Dear Fall Closet, I am working on you. Love, Me

Patchwork dreams coming true.

Insider tip: I am putting together a Fall Capsule project for a guest blog spot. I am really excited about it and can’t wait to share the entire collection, but not today! Normally, I don’t make a lot of things based on a certain color scheme or style because I like variety and prints and mixing a variety of prints. Your girl doesn’t have many items in her closet that she can wear. I am sorta doing a ‘sew as you go’ thing because as my body is changing, I am finding so are my style choices.

Refashioning Roots

I have been refashioning a ton of items from my old handmade closet! It is shocking how many dresses I have sewn in the last *almost* 5 years since beginning this blog. Even more shocking is that I haven’t worn most of them. Dresses sometimes take up several yards of fabric especially when you gather the skirt, so that gives me a ton of fabric to repurpose in creative ways. If you know me in my day to day life, you would know I never wore any of the dresses I made prior to the summer of 2020. 🙂 I began sewing clothing by refashioning thrift store finds. I didn’t know anything about sewing clothing and thought I could learn from taking apart already made items and creating new ones. It does work, but I have learned a lot of things in the last 5 years. I am loving my new perspective on sewing in general as well as my knowledge on doing said refashions. Progress is always good and my mind is always working. I *may* having a project coming up where I turned a beautiful full maxi dress into a great pair of pants. 🙂 Plus in October, I am participating in #sewupcycle22 and I am looking forward to creating something incredible for that. Now onto our regularly scheduled sewing.

I love Patchwork Prints. Most likely this is because I am a quilter at heart and love all things scrappy, vintage, and upcycled. I was most certainly born in the wrong decade.

Admittedly, I am not 100% sure this dress will make it in my capsule, but I have been crushing so hard on this patchwork DBP for a few months. I have been trying not to buy any fabrics, but I gave in here because…well, patchwork. Recently, The Fab Clique had a huge 40% off sale so I picked up a few things from it and then I ordered this bundle of fabric which was on sale from the recent Bundle Bonanza. If you haven’t checked those out, you are missing out on some deals! Side note: I have a curated bundle on the site too! This print is part of the Zayne Bundle. This double brushed poly is called Zara and it is so lovely. This brushed poly is my favorite since it feels buttery soft. I don’t know why all double brushed poly doesn’t feel the same, but this is the one I love. The bundle also includes 2 yards of rust colored rib knit which I also have plans for. If you pick these fabrics up from the bundles, you will save 14 bucks!! That will buy more fabric. 🙂

I can always count on Ellie and Mac to have a lovely dress pattern waiting to fit my needs. I wanted a simple pattern without excessive seams so as to really showcase this patchwork print. I decided on the To The Point Dress since it met my needs and had this really fun hem line! I think this is the first time I have used this pattern and I have no idea why. I am always a fan of garments which have extra belly coverage. The dress came together quickly with the same pattern piece used for the front and back. I decided to do the low scoop neck option and cut the sleeve around elbow length. I did a full bicep adjustment as usual.

Shopping

Fabric shopping with affiliate link.

Pattern Shopping with affiliate link.

What will you be adding to your Fall wardrobe? I can’t wait to add a few more items to my closet. I think I will work on a pair of pants next. I am also planning to make my first ever pair of jeans soon which she be really challenging, but in a good way. I have many plans for my sewing life and hope I can make them happen. Some days I just don’t feel like creating. Somedays I don’t feel like sharing. I know more folks are focused on making video content which I am not great at and I enjoy this blogging things. So many choices, for now, I will blog mainly with a few videos thrown in for fun.

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As always this blog contains affiliate links, which is a small commission I earn when you make a purchase from my blog links. Thank you for helping to support my sewing.

Turning 40 and Feeling Fantastic

Don’t worry folks, I do have an outfit to share with you! Just hang tight and celebrate with me. I do want to warn you that some folks may not want to read ahead. If you are triggered by conversations about exercise, getting healthy, or healthy eating please skip this blog post and stop back later this week. 🙂

I actually debated about writing that warning blip, but I find myself getting super annoyed when I go to a specific website and you get all sorts of junk you don’t want. So sewing and crafting will resume after this post. 🙂

I am officially FORTY! My first reaction is a major cringe, but let’s embrace being 4-0 and living our best life! We got this!

The last couple years have kinda beat me up so now I am fighting back. I had two surgeries exactly 7 months apart. The first in 2020 and the second in early 2021. Both surgeries ended up being more involved once the surgeon was in there and therefore recovery was a little tougher. While recovering from the second surgery, I realized I didn’t want this to be my life and I needed to make some changes. I was still trying to learn to walk correctly at the time so I decided to join a gym. Dream big right?? Joined a gym in mid-June with the goal of losing 40 pounds before I turned 40. I called it #40before40. I wasn’t just hoping to lose weight, but to overall, be healthier. There have been a few ups and down and some months were better than others, but here we are at the start of year 40. The final weigh in this morning… Down 49 pounds!! Dang, I wanted it to be 50 lbs, but 49 is more than my goal so that is awesome! Even though I don’t “see” any changes in my appearance, I can tell that my body is changing and I am making clothing in smaller sizes.

I knew I wanted to celebrate my 40th with a new dress. Anytime I need a dress to make me feel cute, I turn to the Tres Belle from Ellie and Mac. I have made several versions according to the actual pattern, and I have hacked this bodice on to several skirts also. Today I am using the gathered skirt option which is included in the pattern. I am celebrating sewing a 3x (2 sizes down from my first one) without any additional bust or bicep adjusting!! I removed 3 inches from the length of the skirt because no matter how much I am at the gym, I won’t get any taller. 🙂

Tres Belle 2019-2021

So as I am starting my 40th year, I need to set new goals for myself. I plan to continue with the gym. I actually really like going now. As much as I always said I would hate it, I don’t anymore. I like to go, I am making friends there, there are some serious muscles in there. 😉 I am inspired there! I think the best thing I can do for me is focus on my overall health and get rid of a lot of toxic things in my life.

Additionally, I will continue to eat better and make good choices. Still working on being a faster hiker and overall just enjoying life more. I also need to focus on drinking water. This is a huge struggle for me, but several times a month dehydration really kicks my butt! I would also like to lose another 75 lbs. Again, Dream Big! I have an entire year this time! I can do it! I would love to take these same photos next year in a much smaller fun dress! I think the best part of the journey is finding out just how awesome I can be. If I am really honest, I can tell you that some days aren’t great. Some days I want to quit. Some days I look at myself and hate everything about me. Some days are better and I realize I am doing ok. Just keep working towards the better days, my friends. We are going to get through this.

In addition to a lot of early mornings in the gym, I have focused on healthy eating. It is hard! I love pizza and pasta and cheese and…This could be a long list so I will stop. I have refocused on healthy portions and making better choices. It helps. If I want something like pizza, I will totally eat it and adjust the rest of my daily calories or make a healthy pizza. I have been using My Fitness Pal in a mostly inconsistent way to log food. My goal for the next month is to track daily and track everything. Even the not so good choices. If you wanna be encouraging friends on the app just send me a message and we can link up. I say encouraging because I am not into self hate, making myself or anyone feel bad for their choices, or restricting foods for the sake of a diet. It is not my jam and not good for my mental well being.

Are you ready for all the pattern deets? There are a lot of them which is why I love this pattern.

Wrap front bodice style

Tank, short, 3/4, long sleeve options

3/4 and full circle skirt options in mid-thigh and knee-length styles

Gathered skirt option in tunic-length, mid-thigh length, knee-length, and maxi-length styles

Optional sash

Here is my affiliate links my friends!

Tres Belle Pattern

I picked up my fabric in a $3 sale bin at Hobby Lobby. 🙂

Ellie and Mac – Tres Belle and Wrapped in Love Dress Hack

Hi Friends! Long time no chat, no blog, no sewing. Sorry life has been a little busy this summer, but I have several fun things coming up including a new Youtube video. I hope you have been enjoying summer (or winter) and have been doing a lot of fun sewing or enjoying life. I haven’t sewn much recently to be honest. I am working on a quilt block swap and I made a small zipper pouch for a swap, which reminds me I should share that. I took lots of pics while putting it together. Anyhow back to our regularly scheduled sharing.

My newest dress is amazing and I am in love with it already. I bet it won’t even shock you that it is a pattern hack from Ellie and Mac. I used the two patterns to create this look. I have used each of the patterns several times, but apparently not together. I am so glad that I was able to remedy that situation because I am thrilled with the outcome. I used the Tres Belle bodice which I have used multiple times. Most recently, I used it on a guest blog post for Ellie and Mac. This is one of the few cross front patterns that I really love which is why I keep coming back to it. This one has enough coverage without having “too much” coverage. It is all about balance and I am trying to understand the rules. 🙂 The only adjustment I made was my typical bicep adjustment. 

For my skirt portion, I used the Wrapped in Love pattern and only cut the skirt. I have used this pattern a few times as well. I love that the maxi length isn’t overly wide and I can wear it without tripping up the stairs. This is criteria for what makes the perfect skirt in my book. 

I normally don’t go for fabric that has a lot of white areas, but there was no way I could resist this print though! If you have read this blog much at all, you know I wer all the florals! This fabric is available from Stitchin’ Pretties and it is called Lydia. Here is the link.  I really love ITY because it feels cool even when it is hot outside. It seems like it is becoming my favorite choice for warm weather. Don’t forget when you shop at Stitchin’ Pretties all the regular priced fabrics are buy two yards get a bonus coordinate for free. So choose wisely and buy all the pretty things!

Here are my affiliate links my friends!

Tres Belle Pattern

Wrapped in Love Dress

Lydia ITY Fabric

EAM – Go Exploring Cardigan

Hi Friends! I have been lazy about blogging lately. I sewed this one up months ago actually. Ugg I have been a bum, but trying to motivate myself. I have several really great things to share actually. So with this first picture, you will see that I am not the one wearing my lovely new cardigan…Momma Mia is. Huummm….Keep Reading.

I received this amazing stretch velvet from Stitchin’ Pretties for my monthly promo fabric and then used some pretty SP scraps I had in my bin for the accents. Floral and Stripes will always be amazing together, you will never convince me otherwise. You can find this lovely fabric listed as Jocelyn here. I thought it would make a beautiful cardigan and I wasn’t wrong. Let’s start with talking about velvet a bit.

When working with any sort of velvet you have to keep in mind it has a nap. This just means that the fabric lays one way and and you want it to all match. Usually if you brush your hand down the garment it will be smooth, if you pull your hand up along the fabric it will be rougher. Another thing with velvet, it you won’t iron it like normal cotton fabric. Again this is because of the nap. If you lay it on your ironing board and press the heck out of it, you will crush your pretty nap. If you have to iron it, you can use a velvet board or have two besties help you hold your fabric up in the iron and iron the back side. Note to readers, I didn’t iron this at all. 🙂 Also check your stretch percentage when making a a garment. This is should be a given, but sometimes I don’t do it. This is why Momma Mia now has a pretty new cardigan and I don’t. I sewed the 5x to give myself some extra wiggle room, but it was still too tight. Momma Mia is 3 sizes smaller and it fits her well. She is so happy with it.

I decided pretty quickly that I wanted to use this lush fabric for a cardigan. After looking at several, I decided to try out the Go Exploring Cardigan from Ellie and Mac. I had not made this one yet, but really liked the look of it. All of the models on the website looked super stylish. So I quickly printed and assembled my pattern. I really like that EAM patterns are pretty straight forward and I have made enough of them to have the routine down.

My pockets flapped open a bit more than I liked, so I dug into my button stash and produced these lovelies. Momma Mia sewed them on herself! Another change I would have made was actually adjusting for height. I normally don’t height adjust on anything that is shirt or cardigan because my side waist measurement is normal even though I am short. This cardigan is on the longer length so was too long for my taste. Note to self for the next time.

The Go Exploring Cardigan is now on sale for $4. Here is my afflink. Using my link doesn’t change anything for you, but I receive a small commission from the designer as a thank you.

Beautiful Stretch Velvet fabric is here.

Ellie and Mac – Cuddle Tunic

This is a fun one! I love this fabric and the pattern that I used with it. First, let’s talk about this fabric. Of course it came from Stitchin’ Pretties. The owner, Laura shared it in the Facebook group and I immediately received a text from my mom that said as soon as it is on the website she needs me to order it. Umm Ok, Calm Down Momma Mia. She asked twice more if it was on the website before it finally released. 🙂 So I ordered Freida, the epic paint splatters on the charcoal background. I also ordered Francis which is on a lighter blue background. These fabrics are French Terry which is a dream to sew with. I love the weight of it too. Not bulky or overly hot. It breathes well and it is cozy. The royal blue was from my stash and is scuba which snagged way to easily even on my cutting mat.

Happy Birthday Momma Mia!

The pattern I used this time around was the Cuddle Tunic from Ellie and Mac. I really liked the style of this shirt and the way it looked when color blocked. I wanted Momma Mia to have a fun long sleeve shirt with a giant pocket for her Birthday, so this one fit the bill perfectly. I paired it with some royal blue scuba fabric I had on hand. I wanted this one to have a little bit of weight to it so it would be warm for winter. I made the tunic length with regular long sleeves. I added the cowl neck to this pattern too. I sewed an XXL for the entire pattern.

Options for the Cuddle Tunic

Short, long, and bishop sleeve options

Bubble, loose-fit style

Tunic & Dress length

Large front pocket

Momma Mia’s Birthday outfit wouldn’t be complete without matching pants.

I sewed up the Good Vibes Joggers. I hadn’t sewn this pattern before either. I read through the directions and fit chart. Momma Mia has one of those shapes that drop several sizes between natural waist and hips which makes things a little difficult to fit, so this was really a test run. This round I sewed the XXL front waist graded to a large. The back was a straight large. Note to self: the front waist/belly area is a little large so next time, maybe a large front and medium back. The length is ok, but maybe I will remove 3/4 inch of length from the hip to knee area which will help with the baggy knees and eliminate the saggy ankle area. Since this was a test run, I didn’t add pockets or the contrast stripe. I used the elastic waist and the ankle cuffed pants length.

The pattern includes these options.

Zipper welt pocket option

Side stripe option

No trim pattern pages

Five length options noted in description

Two waistband options

Pattern Afflinks cost you nothing to use, but I receive a small commission for sharing my feelings on the pattern.

The Cuddle Tunic On Sale for $4.97

The Good Vibe Joggers On Sale for $4.97

Fabric

Stitchin’ Pretties where the fabric is quickly shipping and the customer service is awesome! They still have the buy 2 yards get one free deal happening!

Guest Blogging over at Ellie and Mac

Hi Readers!

Today I am guest blogging on the Ellie and Mac blog! I am hacking the Be Graceful Maxi with the Jersey skirt to make a super trendy handkerchief hem tunic! Trust me! You want to come over and learn how to do it!

I used some STUNNING ITY fabric from Stitchin’ Pretties. The more I look at it, the more I think about beautiful sunsets! Trust me when I say, you need this one!

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As always this blog contains affiliate links, which is a small commission I earn when you make a purchase from my blog links. Thank you for helping to support my sewing.

Going Home Sweater for Momma Mia

I haven’t been blogging much or even sewing. I have been mostly just hanging out, geocaching and keeping a low profile. I have made Momma Mia several clothing items though. She has requested some long sleeve shirts for summer as she needs to avoid the sun. No problem, I can do that. Before I even began sewing, I wanted to look at the best fabric for the job. I ordered her a few cotton lycra fabrics and this beautiful CVC Jersey fabric. CVC is an antimicrobial fabric. This means the fabric offers protection against bacteria, mold, mildew, and other yucky microbes. This fabric is a cotton poly blend, but it is cool like cotton. This fabric/color is called Suzanne.

I decided to make Momma a Going Home Sweater from Ellie and Mac. A super quick raglan sleeve pattern. It comes with these options.

Three sleeve options

Cowl or neckband option

Shirt, tunic or dress length options

I made her the tunic length, neckband option, and long sleeves. I used thumb hole cuffs from another pattern to create this top.

If you like this pattern it is available in sizes through 4x plus is it ON SALE 50% off!!

Here is the link.

While you are at it, go check out this fabric and so many other great ones. Stitchin’ Pretties still has their “Buy 2 continuous yards of fabric, get a bonus yard of something else free.” Momma Mia likes this fabric because it is lightweight and not too hot. We have already ordered the other two colors that were in stock.

• You can follow my blog by clicking the Follow button on the right side of my blog.
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As always this blog contains affiliate links, which is a small commission I earn when you make a purchase from my blog links. Thank you for helping to support my sewing.

Me Made May – Day 7

Hey Gang! welcome back to another Friday Installment of

HACKING THE EAM CURVED HEM TANK!

Same pattern as last week, new hack this week!

Today I am guest blogging over at Ellie and Mac so come visit me!

Has everyone been entering to win free stuff? Click here!

Shop Credits to

Ellie and Mac

Love Notions

5oo4 Patterns 

Stitchin’ Pretties!

Me Made May- Day 3

A few hours late… One of my clothing pet peeves is bra straps showing…even worse bra bands showing. I made this little tube to cover my bra band in my most recent low back shirt hack. You can view that blog post here.

Click Here To Enter Raffle.

The Fab Clique Fabric Shoppe – Guest Sewist

Fab Clique Fabric Shoppe

I was recently picked to be a guest sewist for Fab Clique Fabric Shoppe. The deal is I receive a bundle of mystery fabric, I make a quick video of opening the package and then sew up a garment of my choice…sounds easy, Right? When I opened my fabric, I was excited to find Rib Knit…Brushed Poly Rib Knit actually.  Super Soft, Super Stretchy, Super Springy! These colors are beautiful and so cheery!

I immediately thought about sewing a tank and cardigan, but knew it would be a stretch to make a cardigan from 2 yards of fabric. I toyed around with the idea of a cozy long sleeve shirt, maybe some color blocking, but in the end a color blocked cardigan won out. I decided to start with the Ellie and Mac Chapman Cardigan as a base. I have sewn it before and it is a nice cardigan. I felt comfortable making another one with a few hacks.

I knew I wanted to make the cardigan a little fancy. I decided I wanted to add pockets and add some color blocking. I used a scrap of my fabric and added some piping details. Yeah! Fancy Pockets! Stitching piping to two layers of rib knit it not for the faint of heart, but it worked and it looks so fun! I love these big pockets!

I also used the white rib knit for all the bands and I added a contrast stripe all the way around the bodice. In theory, it sounds pretty simple. In reality I had finished my garment before I decided to add that band around the middle. I can confidently say this fabric will hold up to tons of seam ripping. No where did it stretch out or turn wonky!

Even though rib knit is new to me, it sewed nicely. I used my serger and my sewing machine and both were fine. This fabric really is perfect for a light weight layer added over a top or tank in spring or summer. I paired my new modern vibe Ellie and Mac Chapman Cardi with the Bella Sunshine Designs Clementine Maxi Dress. I loved that the colors played so well together.

Here are the links you need to recreate my look or create your own style!

The Fab Clique Fabric Shoppe

Ellie and Mac Chapman Cardigan

Bella Sunshine Designs Clementine Maxi

Just for fun, I will add my unboxing video here for you all to watch!

As always, I thank you for using my affiliate links. If you purchase this pattern using my link, I will receive a small thank you commission from the designer. This helps me to purchase sewing supplies and keep my blog going. Thank you.

You can follow all of my sewing adventures through the links below!

• You can follow my blog by clicking the Follow button on the right side of my blog.
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