Monet and Munch for the gifted child

It seems to me, that many parents today want to raise gifted children.  There are a zillion different books, DVD's and websites on the subject.  Apparently, exposing children to fine arts at a young age helps to develop the right-sided brain abilities like creative problem-solving, enhanced photographic memory, visual and spatial thinking, musical talent etc etc etc.

So, I thought I'd help out some of my friends who recently celebrated the birth of their daughter by getting her started on the journey to unlocking the right side of her brain....

At my favourite on-line fabric store, Spoonflower.com, I discovered Edvard Munch's the scream and Claude Monet's water lilies

Foolishly, I only purchased a fat quarter of each fabric in the organic knit.  Thus, I was only able to create a sleeveless top in the work by Munch

Front - the neckline doesn't look even but it is just the way the top is placed on the hanger

size 74cm

Back

The pattern is "Diamond Deer sleeveless jersey top" from Ottobre 3/2011.

Of course, the observant will note that I overlapped the front and back pieces incorrectly.    I blame my sister: I was trying to multi-task, chatting to her on the phone and sewing at the same time...   However, I obviously need to pay more attention when it comes to overlapping shoulder seams because this is a common problem for me!

For the water lilies, I used the Oliver + S hopscotch top pattern.  I knew that I wasn't going to make any amateurish mistakes with this pattern.

size 6-12 months

Dad told me they really liked BRIGHT fabric so I also made a little dress for the new baby (just in case Munch was too much for these new parents...).  I used another favourite Oliver + S pattern: the music box jumper (view B).

 size 6 - 12 months

I lined the bodice with a dotted off-white quilting cotton, and used some decorative mother of pearl buttons.

So here's hoping that these are a hit (or should that be a scream?) with Mum and Dad.