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idle sunshine

Enjoying life as a series of beautiful moments

Month

April 2017

Little Kiwis Closet Straight Skirt

Hi everyone! I have an awesome free pattern for you to try today, courtesy of my friend Lydia of Little Kiwis Closet! I have tested and made many Little Kiwis Closet PDF Patterns, so I am thrilled that they recently reached 5000 followers in their facebook group!

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Just a few of my favourite Little Kiwis Closet makes!!

I love the great tutorials in Little Kiwis Closet Patterns, they really got my confidence up when I picked up sewing again after many years. There’s nothing like the feeling of achievement you get when you suprise yourself with what you can do! They also gave me the confidence to sew with knit after a previous knit-disaster! Now I love to sew with knit more than woven!

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So lets take a look at what we started with! I love to repurpose old clothing from the depths of my wardrobe or picked up cheaply at an op-shop (thrift store). This was the skirt from a maxi dress that I planned to make myself a maxi skirt from (so I had already cut off the bodice) and another maxi dress, which both cost me between $1-$3.

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Here is the line drawing of the new skirt. It offers multiple lengths, optional pocket styles, a yoga waistband or regular elastic waistband as well as a contrast hem option. It is drafted in sizes 12M – 14 years which is an awesome range! LKC is well known for the options packed into their patterns and even though it is a freebie, this is no exception!

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I wanted to make good use of this funky fabric and decided to make a Poppet Peplum to match! It is a slinky poly knit so it drapes really well.

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I have already made 6 of these tops in different fabrics and peplum/sleeve styles so it was a super fast outfit to make overall!
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I broke up the print with some plain black ITY knit I had in my stash. Of the 6 Poppet Peplums I have made so far I have not hemmed one of them! I love that about sewing with knits! 😉

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I love how it turned out looking almost like a dress, but you get the added bonus of mix and match pieces, that would work really well with a plain tee, stripes, tights or jeans!

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You’ll have to excuse Miss 9’s wild hair, it’s school holidays here at the moment, so we are very relaxed and it’s very windy!

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The next version is a rayon spandex blend so is really light weight, soft and drapey!

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I paired it with a cute store bought tank, only because I have been camping and didn’t have any navy knit in my stash (or time to shop for some)!

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She loves this one, because it feels as light as air and I love it because I am one of those weird people who likes to match stripes!

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I can see myself making a dozen more of these, they are so fast and take very little fabric!

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My Miss loves this above knee length style. I look forward to putting some more outfits together. I’d love to make one with black & white stripes and also a denim look knit! They would be great basics to add to your wardrobe.

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So how do you get your free copy? You join the LKC Facebook Group and get the code from the pinned post to “purchase” the Straight Skirt Pattern from the Little Kiwis Closet website. There is also a code to download the Kit & Kaboodle Bootlegs for free while you are there! I would also suggest you head over to the LKC Blog to enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway to win a pattern of choice from each of these awesome PDF Designers!!

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Thanks for dropping by, and as always I’d love you to leave me a comment or tag me in what you make!

The online sewing community is an awesome place to connect ☀️ I’d love you to visit all the bloggers joining in the LKC 5000 followers celebration over the next few days, to see their version of the free Straight Skirt ☀️

Idlesunshine

ChristaCoDesign

SewSophieLynn

Tales From A Southern Mom

Phat Quarters

Living in Twinado Alley

Curtiepie

Lilliepawillie

Woohoo by Davina

Happy sewing and warm wishes,

Brooke xx

idlesunshine

Show Your Stoff Tour

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I’m sharing the Svea pants by Zierstoff Patterns on the Show Your Stoff Tour, hosted by Mahlica Designs! Zierstoff is not a company I had previously worked with before. They have many patterns in German, but they are also working on their English pattern catalogue!

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I chose the Svea pants, because I love this relaxed style! They are perfect for me to wear to work. When working with children it is great to be appropriately covered, comfortable and to be able to get down on the ground with them without out worrying about your clothes flying up

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On a windy day like today I was glad to be wearing pants! I made this version from a soft rayon fabric. It is perfectly light weight and with great drape. I made the size M using the website’s finished measurements as a guide and they are a slim fit. They also suggest jersey as an option and that would be so comfortable and perfect in this slim style!

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I loved this print and they look great sewn up, but I wouldn’t suggest stripes if you are OCD! Matching them up (not to perfection, but just roughly) was a little tricky, with lots of manipulation down each seam.

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I hope you like what I chose to make – which pattern do you have your eye on? Please visit all our awesome bloggers on tour this week, and enjoy our exclusive 30% off discount with the code in the graphic above!!

Monday April 10- Anne-Mari Sews, Inspinration, Tenille’s Thread, Sew Cucio, Embrace Everyday

Tuesday April 11- Musings of A Seamstress, mahlicadesigns, Anna’s Heirloom Boutique, Ronda B Handmade, FABulous Home Sewn

Wednesday April 12- Sprouting Jube Jube, Thread and Scissors, Kaleidothought, Idle Sunshine

Thursday April 13- mahlicadesigns, Very Blissful, Sew A Piece of Joy, Zowie Zo, Nina Makes, Lulu & Celeste

Friday April 14- Tales of a Tester; Anne-Mari Sews; Bless, by Tone; Nap Time Creations; Needles to Say, Adventures with Bubba and Bug

Saturday April 15- Sprouting Jube Jube, Musings of A Seamstress, Stitches by Laura; Tea, Dust and Stitches, Anna’s Heirloom Boutique

Coffee & Thread Pattern Tour

Welcome to Day 1 of the Coffee & Thread Blog Tour! I’m so thrilled to be involved and so happy that you’ve come to visit my post! I had some big ideas as soon as I looked at the Coffee & Thread Patterns store! I loved all of the options there, but the Ila dress with it’s piping just grabbed me!

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I wanted to make some Wild & Free pants with bunny ears to go with my Ila for Easter, but once I put my fabrics together, I decided it would be too much for one outfit! I can’t get those cute pants out of my head though, so stay tuned and I will make some and pair them with a simpler top to let them shine!

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We have just had the hottest Summer on record here in Australia, but just as hot as it was, all of a sudden we’ve turned the corner and are heading to Winter in our part of the world! We’ve had a few weeks of rain here, so it is cooler and darker at the moment, especially now that daylight savings time has ended! We got out in between showers to get our pictures one afternoon, but my girl did not complain because she was plenty warm enough!
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I was originally thinking corduroy and piping for my Ila, but then I thought, why not give a nice thick ponte knit a go! It makes this dress so comfortable and soft with that bit of stretch, it is also quite warm.

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The printed knit I used for the centre panel and yoke is a poly knit and quite lightweight and slinky, but I just loved all the colours together! So to make it work I just lined those sections with some white cotton lycra, to give it some body to match the heavier pontes.
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To sew it up was a little different from the instructions in the pattern, because I didn’t use a zip. I cut the back on the fold (taking out the seam allowance). I left one shoulder open to attach the yoke, then attached the yoke lining. I understitched the yoke seam to the lining and then closed the shoulder all the way through to the yoke lining. I trimmed my seam allowances where needed to reduce bulk and then stitched the yoke lining down all the way around by stitching in the ditch of the yoke/bodice seam on the front of the dress.

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I love how it turned out and the colours are so awesome, even if the sun wasn’t shining to highlight the colours for me…

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She had a little play in the field where there were hundreds of little white moths! You can’t really see it in the pictures, but when you walked through the grass, they all went flying which was so fun!

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Please go and pay a visit to the many other amazing makers on this tour, you will be so pleased you did!! Then scroll to the end of my post for a great sale offer and a giveaway!!

April 3

Enjoyful Makes || Idle Sunshine || ZowieZo Handmade || Angie Burgett

April 4

Handmade Frenzy || Replicate Then Deviate || Fairies, Bubbles & Co || Coral + Co

April 5

Made By Sara || Naeh-Connection || The Bag of Unexpected || Circle Meets Line

April 6

Skirt Fixation || Sewing Like Mad || Hello Holli || Buzzmills ||

April 7

Little Cumquat || Thread Bear Garments || Pearl Berry Lane || Plus 2 is 5 || Sew Chibi 

April 10

Stahlarbeit || Knee Socks and Goldilocks || Bonnie and Lottie || Sew Sophielynn 

April 11

Mouse House Creations || While She was Sleeping || Mix it Make it || By Dagbjort 

April 12

Gaafmachine || Beletoile || LBG Studio || My Cozy Co  || As It Seams

April 13

Moineau & Petit Pois || Just Add Fabric || Sweeter Than Cupcakes || Frances Suzanne || Sew Liberated 

April 14

Stitched Together || S is for Sewing || Boevenbende || Lafolie Sewing Booth || Sew Pony ||With Love By Eva 

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Now it’s not a Blog Tour without a sale and a giveaway is it! How does 20% off all Coffee & Thread Patterns with the code “Coffeeandthreadtour” sound? Sounds pretty awesome to me!

Don’t forget to click below for your chance to win some great prizes!!!

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