Orinoco Designs Australian Bushfire Fundraiser

I spend my sewing time very wisely these days! I don’t say yes to just anyone… Unless your name is Nadia and you design awesome prints for Orinoco Designs! This round is very special! At least 50% of all profits will  be going to help people affected by the Bush fires in the 2019/2020 bushfire season.

What could be better than fabric for a fundraiser! Creating with a conscience! It’s our duty to go mad and buy it ALL! ❤

I was so blessed to be sent 5m of stunning Aussie prints to showcase! I called in some help from our Swozzie (Swiss/Aussie) cousins to show you some great combinations! My girls had already chosen a tank and tee with shorts, so all I asked was wombat or echidna and skirt or cropped joggers?

Miss 12 chose the Clay Echidnas and Pink & Rust Hash. She wanted a cropped dolman tee, so I used the Peach Patterns Pearlie dress, which was created for One Thimble Issue 16. I extended the bodice to get the look she wanted and made her some Striped Swallow Designs Run in the Sun Shorts. She is up in the top end of sizes in both these patterns! I added a little extra length to the shorts for her long legs, I swear I didn’t leave one pattern alone when I created this collection!

Miss 9 chose the Pink Wombats and Pink & Rust Hash for some Made by Jacks Mum Hang Ten Shorts and a Wicked Patterns Wren Tank. I cut the shorts to the length she wanted and added extra seam allowance to the armscye and neckline of the tank, so that I could just turn and hem instead of using bands.

Miss 10 chose a tank and joggers combo. I used the Rust Waratah fabric and the Sofilantjes Solis Dress Bodice for the tank and extended by an inch and just hemmed to finish. Her joggers are the Juniper Joggers by Striped Swallow Designs. I shortened the legs to a cropped length (using my Miss 9 as a guide for her height), then measured my Miss 9’s calf circumference to make cuffs. I spliced in a cute patchy section down one leg to bring together all the prints.

Miss 7 chose a skirt and tank combo. A skirt bless her! Nobody has requested a skirt around here for so long lol!!! Her tank is also the Rust Waratah fabric and the Sofilantjes Solis Dress Bodice hack like her big sisters. Her skirt is based on the free Gracie Skirt by Simple Life Pattern Co. It is made for woven with a knit waistband. I used the waistband, pocket and side panel dimensions, but drastically reduced the width of the skirt front and back panels. I didn’t want a super pouffy skirt that was so gathered that the print was obscured.

I made sure not to use all the Rust Waratah fabric on the kids! I had some minty green cotton lycra and navy ribbing in my stash so I squeezed myself out a tee! I am on the hunt for the perfect relaxed tee pattern, so you will see a few more versions and trials of this popping up! I used the Wardrobe by me Daisy Drop Shoulder Tee. I raised the neckline and drafted my own neckband and wide cuffs. Pretty happy with it I must say…

I’ve saved possibly the best for last! Navy Australian Flora is such a stunning print! I made myself a Chalk & Notch Waterfall Raglan with an extended hem instead of a ruffle. I have a few of these and I love wearing them so much in winter! Sadly my stash is completely lacking in solids and coordinating prints right now! I have been staying home as much as possible and didnt have time to order something in, so I used this great looking striped double knit. Not the best idea… It doesn’t have nearly as much stretch as the gorgeous cotton lycra, but hey, it looks good right?

So have I totally overwhelmed you? You really need to check out the whole collection to appreciate all of it! It is for a good cause and its completely stunning! You really should buy the lot lol!! All prints are available in Cotton Lycra, French Terry, Bamboo Lycra and woven cotton. I think I need a Mustard Wombat Sweater, but what else have you picked as your favourite print in the collection?

Happy Sewing

Brooke x

Coffee & Thread Lana Pattern Tour

Hi Everyone!

I joined the Coffee & Thread Lana Pattern Tour! When I joined I was planning to make my girls some cute tops, as I haven’t been making myself much lately. I put on a stack of weight and really didn’t want to make myself anything, nor did I want to look at myself in pictures! I’ve turned that around over the past 3 weeks and rewarded myself with a gorgeous new top!

It’s amazing what a bit of self esteem, a cute pattern and some gorgeous fabric will do for you!

I hacked my pattern by making it a peplum. I basically cut the top length by about 9.5 inches (because I am high waisted) and added it back as a gathered skirt. I cut the width of the skirt about 1.5 times the width of the top, and the length about 9 inches long.

When attaching the peplum skirt I gathered it using a piece of elastic the exact width of the bodice. I overlapped the elastic and sewed it into a loop and stretched it to meet the quarter points of the peplum skirt, then attached the gathered skirt, matching the quarter points to the bodice.

I used a beautiful bamboo spandex from Orinoco Designs that I’ve been hoarding for myself. I was going to crack out my new coverstitch but this fabric actually sits really nicely without a hem. You might notice I’ve left both the hem and the sleeves raw! I’m quite comfortable doing that! Just note that if you’d like to hem yours, you might like to cut the skirt an inch longer!

I love the combination of the gathered sleeves and the gathered peplum! I was really tempted just to hem the extended shoulders without adding the sleeves, but I love this version. It’s definitely something I will try for next time though!  There is also a dress version and long sleeves included in this pattern.

I love this organic grid design! The rough grid fabric print made it difficult to match up my stripes though, so I had to do my best and just give my stripe-matching OCD a rest.

In other news, I can fit my wedding rings back on again!! Yay!!

BUT jeez those elbows are ugly! Why are elbows so weird? I really need to learn to bend them for back shots… 😉 It might not look even in this shot because I am not straight on to the camera, but I dipped the back bodice lower than the front, for a bit of bottom coverage and I find it a flattering cut! 

If you’d like some help hacking your Lana Pattern or making adjustments, drop me a line! I am always happy to help ❤

Thanks for joining me on my stop today.  Make sure to head over to Instagram to see all the other beautiful Lana’s.  Use the hashtag #lanatopanddresstour to be blown away!

My Favourite Things

So the theme this month on the Sewing With Ti Blog Tour is “My Favourite Things”! This category is so hard for someone like me that just loves EVERYTHING! So I decided to make myself one of my favourite patterns and get my bum moving on my kids favourites, for their summer sewing too!

This is the Little Kiwis Closet Women’s Cuffed Dolman! It is a great relaxed dolman tee in a longer tunic length with a curved hem. It also comes in a dress length option which I chose to make here. I was sent this gorgeous Pink Aztec Rayon Spandex by Orinoco Designs to showcase for a current fabric pre-order and I knew it would be a perfect match!

The drape is perfect for this pattern and it is a great print for young and old. My girls loved it, but I had to (very unselfishly) show you all how great it was made up as a grown up piece!

I wasn’t a complete monster though… I saved the girls a few scraps and I used some straight away to run up this cute top! It’s the Little Kiwis Closet Choose Your Adventure Tee & Dress. I created this cute cap sleeve and pocket and added it to this royal blue cotton lycra I had in my stash. I think this is perfect for the theme – as one of my favourite things to do is mash and tweak patterns!

I used the flutter sleeve pattern piece from the Poppet Peplum pattern and added an inch or 2 to the centre so that it would fit the armscye perfectly. I lined the “flutter/cap” with some white cotton lycra to give it some body before attaching it. I absolutely love how this turned out and it just covers the shoulders nicely to protect them from our harsh summer sun!

Then we of course had to have some pics together, because – matching!

It was so cold! You have to remember it’s winter here at the moment and it was 7:30am before school! We are so lucky to have such mild winters, but boy was it fresh and frosty this morning!

I have a few more scraps left, so I used a tiny bit to jazz up this plain tank as well, but I will not waste a bit – it’s too cute!

Next up I want to show you a sneak peek of the girls version of the Cuffed Dolman! It’s in testing right now and is looking just as awesome as the women’s version!!!

This one I upcycled from a women’s large tshirt we found (stripes are her favourite) and I made the regular cuffed sleeves.

There is a long sleeve version too that I’ll share with you soon and you can also opt to leave the cuffs off altogether and just hem!

You can see from my upcycle that the back of the shirt has a centre seam. I hope this means that the manufacturer is being frugal with fabric! I love to upcycle as a way to reduce landfill and to get awesome cheap fabric.

This length is perfect with tights and I will make her some dolman dresses for summer as well. I know I live in them, so I am betting my girls will too!

Here’s an essential shot of my stripe matching – I’m sorry but if you are sewing stripes, they just have to match 😉 ! It also shows the cool curved hem.

Next up are some more great basics! I love to make pretty dresses, but my girls just want to wear shorts and tees! So while I never thought I’d make basics when you can get them cheap from Kmart, I love that they get something amazing and unique from me, with great quality fabrics and no exploited labour. Except for me of course… They fully exploit me!

This is the Pearlie Peplum and Scuttle Shorts from One Thimble Issue 16! This issue has only recently released and I am sewing my way through it! These patterns will be on high rotation! I used another Orinoco Designs print from a previous round for the bodice and the front panel of a tshirt I upcycled did the peplum skirt front and back.

The Pearlie Dress & Peplum is by Peach Patterns and I have lengthened the bodice here by 2 inches to bring the peplum down closer to her natural waist. This is just a personal preference. When I made the dress previously I used the size 7 length skirt, but because I added length to the bodice here, I used the size 5 peplum skirt length.

I teamed it with the Scuttle Shorts by Ainslee Fox Boutique Patterns. I made the basic version here without any pockets or colour blocking and they were soooo fast! This girl looooves her knit shorts so I am going to make a full rainbow of these! This was a knit my Mum grabbed from Spotlight for me. As a bonus, they don’t take very much fabric at all!

Check ’em out – they’re adorable!

 

Ok so let’s recap a few of my favourite things…

• The LKC Cuffed Dolman
• Awesome custom print fabric
• Pattern hacking
• Matching my minis
• Upcycling
• Stripe matching
• Little Kiwis Closet
• One Thimble
• Sewing things my kids will actually wear

Did I miss anything? I’m sure my girls have their own list to add!

 

If you’d like to see what everyone else on board has chosen to share this month, you can view their posts here! Each post will go live on it’s date in August.

 

Tuesday, August 1st: Intro ***You are here. 😀, Tenille’s Thread

2nd: Stitching At Night

3rd: Sewing By Ti

4th: Needles To Say

5th: Very Blissful

Sunday, August 6th: The Fairy Dust Bin

7th: Anne-Mari Sews

8th: Sewing With Sarah

9th: Thats Sew Lily

10th: Stitching at Night

11th: EYMM

12th: Sew Sew Ilse

Sunday, August 13th: Lulu & Celeste

14th: Seams Sew Lo

15th: Tales From a Southern Stitching Mom

16th: Stitching and Making

17th: Creative Counselor

18th: Ma Moose

19th: Kainara Stitches

Sunday, August 20th: Embrace Everyday

21st: She Who Sews

22nd: Idle Sunshine

23rd: My Heart Will Sew On

24th: Lovely For Life

25th: Margarita On the Ross

26th: Anne-Mari Sews

Sunday, August 27th: Made By Melli

28th: Adventures with Bubba and Bug

29th: Auschick Sews

30th: Me Made

31st: Living in Twinado Alley

 

Warmest Wishes,

Brooke x

Idlesunshine

 

Laela Jeyne Patterns Summer Collection Tour

Welcome to the last day on the Laela Jeyne Patterns Summer Collection Tour! I’m so happy to be joining my lovely sewing friends to promote their Summer Collection Release! There are 6 new patterns now available and I was lucky enough to test the Lily Blouse.

It is winter here currently, and as much as I wish I was in my swimmers, I love that this pattern included a long sleeve version! This pattern is exactly my style, I had been on the look out for a while for something just like it!

Laela Jeyne Lily Blouse – Idlesunshine

You’ll have to excuse my windy photoshoot, my hair and blouse were blowing around everywhere! I used a polyester that I purchased to make a Laela Jeyne Tula! So it was funny it got used for another LJ pattern instead!

Laela Jeyne Lily Blouse – Idlesunshine

 

I love the simple shape, the relaxed fit and the exposed zipper! With sizes 0-26 and bust sizes A-E you are set! Silly me was on my way to work – so I styled as I normally would and went on my way, without considering that my necklace might be hiding those neckline darts, so I’ll pop in a line drawing too. That will show you the short sleeve version, the sleeveless with a collar version and the gathered front option! I love a pattern with options!

Laela Jeyne Lily Blouse – Idlesunshine

The fit is great and I can’t wait to make some more! I ordered some gorgeous red floral rayon to run up a second one with a modified hem for the tour, but it took 2.5 weeks to get here, which was way too late for me to be able to use it! Also in that package was some dance fabrics I needed for a costume for an eisteddfod on Monday! Needless to say, we are now borrowing a costume, but that’s another story! I will get onto that second Lily blouse and post those pics soon, but that fabric company wont be getting a plug here! 😉

Thank you for dropping by today! Here are all the posts included in the tour this week!

Also be sure to head to the Laela Jeyne Blog for a RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY!!!

Monday

Anna’s Heirloom Boutique – Swimming in a Sea of Estrogen – Olive Ashby

Tuesday

Mahlica Designs – Pear Berry Lane – Sewing with Sarah

Wednesday

Sewn at Seams – Nini and Ash – The Crafting Fiend – Sew a Piece of Joy

Thursday

I am Mami de Sofiona – Sew and Tell Project – My Heart Will Sew On

Friday

LoveThings – Idle Sunshine – Lovely for Life – Neva Couture

Simple Life Pattern Co – Sew Caroline Collaboration

Sew Caroline and Simple Life Pattern Company are thrilled to be announcing an amazing new collaboration of Mommy and Me sewing patterns!
They teamed up to bring you six awesome new patterns! SLPCo took the Sugar Pop Top, Magnolia Shorts and Waterfall Tank and downsized them to fit the little girls in your life. In return, Sew Caroline took the Ayda Top + Dress, Molly Top, Dress + Maxi and Tammy’s Tulip Shorts and upsized them to fit women. It’s a match made in heaven!

I’ve always loved the simple design of the girls Ayda so I jumped at the chance to try out the women’s version! I love an interesting back design, it is my favourite feature.

I decided to make the sleeveless version from this awesome green floral rayon woven. I bought a truck load of it because I just loved it! It is super slippery and floaty and and amazing! You can also make a cap sleeve or flutter sleeve version.

You can see this fabric drapes a little in the back (especially with my posture in this shot) because of the nature of the rayon and it being cut on the bias. It was quite a cowl when I first pinned it, so instead of sewing the back pieces dead flat across the bottom, I angled the corners downward slightly to flatten the fit of the back V before attaching it to the skirt.

I took a tiny bit of length off the bodice which is an adjustment I always make for my super high waist (but it didn’t need much at all) and otherwise I made up the size M without any changes.

I made the circle skirt  rather than the gathered skirt because

a) I had plenty of fabric

b) I love the twirl and silouette AND…

c) I really dislike gathering skirts to attach to bodices haha!

What sewing technique is your least favourite? I love the look of gathers, but I put them in the same category as button holes… Not my favourite things to do, probably because they take time and patience – 2 things I am kinda short on 😉

I hemmed the skirt with yellow bias tape which you can see peeking out here. It is my favourite way to hem a circle skirt and it gave me a little extra length because I raised the waist and I am fairly tall. The fabric width wouldnt allow me to make it any longer than the exact pattern piece and the fabric is directional.

There are so many other awesome bloggers on tour this week highlighting these great new patterns so go and visit them all!

May 15

Pattern Revolution

Call Ajaire

May 16

Blue Wren Handmade

Stitches by Laura

May 17

Rebel & Malice

All Things Katy!

Sewn at Seams 

May 18

Adventures With Bubba and Bug 

Idlesunshine

Tina Sew Tiny

May 19

That’s-Sew-Kari

Pear Berry Lane

Pattern Revolution

Ruby Rue Creations

 

Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we believe will add value to our readers.

Sisboom Angie Pattern Hack-A-Thon

Hi everyone! Welcome to the first stop on the Sis Boom Patterns Angie Hack-A-Thon Tour! I am so excited to show you my version of the Angie, it’s definitely my new favourite dress.

You might remember in my recent post from the Just For Me January Tour that I am an Angie fan and that I planned to make one in knit fabric!

With most things in life, I like to do a bit of research and then just give it a go. Usually that works out fine… In this case I think I pretty much nailed it!

Let’s take a look at a picture from the original pattern to get a feel for the bones of the dress.

Sis Boom Patterns Angie Dress Pattern

Here’s where the “Hack” comes into it. I decided to make a knit version instead of woven for my hack, partly because I love the drape and most definitely for the comfort and fit. I also decided to reverse the height of the necklines and make the front a high neckline and the back low. I used a quarter circle skirt instead of a gathered one and I added cap sleeves!

I cut out all my pieces for the bodice and basted them together with my sleeves to make sure they worked and I was shocked, {cough!} I mean not suprised at all that they did! I unpicked the bodice and remade it with my serger/overlocker (because unpicking overlocking stitching is not fun, so we like to avoid that).

I made the same size I made last time as the knit was fairly stable and not super stretchy. I used the full width of the front darts, but not the back as that made the front & back width match, which made matching the skirt easier.

Here’s how I reversed the necklines. Cutting out my front piece above, will you just look at those fancy schmancy pattern weights! I laid the back piece on top, matching the shoulders, just to use the neckline. I folded the rest of the pattern out of the way. I did the same process for the back bodice piece, but next time I may make it even more of a dramatic plunge!

I bound the neckline by using a strip of the knit about 2cm wide or 3/4″ and applied it like bias tape. I sewed it on the outside of the neckline right sides together, flipped it up and over to the inside of the garment so that could not be seen and sewed it down. I stretched the binding like you do when you are doing neck bands etc on knit, but I think next time I might not stretch it much at all.

For the sleeve I used a cap sleeve pattern I had from a t-shirt dress I had made recently. I hemmed them before attaching. The head of the sleeve ended up a little big but with a little pleat at the top, it fit perfectly.

To match my sleeves and side seams nicely, I always tack them together first using the sewing machine and check they line up perfectly before I overlock all the way from the sleeve hem to the bottom of the bodice (see below).

I cut out a quarter circle skirt from a woven dress pattern I had made before and sewed up the side seams. Then I just trimmed a few cm from the top of the skirt until the circumference of the skirt matched the circumference of the bodice. I added the elastic to the back waist per the pattern which gives it these sweet gathers and a slimmer silhouette overall. I didn’t hem the dress as the knit does not fray. If you cut it nice and straight it’s absolutely not necessary (yay)!!

This was quite a fast project! The next time around will be even faster now that I have tested it all. I’d love if you’d leave me a comment and let me know what you think or what you would do to “Hack” your Angie!

Play along all week with my sewing friends and be prepared to be inspired by their incredible ideas! You wont believe how different each dress looks all made from the one base pattern. Keep up to date by following the Sis Boom Patterns Blog!

Warmest wishes,

Brooke x

 

Laela Jeyne Plaid & Boots Tour

I am thrilled to be included in the Laela Jeyne Plaid & Boots Tour Lineup! I know the rest of these girls are loving getting back into their boots and warmer clothes in the Northern Hemisphere! They’ve been sewing cosy clothes, eating all things pumpkin and looking forward to Thanksgiving and a White Christmas!

I signed up straight away into Day 1 of the tour, which is all about “Date Night”! Now I didn’t sign up to that theme because my husband and I get to do that a lot, in fact with 3 kids and the normal crazy busy life that comes along with that, there’s not a lot of dating going on at all! I can however translate clothes to fit that theme, so let me show you the 3 outfits I’ve come up with made with Laela Jeyne Patterns.

Here in Australia we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, there’s no Black Friday sales, no game nights and bonfires either at this time of year. We operate a little differently as we are enjoying Spring not Fall (or Autumn as we know it)! So as the weather warms up, Date Night was the theme I could relate to best!

Here in my part of Australia Spring has been so beautiful so far! I’m not a fan of the cold weather at all so I am a very happy girl right now! We have been heading to the beach on the weekends, swimming in our friends pool, doing bush walks and enjoying the sunshine and BBQ’s with our kids and friends. Then when the time rolled around to take pics of my outfits, the rain set in! Isn’t that always the way?

So for those cooler spring days, the hero of this outfit is the new Sydney Slouchy Raglan. I absolutely love raglans, I’ve made so many lately and everyone in the house is wearing them! They are so fast to put together and they look so cool!

I was involved in the testing of this pattern recently and loved it. It looks great with jeans or the new Taylor leggings (which can be downloaded free with a code from the Laela Jeyne Facebook Group)!!! You can dress it up with heels and some jewellery or dress it down with converse sneakers and a scarf.

I chose the off-the-shoulder slouchy version with slim sleeves, but there is a V-neck option, swing silhouette and slouchy sleeves included too!

My next outfit is another take on the new Sydney Slouchy Raglan (can you tell I’m a fan)? For this version I used white stretch lace and cotton lycra.

I pinned and basted the 2 layers together with my sewing machine before running it up per the pattern just using my overlocker. I was praying the whole time that I wouldn’t make any mistakes because unpicking would have been torture!

I extended the length of the top to make it dress length (following the existing silhouette of the Sydney and just checking it against the length and shape of a knit dress I’d made recently, but basically adding around 5.5inches or 14cm in length). The only other difference I made was to make the sleeves 3/4 length.

I kept the same curved hi-low hem, which I find really practical and flattering. No wardrobe malfunctions for me thanks!

I love this dress! It is soooo comfortable, I think I will have to hit my husband up for an ACTUAL DATE so I can wear it haha!

My third outfit is the Talia dress! I am a big fan of this style of dress, it is super cute and I will make many more. This is my kind of warmer weather staple. You throw on a cute dress and instantly look great and can pretend you’ve made an effort. It’s actually really lazy because you aren’t having to find 2 pieces that match and are clean and ironed, so I’ve always loved that illusion and embraced the dress!

It was quite a simple sew with good instructions. I’ll show it first with just a simple set of beads, so you can see the design and fit of the dress. I have since worn this exact outfit down to our local pub with my little family and friends for lunch!

I made the scoop neck, round back, knee-length version in a 1 inch black and white gingham which i thought looked really cool, and would also suit the Plaid & Boots Tour Theme!

I had a mustard scarf of some kind on my wishlist and it popped into my head again when I was making this dress. With Winter well and truly over I knew I wouldn’t find what I was looking for in the shops, but then a crochet pattern appeared in my instagram feed!

I know what you are thinking… Surely she’s not that clever that she can crochet too? You are dead right! I bought the pattern and the wool and dropped it off to my lovely Mother in Law haha! She whipped it up for me and I love it. I knew it would look great with black & white and I will get a lot of wear out of it when our Autumn and winter rolls back around!

Like all fitted patterns for ladies dresses, I had to make a few adjustments to get the perfect fit. The darts seemed to work well on me, but overall it ended up a bit big, so I had to take it in a bit in the side seams before finishing and adding the zipper.

I am very high waisted (short body, long legs), so I shortened the bodice (front and back) to have it sit at my natural waist to be most flattering. I then still had to take off a couple of extra inches of length from the  back bodice, which i think might be due to my sway back/high waist/high bum?  One of them or probably all of the above 😉

So I am working a Fall look for you, with a warmer weather twist! How did I do? If you’d like to come look after my kids so my husband and I could actually go out on a date let me know lol! He wasn’t even home to take my pictures, he was “working” away in Sydney last week, so Miss 8 gets all the credit for them 💘

I hope you enjoyed my twist on the Plaid & Boots Theme for Date Night! If you’d like to purchase any Laela Jeyne Patterns I have a discount code for you! To get 20% off your cart, the code is P&BTOUR20

Make sure to check out all the bloggers participating in the tour this week!

Tour Schedule

Monday

Kaleidothought – idle sunshine – Allie J.

Tuesday

Sew Pinspired – SewSophieLynn – The Wholesome Mama

Wednesday

Nini and Ash – Sew and Tell Project – Sweet Red Poppy

Thursday

Pear Berry Lane – Paisley Roots – Threadbear Garments – Lace and Pine Designs

Friday

Olive Ashby – Sunflower Seams – Elegantine

GIVEAWAY!!! With heartfelt thanks to these great sponsors above – check out these amazing prizes on offer and make sure you enter the via the rafflecopter for your chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sew Boxes – Seasons – Spring Reveal!

Sew Boxes Seasons subscribers around Australia and new Zealand have recently received their Spring Subscription Boxes! That means we can now reveal the top secret contents – or “What’s in the Box”?

But first let’s meet the Style Contributors! These ladies have spent a lot of time with Sew Boxes Owner and Creator Leesa, coming up with ideas for the Seasons subscription! I have loved meeting them all and creating new long distance friendships! We help search for the ideal patterns to fit the design brief and the season, we help each other with fit and to make and adjust toiles, make decisions on colour and prints, learn and share new sewing techniques and we’ve had a lot of fun along the way!

So here is the first reveal of the contributors Spring outfits!

So let me tell you about the Spring Box contents! Like the first Winter Seasons Box subscription, there are 3 PDF sewing patterns included to make the perfect outfit. There is also a collection of cool sewing gadgets, haby and notions to help you with this project and many more projects to come! I love the surprises when the box arrives!

The first pattern is the Marbella Dress by Itch to Stitch. We searched for a dress pattern suitable for spring, that could be dressed up for a day at the races or for a simple lunch with friends or family. It had to have options to fit and flatter many shapes and sizes, which was no mean feat! We all loved the Marbella, but knew with a second skirt option, it would knock the brief out of the park! So Leesa contacted Kennis from Itch to Stitch and she was excited to draft and add a second option to her pattern.

The original skirt is a tulip style skirt, but I chose the new half circle skirt for my outfit. I love this dress! It is definitely one I can dress up or down and will get lots of wear out of! I used a textured woven fabric I found at Lincraft one day wandering around in a 40% off sale. I love the yellow and I am proud of making myself something in a plain, rather than a print for once! I am a print addict, but I am trying to put together a handmade wardrobe with more versatile pieces.

I loooove that it has pockets, I am absolutely adding pockets to anything I make myself from here on in! I lined my dress bodice and left the skirt unlined. After talking to the other girls that made more than one dress, they said that the lined method was definitely the easiest, so that was a lucky guess (and a free tip for you)! I just folded my bodice lining under and attached it to the shell by stitching in the ditch of the waistline seam. It was a great pattern to make and fit. The bodice includes cup sizes A-D so no modification or fitting was needed for me other than to remove a small wedge at the top of the back bodice either side of the zipper.

Next up is the Lotus Blossom Shrug by Rabbit Rabbit Creations. I made the plain bound version of this, but you can also finish it with a ruffle around the neckline. I used a blue and white stripe ponte knit which could either have come from spotlight or lincraft… Don’t make me swear either way! It is super comfortable and such a fast sew! The ponte makes it quite warm and I have been wearing this cardi with many other outfits.

The third pattern is the brand new Roll With it Tote and was made on request by Lisa from Two Pretty Poppets! I have never made a handbag so I can’t tell you how proud I am of this project! I absolutely love this bag and the pattern is impeccable! If you are not a bag maker and are keen to give it a try, I can highly recommend Two Pretty Poppets! I made the smaller of the 2 sizes included in the pattern and used a poly/cotton print I bought from Lincraft. I also purchased pre made bias and made my piping to match.

Overall I was thrilled with how my outfit came together and am excited for the weather to warm up so I can wear it over and over again!

Thanks for stopping by!
Warmest wishes,

Brooke x

Idlesunshine

Sew Boxes – Seasons – Winter Reveal!

I want to share with you the outfit I made as a style contributor for the very first Sew Boxes – Seasons Subscription for Winter! Sew Boxes is an exciting Australian business, that has many different sewing box subscriptions on offer. Their subscriptions include their original monthly sew box, sew boxes for kids and a new fabric box subscription to help build your fabric stash! These subscriptions can all be found on the Sew Boxes website, along with assorted fabric, sewing kits and patterns.

The Seasons Box is a quarterly subscription made just for women to sew for themselves! This was just the challenge I needed, and I cannot tell you how thrilled I am with the results! We tend to sew for others and our children, but not enough for us, so it’s time to fix that with style!

As part of your subscription you will receive 3 awesome PDF sewing patterns from tried and trusted designers, as well as some awesome notions/hardware/haberdashery items to stock your stash and to help with your Seasons projects AND an awesome 12 page e-mag about the pattern designers, style contributors and more. For this first subscription release, we were lucky enough to work with patterns from the wonderful Winterwear Designs, Jocole and Little Moo Designs.

Our first pattern was a blazer by Winterwear Designs. We were very lucky to be able to choose from 3 great designs – The Phresh Blazer, The Giverney Blazer and The Champs Elysee Cross Back Blazer. I love that subscribers were given this choice, because the lovely Seasons Style Contributors all had different ideas of what they would choose and what would suit them best. I chose the Champs Elysee Blazer and I’m so happy with how it turned out!

I love the cross over back feature and I found it a great first pattern for tackling a blazer. I sew so much for my kids, but up until this point I had been a little scared of sewing for me. I used to convince my Mum to do that job! The Seasons box really turned that fear on its head and has me completely addicted! I used a cotton sateen floral fabric purchased in store from Spotlight and it pairs really nicely with my Jocole skinnies!

I am in love with these pants! I bought this stretch suiting from spotlight some time ago on a sale rack for $6 a metre, with this project in mind. I didn’t realise at the time that the Jocole Skinnies call for woven fabric (non-stretch), but I am big on comfort and I’m so glad I put these together. This fabric has a lot of stretch, around 75% when I did a stretch test, so I took my measurements and compared them to the pattern, then I sized down 2 sizes to account for the stretch. A lot of the other contributors did a muslin (a test version in similar but cheap fabric) to make sure their fit was right, but I had 3m of this extra wide fabric so I took a leap of faith, knowing I could start over if I really had to at $6 a metre!

They turned out really well, and I only had to take some slack out of the centre back and around my knees to get the fit I was after. I added pockets to both the front and the back, because I love pockets! I even added a little freehand swirly decorative stitching to the back pockets for interest. I used a stretch stitch around the crotch seam and double stitched it for strength, just to make sure I didn’t bust out of these babies!

When I was getting the fit right – trying them on, taking them off, turning them inside out and right side out to try again for fit, I found that small safety pins were handy to mark the points to adjust. Tailors chalk seemed to rub off too easily, pins stab you and wonder clips don’t stay in place when you are turning them inside and right side out, but I found safety pins really handy – you’re welcome!

Our 3rd project was an exclusive new release pattern to Sew Boxes – Seasons! This is the Tainted Love Fold Over Clutch by Little Moo Designs. I cannot tell you how excited I was to make this clutch, and how thrilled I was with the result! I had never made a clutch or a bag of any kind. I also had never sewn with leather or vinyl, but here she is in all her glory (cue choirs of angels etc etc)!!! I absolutely love this clutch and all my friends have put in requests for their own! I used the khaki stretch suiting from my skinnies, a piece of black vinyl from a garage sale that I got for $1, and the stripe woven was a scrap from my Aunts stash. She doesn’t keep scraps, she sends them down the road to me because I am a hoarder, but doesn’t it pay off!

As a bonus, subscribers were given a 4th pattern – a code to receive the pattern for the Winterwear Designs Trendy Tank! I made mine in a simple plain black knit, because it’s the kind of piece that will go with any outfit. I tested this v-neck tank for Winterwear Designs before its release and you can grab it for free too! See my tester pics and post here to find out more!

So you see I made this ENTIRE OUTFIT from head to toe (minus the hat, necklace and shoes I guess)!! In case you were wondering, the hat was purchased from Target, the shoes are from Big W, but the necklace was a custom piece! It was made to match my blazer by the lovely Danielle at BowerBird Creations! This is the third piece I have ordered from Danielle and her enthusiasm and customer service are second to none!

I hope this has given you all the information you have been wanting to know about the Seasons Subscription concept! You can read more about the Seasons Winter outfits made by all the awesome Style contributors in the subscriber e-mag here. This is an exclusive magazine to the Seasons Box, but you can have a sneaky look just this once!

Here’s a sneak peek at the contributors outfits for the Spring Edition! Subscriptions for Spring are now closed, but there are some trial boxes available on the website. Keep your eye out for a look at what’s in the Spring Seasons box and an awesome prize I have to give-away!

Warmest wishes,

Brooke x

Idlesunshine