A blog of Sewing Sweetness. Pattern Reviews, Tutorials, and More.
A blog of Sewing Sweetness. Pattern Reviews, Tutorials, and More.
Last year Candice Ayala in partnership with Sewing Portfolios kicked off the first ever Upcycling Challenge. As a Diamond Ambassador I helped to kick off the challenge by offering a few upcycling tips and created a project of my own. You can go back an […]
Summer is FINALLY here! It’s as though I had gone missing and finally found myself again. I have been sewing quite a bit, but haven’t posted as many creations as I’ve been making to the blog. I need to do quite a bit of catching […]
Project Run and Play has done their very first large scale pattern design collaboration! I am in awe of all the things Audrey had done with this project in such a short time since she’s taken over. She has a vision and is moving towards that vision at an astronomical rate.
Today I’m sharing two pieces from the capsule collection created by a handful of talented designers. I’ve sewn up a dress from the Seed Patternby Sew Pony and a Cardigan from the Caraway Cardigan Pattern from Delia Creates. I used a little Zulily inspiration for my dress. I like to scroll through the site on my phone and see what I think I can make for myself. See below for my inspiration picture.
Here’s my dress from the Seed Pattern by sew Pony. I didn’t add the pockets because this is a pattern tour and didn’t want to include anything that isn’t actually included in the pattern. Overall, it definitely has the same vibe. Easy wearing casual summer dress. My girls wear dresses more often when they aren’t overboard. This dress fits the bill.
After I planned the dress I wanted something that would still be versatile with other colors, but also bring in a pop with the solid light pink fabric of this dress.
I love cardigans as a staple piece in everyone’s wardrobe. This cardi sewed up beautifully in the dark floral. It offers a great contrast against the solid pink. You may notice this cardigan has no buttons. This is because I can not prevent my children from buttoning cardigans all the way up from top to bottom. It’s a fashion disaster every single time. I’ve found no buttons is a great way to prevent this. 🙂 Also, I’m out of matching KAM snaps. So there’s that.
I’m so excited for all the designers that participated in this project. I can only hope that I’ll reach the point where I’ll be able to participate in projects to come.
Find the whole Project Farmer’s Market collection here in the shop. (Save over 30%!!!)
Find the unisex mini collection here in the shop. (Save over 25%!!!)
Find the girls mini collection here in the shop. (Save over 25%!!!)
Enjoy viewing the Project Farmer’s Market lookbook here.
Please note: My children are not currently modeling these pieces. They may have taken off to visit a grandparent before I was able to snap some photos. They return today, and I’ll update this post ASAP! Thanks for understanding mom life.
I’ve been quiet lately on the blogger front. Our family has been pretty busy with life and that’s left me a little on the dry end of creative juices. Today I’m coming back from winter hibernation to share swimwear… How funny is that?!
I don’t get to create too much for my oldest these days. When Gabriela of Chalk and Notch Patterns announced that she was going to put out a girls version of the Fringe dress, I thought it would be a great option for an “older” […]
I made this adorable light jacket a few weeks ago and shared it all around on social media, but never officially wrote up a post.  I used fabrics from Raspberry Creek Fabrics as part of their promotional team. I used a Grey Lightweight Twill found here, and a print from this year’s fall line on rayon found here. I really wanted a Joy Jacket from Chalk and Notch, but I just can’t talk Gabriela into drafting a girls version. I have tried. After a bit of looking around for something similar to the Joy, I decided on the Spring Showers jacket pattern from Elegance and Elephants with some slight modifications.
It’s that time of year when all the sewists are beginning to plan holiday wear. For the last several years, I’ve been able to show off holiday looks for my girls using Simple Life Pattern Company patterns. This year is following suit. This post includes […]
Today I’m featuring a fabric from one of Michael Miller Fabrics soon to be released lines, Paw Prints. This line hits the shelves November 15th, 2018. This collection features our favorite pets, kittens and puppies plus some additional coordinates to bring all the prints […]
Hey friends! I’m loving this post I’m sharing today. It’s all about learning to sew with knits. When I started sewing I didn’t really even understand what sewing with knits would entail. I didn’t know anything about fabric selection, stitch type, the required needles, and more. Tackling knits can be a scary task. It’s sometimes the “next step” in many sewing journeys.
Liz of Thread Faction Studio emailed me to share that she was kicking off YouTube sewing channel. She’s beginning with a sewing of pattern #123. Then she includes some additional bonus episodes where she really breaks down some skills to teach you have to sew knits. She asked a few friends in the sewing community to check it out and provide a review of the series.  So, that’s what I’m doing today.
To start off, this series utilizes pattern #123. This is a girls tank and pant (pantie) set. One thing that I like about this series is that there was some intentional planning with pattern design and skill development. The first video is about 10 minutes and shows the complete process of sewing pattern #123. Then, in each of the mini series videos Liz features a particular skill that everyone should add to their knit sewing toolbox. Each of these skills is utilized in pattern #123.
Seams
Hems
Bands
Bindings
Elastic
I sewed up these patterns myself to show an example. Since this pattern is more of an underwear type piece of apparel I just took flat lay photos. I hope you will still find the images useful.
The tank allows you to practice seaming, hemming, and bindings. Three of the 5 skills that Liz listed. The pants allow you to practice seaming, binding, and elastic. Bindings aren’t may favorite. I almost always cheat and use bands for things when it is practical.
Even though I have a serger and a coverstitch machine which are quite handy, (amazing really… total game changers if you are getting serious) I made the tank with my regular machine to help support Liz’s video and show that you can make great pieces even without specialized machines. I even ditched my twin needles too. These pieces are just utilizing a standard machine. I used a zig zag stitch on all the bindings because some machines don’t have the lightning bolt stretch stitch that many people recommend for knits. So you see, anyone can do this just as the videos mention.
For the pants, I must admit… I attached the bindings and elastic with my serger. I sat right down to my serger and plopped them on before I caught myself. It was late at night and routine must have kicked in… oops. I snapped a little photo of the elastic waistband here. This is my preferred way to attach elastic on knit pants. It looks nice and clean and prevents the elastic from twisting.
Over all, if you are looking to tackle knit sewing or brush up on a few additional skills, these YouTube videos could be a nice resource for you. If you would like to see how others felt about this knit sewing project, be sure to check out the links below. I always enjoy reading about the sewing adventures of others. You may find these posts to be rather informative as well.
I was recently selected to be on a promotional team for Raspberry Creek Fabrics. Raspberry Creek Fabrics is an independent fabric shop that not only does retail sales of popular fabric brands but also prints their own fabrics and designs. What I love most about […]
