The Bond Top

Today I'm on the Bond Top Pattern Tour for Stacey from Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts.  This is Stacey's first pdf pattern release for her new company, Beatnik Kids.

The Bond Top Pattern is a unisex shirt designed with a fun, European style to it.  The main part of the shirt is constructed from knit fabric while the bib and collar are sewn from a woven cotton.

I mixed the pattern up just a tad by adding coordinating cuffs to the end of the sleeves and by omitting the buttons from the center placket.  The mix of poplin cotton fabric and interfacing I used added enough body to the collar and placket that I didn't see a need to add the buttons.

Stacey's design is fun and unique, so it was no surprise that my daughter wanted to wear her new shirt the moment I finished it!  I sewed her the size 6 based on her chest measurements, and it is a perfect fit.

Partial plackets and collars like this shirt offers are still a bit tricky to me, but by going slowly and really thinking through the details, I managed it just fine!

This smile makes sewing that much more fun for me!  I sure do love her!

To check out all the other Bond Tops sewn up for the pattern tour this week, be sure to visit Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts and follow all the links.  If you want to grab your own copy of the Bond Top Pattern, you can get it today for $2 off the regular price of $8 using code BONDTOP!

Thanks for stopping by and have fun sewing!

The Cupcake Top

Have you seen the latest pattern from my good friend, Sewing Mama RaeAnna?  If not, then let me show you the Cupcake Top!

In case you don't already know, RaeAnna and I are real friends!  We get together about once a week to talk sewing and blogging while our little models have fun and play.  So when RaeAnna decided to venture into pattern designing a few months back, I was super excited for her!

When she released the Cupcake Top Pattern for sale just before Christmas, she sent me a copy and asked me to try it out sometime.  I couldn't wait to sew one up, but then I caught the flu and all sewing came to a halt for a couple of weeks.  Once I recovered and my son went back to school in early January, I started sewing again every single day and have now made Ella at least 13 or 14 new pieces of clothing! Wow!

But one of her favorites so far is the Cupcake Top I made by upcycling an adult's size small basic long-sleeved t-shirt of mine.  I spruced it up a bit by overlaying the pocket and making the ruffles using some pink mesh fabric that has hearts on it--producing the perfect Valentine Cupcake Top!

Surprisingly, there wasn't much fabric to cut off of the bodice pieces to make Ella's size 6 top.  I really didn't have enough fabric from the t-shirt to make the pocket, so I used some cotton knit that was a near perfect match in color to sew it together.

I reused the existing neck binding and hem of the old t-shirt making this even faster to sew together. For the ruffles, I simply cut the mesh fabric to length according to RaeAnna's pattern, gathered the strips, and then sewed them to the existing hemline and sleeve cuffs.

The Cupcake Top is the perfect playtime shirt, and the added ruffles and pocket spruce it up enough to make it more interesting than a plain on tee.  Of course, the ruffles can be omitted to make a fun kangaroo pocket tee for a boy!  Or, leave the ruffles and pocket off for a great basic t-shirt!  People are even adding embroidery designs to the front to make boutique style shirts.

Be sure to stop by Sewing Mama RaeAnna this week to see other Cupcake Tops she's featuring and to purchase your copy of the Cupcake Top Pattern for 20% off through Friday using code SWEET.  There are lots of fun versions popping up!

Have fun sewing!

The Busy Lizzy Dress

In the last couple of weeks, I've made Ella two new dresses that have become my absolute favorites (and hers, too, I might add)!  The first is the Busy Lizzy Dress and Top Pattern by Sew Like My Mom.  The second dress I'll show you in a couple of days!

Melissa, the designer of the pattern, sent it to me several weeks ago to try out.  It was a quick sew with such amazing results that I wish I hadn't put it off as long as I did!

For Ella's long sleeve version of the Busy Lizzy Dress, I wanted to make it using some black chambray fabric I had purchased a while ago.  The bad thing is, I only had a yard of it which was not enough to cut out the entire dress.  I tried folding the fabric this way and that and placing the pattern pieces on it, but no way could I make it work.

I then found this brightly colored fat quarter I purchased in Utah last September when I attended the Sewing Summit.  I thought it paired perfectly with the black chambray, and since the fat quarter was wide enough to accommodate the bottom width of the back of the dress, I pieced it with the chambray to make up the entire back.

I absolutely love what resulted!

Another slight modification that I made was to omit the bias trim at the hem.  I really liked the drape of the chambray and the clean, modest look of the dress from the front without the added white at the hem.  Plus, it was easier to just turn up the fabric and hem it!

In addition to the bias trim detail, the dress features a single inverted pleat in the center front and gathered sleeves at both the shoulders and the cuff.  Plus it has inseam pockets which Ella was very pleased to discover.

The back has a simple v-notch button closure that makes sewing this dress together a cinch!  Ella loves the sparkly black button we used on the back, and I just extended out my bias tape to form a loop for the closure.

Ella couldn't wait to wear the dress when I finished it!  That's always a good sign, and even better that it is a perfect fit!  I made her the size 6 dress based her on chest and height measurements compared to the sizing chart in the pattern.  The sleeves were even the perfect length with no modifications!  Wish I could say the same for the tights she is wearing!

Ella has already worn the dress two or three times in the last week and a half, so I am already planning to make her another one.  I liked the chambray so much that I picked up some in blue at Joann's last week. Now I just need to decide if I want to color block it with an interesting print of make it all solid.  Decisions, decisions!

I've now tried both the Darling Daisy Dress Pattern and the Busy Lizzy Dress and Top Pattern by Sew Like My Mom, and I highly recommend them both!  We'll be adding a few more of both to Ella's wardrobe for the spring and summer for sure!

Thanks for stopping by today, and have fun sewing!

Snowflakes & Lace Series Wrap-Up

Thanks again to all of our very talented guests this past week who made some terrific projects with lace for our Snowflakes & Lace Series!  If you missed any of the posts from my blog or Sewing Mama RaeAnna's blog, please be sure to check them out.  All the post links are below.

Crochet Racer Back Dress by Sew Like My Mom

Add Lace to a Sweater Sleeve by Kid Approved

Eyelet Lace Lillian Pintucked Dress by Welcome to the Mouse House

Refashioned Lace Tee by House of Estrela

Vintage Lace Shoe and Bag Clips by RanaMama Designs

Ruffles and Lace Skirt Tutorial by Handmade Martini

Lace and Leather Clutch by sewVery

Polkadots and Lace by Get Your Crap Together

Lace Track Suit by Paisley Roots

Three Lace Projects by the Shaffer Sisters

Ballerina Lace Dress by Ali Cat & Co

Snow Inspired Dress with Treasure Pocket by Climbing the Willow

Lace Arm Warmers by The Berry Bunch

Lace Snowflake Sweater by Sewing Mama RaeAnna

Now to announce the giveaway winners!  Thanks to our generous sponsors shown below, we have three awesome prizes to give away today.  Prize Packs 1 and 2 are for US Residents only while Prize Pack 3 is open to all entries (US and International).  Winners have been emailed and have 24 hours to respond or another winner will be selected.

Prize pack 1 (US Residents Only)- Lindsay Conner of Lindsay Sews and Craft Buds recently published a quilt book, Modern Bee.  She will send the winner a sewing kit that includes fabric, thread, and notions!

Michelle of Handmade Martini will be sending 2.5 yards of vintage lace trim!  And Heidi of Elegance & Elephants will send the winner one pdf pattern of their choice from her shop.

Prize Pack 1 Winner: Stacy

Prize pack 2 (US Residents Only)- Brianne of Ali Cat & Co. has a license to sell the Buttercup bags and has an adorable finished bag to send to the winner!

Chelsea of Get Your Crap Together has a great bundle of organization patterns for school!  And RaeAnna from Sewing Mama RaeAnna will send 1 yard of vintage lace trim and the winner's choice of either the Bumblebee Dress pdf pattern or the Cupcake Top pdf pattern!

Prize Pack 2 Winner: Carrie

Prize pack 3 - Karly of Paisley Roots will send the Saffron Twirl Dress Pattern!  And Hayley of Mouse House Creations will send a pattern of choice to the winner!

Prize Pack 3 Winner: Nicole

Thanks again!  Please be sure to let us know what you thought of the series and if you'd like to see it again in the future!

Have fun sewing!

Snowflakes & Lace with sewVery

Wow!  What an exciting week!  Co-hosting the Snowflakes & Lace Series with my friend, RaeAnna from Sewing Mama RaeAnna, has been such fun.  I've truly enjoyed seeing all the projects our guest bloggers contributed to the series, and I've discovered so many new ways to use lace from those that joined our linky party and pinned to our Pinterest board.  Thank you so much for making the series a success!

As promised, RaeAnna and I are both sharing with you today our ideas for using lace.  For me, I knew immediately what I would make for this series--a Lace & Leather Clutch!

About a year ago, I visited my local Goodwill Outlet Store where you literally rummage through bins to find treasures, and that is where I found this beautiful piece of vintage lace!  The original piece was roughly 18" long, and I found a similar green lace piece that is over a yard long with it.  I assume both pieces are vintage since they were in a pile with several old patterns and other notions from most likely the 1970's. I knew I couldn't let these beautiful pieces end up as trash, so I snagged them for mere pennies!

Months pass and I'm watching Project Runway All-Stars when I see a clutch with a hand strap used with Christopher Palu's Bonnie & Clyde look.  I thought that was such a neat idea, so when I was deciding what to make for our Snowflake & Lace Series, I knew I would sew the same style of clutch.

Since the cream lace I had rescued at Goodwill was wide, it was a natural choice to use it to embellish the hand strap on the clutch.  The clutch itself is just a basic zipper pouch made from wool suiting material I had on hand.  I topstitched leather to the bottom corners of the clutch to add even more texture and color to the bag and then sewed the lace to a strap that is attached across the front of the bag.

The inside is lined with a neutral duck cloth and the wool fabric is fused with Pellon Shape Flex 101 for added structure.

This bag took me about an hour to make, and I just love it!  I have enough of all the materials to make one more identical bag which would make a perfect gift.

Front

Back

Since we started this series, I have had lace on the brain and am beginning to use some of your ideas to incorporate it into my sewing more.  I hope you found some inspiration too!

Please be sure to visit RaeAnna to see the adorable Lace Snowflake Top she made her sweet little girl. Her project makes we want to crank up the embroidery machine again!

Also, you have just a few more hours to enter our giveaway.  We have three awesome prizes up for grabs!  Enter below.  Winners will be selected and announced in our wrap-up post on Sunday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks again to you and all our guests!  Have fun sewing!

Snowflakes & Lace Day 5 - Handmade Martini

I'm sad to say today is the last day of our guest posts for the Snowflakes & Lace Series.  I've so enjoyed getting to know all these wonderful bloggers better and discovering so many new ways to incorporate lace into my sewing projects!  Tomorrow, Sewing Mama RaeAnna and I will do a final recap of the series and share with you our own lace enhancing ideas!

If you missed our guests yesterday, be sure to visit House of Estrela, RanaMama Designs, Ali Cat & Co., and The Berry Bunch to see what they made.

Up today is Michelle of Handmade Martini.  Sewing is in Michelle's DNA--seriously!  She has two great-grandmothers that sewed professionally, so it's no surprise to me that she loves to sew and feels an internal need or calling to create with needle and thread herself.  Lucky for her she has three little ones--two boys and one girl--to sew for when she's not busy homeschooling or running marathons!

For today's Snowflakes & Lace project, Michelle's daughter is the recipient of her time spent sewing.  Be sure to visit Handmade Martini for her Ruffles and Lace Skirt Tutorial!  

It's not too late to still join in on all the lace fun! Click HERE to add your lace inspired projects to our linky party and to enter the giveaway for a chance to win 1 of 3 super prizes!  Winners will be announced on Sunday!

Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to visit Sewing Mama Raeanna to meet our other Snowflakes & Lace guest of the day!  See you back here tomorrow for our round-up of the series and to see our own Snowflakes & Lace inspired creation!

Have fun sewing!

Snowflakes & Lace - Day 4 House of Estrela and RanaMama Designs

Today we have two guests here and at Sewing Mama RaeAnna to introduce as part of our Snowflakes & Lace Series.  If you missed yesterday's guests, then you'll want to be sure to go back and see the adorable things that Welcome to the Mouse House and the Shaffer Sisters made.

First up is Magda from the House of Estrela.  Like many of our other guests, I first discovered Magda's blog through link parties, and I pretty much always see her joining in the Project Run and Play sew-alongs. The pieces she creates always catch my eye and make me want to see more!

Magda's refashioned tee with added lace sleeves and a bottom ruffle is definitely one of those projects that I want to see and read more about!  In fact, she is hosting her own series called January Refashion Month.  I love how she transformed her basic tee into something special that will work with both the Snowflakes & Lace Series and her January Refashion Month Series!

To see more photos and read how she made the refashion, read her entire post HERE.

Next up is Regina from the fairly new blog, RanaMama Designs.  Regina is a mom to four busy little ones, but somehow she manages to find time to make lots of fun sewing and craft projects. She even helped RaeAnna translate her Cupcake Top Pattern into Hungarian!

Today, Regina is sharing with us her version of Vintage Lace Shoe and Bag Clips.  Isn't this a fun and clever idea?  Love it!  To see more pictures and read the full post, visit her blog HERE.

Want to join in on the fun?  Then click HERE to add your lace inspired projects to our linky party and to enter the giveaway for a chance to win 1 of 3 super prizes!

Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to visit Sewing Mama RaeAnna to meet our other Snowflakes & Lace guests of the day!  See you back here tomorrow for the last day of our guest contributors.  On Saturday, RaeAnna and I will each share our own Snowflakes & Lace inspired creation!

Have fun sewing!

Snowflakes & Lace - Day 3 Welcome to the Mouse House

We are half way through the Snowflakes & Lace series as of today!  I have been so amazed by all the lace projects our guests are sharing this week.  If you missed yesterday, be sure to visit Kid Approved and Paisley Roots to see what they made.

Today's guest is Hayley from Welcome to the Mouse House.  Hayley has a keen eye for designing vintage inspired clothing patterns as well as the skills to fully redecorate (including new paint, wallpaper, accessories, furniture, etc) a room in a matter of days! Plus, she has two of the most adorable kiddos that she sews for and who help model all those amazing outfits on her blog.

In addition to all that, Hayley recently started designing pdf clothing patterns that she sells at Mouse House Creations, and she is one of the designers for the soon to be released Willow & Co. collaboration.  I just want to know how this woman finds time and energy to get all this done! Whew!

For our Snowflakes & Lace series, Hayley has a gorgeous pin tucked eyelet dress to show you. I'm guessing hoping there is a future Mouse House Creations pdf pattern so I can sew this one myself?! Just head over to her blog at Welcome to the Mouse House to see more pictures of her lace inspired creation.

Want to join in on the fun?  Then click HERE to add your lace inspired projects to our linky party and to enter the giveaway for a chance to win 1 of 3 super prizes!

Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to visit Sewing Mama RaeAnna to meet our other Snowflakes & Lace guest of the day!  See you back here tomorrow when I introduce 2 new guests for the series!

Have fun sewing!

Snowflakes & Lace Series - Day 2 Kid Approved

Welcome back for Day 2 of Snowflakes & Lace!  Melissa from Sew Like My Mom and Chelsea from Get Your Crap Together knocked it out of the park with their amazing lace inspired projects yesterday! If you missed those, please be sure to visit their blogs and catch up!

Today, my co-host, RaeAnna, and I have two more bloggers to introduce.  First up is Olga from the blog, Kid Approved.  Olga is a mom of 4, who like most of us, loves to sew for her kids and occasionally for herself.  I first "met" Olga through linky parties and other blogger circles, and I often see her participating in the Project Run & Play sew-along.  She always has a project that catches my eye and makes me want to see more.

Also, Olga is one of the designers for the new pdf pattern collaboration group called Willow & Co.  Are you as excited as I am to see what she and the other talents from the group have to offer? Their debut in the spring can't get here fast enough!

So to tie us over until then, she's put together this really simple tutorial on how to add lace to an existing sweater sleeve.  What a neat idea!  Click HERE to visit Kid Approved for the full tutorial.

Oh, and don't forget to add your own lace inspired project to our linky party and enter the giveaway for a chance to win 1 of 3 super prizes!  To enter the party and giveaway, click HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to hop over to Sewing Mama RaeAnna to meet our other Snowflakes & Lace guest of the day!  See you back here tomorrow.

Have fun sewing!