Pleated Tank - aka "I Have Gingham Issues"

As a preface: I've been using the last week to post about some older projects that haven't made it here because I'm working on a baby quilt.  I'm not a quilter.  I wish I could be, but I get really frustrated by the time it takes.  All I think about while I'm cutting and piecing and pressing and piecing and pressing and quilting and binding is how many garments I could be making in the time it takes me to complete one little baby quilt.  But it's a gift, and all I  have left to finish is the hand stitching on the binding.  Tedious.  Anyway - that's what's up.  I'll post about it once it's finished (hopefully in the next day or two!) and until then, I'm playing blog catch-up.

***************************************

This top is loosely based on this Pretty in Pleats tutorial from craftiness is not optional.  I made another top last summer strictly following the tutorial - this summer I just went from memory, experience, with a little bit of "winging it" thrown in.

(It was worn and washed a few times before I took these pictures - and pleats are really hard to press again.  My apologies.)

I used a navy gingham (theme?) I picked up at an estate sale at some point, and some pale yellow buttons of unknown origin from my collection.

The problem with using older fabric, is that there are sometimes mystery spots - usually not too large, and usually not too obvious - that seem to show up when I'm about 85% finished with a project.  It doesn't matter how carefully I go over the fabric before hand - POOF - they magically appear at the 85% point.

And so it happened here.  Above the hemline, a couple small-ish brown spots.  Arghhhh!  Instead of scrapping it, or shortening the hem too much - I went ahead and winged it for the win.  It may be hard to see here, but I cut out a couple heart shapes and top-stitched them on.  I didn't use any fusible or put anything on the edges to stop the fraying but I'm okay with that.  They don't stand out very much, and I think a little fray goes well with the navy ginham.

And here she is...or was.  She already looks different to me since this picture was taken a couple months ago!

Didn't I tell her to stop growing?