Monday 17 September 2018

Blog Tour - Thread Faction #123 Tank and Pants

It's been a little while since I've blogged, I've been so busy failing at life that I've definitely not had time to hop on here!

I knew this blog tour for the Thread Faction Tank and Pants, would help get me back on track and I love talking about patterns that I LOVE! You can usually tell how much I love a pattern by how many  I end up making. I've made 6, with 3 more cut out!

And PS: if you're nervous about binding, this is the pattern for you to try it out on! Liz has some awesome videos on sewing knit and specifically how to sew this pattern. So, that makes it a great pattern for beginners to try their hand at things like binding and bands.



This pattern ticks all of my boxes: quick sew, practical, comfortable to play in, cute!


My kids love love love playing in the backyard in the summer evenings, it's usually too hot for lots of clothes, so quite often they'll go in their singlets and undies and the Tank and Pants pattern is perfect for this!


There is a gusset option so you can use them as undies, I left this off for the ones I made and had planned to use them as PJ's over the top of undies. I say planned, because as soon as my mum saw them, she gave me one of those Indian head shakes and tutted at me.


After all these years, even I don't really know if that means she's happy or annoyed... her point was that these singlets were WAY too cute to be hidden away as PJ's and that the girls should be wearing them with skirts or shorts for summer - good thing Thread Faction have a great skirt pattern too...

One of my favourite fabric stores, The Material Girl Australia has worked with Thread Faction to bring to life these cute little project panels, they will work with all sizes of the pattern and have a panel for the front, coordinate for the back, small panel for the pants and a glitter for the straps and leg bands! and I reckon if I cut a bit savvy I would be able to squeeze a small size out of the leftovers!

AND HOW CUTE ARE THEY???


As you can see, this panel really suits her personality. I once said a very similar phrase on an Instagram post! 

I used my mini-panel on the butt part, but you can also use it for the front.


Her "pretend" sleep face is toooooo cute!


There is a great line up of ladies on the blog tour to show off the pattern and the panels




I hope you enjoy this tour! and all the cuteness in it

Happy Sewing
T x

Thursday 15 March 2018

P+M Patterns - Blog Tour - Blue Princess Top and Ella Shorts (+ giveaway!)


I was beyond happy when Elsa from La Casa Cactus approached me to ask if I'd like to join in a blog tour for P+M Patterns. Karine is a talented French national, living abroad, whose designs ooze that french chic - simple, elegant and understated but with so much style.

Once you've read my post, make sure you check out the giveaway at the bottom of the page to enter and win a pattern of your choice.

I have been using the Leon Shorts for nearly 5 years now, I found the pattern back when P+M was Papillion and Mandarine and only available in printed paper patterns, in that time I've made SO many Leon's and have loved each one!



Don't panic when you head to the website or the Facebook page and see a lot of French - all the patterns are translated to English and are very clear and now they're all available in PDF as well, which is a super bonus for those of us down under where post costs are sometimes prohibitive!!


The Leon Shorts come in sizes 2-12 and they're just the perfect shorts - not too long, not too short, not too straight, not too puffy - just perfect! So, as you can see I was already a fan of the brand and was more than happy to jump in to tell you all about them!





For this blog post I've sewn up the Ella Shorts minus the sash. I didn't think any other woven shorts could top the Leon shorts for me, Ella has! It's such a stylish pattern - I used a beautiful navy linen and they are perfect for a hot summers day.


The Ella Shorts come in sizes 2-12. As always go by the size chart, My nearly 4 year old is wearing a size 3 in the photos below. They are listed as a "medium" difficulty pattern but I would say a confident beginner would easily make a pair.


The pattern includes belt loops and a sash style belt which I left off, because, well.... I know my daughter and she would untie it and lose is along a walk somewhere or even worse, tie it to my poor dogs tail!



I love the box pleat detail in the front and the little button tabs on the sides and my missy loves the pockets - pockets are always a winner in our house - where else would she hide rocks and leaves and lizards...



Can you see the attitude oozing out of those butter-wouldn't-melt-eyes? Are you fearful for my sanity during the teenage years?? I am... 

 I also sewed up the Blue Princess Top, it is an adorable little dress, or top. It too comes in sizes 2-12 and is listed as an "easy" sew, I would say that is pretty accurate. I've gotten a head start on my easter sewing, I used this cute bunny print to make it a little easter-y



She has decided to call it her bunny top because the back straps look like bunny ears.


And then I loved it so much I had to make her another in this beautiful floral print from The Wildflower Store. I just love blue on little girls.



I hope you have enjoyed this little introduction to one of my favourite designers, you can follow along with the other bloggers in this series (links below) to see what they have sewn up for the blog tour and see what other patterns you (and I) will need to add to our "must sew" lists!


Happy Sewing
Tanya x












Pm-Patterns Blog Tour
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday 14 February 2018

Pattern Review - It's all the heart eyes for the new Bellevue Dress from Little Lizard King 

Did you hear Little Lizard King has a new pattern designer join their team? Natasha from Ellie’s Handmade has released her first two patterns, The Bellevue Dress and Romper, and they are totally amazing!


If you knew how awesome Tash is, you'd totally get my gushing, beaming, pride while writing this post! We met about 3.5 years ago after I bought one of her makes in a showcase. We discovered she was only 10 min away from me so she suggested I come pick the parcel up. When I got there I discovered she had a daughter the same age as mine and a son the same age as my littlest. The rest as they say, is history!




Over the last few years we have become good friends and she has become an important and incredibly supportive part of my life. So you can forgive me for being so cheesy and absolutely bursting with love for her very first pattern release.

I’ve always loved her style. A touch of vintage mixed with sass and Bellevue doesn't disappoint! It's practical and cute with a little bit of a vintage feel. I love the side panels for the dress, which takes it from a pinafore style to an actual dress style as you don't need to pop a t-shirt or blouse under for older kids.

My 5 yo loves her twirly dress with a "fluffle" at the bottom. It's such a perfect dress for showing off an embroidery panel or a small piece of your favourite fabric  - I used a vintage embroidered table cloth for this one and paired it with some lovely "linen look" fabric from Dizzy Daisy Fabrics


I'm sure your girls will love twirling in their Bellevue Dresses <3 and if you've got a bubba or a girl who still loves rompers, there is a baby version of this pattern that has a romper bottom which includes a snap panel - perfect for a quick nappy change or toilet stop!







The low down on sizes:  12m-14 for the dress and NB to 4 for the romper, this pattern covers everyone!

You're enjoy this sew, I promise <3

T xx


Sunday 28 January 2018

Plastic grocery bags.... OR a super pretty, environmentally friendly alternative!


Let's talk about our environment for a moment.  I won't bore you with the statistics, but lets just say, plastic is killing our ocean life and we all need to do our part to change that! I've been plastic bag free since about March 2017,  I do a lot of other plastic-free things but for today, lets focus on the bags!

For most of last year I used some polyester bags that I bought from Woolworths. They're perfect for me - they're tiny and roll up and I can keep a couple in my handbag so I never get caught out needing plastic! They're falling apart now after constant use for going on 11 months and of course Woolies stopped selling them.... just as they announced they were going plastic-bag-free... go figure!

So, I figured, how hard could it be to figure this out?? I found the most "loved" one and unpicked it and used the same measurements as I'd like it to fit at the check-out station when I do go to the grocery store, which, since discovering an amazing local farmers market, has been less and less.

I thought I'd do a quick tutorial for one because I'm super passionate about reducing the amount of plastic that ends up in our oceans and landfills.

What you need:
23" x WOF fabric of your choice. Something to keep in mind is the thicker the fabric the bigger it will be in your handbag... if you don't mind then, then use drill or even quilting cotton. A poly would be fine and much thinner to roll up.
5.5" elastic - whatever you have on hand will be fine - I used some sparkly FOE...

Cut:
2 x 20.5" wide x 17" long rectangles for the bag - if you want a smaller or larger bag, cut them smaller or bigger - it will literally work with most size rectangles!
2 x 6" wide x 13.5" long rectangles for the straps
3/8" Seam Allowance, unless otherwise specified

1 . Sew both short sides and one long side together. Right sides together to form the bag. Overlock or otherwise finish the edges. If you're using directional fabric, keep this in mind when you choose which 3 sides to sew down.

2. Overlock or press down the creases for a narrow hem around the whole top opening of the bag.

3. Narrow hem (or overlock and fold over) and sew down the long ends of the straps. Press. Overlock or otherwise finish the short ends of the straps

Overlocked, turned down and sewn

Narrow Hem, enclosed edges

4. Find the centre of the bag on one side and mark, pin the elastic there in a loop and sew it down - go over it a few times for strength.



5. Fold over the top of bag 1/4" and then 3/8" and sew down, take care when going over the elastic loop not to tangle it. If you don't want to enclose the overlocked seam, just fold over 3/8" and sew down. Press
Overlocked, turned in 3/8" and sewn down

Narrow hem, enclosed edges

6. Measure 1.25" from the side seam of all 4 edges of the top of the bag and mark.



7. Working with one side at a time, pin and attach the straps at the 1.25" mark - right side of strap to inside of bag.  I prefer to top stitch this bit down from the outside of the bag so I can make sure my stitching looks nice from the outside. Repeat for the other handle on the side you're working on. Then flip to the other side of the bag and repeat. I like to use a triple stitch (pictured below) to sew down the bags - it saves me going back and forth and making a mess on the outside of the bag. If you don't have this stitch on your machine, then just do a few rows of stitching to secure the handle well.






8. With the bag inside out, measure 4" in from each bottom corner


9. Fold the whole side of the bag in on the 4" mark toward the middle and sew down at seam allowance, repeat for other side. Turn right side out and poke out the bottom sides - it will be like an accordion or fan shaped fold - the bag will look narrow but have a wider capacity






10. Take the outer edge of one strap and fold under, wrong sides together till strap is folded in half.




11. Find centre top of strap and sew a line of sticking to hold down, repeat for other strap


12. Give it all a really good press



To Fold:

Fold in the long outer edges of the bag toward the middle, press well as you go so it holds the creases after you've used it - those creases will help you fold it back to a small roll when you're done using it!







fold bottom edge up

fold straps down

then roll upward

Take the elastic and loop it over to hold the roll together.


Voila!!!

I took it out today for a little shop to try it out and was stoked that it fit at the check outs for both Woolies and Big W



If you have any questions about the method, please ask me and I'd be only too happy to help!

Happy Sewing
T x