Perfecting the Fit of your Bottoms

Sewing is fun! Finding cute patterns to play with and design and create. Discovering the perfect fabric and knowing that you are just going to look smashing! And the pride of wearing something you've made yourself is not comparable to anything else in the world.

But when you try on your gorgeous make only to find out that it's just not perfect can be incredibly devastating. In my last Ellie and Mac Blog Post I talked about how to measure yourself to make sure that you are inputting the correct measurements. This time around, I'm jumping to something a little more complicated, but will give so much satisfaction!

How to adjust your pants for the perfect fit!

Lindsey, the designer and owner over at Ellie and Mac decided to brave one of her biggest fears and designed a beautiful pair of joggers! But the first group of testers were having some trouble with getting the fit just right, understandably, pants are HARD! So I jumped in and tried to explain how to get a great fit. Once the pattern testers had it all figured out, it was decided that there needed to be a blog post so that EVERYONE would be able to make the pattern come out beautifully!

And here you have it, my take on the basic adjustments you need to make your pants (especially the Good Vibes Joggers) fit beautifully!

This isn't a picture of me, it's the blog cover shot.

When you get back, I'd love to hear what basic adjustments you have to make to get things to fit you properly. It doesn't have to be adjustments to pants. I need to adjust for height on EVERYTHING as well as do an FBA on most things and decrease the front rise and increase the back rise on all of my pants.

The links provided in this post may be affiliate links where I receive a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, my blogging and my sewing!

Going Home Raglan

To make a very long story short, the most AMAZING thing happened to me on my last birthday, I got a chance to be a strike-off seamstress. That means that the company I work with (The Fab Clique Fabric Shoppe) sends me some fabric that will be brand new to their store and I get to sew it up and then help promote it. To say that I am excited to do this is just a little bit of an understatement! I am beyond thrilled to take this job and responsibility! I mean, really, how much more amazing can it get then to be asked to sew beautiful things to show everyone else how beautiful these new fabrics are!?!

Well, here is my first set of strikes from TFC! And I honestly am having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I and my sews and my photos are even comparable to some of the other amazing ladies in this group. They are AMAZING!! Thank you, from the very bottom of my crafty heart, for this chance, Dhee!

And here we have my very first strike. This GORGEOUS Carina Wildflowers on Khaki Double Brushed Poly is amazing! The colors are so beautiful and vibrant! The DBP is a good wight and would make some glorious leggings or shirts or a fabulous dress!

I used the Ellie and Mac Going Home Raglan with the cowl and bands in a Mustard Brushed Rayon Spandex, but a beautiful Burgundy Brushed Rayon Spandex would look great too! A nice olive color would coordinate well, also. There are two in the shop (Solid Olive DBP or maybe even the Olive Brushed Modal French Terry).

Probably the best part of being part of the strike team for The Fab Clique Fabric Shoppe is the people I am meeting and the places I'm getting to go and take pictures. We are in a cute little park in Logan, Utah here! It's a fun location! This is going to be quite the ride! I am so excited to see what is coming up next!

Sorry to be so link heavy this time around. I don't usually like to have so many links, but I love this fabric when mixed in with some other fabrics and wanted to show off the great stuff in the shop! Tell me, do you like it when people suggest coordinating fabrics? Or is that just a little too pushy? Be honest with me!!

The links provided in this post may be affiliate links where I receive a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, my blogging and my sewing!

Poppies and Peplums

Do you remember my review on the Mamma Can Do It Women's Relaxed Peplum (if not, check it out here)? Well, today I want to tell you all about the MCDI Girl's Relaxed Peplum. The two patterns came out at the same time and they came out as compliment patterns so there is a lot about them that are similar.

For example, the PDF has all of the same bonuses:

• Layers to print only the size(s) you want
• A finished measurement chart
• Fabric and supplies recommendations (Kaylie is wearing DBP)
• Files to print on Letter, A4, and A0 
• Step by step full color, detailed photo instructions
• Links to tips, tricks, and hacks from the testers directly in the pattern

There are even more options for the Girl's Relaxed Peplum then there is for the Women's. Go figure, those little ones get it all! 🤣🤣

Sleeve options:

• Short (this is the option Kaylie is wearing)
• 3/4 length
• long

Skirt options:

• Circle peplum shirt, tunic, and dress length
• Half circle peplum shirt, tunic, and dress length
• Gathered peplum shirt, tunic, and dress length
• High/low peplum shirt to tunic length and tunic to dress length (this is the option Kaylie is wearing)

Neckline options with pattern pieces:

• banding (this is the option Kaylie is wearing)
• binding

Kaylie fell in love with this peplum and the colors right away! She doesn't wear it very often, but she tends to do that, love something and then not wear it. Usually due to the fact that she doesn't want to ruin it, or she secretly hates them 😕 🤷 It's kind of hard to tell with a 10-year-old.

Overall, this pattern was a dream to work with and came together beautifully! I didn't have to blend sizes because Kaylie fits squarely within size 12, which is great because she still has plenty of time to grow within this pattern. Some of the options that come with this pattern are:

• Size 2T to size 16 or chest size 19.75 to 33.5 (the girl's and women's overlap, giving you some sizes in the teen range)
• There is the matching Women's pattern (click here)
• A bundle option to give extra discounts (click here)
• Super Hero Add on for a quick and easy Halloween or Super Hero costume (click here)

Oh, I almost forgot! I can't believe I almost forgot about the fabric this Relaxed Peplum was made with. Mily Mae had this fantastic deal on mystery boxes and I was lucky enough to snag one and holy cow!! There were so many beautiful fabrics stuffed in that box. These two were perfect for this project! They are both double brushed poly and the only trouble they gave me was deciding which should be the top and which the skirt!

The photo props were Coby's idea! They look so good and make my baby girl look so grown up. Why do children think they need to grow up so fast?

The links provided in this post may be affiliate links where I receive a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, my blogging and my sewing!

Women's Relaxed Peplum

I have a confession to make: I do NOT like peplums.

I know, that's not exactly a promising way to start a pattern review when you don't even like the style to begin with, but let me tell you, this peplum is not your average peplum!

First, I made a muslin, just like you are supposed to. I made the gathered high/low skirt and hated it! I don't know what I did, but it was too short and the fabric was too bright and I was so disappointed! But I am part of the Mamma Can Do It promotion team and I was absolutely determined to not let Kelsey and Elizabeth down. I re-evaluated the shirt and adjusted my measurements and tried again. This was the result and I couldn't be more pleased!

So, a little about the MCDI Women's Relaxed Peplum, there are two lengths, shirt, and tunic. The difference between the two is the length of the skirt, which is nice so that you can use the same top for all of your pretties. The side waist length and the finished lengths are given. This is so awesome because my side waist is a little bit longer than average even though I am much shorter than average, and it's nice to be told how much I will need to add rather than have to figure it out by measuring the pattern.

Size options:

• Size 00 to Size 20 available (I made a size 18)
• That is bust size 30.5 - 46.5
• There is a matching Girl's pattern available as well (click here)
• Super Hero Add on (click here)

Sleeve options:

• Short (I lengthened mine by about 1 inch)
• 3/4 length
• long

Skirt options:

• Circle peplum shirt and tunic length
• Half circle peplum  shirt and tunic length (I made the half-circle in tunic length)
• Gathered peplum shirt and tunic length
• High/low peplum shirt front length to tunic back 

Neckline options with pattern pieces:

• banding
• binding (I used binding for my neckline)

Just a little about the PDF:

• Has Layers to print only the size/sizes you want
• Finished measurement chart
• Fabric and supplies recommendations (I used a heavy 200 GSM Rayon Spandex)
• Files to print on Letter, A4 and A0 paper
• Step by step full-color photo instructions
• Links to hacks, tips, and tricks from the testers directly in the pattern

After my first Relaxed Peplum turned out to be a dud, it was kind of difficult to cut into this beautiful Eggplant colored 200 GSM Rayon Spandex from So Sew English, because what if I hated it? I really didn't need to worry because this top was absolute PERFECTION!! I put this top and on fell in 💖 LOVE 💖 I felt so beautiful and so girly and this top was NOTHING like the first one I made. This was definitely not a flop!

And even though I haven't made another, gotta find the perfect fabric first, I do plan on making another. Maybe with the full circle peplum next time. This is a beautiful and well put together a pattern that I would definitely recommend, especially if you like the peplum style! There are so many combinations that this one will keep you busy for a good long time!

So, what is your final verdict? Do you like peplums? Why or why not?

The links provided in this post may be affiliate links where I receive a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, my blogging and my sewing!

For Love of the Teddy

I claim that I can sew anything. I have had some experience in just about every area of sewing I can think of and I usually have some success. But this time, I needed to figure out how to sew love. My sweet little neighbor brought me over his teddy bear that his new puppy helped himself to and the poor guy was missing ears and a tail. With big, sad eyes Isaiah asked me to fix his ear but he didn't need a new tail. How on earth could I tell him no?

A few before shots

After taking a close look at Teddy's injuries I decided to start with the ears and there was no saving them, unfortunately. So I took the time to slowly remove the partial ears leaving some big holes that would need to be sewn up when the new ears were inserted.

This side actually had a large tear in the fabric that I didn't even know was there until the ear came out. Poor little guy! He also had a seam split on his tummy and one at the back of his neck. I'm not sure those were from the dog, but once Teddy was put in my hands he would receive the best care I could give him.

I just happened to have to fleece in my stash that was the perfect color, I used one of the missing ears and made an ear that seemed to be the right size and shape and then added seam allowance all the way around. Then I cut 4 the exact same size and shape and put two wrong sides together and serged them together, slipped them inside Teddy's head and used a ladder stitch to sew the ears in and closed all the extra holes, including the one where his tail had once been.

After a good brushing Teddy was just about ready to be handed back into the arms of his little boy.

After a quick photoshoot, Teddy was ready to go home!

There was no better reward for this little project then this little letter from Isaiah and his sister Dahlia. These kids! This, this is why I sew!

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How to Measure Yourself

The second anniversary of my very first PDF pattern is coming up! I can't believe it's only been two years! I have come so far and learned so much. There are a lot of things that I remember hearing of when I started that seemed so foreign back then and now they are like second nature.

Sewing isn't difficult. It's actually pretty easy to push a needle and thread through a piece of fabric. But knowing how to get flat pieces of paper arranged on fabric and puzzled together to turn into something that is not only wearable but adorable, that is the hard part!

I am not a designer. Yes, I have drafted my own patterns from existing clothing, but that's really been a hit or miss endeavor for me. I have not, and most likely will not be a designer myself. I'm a lot more of the teacher type then the creator type! 😄

With teaching in mind, I'd love to share with you a blog that I recently posted over at Ellie and Mac. Lindsey and her team have so graciously accepted me into their blogging corner where I get to take the reigns occasionally and teach to my heart's content!

For November I decided that one of the first things you need to learn when you start sewing is how to measure yourself (or whomever you are making clothing more) correctly. Because when you are using flat paper and cutting floppy fabric and expect it to wrap around you just right, you really want to make sure you are using it all properly so you aren't super sad after your foray into the great world of sewing.

So, without further ado, here is the link to whisk you away to the Ellie and Mac blog all about measuring properly and what you can do with some of these measurements. 

When you get back, please share with me one thing you learned that was new and one thing that I missed, if you catch any. I'd love to learn something new from you!

The links provided in this post may be affiliate links where I receive a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, my blogging and my sewing!

Girl's Be Confident Update

Here we are, at the beginning of our testing journey for Ellie and Mac. Where I was beginning to learn and understand my skills and my worth and where I was headed as a sewist. It was right about this moment, after completing the Girl's Be Confident Tunic update and fighting with my daughter to get a few half-decent photos that I began to realize just how much I enjoyed this wild and crazy mess and that even if it was a fight to get things right, I was really enjoying the ride!

The Be Confident is supposed to be a tunic length shirt, but it is a little on the long side for Kay. A quick look at the tester pictures will show that there is a pretty good amount of variety to the lengths depending on the height of the model. It seemed that the moment people began adjusting for height it shortened or lengthened almost too easily. I probably should have adjusted Kaylie's version to be shorter considering she measured for a 12 around for a 10 in height.

This pattern is designed to have a high/low circle skirt with seams down each side. It was a surprisingly quick sew, thanks to the lack of sleeves and bands and the rolled hem on the skirt for a hemming option. I loved how some of the testers did a lettuce hem and I'd like to make this tunic again and use a lettuce hem! And guess what, they have a Women's Be Confident version too!!

Fabric for this tunic was a pretty light blue double brushed poly from Knitpop that just so happened to match perfectly with a t-shirt I picked up from a second-hand store in town. I couldn't have been more pleased and Kaylie adored the floral fabric that I so rarely purchase.

The Capri leggings are Bonny's from Made for Mermaids in a peachy colored double brushed poly that I've had long enough that I don't have an order history for it. Later, I also made her a cropped Cocoon Cardigan without any bands from Patterns for Pirates so she could feel comfortable wearing it to church because of the lack of sleeves.

I was the photographer for this photo session and I really felt like it could have been done a lot better. I am not the biggest fan taking pictures and I never have been. It's a good thing I'm married to a man who loves taking pictures.

Why did you start sewing? Or if you haven't actually started, why do you want to start sewing? Tell me your back story!

The links provided in this post may be affiliate links where I receive a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, my blogging and my sewing!

Girl's Be Smart Jumper Update

This summer, Lindsey, the designer over at Ellie and Mac was hard at work updating all her patterns to have no trim pages, trying to update the intended fit to make them more trendy, and increase the size range if possible. This skirt now goes from size 12 months to big girl size 12. A Women's Be Smart Jumper was also added to the pattern line up! I was lucky enough to be able to help with the update of the Girl's Be Smart Jumper.

This adorable circle skirt comes with a high and low waist option with both skirt options ending just above the knees, and adorable suspenders that cross in the back! Sweet and simple and absolutely adorable! The Be Smart Jumper calls for a knit material with 4 way 50% stretch with good recovery for the suspenders and the waistband. A few people have even tried using a woven for the skirt and had great success. That increases the versatility of this pattern and opens up a whole new world of looks!

The fabric we used here is a stretch suede Value Fabric from Walmart with plenty of horizontal stretch but no vertical stretch and we could definitely tell. The suspenders didn't quite have the stretch to be super comfortable and Kaylie hasn't worn this skirt since these pictures were taken. Oh well, you live and you learn, good thing it was cheap fabric.

The shirt Kay is wearing is a long sleeve Discoverer Tee, also from Ellie and Mac, I added a self-drafted flounce to the sleeves just to make it a little more fun. Kay loved the sleeves! It is very reminiscent of the new Women's Day to Night top.

Those cute Capri leggings are the free Bonny Leggings from Made for Mermaids. Kaylie loves these leggings! She has several in lots of colors and several different lengths. They are a quick and easy sew and a must for anyone wanting to try making their own leggings.

So, tell me, have you ever used a fabric very different from what a pattern called for and it completely destroyed your pattern? Or maybe it made the pattern perfect? I want to hear about it!

The links provided in this post may be affiliate links where I receive a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, my blogging and my sewing!

The Family Costume

Happy Halloween!!

From my family to yours!

I'd love to see what you and your family were for Halloween. Please drop some pictures or links in the comments so I can see how much fun you had this year!

The links provided in this post may be affiliate links where I receive a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, my blogging and my sewing!

Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf

There was no way I was going to let my children and husband have all kinds of fun without me. And I never pass up a reason to sew up something beautiful for myself! Little Red Riding Hood may not be in the same fairy tale as the 3 Little Pigs, but she does cross over with the Big Bad Wolf and you better believe I took that up for a challenge. And it was a lot easier then I thought it would be.

Starting with the basics I made this cute Tee Dress from Ellie and Mac, added a pretty and modified half apron from The Seasoned Homemaker (pattern can be found here on Craftsy). I grabbed a cute basket from a local second-hand store because you can't be Little Red Riding Hood without a basket! And then topped off the whole costume with this gorgeous Red Double Brushed Poly from The Fab Clique to make a Stay Cozy Jacket from Ellie and Mac without layering the hood. The hood on this one is HUGE and perfect for Little Red Riding Hood!!

My handsome and devilish Coby is dressed all in thrift store clothes torn apart and patched back together with faux fur. For more details, check out this post. He says it's very scratchy and doesn't like the huge furry collar, but thankfully we still have some time to adjust it to be exactly what he wants. We figure it will take us a few years to make it perfect, especially considering he really would like to look like a werewolf from the movies, and I'm just not sure my sewing abilities are quite up to that level, yet. This is a great start!

I love this picture! I think it's a pretty sweet shot of the two of us. And we have to give credit where it's due, Kaylie took this photo! And all of the photos of the two of us. She is becoming quite the talented young lady!

My eyes are closed!! That's a shame because this is a good picture too! I love the way the sky looks in the background. And can you see that he is trying to steal the goodies from my basket? That sneaky wolf!

And he's trying to steal kisses too!! For shame!! That big bad wolf! 🤣 I wish I hadn't been laughing so hard, I scrunched up my face! But its a pretty good picture anyway.

And apparently, I finally gave in and let him take a peek into my basket! For shame!! It's a good thing I kind of like him! 🤣 He worked pretty hard to get this peek. And he's mine already, so I'm not ashamed to have let him! He is MY Big Bad Wolf after all!

The links provided in this post may be affiliate links where I receive a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, my blogging and my sewing!

Adding Ears

Halloween is a time to dress up, pretend and use your imagination to become someone or something else. The three little pigs have tails and hoodies and really needed some ears to pull off the look. And would you know, there are no pig ear tutorials anywhere online. At least none for creating the kind of ears my children wanted.

Riven wanted his ears to stand up straight. Kaylie wanted her ears to both be floppy. Olyver didn't care what his ears did, but I thought that having just the tips be floppy would be adorable. So I made them myself, but I didn't take very many pictures and I really needed to take a whole lot more, so hopefully, I can make this make sense.

The first thing I did was decide on a general shape for the ears and chose this big, rounded triangle shape. Using the scraps from their Jolly Roger Raglans (you'll need the Add-on Pack for this because of the hoods) I cut 2 mirrored triangles for each ear. Oly's triangles were about 1/2 inch smaller then Kaylie's and Riven's were right in the middle. To add stability I cut felt out in the same size and shape. 

For Riven's ears to stand up, I made a single cutting of felt the exact same size as the ears, one per ear. Kaylie wanted floppy ears so I didn't add any felt. For Oly with just the tips flopping over, I cut them like the picture below.

I sewed up Oly's ears first and noticed right away that I should have made the felt shorter for both ears. Oh well, you live and you learn.

When sewing the ears, I put the right sides of the cotton lycra from The Fab Clique together and layered the felt on top. I kept the ears with the short sides of the triangles together so I wouldn't confuse the positioning of the ears. The short side, oddly enough, and contrary to the way I was holding them, would go on the bottom!

To attach the ears to the hood I had to cut the hood for easy insertion. Taking the outer hood pattern piece, I cut all the way down the hood approximately 4 inches from the opening. When I cut my fabric I added a half-inch seam allowance along both sides I had cut. When I added the ears, I measured down about 3 inches from the top of the cut for Oly, 3.5 inches for Riven and 4 inches for Kaylie. Fold down the long corner of the ear about a third of the way and sandwich the ear between the right sides of the split hood. Make sure the opening or front of the ear is facing the flat part of the hood and not the rounded back. Then I serged the half-inch of seam allowance right off and had a hood the exact same size as the lining but with ears! I completed the rest of the hood as normal.

For the noses, I just put fusible web between the layers of cotton lycra and ironed them on. Easy peasy!

Next time I do a project like this, I promise I will take a lot more pictures and show off the process a little better. What kind of "creatures" do your littles like to become for Halloween, or any time really? What have you tried that succeeded and had you jumping for joy?

The links provided in this post may be affiliate links where I receive a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, my blogging and my sewing!

3 Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf

Welcome back for more Halloween fun! This year my kids get to be dressed up as the 3 Little Pigs! If you saw my last post, you probably noticed that their noses were just on their hats. Well, I decided that just wasn't quite fun enough and used a bunch of scraps to make my kids these cute little noses!! They were simple and quick and who doesn't love a project that uses up your scraps! My kids thought it was weird to have two noses, but they know they have a ridiculous mother and just went along with it.

Add in the Big Bad Wolf in the background and you get some really fun pictures!

His costume is just an old thrift store pair of jeans and a dress shirt all torn up and patched back together with faux fur from Joann's, a cute vest from the thrift store, and a costume steampunk hat with added wolf ears. Pretty simple and it looks great!

Check out that dramatic posing?

What cheese balls! This is a pretty good shot of the BB Wolf tail. It is stuffed with a pool noodle!!

Gotta get in a fake running picture!

No piggies were harmed in the taking of these photos, but they were all tickled until the oldest needed to pee and the youngest was in tears!

The links provided in this post may be affiliate links where I receive a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, my blogging and my sewing!

Making Piggy Tails

These are the cutest little piggy tushes EVER!! And they were surprisingly easy to create. Let me show you how!

I borrowed the basic idea from Make and Love It so please go over there and see the piggy costume over there as well!

I started with two circles of pink fabric. Sorry for the terrible pictures, that circle doesn't even look pink! You'll have to just trust me that it's pink. Cotton Candy Pink Cotton Lycra actually, from The Fab Clique. It's a beautiful weight to work with and was just perfect for this tail project.

Anyway, two circles of pink fabric. I wasn't sure how long the tails would need to be, so I cut four the size of our plates, they were just smaller salad plates. And two the size of our bowls, also just regular-sized cereal bowls.

Then I drew a spiral on each set of circles. I tried to make a straight beginning and a straight ending spot. But that probably doesn't matter a whole lot because you can just cut a straight spot after the spiral is all cute out. And I did end up shortening the tails a lot! This tracing is on the big circle.

And this is the tail after it's cut out. I believe this one is from the bowl-sized circle. There are two layers of fabric there. The next step is to sew down the length of both sides of the curly tail and then flip them right side out.

Turning the tails took a little more work then I would have liked, but the tails were so cute!! I made a big one and the small one thin and then one of the big ones came out a lot thicker. The thick one didn't work nearly as well as the thin ones, but it was easier to turn! The thickness you use would probably depend on the look you're going for. I wanted more of a corkscrew curl for the tails, so I added some pipe cleaners!

Two pipe cleaners per tail. I was worried about them being poky, so used a bit of hot glue at either end with the pipes twisted in between to keep them together and make them a lot easier to thread into the tails.

After the pipe cleaners were threaded into the tails and the tails were shortened to the length I wanted I found the center back of the pattern, which in this case was the Patterns for Pirates Jolly Roger Raglan, and attached the tail with a clip, I then added the band and made sure the tail was sandwiched between the shirt and the band so the tail would be on the outside of the shirt after it was sewn up.

The placement was perfect! The tail turned out great! And because I added the pipe cleaner the tail was able to stay nice and curly and cute!

This technique can be used to create all kinds of tails! What kind of tail did you need for your costumes for Halloween this year?

The links provided in this post may be affiliate links where I receive a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, my blogging and my sewing!