All About the Outerwear Blog Tour

I love fall! It’s absolutely one of my favorite times of year. The unfortunate thing is that I am always cold. Especially since I live in New England. I virtually live in cardigans and wool socks from October until March each year. Which is why I was very excited about a blog tour all about outerwear.

I love Suzanne over at Winter Wear Designs and I love discovering how each pattern that I make for both Sweet Pea and me turns out to be a good fit for us. This time I decided to go with the Twin Peaks Cardigan for me for the tour instead of something for Sweet Pea.

The pattern has a semi fitted drafting being fitted in the bust and flowing out over the hips. Sizing goes from 00-24 and the sleeve is not cut on the fold so the armscye fits really nicely. It has the option for several different blocking back styles which means I get a pattern with multiple looks- that’s a huge win.

I also decided it was the perfect time to use some brand new hacci sweater knit I got from Honeydew Kisses Custom Fabric . I love buffalo plaid and while I have never sewn hacci knit before I was excited to receive this just in time for the tour.

I opted for the pointed back color blocking detail in stretch leather that I picked up in a destash. While Suzanne’s instructions are fabulous as always, I struggled with the point on the back detail but even though its not as pointy as it should be, it was still a pretty quick sew. I even decided to pull out my recently purchased coverstitch and have it join in on the fun.

I love how my kids have picked out rainbow thread this last time I got thread because now I have hidden rainbows in all my seams. But even more I love that this is a cardigan made from a fabric print, I have always wanted to own and that even better it has pockets.

Working with hacci is like working with any other knit fabric. It was lighter in hand than I expected and has a beautiful drape, however my serger did need a cleaning afterward because it had lots of fuzz. The stretch leather had nice movement but is a bit stiffer and why I opted for only using it for blocking (I had originally planned on using it for the neckband as well.) I really love that the two fabrics together give you just a bit of edginess while still being school errand friendly.

My husband is out of town this week and there goes my usual photographer but I am so happy with how this turned out I have a feeling I will have a ton of photos to update this post with once he gets home next week.

I love, love, love this so much and am going to get so much use out of this new cardigan and already have a second out on the cutting table (I am thinking about hacking it with cuffs because I love thumbhole cuffs too)! Check in with the rest of the bloggers and see all their awesome outdoor makes below!

Fall in love with every stop on the tour:

October 22

Ilse of Sew Sew Ilse

October 23

Ann of Flax Field Sewing

October 24

Laura of Custom Made By Laura

October 25

Meriel of Elli and Nels

Jessica of Jot Designs USA

Alissa of The Sewing Goat Herd

October 26

Gwen of Crafty Curly Couture

Laurie of Make it Sew with the Bear and the Pea Atelier

Livia of Liviality

October 26, 2018 0

Week 22: Sew a Bathing Suit

Here we are one week past the halfway point and it’s time to start thinking about bathing suits since we will spend half the day several days a week enjoying our local public pool!

This post is part 1 of 2 parts that ends during the Poolside Blog Tour hosted by Winter Wear Designs

So Sweet Pea asked for a Doc McStuffins inspired suit and I knew the Princess Power Suit would make the cutest suit for her and would meet the additional requirement of a tutu on it. This post will focus on how I made the striped bodice insert for the Princess Power Suit to create the striped shirt effect of a Doc McStuffins suit.

Gather your supplies (for this part I am using the white and purple):

There are a couple of different ways to do this next part. I am going to walk you through how I did it (there may be a better method) and I wish I took more photos so you can really see exactly what I did step by step, but I don’t think its all that confusing. If you have a question feel free to ask. I cut 2 pieces of fabric then cut each into 2 inch strips. Then sewed the 2 inch pieces together alternating the colors when sewing so you have a striped panel. From there you can continue the pattern construction from there.

If you really want to see Sweet Pea’s suit, come back next week for the second half of this swimsuit!

*this post may contain affiliate links

July 14, 2018 1

Week 19: Sew a Shirt

This week’s challenge fit handily into sewing another strike off from Kimmy Snabric also part of the Supernatural round. This time I am working with a panel also titled Family business but is on an amazing cushy bamboo lycra.

I was off to figure out what I wanted to make with it. I went with a designer I am very familiar and have had great success with her patterns, Winter Wear Designs Trendy Tank It’s a lovely body skimming top that is flowy and perfect for the Vermont summer (even though its black) because we don’t have an AC up here y’all.

I struggle with finding things for me to sew and love but I absolutely love this tank! I love the coverage on the shoulders and the v-neck as well as the high low hemline option. I did realize I need to work on getting my V better, I am sure its a practice thing but that little pucker isn’t going to bother me enough to make it worth picking the neckband apart-lol.

Since I made this top it ends up making it into my weekly rotation, so I am assuming I probably need to make waaaaayyyyy more.

July 14, 2018 0

Feature Designer: Winter Wear Designs Romp-along Tour

It has been a stressful month or so and I decided to step back from sewing and having such an active presence in the testing community because of illness in the family, sometimes it feels like its a constant battle trying to keep everyone well and on task. And lets be honest, as we round out the end of the school year, I am just exhausted from running in 20 different directions. But I digress.

This post is all about the Romper Love. I must admit, I have not owned one as an adult but I love the look and ease of them for the summer time. I was super tickled to see that as I ended my sewing hiatus, Suzanne of Winter Wear Designs was hosting a blog tour focusing on just that! Lucky me. I typically tend to sew for Sweet Pea because its easier and I am not sure if I ever really, really love what I make for me. Wellllll I got so lucky because I not only love mine but I also love the one I made for Sweet Pea.

I first had to figure out which Romper I wanted to use and for simplicity and ease decided that perhaps we needed Mommy and Me semi-matching rompers for some fun when we are out and about, so I ended up selecting the Boho Breeze Romper bundle started out with sewing Sweet Pea’s first because I had some beautiful linen pants that no longer fit me plus had some wearing in the thighs.

I knew I wanted to use them because of the beautiful detailing on the sides of them. So that required me to carefully separate the seams so that I could get the most out of the pants that I can. I did have to modify the pattern just a bit to allow for me to make use of the detailing on the linen. I essentially removed my seam allowance from the front and back pieces by drawing a line then attached them so that instead of the 4 pieces, I only had 2.

Then I was off to figure out what to pair it with. I decided that classic stripes would look amazing with the khaki linen and I was not disappointed because as I was constructing this romper my excitement grew and grew.

I think one of my very favorite things about sewing is that I get to see my vision come to life and sometimes its the details of an outfit that truly make it fun and unique.

I did use a tubular knit for the neckband elastic rather than using the striped knit but that was because I was selfishly saving the rest of these stripes for my romper. I also did not use elastic in the sleeves so that the sleeve would have more of a flutter to it. Unfortunately due to rain I haven’t had a chance to get photos of the both of us together so my bathroom selfie will have to do until I can update this post (perhaps tomorrow since the rain is finally supposed to break when I have someone home that can take photos of me).

I have to say this and I never say anything like this when it comes to clothing but I am in love. I love the off the shoulder fit (although because I am larger busted, I did end up adding the shoulder straps so that my bra could be covered and I am not forced into wearing a strapless). And I am extremely happy with the drape over the hips which seems to be the area I struggle with my happiness when it comes to a pattern. I cannot wait for the weather to clear up so I can have some nice photos for a fun mommy and me!

Even though its the last day of the tour, go check out the other great blog posts and run and get your 20%off discount while you can using the code ROMPON at checkout.

***this post and those in the tour may contain affiliate links.

Don’t miss any of the spectacular rompers

on the Romp On Tour!!!

5/28

Elli & Nels

With Love in Every Stitch

5/29

5/30