Doctor Who Tardis top – Giveaway

Yes that’s right, a giveaway! To celebrate the new season of Doctor Who which starts tomorrow, with a new companion no less, I am giving away this newly sewn item. Leave a comment below, or leave a comment on my instagram giveaway post (fionatelford-sharp on Instagram) saying why you would like a lovely toddler size 2 Tardis top, and I will choose a winner and announce it on Friday 21st April. If you’re a sewist I would love it if you also followed my blog or my instagram.

So why am I sewing size 2 toddler clothes when I haven’t had a toddler in my life since 2010? Well it all started with this amazing Doctor Who Tardis fabric from Trisha’s Fabric Store. The fabric was quite expensive – it took me until my third visit to commit, but when I did I bought some plain blue as well and whipped it up into leggings. I am totally in love with the leggings in their Tardis-y awesomeness (separate blog post still to come when I can be bothered taking some photos).

I was then left with a dilemma – enough leftovers of the gorgeous, expensive Tardis fabric to make something for a child but not for an adult or larger kid, and my kids are all of the larger kind now. And I couldn’t bear to see it go to waste, so the obvious solution seemed to make a small child’s top and give it away. I have to admit I now have an inkling why elderly ladies often spend their time knitting baby matinee jackets and bootees. I’d forgotten how satisfying, and relatively quick it is to sew cute little toddler clothes.

So if you’d like it, leave a comment, and I hope you win. I took it down to Target this morning and compared it and it’s a good match with their size 2 clothes. It has quite a high neckline and is lightweight t-shirt fabric. The colour was hard to photograph but is somewhere between the brightness of the outside shots and the washed out inside shots. I’ll post anywhere in the world. If you’re interested read on for the sewing details.

 

This is an Ottobre pattern, coincidentally from 2010, when I last had a toddler – magazine 4, pattern 5 ‘Loikka’. The fabric is cotton/ lycra knit. I knew I was planning to pass this on to someone else’s child so I made an extra effort at the finishing on the inside, top-stitching most of the seams with a double needle then trimming away the excess at the back. (How’s that for priorities, my own children get the slap dash efforts). The pattern called for ribbing at the cuffs and collar but I’ve just used the plain fabric itself, which worked well. I’m super pleased with how neat the finish is where the neck binding tapers next to the placket.

The Tardis applique has vliesofix ironed on the back then is ironed onto the garment and stitched down with a narrow zig-zag. I was going to do buttons on the placket but was a bit stymied when I remembered Spotlight are now only selling buttons in expensive packs of 5 or more, for at least $5 a packet. It’s a bit of a rort, if you ask me; surely a small blue button shouldn’t be more than 20c each? Anyway I did find some loose ones at Trisha’s but then discovered I had some snaps in my sewing drawer which look great – winning at hoarding sewing supplies 🙂 It makes me smile to think eventually a cute little 2 year old child of Doctor Who fans like me will get to wear it!