Month: August 2019

What a Twirl!

When I first saw this Dots For Days – Back to School Capsule bundle I knew my daughter needed it! Ok, I wanted her to need it.

The first thing that came to mind was Minnie Mouse. While I wasn’t planning on making a back to school capsule, the idea of a Minnie Mouse theme capsule really struck me.

I searched on Pinterest for Minnie Mouse dresses and I kept seeing different versions of a pink polka dot suspender dress and I knew I had just the right patterns to make this myself.

First for dress, I used the Be Smart Jumper pattern from Ellie and Mac. And that was a “smart” move. The skirt is a full circle skirt so it has all the twirl power this girl needs! The more twirl the better. But she forgot to put shorts on underneath in our hurry to take the photo shoot so I don’t have any full twirl pictures for you. Oops.

This is the first time I have used liverpool for a skirt and it wont be the last. This is the most perfect fabric for it! It has just enough structure and it drapes perfectly.

There are two options for the waist on this dress, high or low. I chose the low waist just because I only had one yard of fabric and the circle skirt is bigger on the high waist version. I think I would have preferred the high waist because the low waist keeps riding up on her. Next time, though…

https://www.ellieandmac.com/products/girls-be-smart-jumper-pattern?_pos=1&_sid=e0f0072b7&_ss=r&aff=1267 (affiliate)

Next, the shirt. I was very indecisive about what style shirt to pair with this skirt. But I kept seeing this shirt and skirt combo in the listing photos for both these patterns and I finally settled on the Sitting Pretty Collar Top Pattern (also Ellie and Mac). But still I wasn’t too sure.

But, wow!! I love the way it turned out, especially the contrast with the black fabric. I thought about doing white instead of black but I’m glad I didn’t. The nice part of this is that she can wear the shirt without the skirt and still have that little extra flair. The black fabric is a double brushed poly so it is soft and comfortable underneath the skirt.

https://www.ellieandmac.com/products/sitting-pretty-collar-top-pattern?_pos=1&_sid=a10a224cf&_ss=r&aff=1267 (affiliate)

No Minnie Mouse outfit is complete without a bow, right? Well, how about this for a bow? I love that she is still young enough to want to wear stuff like this. I think this is the best bow ever! The pattern called for interfacing to help this huge bow keep it’s shape but I didn’t use any because the liverpool seems to keep it’s structure just fine.

https://www.ellieandmac.com/products/be-posh-bow-headband-pattern?_pos=1&_sid=66d7fc1ca&_ss=r&aff=1267 (affiliate)

But, the capsule is far from complete. So I’m thinking about a black and white dress possibly with a pink sash or bow of some sort for the next piece. And, of course, there will be some leggings, too.

Now to pry this outfit away from her so I can wash it. She has been wearing it for three days straight! (I think she likes it!)

So many tank tops!

Hot, hot, hot! July and August are always the hottest months here and as I was digging through my closet, I realized I don’t have any tank tops. How is that even possible! Time to get sewing. I used the new Kendra knit tank pattern from Simple Life Pattern Company to fix that problem.

Fabric link: https://www.amelialanedesigns.com/product-page/parker

Kendra comes with options for full back or racer back as well as high neckline or low neckline. For this tank, I chose high neckline and full back. With any of the options, the tank is more fitted at the chest and becomes loosely fitted at the hips.

You can grab this pattern here https://www.thesimplelifecompany.com/product/womens-kendra/?aff=160 (affiliate link)

For the striped tank, I also used the full back but included the low neckline. Although there doesn’t appear to be a huge difference, fabric type comes into play here providing another creative element. Using a fabric that has a great degree of vertical stretch will greatly impact how low the neckline is and the size of the armscyes. The striped fabric is a very structured jersey with almost no vertical stretch that suited the low neckline very well.

Just a side note, I think I used a bazillion pins matching those stripes, but it was so worth it!

On my first attempt with this pattern, I used the low neckline and a very stretchy rayon spandex and ended up with an indecently low neckline and even my bra was showing! Woops, lesson learned. But this light, flowy, fabric was perfect for this and so comfortable so I sized down the pattern one size and changed to the higher neckline and it is absolutely perfect!

Fabric Link: https://www.amelialanedesigns.com/product-page/dots-rust

Not too shabby of a picture from my 6 year old photographer considering my camera weighs just about as much as he does! The previous photos were taken courtesy of my husband and my 8 year old.

I was enjoying this pattern so much, I had to make one more. We were about to head out for the evening and all the other tanks were waiting in the laundry, so I told my husband I would sew up another one real quick before we left. He said “but we leave in two hours, there is no way you can make a shirt that quick.” Challenge accepted…

Really, though, it wasn’t a challenge at all. This tank is so quick to sew up. But that’s just between us, I’ll let him be impressed.

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