Ah the maxi dress! Annie loves them, and I love sewing them for her. A maxi dress on a young girl is such a statement piece. And with fabric as bold as we used for this one, it’s no wonder she’s been wearing it every chance she gets.
For this maxi dress we used the Uptown Downtown Dress pattern by Sew Straight & Gather. We are making the size 10 for Annie this spring. There are so many different options on this pattern that it’s easy to use it over and over again to create a whole flock of dresses! On this one we used the cowl neckline, maxi length, elbow length sleeves, and pockets.
The fabric is one Annie and I both fell in love with in the fall. It’s from Raspberry Creek Fabrics CLUB line, and we love the stripes and flowers together. Even though it’s from their fall line, I think the dress works as a spring and summer dress too.
Annie is growing so fast, I’m not sure it will still fit her in the fall! Or it will probably still fit her around, but might not be maxi length anymore. That won’t stop her from wearing it…she wore this one well after it wasn’t maxi length anymore!
I convinced Annie to have a cowl neckline because I wanted to put a more saturated color by her face. She’s so fair, that I knew she could use the pop of color at her face to bring out the pink tones in her cheek. We used some double brushed poly fabric in wine color, and it drapes perfectly for the cowl.
But Annie really is in love with this whole dress, even though she wasn’t convinced about the cowl at first. She thought it might be too hot in summer. I reminded her of this one I’d sewn her with a cowl, and how she’d worn it in hot weather sometimes too.
Of course Annie had to test out the twirl factor as soon as she put it on! It passed with flying colors! The width of the hem at the bottom of the skirt is so generous, that it really makes this maxi dress fun to wear. And twirl!
Leave us a comment, what do you think of stripes and florals together?
Affiliate links are used in this post. This means if you click on one of our links, we might make a few extra pennies at no extra cost to you. Thanks in advance!
Even though I’m not eligible to win a prize, I’m sewing along with Project Run & Play for the week 1 “7 Wonders of the World” theme! (If you missed the news, I’m now leading Project Run & Play!) It’s too inspiring not to! Here’s a look at our Great Wall of China Inspired children’s clothing.
Around our house, we have studied the Great Wall of China in our history studies many times. Since it’s one of the ancient Wonders of the World, we chose to be inspired by both the architecture, and the surrounding landscape. And we decided to have a little fun too!
For Annie’s dress, we chose to be inspired by the length of the Great Wall of China and sew her another maxi dress. We started with the Camden Raglan, and got busy designing it into a dress with special little touches.
The first little touch we added was to insert lace on the lines of the raglan sleeves. It’s a sweet little touch, and represents how the Great Wall of China criss crosses the entire country.
The second little touch we added was to design a bell sleeve for the sleeve hem with more lace inserted at the top of the bell. Annie chose the length she wanted the sleeves to be, and absolutely adores how they bell out and flow with the dress.
The final touch we added was to leave the sleeve and bottom dress hems raw. With time and wear and washing, they will curl up slightly. The intention was for this design feature to mimic and accent the white of the lace and cherry blossoms.
We used this Art Gallery Pandalicious Jersey Knit Yinghua Cherrylight Fabric. “Yinghua” means cherry blossom. It’s perfectly soft, drapes beautifully on the sleeves and skirt, and is stable enough to make the neckband turn out perfectly. Annie styled it with her Panda Vest we sewed for her earlier. This is to represent the pandas in the wilds of China around the Great Wall. You can read all about it in that post, but it uses panda fabric from the same line of fabric as the cherry blossom fabric. And she also borrowed a fan from Allegra for a photo prop.
Next came some raglan t-shirts for the boys. Yes, more raglan t-shirts for these boys! What can I say? We used the Oliver+S Field Trip Raglan t-shirt pattern. For David we are sewing a size 7 and for Lowell a size 5.
For the fabric, we used some Riley Blake Knit Stripe Aqua/Navy Fabric for the sleeves, neckband, and the back of Lowell’s t-shirt. We chose stripes to mimic the lines of the Great Wall of China. For the fronts, we used Riley Blake Designs navy blue jersey knit fabric.
Then came the fun part! We decided to use our new Cricut Maker machine to make fortune cookie gold foil iron on graphics with two fun sayings. And the little strip of twill tape represents for the paper fortunes inside!
For the photoshoot, we tried to find a location the was faintly related to the landscape of China. We found a river, a gazebo, some cement pillars, a lamppost, and a timber frame shelter.
What do you think of our Great Wall of China inspired children’s clothing? Be sure to go over to Project Run & Play and check out what all the designers created for the 7 Wonders of the World prompt, you’ll be inspired and amazed! And you can see what everyone else is sewing along here.
This isn’t the greatest picture to showcase the clothing, the lighting is too bright, the kids are wiggling, and so on. But after I got home and was editing the photos, I noticed how the boys are holding hands with their fingers interlaced, and it was a done deal!
Oh, and if you guessed that I rewarded them with fortune cookies for a modeling jog well done you guessed right!
Affiliate links are used in this post, because if we ever hope to go to see the Great Wall of China someday, we’ll need some money! Just kidding, but we do appreciate those of you who click on our affiliate links the help us earn a few pennies at no extra expense to their total.
In celebration of today’s EPIC coat making success, I’m giving away a $50 gift card to Mood Fabrics! For a chance to win, visit me on Instagram.
For a very, very long time I have wanted a puffer jacket! But because I’m 6’ tall, until very recently, one that fit was out of the question even though puffer jackets are everywhere! Then my (also very tall) sister sent me a photo of her wearing a puffer jacket she had purchased from a specialty tall shop. I fell in love with it, and almost hit the buy it now button on their online shop. Then I got to thinking…and decided to sew one for myself. But as I looked for online tutorials or tips or anything, I couldn’t find ANY! Am I the only person who has tried this? There are a few places you can buy pre-quilted fabric, but now I was on a mission to sew my own.
You can read all about how to make your own puffer jacket over on the Mood Fabrics blog today! I’m guest posting there all about everything I learned while making this jacket for myself.
I think the only details I didn’t include in those two posts is my zipper source, and the leather tassel I created at the last minute! The zipper is a 36” thin nylon-coil separating formal wear zipper in color #527 – Bordeaux. It was the only zipper I could find that was long enough. It came from Zipperstop. And since it wasn’t really intended for outerwear, I decided to add the leather tassel to try to spare the zipper and okay, just for looks! It was so simple to make, I just cut long strips of gray leather, looped them around the bottom ring of the clip on hardware, and tied another strip of leather at the top to keep them all secure. It turned out to be too wide to clip through the actual zipper pull itself, so I used a metal ring to go connect them.
Here’s a picture of my inspiration puffer jacket…the one my sister owns! How did I do?
In May I had the awesome opportunity to explore Quilt Market for a few hours thanks to the generous ladies at Simple Simon and Co. I had been wanting to meet liZ and Elizabeth for years, and finally got the opportunity. Quilt Market is a trade-only show for the quilting/fabric industry. So you can see how I was like a child in a candy store as I walked around with liZ.
liZ and Elizabeth had a booth showcasing their new Just Add Sugar fabric line. They won the top prize at Quilt Market for best single booth award, and you can see why! Their booth was LOADED with fruit (which they brought in their suitcases all the way from Utah to St. Louis!!!) The booth just exploded with color and sweetness. The table was set for 6 and piled high with fruit, flowers, and of course their new fabric! I even got to record on video their reaction when they were presented the best single booth award.
Because there were hundreds of booths at Quilt Market and I only had a few hours, I had to be selective in what I saw. With careful planning and the ever generous Simple Simon and Co. ladies, I made it to my top 5 destinations!
Since I had chosen to wear my Runway Skirt made from Art Gallery Fabrics designed by April Rhodes, I had to see the Art Gallery Fabrics booths and meet April. She was there displaying her new Arizona After and Heritage fabric lines, and they are both amazing. Her booth was fantastic, and had a quiet peaceful atmosphere in the middle of the very bustling Quilt Market.
You might notice I also dressed Baby in an Art Gallery Fabrics dress (blogged here!) As I walked up to their booth, Walter Bravo (who assists his wife Pat in running Art Gallery Fabrics) held out his arms to me and Baby with delight in his eyes! We felt like we’d come home!
There were two displays that stopped me in my hasty exploration of Quilt Market and I had to photograph them. This flower wall made entirely of starched fabric by RJR Fabrics was fantastic.
Another was this butterfly quilt display. I don’t even know what to call it. Let’s call it art! It was made from the In Bloom fabric collection by Sandra Clemons.
Also, I HAD to meet Tula Pink. Tula is basically a celebrity in the sewing world. And her fabrics are amazing. She even has a line of scissors and sewing notions that everyone is gaga over. But the real reason I wanted to meet Tula was to see which one of us was taller! I’d only seen photos before, and noticed her height, and was curious. I’m not spilling the beans, but let’s just say we saw eye to eye about some things!
I also got to meet Alison Glass (who designed the fabric on this skirt) and her assistant Chen. In a totally unexpected turn of events, I got a signed copy of Blair Stocker’s book Wise Craft Quilts. And Rebecca Bryan gave me a precut mini charm pack from her new fabric line Panache. There were so many other people I got to meet and fabrics I got to see and feel, it was incredible!
Spring Quilt Market 2017 was and amazing experience for me. I’m so thankful to have experienced it and for liZ and Elizabeth. Since everyone was so generous to me, I’m holding a giveaway for some of the amazing items I picked up at Quilt Market. To enter, all you have to do is follow us on Instagram and comment on our giveaway post there.
Today we’re excited to release a free girl’s skirt pattern, the Bloom & Grow Skirt. As in the past few years in July, we’re excited to join in with Simple Simon and Co. for the Skirting The Issue charity sewing event! We’re releasing another free girl’s skirt pattern, the Bloom & Grow skirt.
We designed the Bloom & Grow skirt with the growing girl in mind. This skirt is designed for use with double border print fabrics. Often, these fabrics feature a floral print. The extra fullness of this skirt makes it super twirly and the elastic waist is perfect for any growing girl.
Annie is wearing a petticoat underneath this Bloom & Grow skirt to show the fullness! Because this skirt is not cut across the fabric from selvedge to selvedge like traditional skirts, but down the length of the yardage, it is a very full skirt!
The fabric used for this skirt is Sage Prickly Pear Indigo by Art Gallery Fabrics. It is a double border print fabric which means the pattern is printed along both sides or selvedges, down the length of the fabric.
We’d love it if you use this free girl’s skirt pattern to sew up some skirts for Skirting The Issue. Read all about Skirting The Issue here. And then link up your skirts for girls in foster care.
You can also check out our other very popular free girl’s skirt patterns:
For almost 1 year I’ve been working on my next pattern, and today I’m finally calling for testers to help get the Grace Tankini ready for sale! It’s a really exciting day, and I’m so glad for everyone’s help.
The Grace Tankini is a vintage inspired swimsuit with lots of options. View A contains a circle skirt and a top with a playful circle in the back. View B has ruched center areas which are customizable to flatter your figure. The sporty bottoms can be made with or without matching ruching. You can mix and match the 2 tops with 4 bottom options. Include the 2 perfectly sized patch pockets to keep things stored while you swim. The secure card pocket can be added to any of the bottoms. Both top views include a shelf bra. The Grace Tankini is the ultimate feminine swimsuit. Whether you’re looking for a suit with more coverage due to modesty or skin sensitivity or some other reason, the Grace Tankini is the swimsuit for you!
Testers will be notified by email by May 30. You will have 1 week to source fabric (I know not everyone has swimsuit fabric laying around!) and the test will begin June 5. If you can fulfill those time requirements, please fill out the tester form below.
Don’t think you can sew swimwear, or need some inspiration? Right now there’s a swimwear tour filled with all things swimwear sewing. Check it out:
Today we’re going to share some things we’ve learned about sewing for tweens. We’re going to focus on pattern choices; what’s available, what they’ll wear! You can also check out our thoughts on fabric choices over at the Cali Fabrics blog, later next week.
We’re joining the Growing Up Handmade blog tour. It’s all about handmade clothing for tweens. This is the age when my kids really start to express themselves. Their unique style begins to shine. I have 2 kids in this age category, so it was fun for all of us to plan and sew up 7 items for them to add to their wardrobes. Yes 7! That’s quite a lot of things to talk about, which is why this post is going to focus on patterns for tweens, and another post will focus on fabrics for tweens.
First of all, we sewed up black themed outfits. While kids of this age don’t clamor to be dressed in matching clothes, they still tolerate coordinated ones.
There are definitely less patterns for boys in the sewing world than for girls. So patterns for tween boys are even scarcer! After looking through all my patterns for boys, I decided to buy 2 new patterns for Thomas’ black outfit. The t-shirt is the Lennon Tee by Shwin & Shwin, a pattern designed specifically for tween boys. It’s a fast and easy sew, and comes in sizes XS to XXL which is a 26” chest to 33.5” chest. We made view A, the plain Tee, but there are 3 more versions we’ll be trying out. We sewed a size L for Thomas.
His pants are the Adventure Cargo Pants and Shorts by Pattern Emporium. This pattern is very detailed, but not hard to sew. There are so many different options for pockets, and pants and waistband and flies, that it’s a good idea to plan out exactly what you want first. Thomas and I went over each option carefully and he told me exactly what he wanted. The Adventure Cargo Pants can be made in sizes 2 to 14. This was my muslin pair, and I made size 14 for Thomas, but the waist was 4 inches too big! Good thing it has waistband elastic and he always wears a belt. We added belt loops to these pants, made a zip fly, and allllllll the pocket options!
Annie particularly loves the pockets which come from the bottom half of the Uptown Downtown Dress and the shoulder stripes which come from the Camden Raglan on top in this dress. The fabric is bamboo rayon from CaliFabrics, a perfect lightweight and soft fabric for summer. The Camden Raglan can be made in sizes 6-16, and the Uptown Downtown Dress can be made in sizes 2-14.
For the next set of outfits, we actually went closer to matching than coordinating, but when it’s camo, who will notice?
For Thomas we used the same patterns, because they worked out so well. On these I adjusted the waist area and took out 2 inches for this second pair of Adventure Cargos Pants. This kid is actually very lucky that I sew for him because RTW (ready to wear) clothing does N.O.T. fit his tall and lanky frame!
For Annie’s camo outfit, we planned a look that uniquely expresses who she is! Girly and tomboy all mixed together in one. She loves to dress up and look nice with a cute hairdo styled by one of her teenage sisters. And she also loves to tear around in the woods with her brothers, playing hide and seek.
We made her the Laramie Shirt by Hey June Handmade (affiliate link) using the most amazing Indigo Ranchero Rayon Chambray from Cali Fabrics. The Laramie Shirt is the little sister pattern of the Cheyenne Tunic, and you KNOW how much we love the Cheyenne Tunic around here! It is just as wonderful of a pattern, in sizes 6-16. Plus there is an extra option for a dress, which we’ve already promised to make for Annie. We made 2 changes to the Laramie Shirt pattern, we added the ruffle down the front by cutting out 2 extra button plackets at 2x the normal length along the selvedges of the fabric. Then we gathered them and sewed them inside the button placket as we topstitched it in place. The other change was to make short sleeves, but still add the cuff and placket from the 3/4 sleeve option. We had to make the cuff a little narrower in width and gather the sleeve a little bit to fit accordingly. Plus we added 2 buttons instead of one on the cuffs. For the girly factor!
Annie loves pencil skirts, and this one is the Jocole Girls Pencil Skirt which can be made in sizes doll and newborn to 14. The only change we made was to add a pair of shorts underneath so Annie can stay covered during those rambunctious games of hide and seek with her brothers in the woods.
Click on each link below to read our reviews of other patterns we’ve sewn in tween girl sizing:
Whew! If you’re still with us, please visit all the other great moms who are sewing for their tweens on this blog tour. I’ve picked up so many helpful tips!
And enter the giveaway too! It’s a great one. Plus if you’re sewing for tween, link up here, for another chance to win some great prizes. a Rafflecopter giveaway
We are so excited to be a part of the Coffee + Thread patterns blog tour. As you might know, we love Olga’s patterns, and we’ve sewn up both the Antalya dress and the Elena dress before. For the tour, we would have loved to sew either one of those 2 dresses again, but we chose to try 2 of her other patterns, the Polina Dress and the Ila Dress. With Olga’s permission, we decided to “hack” both of these patterns.
The Polina Dress is a darling vintage inspired dress with several options. We chose to make Annie a peplum length dress by using the circle skirt option and shortening it to peplum length. Annie loved and wore the last peplum we made for her to death, so we knew this would be a hit too.
The only other change we made to Polina Dress pattern to make it a peplum length was to omit the part of the slit that extends onto the skirt…just for ease of sewing.
The other major change we made to the Polina Dress pattern was to move the frill over to the edge of the bodice to become a butterfly sleeve. We just sandwiched the frill between the bodice and the lining at the sleeve, and presto…butterfly sleeves!
The inside of this Polina Peplum is fully lined on the bodice part. It is seriously as gorgeous on the inside as on the outside!
Because we felt it suited the feeling of the peplum length better, we opted to make ribbon ties instead of self fabric ties. They just skim the bottom of the peplum when tied, and can be tied in either the front of the back.
The fabric came from my stash…I think I got it at Walmart several years ago, and couldn’t resist it’s vintage vibes for this vintage inspired pattern! The large brown buttons up the back were harvested off a dress bought for $2 from the thrift store just for it’s buttons!
We all think this Polina Peplum ended up perfectly! As it was being sewn, I wasn’t at all sure it was going to be true to the vision in my head, and at one point was sure it was going to be destined for the trash! But Annie loves it and we recently made her a pencil skirt that matches perfectly.
The other Coffee + Thread pattern we made is an Ila Dress. We made several changes to the pattern too, to make it what Annie wanted. First of all, the Ila Dress is recommended for woven fabrics and we used French Terry Fabric-African Violet from JoAnn Fabrics. (affiliate link) Because of the extra stretchiness of knit fabric, we omitted the back zipper and the seam on the back, just cutting it out on the fold minus the seam allowance.
Due to Annie’s height, we lengthened the dress by 4 inches. But we do find Coffee + Thread patterns to be a truer fit to Annie’s size than most patterns.
You might notice we did a little something extra to the center panel. To add the ruching, we just cut out the center panel at twice the length and gathered the edges before sewing the front bodice together. And we had to use that same precious Art Gallery Priory Square Jersey Knit Cottagely Posy Emerald Fabric (affiliate link) for the hidden pockets too.
We used White Sheer-knit Fusible Interfacing (affiliate link) on the yoke, and made sure to attach the interfaced yoke to the front of the dress. Then we graded the seam allowances before sewing on the other yoke, due to the thickness of the french terry fabric. To keep the inside yoke where it belongs, we stitched in the ditch, catching the 2nd yoke in place on the inside. It all worked out very well, and we can see making a lot more knit Ila dresses in the future.
Annie sure is happy with this summer dress. She wanted a “play dress” for summer, and says this is perfect! With the added length, she should be able to throw on a pair of leggings and a cardigan and wear it well in to the fall and winter.
Annie wants me to note that she fixed her hair special for the Ila Dress photo shoot. She spent over an hour braiding it into many, many tiny braids and then slept on them overnight. She thought the waves were the coolest thing ever! It’s so cute how she’s developing her own sense of taste and style.
Now be sure to check out all the other stops on the Coffee + Thread blog tour…you’ll be so inspired. Also all Coffee + Thread patterns are on sale during the tour. And there is a HUGE giveaway!
Last week during the Runway Skirt blog tour, we had saw so many beautiful skirts! A huge thank you to each and everyone who sewed and modeled a Runway Skirt.
And many of you loved and got your own Runway Skirt pattern during the sale too! As they say in the Indie pattern design community, every time you purchase a pattern from an Indie designer, a real person does a happy dance!
The winner of the giveaway for 1 Runway Skirt pattern and $25 gift certificate to Urban Sew is Jill. Happy sewing and shopping Jill!
If you thought I was late for the last Project Sew It post I did, just wait until you read about today’s project!
There’s something inspirational going on this year. Celina of Petit a Petit and Family created Project Sew It. You can read all about it here, but the basic premise is to sew one thing every month. I’m putting my own twist on it by sewing one thing for each of my nieces and nephews for their birthdays this year. It won’t end up being once per month, and sometimes it’ll be more than once per month, but it’s my goal! I sew so much for my kids, that I want to share the sewing love.
This sweet niece of mine had a birthday in June. Yes, June! But I finally got around to sewing her project in September. Since I was so late, I give her quite a bit of freedom in choosing the dress and the fabric! Last winter I made her an Uptown Downtown maxi dress that she loved but outgrew pretty fast. So naturally she requested another one.
Since I was so late in making her gift, and since cooler temperatures have arrived, I made her an Aster Cardigan to go with the dress. I even used matching fabric from the dress as the neck binding inside the cardigan. I used sweatshirt fleece for this Aster Cardigan which makes a lovely cropped sweater. Unfortunately, even though I went up a size from the Uptown Downtown dress, the cardigan was too small for my niece! I’m pretty sure it’s because the sweatshirt fleece doesn’t have much stretch.
She’s such a sweetie, she sent both the dress I made her last year and this Aster Cardigan back to us so Annie can wear them! So I owe her a new cardigan, that fits to go with her dress. I think if I use French Terry, it will work out perfectly.
My sister sent me some modeled shots of my niece wearing her dress. I love how she styled it with a scarf and vest. She definitely gets her good taste from her mom.
Now I think I’ve only got a couple more things to sew for Project Sew It. Hopefully I will be a little more prompt…although I know I’m already late for my newest nieces’s birthday!
