The Franklin Top & Onstage Tutu Skirt

The Franklin Dress by Brooklyn Pattern Company was chosen as the pattern to sew during the Flip This Pattern series over at Frances Suzanne.  Now we love this pattern just as is, and plan to make it someday, but the challenge was to flip, or change the pattern.We decided to make the Franklin dress into a top instead of a dress.  We simply cut the width we needed and used the 6 month pattern line for length. Another change we made was to make short sleeves, but keep the elastic ends.  They are so cute that way! Annie has been asking for “puffy sleeves” lately, and was thrilled to finally get a top with “puffy sleeves!”Because Frances Suzanne is the place to add piping, we naturally had to add some piping between the yoke and the main fabric! The last change we made was to add ribbons to the sides that can be tied in either the front or the back. We used some sweet little swiss dot fabric from JoAnn’s to make our flipped version of the Franklin Dress. The navy blue yoke fabric was in our stash as were the buttons.  We also used the buttons on Annie’s 2+2 blouse.  The little pleats in the yoke are so very adorable!A top can’t be worn alone, so we needed a skirt!  Since we are sewing up ALL the Oliver + S skirts,  (you should find out more about this because it involves winning Oliver+S patterns and gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop!) and there are 2 free Oliver +S skirts, and since Annie doesn’t have a tutu, we decided it was the perfect time to make an Onstage Tutu skirt. This is a free pattern from Oliver + S with the end result being a beautiful tutu for your little girl!  We made just two changes to the Onstage Tutu pattern because we wanted a really full tutu; we doubled the width of the tutu, and made two layers of tulle instead of one.  The method was the same, and I love how the top of the tulle is enclosed in the waistband for a no itch finish. We had both the gold tulle and the white under layer fabric (leftover from this skirt) in our stash.  It would be delightful to make the Onstage Tutu skirt again with different combinations of under layer and tulle.  We might even use a floral fabric for the under layer like we did on this knock off skirt!You really must go over to Frances Suzanne and see all the different, beautiful versions of the Franklin Dress from both the competitors and the sew along participants.Sew My Stash 2015 reality check: 3 out of 4 fabric used in this outfit came from the stash, and 100% of the notions were in the stash, exceeding our goal of 50%!  Yipee!