The Cupcake Top

Have you seen the latest pattern from my good friend, Sewing Mama RaeAnna?  If not, then let me show you the Cupcake Top!

In case you don't already know, RaeAnna and I are real friends!  We get together about once a week to talk sewing and blogging while our little models have fun and play.  So when RaeAnna decided to venture into pattern designing a few months back, I was super excited for her!

When she released the Cupcake Top Pattern for sale just before Christmas, she sent me a copy and asked me to try it out sometime.  I couldn't wait to sew one up, but then I caught the flu and all sewing came to a halt for a couple of weeks.  Once I recovered and my son went back to school in early January, I started sewing again every single day and have now made Ella at least 13 or 14 new pieces of clothing! Wow!

But one of her favorites so far is the Cupcake Top I made by upcycling an adult's size small basic long-sleeved t-shirt of mine.  I spruced it up a bit by overlaying the pocket and making the ruffles using some pink mesh fabric that has hearts on it--producing the perfect Valentine Cupcake Top!

Surprisingly, there wasn't much fabric to cut off of the bodice pieces to make Ella's size 6 top.  I really didn't have enough fabric from the t-shirt to make the pocket, so I used some cotton knit that was a near perfect match in color to sew it together.

I reused the existing neck binding and hem of the old t-shirt making this even faster to sew together. For the ruffles, I simply cut the mesh fabric to length according to RaeAnna's pattern, gathered the strips, and then sewed them to the existing hemline and sleeve cuffs.

The Cupcake Top is the perfect playtime shirt, and the added ruffles and pocket spruce it up enough to make it more interesting than a plain on tee.  Of course, the ruffles can be omitted to make a fun kangaroo pocket tee for a boy!  Or, leave the ruffles and pocket off for a great basic t-shirt!  People are even adding embroidery designs to the front to make boutique style shirts.

Be sure to stop by Sewing Mama RaeAnna this week to see other Cupcake Tops she's featuring and to purchase your copy of the Cupcake Top Pattern for 20% off through Friday using code SWEET.  There are lots of fun versions popping up!

Have fun sewing!