The Rosie Cotton Dress

The Rosie Cotton Dress by JillyAtlanta

The Rosie Cotton Dress! How gorgeous is this bodice cut on the bias in blue check!

I snuck this little pattern test into a very hectic week this week! I was busy sewing many other projects and am also the fundraising coordinator at my children’s school, which means this week was the Mother’s Day Stall! I probably shouldn’t have put my hand up but it was so adorable and I couldn’t resist! Jill is such a humble and supportive designer I really wanted to make something amazing to support her and her business. I was well and truly organized for school anyway, so what could go wrong?

Plenty, could go wrong! That would teach me for being so cocky! BUT there was nothing wrong with the pattern, that’s for sure!!!

The Rosie Cotton Dress by JillyAtlanta

Usually organising the Mother’s Day stall means ordering a variety of gifts in bulk, months before the stall, then some lovely helpful Mum’s get together the Friday night before the stall (with wine and food platters of course) and we wrap 500+ gifts with paper, ribbon and tags. The orders come from the children the week of the stall and we freak out the day before because we are cutting it fine for numbers and I have to madly shop for an extra 50 gifts the afternoon before, which then also need to be wrapped in time!

So I wasn’t letting that happen this time. I had a few spares from last year as back up and I ordered 550 gifts straight up and felt pretty smug about being so organized. Then the day before the stall we find out we already have a record 608 orders (and there are always inevitably purchases made on the day too) so I pretty much freaked out!!!!! Let’s just say I got it sorted with an extra 100 gifts to be sure, and went to bed at 2am after wrapping with another day of no sewing done…

I was a little stressed at this stage as I don’t like to commit to a project and not come through with the goods, but the Rosie Cotton Dress was such a quick simple sew I had it done the very next evening after I got home from the stall! I felt so much better when I was finished well within the testing period!

 

The Rosie Cotton Dress by JillyAtlanta

All this sewing must be paying off as my speed is picking up a little, but the construction method and instructions on the Rosie Cotton were so superb, that I had it finished in record time! I was seriously impressed. I have never seen such comprehensive instructions and photographs explaining each step so clearly. This pattern is perfect for a beginner who needs a confidence boost, you will be so proud of what you have made!

 

Pretty green snaps & pink piping!

The Rosie Cotton is named after a character from The Lord of The Rings, who was a farmer’s daughter, turned Queen’s maid of honour! In this theme there is The farmhouse dress (square neckline) and the castle dress (sweetheart neckline). I made the farmhouse dress without shoulder flutters and used snaps on the back instead of buttons & button holes, as snaps are my new favourite invention AND I had the perfect shade of green (whereas I would have had to have gone shopping for the right buttons).

In love with this colour combo! Pink & Green is a match made in heaven.

So about that GREEN! Is it not the most gorgeous colour? I fell in love with this fabric (which is in fact a vintage sheet) on instagram chatting to the lovely @amelieandatticus & @katieskitchenblog. It turned out that Katie had some more of this treasure hiding in her stash and offered to send it to me! I nearly did a cartwheel! So I bundled up an assortment of vintage pieces she might like from my stash and we did a vintage sheet swap. Who doesn’t love a surprise parcel in the post?

I’m addicted to piping!

Well I haven’t been sitting on it too long, I knew it would be used as soon as I had the right project and then along came Rosie Cotton… The bodice is a quilting cotton from Spotlight I’ve had for quite a while. I have it in a blue colourway too, which is also gorgeous. I threw a few combinations on the bed in my sewing room and this one sung out to me!

I had already made my pink piping with store bought bias tape and cotton cord, but there are instructions to make piping in the pattern or you can even buy it pre made, either way I’m addicted to piping and the end result is a stunner!  Instead of piping there is also an option to make a sash that ties around the waist included with the pattern. So you have plenty of options to make this pattern your own. I really love it and more importantly my daughter loved it and even chose to wear it out today for Mother’s day!

I’m not sure what Daddy was doing behind me here, but it was apparently quite funny!

Another bunch of flowers? Who could resist!

We had breakfast in a café opposite the beach with my Mum & sister, went for a barefoot scooter ride around the harbour, drove around the beaches, spent some time with my husband’s Mum & Dad, then in the afternoon I relaxed with a glass of wine on the lounge and watched my husband cook dinner! It doesn’t get much better than that, unless perhaps you are surprised with 2 gorgeous vintage sewing machines as gifts on top of the presents that you might have already bought yourself haha!

 

My gorgeous new toys! A lovely old Janome and a HG Palmer Princess!

I hope your Mother’s Day is as fabulous as mine and if I can give you one tip, it is to buy yourself a gift, because you know you’re going to love it and you know you’ve earned it! You might even get an extra surprise like I did! Fingers crossed!

To get your copy of The Rosie Cotton Dress by JillyAtlanta while it is on sale for the special release price, head to Etsy ASAP and please also join the  JillyAtlanta Pattern Group on Facebook for all up coming patterns, news and sales! You don’t want to miss out on pattern releases like these!

Warmest Wishes & Happy Mother’s Day!

Brooke x

Idlesunshine

The Free Trendy Tank

The Free Trendy Tank by Winter Wear Designs

So I am back sewing knit again already! Who would have thought it…? I am on a roll guys!

The call came from Suzanne at Winter Wear Designs to test a V-neck tank she would be releasing as a gift to her Facebook group members and newsletter subscribers. Yes a gift, a FREE gift! Suzanne is celebrating reaching 3000 members in her Winter Wear Designs Fun Facebook group and the release of a brand new fancy website, but we get the gift! How awesome is that?!

Here it is that fancy new website up and running. I called by to have a little look around and here I am in my Women’s Bateau Garden Dress on the banner! Blushing!!

Back to the new tank pattern… This is the kind of the tank you can wear every day of the week, in every colour of the rainbow! But first I would have to go fabric shopping! I didn’t really have the time to drive 40 minutes each way to spotlight, not to mention me then spending hundreds of $$ on other material while I was there! Let’s be honest that’s basically what happens every time! There goes my whole day and my husband’s whole pay packet – eeek!! So I called by a local charity shop first with my fingers crossed and my gamble paid off!

I picked up this pile of loot, all knit fabrics to start building a stretchy stash! They varied in size and price but it all cost me about $12 total. I’d call that a win.

I also picked up this ugly duckling, a slinky knit maxi dress for $3. I always look at clothing as a source of fabric too and this dress was perfect.

So first up when upcycling a piece of clothing I start by deconstructing it to make the most of the available material. I simply trimmed off the shirred bodice and cut down the side seam of the skirt and it was ready to use.

     

Then you just treat it like any other piece of fabric, lay out your pattern pieces and cut. I also used a cheeky trick where I used the original hem of the skirt for the finished hem of my tank – winning!! Sew up your tank using the instructions in the Trendy Tank pattern and it is done in no time at all!

This tank is a perfect staple piece for your wardrobe! I love the flattering v-neck and while it is fitted nicely at the bust, it is relaxed around the waist and hips. I don’t know about you but this style is perfect for me! It hides a multitude of sins (& chocolate cake)!

My lovely friend Steph took some pictures for me that afternoon, which was a nice change from using self timer. I gave her a 10 second lesson on how to use my camera and told her to just shoot a hundred photos and we would see how they went. She nailed it guys! We were done within 5 minutes and back in the ballet school waiting room, with our daughters non the wiser that we’d been playing out in the carpark!

She had me laughing the whole time so there’s plenty of these shots too!

So you are going to want to join the WWD fun facebook group and get the secret code to get this pattern for free, because it really is a great fast sew that you will want to wear all the time! Drop me a line to show me your version! Tag me on Instagram @idlesunshine 🙂

Warmest wishes,

Brooke Smith

Idlesunshine