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!!!