Allison's 4H Project

This is the story of my Tops for Tweens 4H project.

I began thinking about what I would make for my project in October. My mom and I went shopping. I saw a top with multi-colored lace. I liked that lace. We couldn't find any to buy. My mom had dyed nylon fabric with koolaid for me before. I wanted to try tie dying lace with koolaid. My mom found nylon lace online. I asked her to buy it for me.

I went to Koolaid's website a made a list of all of the colors of koolaid. We bought one pack of each at the store and tested them in clear cups. I chose three colors to use.

I watched some tie dying videos on youtube to learn to tie dye in a hot water pot. Dying in a hot water pot is tricky, because the burners are on low and you don't want to catch the fabric or yourself on fire. It was too much for my hands to hold, so my mom helped me hold the fabrics while dying them.

I wanted to make a tunic and decided to use my Miss Lydia pattern to make the top. It is a dress pattern, but has a custom design feature that let me choose how many tiers my top would have and how long each tier would be. With the custom feature, I could allow for all of the growing I've done this year.

I have been checking fashion books out from the library and like the bohemian fashion so I made bell bottoms out of a pair of jeans and added some hot fix and bedazzeled jewels and rhinestones. A bedazzler is a difficult machine to use.  It took 4 hands. Mom made me a hotfix iron on of my name for one leg of my jeans.

We found a braided belt picture and a braided headband, and tutorials on how to make them online. This went with the bohemian idea well.

This was a fun project. I learned a lot of new things about making fashion from my own ideas.

I won first place at my county fair and Outstanding of the Day at my state fair. Most of all I love wearing my boho outfit.

Happy Sewing,

Allison