2 Louisa Dress Pattern Winner

Diana Hansen!!!

Congratulations, Diana! Expect your sweet surprise via email, compliments from Marte of Compagnie M.

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Thank you everyone who participated and your lovely comments!

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25 Louisa Dress by Compagnie M

Hey there!

Have you seen Marte's latest pattern release? It's absolutely adorable! When Marte first posted about this dress (HERE), I was smitten and when I was invited to be part of the pattern tour, I was over the moon. 

Oh lucky-lucky me!

The dress is fully lined with a ginormous pocket in the front (perfect for little gatherers) and the back has an invisible zipper. Speaking of zipper…

guys…

this is my first attempt working with a zipper. Shocked? I am. You would think someone who has sewn for many years would be able to sew zippers in her sleep, but truth has it, I was afraid of them. What the heck was wrong with me?!!! Now I wanna sew zippers on everything!

The pattern came together smoothly. The directions and photos were easy to follow and it took me one afternoon to whip this up. What's really nice are the different options to create different looks and the pattern offers sizes 1yr to 10 yrs old. A whole lotta bang for your buck!

Usually I would make slight changes to a pattern to fit Lala properly or deviate from the instructions, but not this pattern. It's a really great pattern.

The fabric is Bark & Branch by Eloise Renouf, for Cloud9 Fabrics in organic cotton in Autumn Wonderland and Passing Clouds Gold. I purchased the fabric from Fabricworm. A great shop, btw.

Marte is offering a 10% discount on her new pattern. The code is Louisa10off and is valid until December 7th. Marte is also offering a combo pack of the Mara and Louisa dress for $16.31 (12 euros). Just hop over to her pattern shop (HERE).

If the discounts aren't enough, how about a giveaway?

 Feelin' lucky???

Just enter below for a free Louisa Dress pattern.

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Thank you so much Marte for having me on the tour!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

22 Pattern Anthology Tour: Juliet Capelet Remix

Hey folks!

Pattern Anthology has done it again, four amazing Indie designers, eight great patterns and endless styling possibilities for your little fashionistas. Winter Wonderland is their latest installment and if you have been floating around the blogosphere, chances are you have seen some of the beautiful creations from some pretty talented sewists. To be honest with you, I am humbled and in awe to be part of this tour.

I was VERY lucky to have the opportunity to be part of the Pattern Anthology Tour and my pattern choice was the Juliet Capelet from none other, Kate from See Kate Sew. The pattern is easy to follow and was a quick sew. A great project for those who seek instant gratification with "WOW" factor. 

When I saw the pattern it was a no brainer. After making a few hoodie scarves with ears, I just had to give it a try on this baby. 

I had a little bit of the sherpa fabric left from my last project {HERE} to use for the back of the ears.  Let no sherpa fabric go to waste... that would be sacrilege!

If you ever plan to add ears on your Juliet Capelet, be sure to check out my tutorial for perfect ear placement {HERE}.

The outer fabric is a medium weight wool blend and the lining is yummy fleece fabric. The fabric combo will keep her nice and toasty during the colder weather. I added 3 inches to the length for two reasons. ONE: the longer it is- the more wear she can get out of it and TWO: it'll keep her warm(er) on chilly days.

When Lala first tried the capelet, she was lost. She kept stretching out her arms searching for the sleeves and when she realized there wasn't any, it was game over. She wanted this thing off and off quickly. No sleeves=no wear.

So what do you do when a capelet gives you no sleeves? Just add buttons!

Now Lala was on board.

Happy.

Toasty.

Cute.

Are you ready to get your sewing on? Make sure to go to the Pattern Anthology site {HERE} and get your own Winter Wonderland Collection. Folks, it's a great collection and you will not be disappointed.

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21 KCW: Sherpa Raglan

 Well this past week was an epic fail for my KCW projects 

*boo*

I've been working more hours which leaves sewing time next to nil. It sucks. Talk about having serious sewing withdrawals... anxieties, insomnia, bolts of fabric dancing in my head...

*sigh*

At least I managed to get one project done. Better than none, right?! Right.

 This picture pretty much sums up how much Lala loves this dress.

My inspiration was this lovely via Pinterest.

I used pattern 3/5 from Simple Design Boys and Girls Clothes (you can get it HERE) as my foundation and it worked like a charm.

The sleeves are a super-uber soft sherpa like stretchy knit I found at one of my local fabric shops,  the main fabric is bamboo terry knit (mmmm.... yummy) and the cotton ribbing is from one of my L.A. trips. 

 I made it a bit big so that Lala can get a lot of wear out of it. I'm guessing this will last well into spring. Stretchin' that dollar bill, yo!

I'm very curious how the sherpa will hold up after a gazillion washes. If it holds up, I'm buyin' me some more... sherpa for everybody! What do ya think... sherpa underwear? No?

*chuckle*

Maybe not a wise choice.

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24 Hoodie Scarf: A Revised Ear Tutorial

Hi folks!

You may have seen my 'new and improved' hoodie scarf over at Tasha's blog (HERE) and I thought I'd share with you the changes I made to make the perfectly placed ears. Nothin' like a good set of ears, no? 

If you haven't read the original tutorial, please do so as this tutorial is a supplement. For hoodie lining, scarf and supplies  please refer to the original post(HERE).

Alrighty...

Let's begin!

Above are the hoodie scarf pattern pieces you will need (scarf pattern not shown). Pay particular attention to the cutting directions for the 'center strip' piece.

For the main fabric center strip piece, you will need to add 3/4" to the length. Measure 3" from either short end of the strip and cut. This short strip should be the same length as the top short edge of your 'front side pieces'.

With right sides together, stitch your short strip to the front side pieces.

Your front hoodie scarf piece should look something like the diagram above.

Next, follow the directions in my previous tutorial (HERE) to make the ears. From the center of the back edge of the front hoodie scarf, measure the distance you would like your ears to be apart. ***A 2" distance in-between worked best for me, but you can increase or decrease the measurement to better suit you.*** Pin and baste in place with right sides together. Set aside.

Starting from the top edge of the side pieces, take your long center strip of main fabric and with right sides together, stitch in place. This may be a bit tricky for some, so take your time! Trim off any extra fabric from the center strip.

With right sides together, stitch your front piece to the back piece. Flip front piece over.

Flip ears up and press seam allowance forward. Topstitch about 1/8" from the seam to secure the seam allowance in place. This step will help keep the ears upright.

Yahoo!

You have yourself a perfect set of ears!

For the remaining steps, just hop over to the previous tutorial (HERE)and you got yourself one purrrr-fectly sweet hoodie scarf!

Make someone happy... make a hoodie scarf!

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P.S. Don't forget to share your creations on our Flickr group (HERE). 

7 Craftgawker Make: Window Clings

I love Craftgawker.

I found this awesome tutorial via Pink Stripey Socks on how to make your own window clings using contact paper and paint pens.

I thought this would be a perfect project for Mr. to do. He says he's not creative...

huh... really.

 

 We added some Halloween gummy clings from Target to give a little more pop.

A perfect Daddy and Lala project.

Folks, you gotta check out Pink Stripey Socks for some awesomely crafty tutorials. Make sure to say hello for me!

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0 Ghastly Doings

Happy October friends!

There is some ghastly doings happening over at I Seam Stressed blog.

So hop on your broomstick,

turn into a bat,

slither your way,

whatever you have to do... just get THERE and see what I sewn to kick off the Halloween season!

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21 Do Guincho Bubble Shorts

Hi everyone!

Thank you so-so much for all of your sweet comments and encouraging emails from my last post. To have support and share similar situations meant a lot to us. BIG hugs to all of you!!! Lala is doing much better. There is still residual rash and the doctor said it can take up to several months for it to completely heal. A tremendous improvement from where we were and Lala is back to her mischievous ways.

Don't let her cuteness fool you!

It's sooo good to be back and what better way to get back into the swing of things with this awesome Bubble Shorts pattern from Marta of Do Guincho. THIS, my friends is a must-have pattern.

 I have sewn different versions of bubble shorts seen HERE, HERE and HERE, but this version is my most favorite-est by far. When I first saw Marta's shorts HERE, I instantly fell in love.

With detailed instructions and graphics that were easy to follow I literally had no problems sewing this baby up.  I had several fabrics in mind to use and decided on this one, "Ziggy" by French Bull for Windham W Fabrics.

Perfect for my little joker!

 An of course I had to accessorize... nothin' completes an outfit without a mask and wand.

Time to pay my model for her hard work. In the meantime, check out Marta's shop HERE, for her bubble shorts pattern.

Thank you Marta!!!

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