Blog Shout-Outs!

Today's theme?  Blog shout-outs!

I would like to highlight some fellow crafty ladies out there in this big, bad world.  I look to these blogs, amongst others, for inspiration - and a good laugh!

Ali Cat and Co.

First up is BRIANNE over at Ali Cat and Co.  (FB page here.)

She is a woman of many talents - sewing and baking amongst those.  (Speaking of baking, I REALLY need to try this Lemon Cake recipe some time!)  Specifically, though, she has really latched onto making bags.  She loves her some Swoon bag patterns and is making me quite envious of these bags...probably mostly because of the hand embroidery!  She must have a boat load of bags tucked away under her bed.  

She also has two super cute girls, for whom she also sews - pictured below are two patterns she recently tested - the Norah dress by Mouse House Creations (It's out now, peeps!!!  And....only $7 through today!) and the Saffron dress by Zafarani Designs (shouted out below).  

The Life of a Compulsive Crafter

Next up is MAE over at The Life of a Compulsive Crafter.  (See her FB page.)  She happens to blog so she doesn't drive her non-sewing friends crazy with all her hopes and dreams about sewing, LOL!  She does do a bit of the "selfish/mom" sewing, but mostly, she sews for her little girl and boy.

She has a sweet style, girly (well, not so girly when it's for her son, aha!) and understated, and she followed along with the last Project Run and Play.  One of my favorite looks was this one - her Bubblegum dress!  Also on her blog are posts about conscious living, and I will soon be guest posting on her blog (think deodorant!).

Ginger Dimples

CRYSTAL over at Ginger Dimples is a hoot and a holler.  (FB page here.)  She adds a little zing to her posts with her sense of humor - and has made me envious over the years with her awesome Halloween costumes and great Project Run and Play Sew-Along entries - this one being my FAVORITE...and she knows I want to snatch this for my daughter, LOL!

She's only been blogging for eight months now, but she's been sewing for a long time, and one thing she noted in the last PRP challenge was that she wanted to challenge herself and do something she hadn't done before (not sew with ANY woven cottons!) - I think she covered that!  What a great 80s style her daughter has ;)

I have to say, though, that one of my favorite things about Crystal's blog is that she details fun mom-sewing!  (And word up, if you're reading this - I haven't seen any of that in a LONG time!  No hints or anything...)  Here is one photo of her cuteness in a dress she made!  (And here's a link to a lovely mom-and-me project she did!)

Zafarani

Lastly, we have KARLY from Zafarani Designs.  (FB page here.)  She is a funny lady with a big family!  Most of her sewing is for them, which is fine, as she loves to show of both her sewing and her kids, LOL!

One thing I have to say about Karly is that she is SPEEDY!  She always seems to have a million projects - and seems to finish them super fast!  Because she has her share of boys AND girls, she gets the chance to sew for both quite often.

And thing I'm admittedly probably NEVER going to do is sew up a lovely crib set, which she did!  I give kudos to anyone who does that, as it always seems like an effing lot of work to me, if you'll pardon my French!

Above, though, you saw the lovely Saffron dress Brianne sewed, and it was released back in August.  Already, so many people seem to love it!  I know Camden does, as it's pretty twirly!  Karly will have a new pattern coming out, hopefully later this fall, and having seen the sneak peak, I'm pretty excited!

Karly also joined in on the PRP Sew-Along challenge, and I thought both of these entries were great - her Mad for Plaid for her son (because quite often, we don't see enough BOY sewing) and her Candy entry for her daughter - so fun and bright!!

One other note is that some of these lee-days are over at That's What She Crafted, a blog combining their talents (with another lovely lady) into one ultra-awesome experience!  (FB page here.)

Thanks, ladies, for letting me include you in my blog shout-out post!  I can't wait to see what y'all have up your sleeves in the coming months!

                                         

Pattern Testing!!! Mouse House Creations!

Whew!  I had a long weekend up north, in Vancouver and Portland, visiting my old haunts, like Cafe Hibiscus, Bolt and Modern Domestic.  I'm saving Cool Cottons for two weekends from now, when I head back for the awesome Bolt sale :)  My husband and I had some nice time alone for a bit, too, which was great - while Camden played pool at her grandma's and grandpa's house....

Today, I'm excited to present not one, but TWO test projects for Mouse House Creations.  This is Hayley Crouse's first venture into pattern selling, and I'm excited to be a part of it.  She's been around for quite some time at Welcome to the Mouse House, her fun blog.  Over the years, she has blogged about her family, she has decorated and re-decorated (LOL) her house, and she has also tested for several other pattern designers, so, there are many neat projects to check out.  Also, she has written tutorials for other patterns of her own, and she's designed fun play areas for her children (envious much over here!).

The pattern I tested was the Norah dress, yet to be released, though keep yourself posted on her Facebook page, as it won't be too long before it's out.  The pattern is a quick, fun design.  You can go tunic, dress, collar, no collar, short sleeves, long sleeves, ties, no ties - things of that nature.  For both of mine, I did go long sleeves, ties and collars.  One is for Camden, and one is a fun surprise for her friend!

The first version is a lovely print I picked up 1.5-2 years ago, I swear.  I wasn't holding on to it, all "my precious"-like....I just had no idea what to do with it for the longest time.  And here we have it!  For the collar and tie, I wasn't thinking and did NOT interface, which I'm sad about, but I suppose life moves on.  Also, with this dress, which is Camden's, I did a zipper back, which drove me nuts due to my own silly errors...imagine lots of seam-ripping - though the final effect is lovely :)  Camden isn't a tall child, nor is she tiny.  She is 38.25 inches tall with a round belly.  I usually make things in a size 4 for at this point, though she's more of a 3 in the legs and a 4 in the waist/shirts.  She had tried on a size 5 version of the dress, and for some reason, when tracing and cutting, I went with a size 5, though I'd meant to do the 4.  No worries.  I think the 5 fits her lovely.  I did not lengthen the dress itself, though I had lengthened the sleeves a bit.  The pattern goes together nicely and quickly.

For this next version, which is a gift, I did a size 4, lengthened the sleeves a smidge and DID remember to use interfacing in the collar and tie, aha!  The results are, of course, much better!  Also, as the zipper was not an option included in the pattern, I wanted to make sure to do the button closure, which is also super cute!

Hayley was great to work with, and she busted her butt, helping us out with questions and looking over the pattern multiple times.  It was nice to see how closely she was working with her digitizer, too.  I super appreciate nicely-done pattern sheets in a pdf, and these are laid out beautifully!

Word Up! An Oldie But a Goodie!

For those who love comfort for their children (not that I abhor my daughter being cozy, but I just LOVE wovens!), the Heidi and Finn Cowl-Neck Dress is the way to go.  I've done several of these over the past couple of years, and they're soooo easy and fun!  The beauty of sewing a knit is that you can really pick and choose when/how you hem, and that mistakes don't show AS easily - and it's so FAST.  Like.....THIS FAST.  And the beauty of a simple pattern like this?  No need to read directions!

As many folk know, I'm that rare bird who prefers a paper pattern, but this dress IS a pdf.  As mentioned above, there are a few things I can change up:  I can hem or NOT hem at all, as knits are forgiving like that.  I can roll the hem with a serger, use a cover stitch hem - or use a twin needle on my regular 'ole sewing machine.  I do have a serger that can convert to a cover stitch, but I'm lazy (imagine that!) and often just use my twin needle.  I really need to get better about that.  In the case of both versions of this dress, this time around, I twin needled the sleeves, but I didn't hem the bottom, though I have done a rolled, serged hem, and that's lovely, too.  Some people like to play it up by not doing a simple, rolled hem, but a fancier lettuce (read: wavy) rolled hem.  When I use a twin needle or am in general sewing a knit, I lengthen the stitch to 3.0 and widen the stitch to 0.5 - the slightest of zigzags.  This is in the case of topstitching, as I really do prefer to serge my knits when piecing.

Also, with this particular pattern, it's great with a jersey knit, a double knit (which is a little warmer) or perhaps a sweater knit (I should way try that next time!).  I behaved and perused my stash of knits for fabric, and I found a Patty Young print from the Flora and Fauna line way back when - and then a lovely, thin knit I bought on Etsy at some point.  I found my daughter still fit into a size 3, so, I just lengthened the sleeves and bottom hem almost an inch for longer wear time.

As for pictures, here we go!

Such a silly girl!

This is her, saying, "I'm NOT tired!"

Oliver and S time! After School Pants and Top.

In a non-normal world, I would get a chance to sew most days of the week, but it seems that lately, I get the chance to have a spurt of sewing and finish a sewing project once every week and a half or so.  I HAVE discovered that Camden is able to entertain herself for an hour or two these days while I get the chance to sew during daytime hours, which is what we call AWESOME.  Sewing always used to be a nighttime thing, but with el bebe coming, I find I better be one of those responsible folk and make sure to get enough sleep, so, I stick with knitting at night.  Sewing is one of those tricky hobbies that will keep me up until 2 in the morning...no bueno.

Happily, I was able to finish my second-ever Oliver and S After School pants and top, this time in a size 4.  I'm not sure what my reasons were for skipping from a size 2 to a size 4, but my child surely could have used size 3 pants.  She has a round little belly (which, according to her, is carrying a baby girl) that demands I size up or lengthen shirts, but her leg inseam is just over 13 inches, so, lengthening pants is just NOT necessary, for the most part.  Camden is, I think, slowly moving from average-sized to small, as she gets older.  She would just call herself a big girl and have done with it, naturally.  Anyway, my bad in choosing to do a size 4, but hey - they'll last a LONG time, aha!

I have worked with Oliver and S patterns many times, and for the most part, I find the directions great, though I like to throw myself off here and there.  There is definitely errata one would want to check out on their site, for each pattern, before beginning - or if you are way stuck and pretty sure something isn't right. I have found some of the patterns needed more careful editing, but that's my critical editing eye coming out in me.  Also, one thing I find myself doing with Oliver and S pattern sheets:  Chippity-chopping them UP, son!  I know that may be pure blasphemy to some, but those suckers are sooooo big that I can't stand wielding them while trying to trace, so, I rotary cut them down to size to make tracing easier, and hey - they still fold up all nice and pretty.

Speaking, too, of paper patterns, I am crazy and prefer to use a pencil when tracing, though some are definitely more comfortable with a pen.  I find I would just have to fix too many things to WANT to use a pen, so, that doesn't work for me.  But check out which SUPER COOL pencils I DO use:  stacking point pencils (and WHO knew that was the proper name?! I will never call them that, neva'.  I will stick with my fancy "changeable lead pencil.")  And I know they're a waste.  Don't hate.  It's a childhood memory or some such.

Lastly, I have to give a shout-out to the tracing paper I love to use, as it's so great and sturdy and see-through (duh) and iron-able.  I don't know what I pay for it locally (I buy it at Modern Domestic - best place ever - great ladies, classes and sewing machines!!), but this Swedish tracing paper is available on Amazon, too.  You can sew with it and even make a quick muslin, if you need to.

As for the After School pattern, I loved it the first time I did it - it's pretty stinkin' easy.  Just keep track of those front and back yokes, as there are four separate pieces.  As I said above, because of my little girl's belly, I usually like to lengthen shirts, especially with Oliver and S.  I don't know if that means the shirts run shorter, or if it's really just her belly.  I forgot this time, so, I'm glad I did the size 4, as it fits nicely right now.  If I'd done the size 3, which would have fit her a bit better, I definitely would have needed to lengthen it.  When I first came across this issue with the patten, I just added a band to the bottom, no biggie.

Gosh, that was so long ago!!!

As for her the size 4 pants I just made, I hemmed them on the longer side, but then I blind hemmed them up another 2.5 inches, as they were so long.  They are at the perfect length.  As you can see below, I used the same fabric, but in a different colorway.  Hey - keeps my life easy, and I planned it that way, LOL!  I got fancy and top-stitched in a contrast to match the reddish-orange leaves, but I didn't get any crazier than that.  With the ruffles it already has, I didn't want to go overboard.

Let me know if you have any questions on construction.  The size 4 pants would easily fit your child in length if she has a 15-15.5 inch inseam.  Sometimes, you have to play with hemming things shorter or longer, so, always remember that.  With my blind hem, I can take that out later, easy cheese cream pie!