made by Rae

Since my fabric is so busy, I decided to keep things as simple as possible, but the pattern has a number of easy variations for adding contrast facings on the neckline, sleeves and vents. This would be a great pattern for using up those fun but too small fabric remnants.

Now, this is one of those patterns which you download and tape together. You know I'm not a big fan of taping and so was absolutely pleased that the printing instructions tell you which pages to print for each size. Instead of printing out all 20 pattern pages taping them together and then figuring out which pieces you need, I just printed out the 8 pages that I needed for the 12-18 month size. No waste and less taping - hooray!

Neck Facing with Orange Top Stitching

The instructions are very thorough and include photographs of many of the steps. I think this is a smart way to go for a downloadable indie pattern that is aimed at advanced beginners. In particular, I liked that the sleeves were sewn in flat and thought the instructions for finishing the neckline and facing were thorough and thoughtful. That said, for a more experienced sewist, there are a lot of instructions and at times I found myself wading through looking for small bits of information, like the hem allowance on the sleeves. Again, for beginners, this is exactly on target, and really my complaint is a "why isn't everything designed for my specific needs and skills" sort of nit picking.

Little top stitched vent

Overall, the pattern went together beautifully. And, as I've said before, wax cloth could not be easier to sew. It's so very stable and presses like a dream. The print is irregular, but I think I did a good job getting the neck facing to blend with the bodice print. However, wax cloth is not particularly soft or cuddly; I don't think I would generally recommend it for baby clothing.

There is nothing much else to say except that I used my serger to sew or finish the seams and top stitched with regular orange thread using a back stitch. I find it easier to use a heavier stitch instead of top stitching thread, which always seems to cause problems.

Contemplating life on Auntie Erato's lap

The top was delivered on Saturday. It looks like my nephew has room to grow. In RTW baby clothes he is just outgrowing 12 mos sizing and about to move into 18mos - and this is a 12-18mos top. So, on target, I think.

Anyway, one-year-olds are not particularly compliant models by mid-afternoon; by then he was an uncharacteristically serious little guy. This is as close as we got to model shots.