Sewing: Everyday Style Book Giveaway and Wilma Bag

Oh what fun it is to have a big, brand new bag! I was so thrilled when I was asked to be a part of the book tour for Lotta Jansdotter's Everyday Style because the book had been sitting in my cart for sometime, waiting for the release. I love Lotta's simple modern style and clean lines. And I was excited to do some sewing inspired by it.

There are so many great, versatile projects in this book! The book is organized by season and all of  the patterns work year round. That's such a bonus because I love it when I find a pattern I like and can iterate on it in every season by changing the fabrics and adding and subtracting layers. I'm especially excited about the a-line skirts in this book and can't wait to try one in a wool.

But in the meantime I've got lots of projects for others to tackle and a lot of places to be and a lot of shopping to do and lots of gifts to deliver by Christmas. So a giant bag is the perfect solution. This Wilma Tote meets the challenge of December easily. I love it in this bold cotton canvas from IKEA with some of Lotta's cat quilting cotton from her Lucky collection for Windham for the lining.

 

This project sewed up simply and quickly despite my scatter brained state. It will be such a pleasure to some some more after the holidays. 

Maybe this book is just what you need for the holidays! One of my readers will win Everyday Style, one of Lotta's fat quarters, Lotta's temporary tatoos, and Lotta washi tape. For a chance to win this great package enter here by December 23rd. A random winner will be selected!

a Rafflecopter giveaway And check out the rest of the tour for more inspirational sewing and chances to win.

Dec 1 – Lotta

Dec 2 – STC Craft

Dec 3 – Windham 

Dec 4 –  Noodlehead

Dec 7 – Modern Handcraft

Dec 8 – Sew Scatterbrained

Dec 9 – Crimson Tate [you are here]

Dec 11 – Groovy Baby & Mama

Dec 14 – City Stitching with Christine Haynes

Dec 15 – Craft Sanity

Dec 16 – Aesthetic Nest

Dec 17 – Sew Mama Sew

Dec 18 – Lish Dorset

Dec 19 – Fancy Tiger Crafts

Sewing: The Denver Dress in Black for the Unbiased Tour

I'm sure you've seen the launch of the Pattern Anthology Unbiased collection. It's the perfect thing to arrive on the heels of my "wear more dresses" summer. I'm so excited about the four different dress patterns! (Not to mention the tunics that accompany them.)

It was difficult, but I choose the Denver Dress from Blank Slate Patterns to sew first. And I am thrilled! I see myself throwing this dress on quite a lot. It's sporty, yet flattering, and my husband tells me it's also quite dressy. It would be great layered too, or with a chunky scarf.

I picked a safe fabric: some drapey ponte knit in blank from Jo-Ann. And now that I have my feet wet I plan to sew at least one other version of this dress (straight? with cowl? in a sweater knit?) before moving onto to the three other great patterns in this collection. 

Melissa did a fantastic job designing this dress. I love the angled pockets and princess seams in front and the knit cuffs to add a cozy factor. Once I had the pattern printed and the fabric cut out sewing it went a lot more quickly than I expected. (Knits are so fabulous that way!) I seriously considered whipping out another one that same evening.

I made one little adjustment to the pattern by adding two waist darts in the back piece. I found I had some extra fabric there. The pattern includes great instructions for a SBA and a LBA, should you need one for the perfect fit. 

Congratulations to the Pattern Anthology team (Kate, Shauna, Melissa and Andrea)! I can't wait to see what the rest of the their tour sews with Unbiased. Get your pattern bundle here at a huge discount for a limited time.

Review and Giveaway: Minted Art Marketplace

I have long loved Minted for their great holiday card designs printed on high quality paper. I think they were the first to raise the bar for custom cards and they continue innovating (did you see all the cute custom printed return addresses last holiday season?). But their Art Marketplace is new to me. Maybe to you too? They asked me to take a look and consider a giveaway for my readers. In the time it took the browser to load the Minted Art Marketplace I was certain this was something I wanted to share! So read on for a chance to win a $50 credit towards some new art for your walls.

I started by applying some filters to the art I was being shown. I loaded "more filters" and picked "landscape" for the style and "blue" for the color. Because isn't a blue toned landscape just what we need in the middle of a hot summer?

This pulled up a bunch of beauties, including some of my favorites, "Beauty Reflects Beauty," "Big Sky Country," "Water Levels," and "Mid-Summertime."

While viewing an individual piece of art the Minted Art Marketplace makes it possible to preview different frame styles. I prefer the simple frames: Flat face in natural wood or black or white painted wood. 

You can also select a size to print. As small as 5"x7" and as large at 44"x60". Cool! I'd love a giant print on my wall! All the art prints are limited edition and printed on acid free or archival paper with premium inks so the reproductions will remain vibrant. 

Sometimes it's difficult to visualize the scale of one of these sizes so Minted has provided an "Art Print Sizes" tab with pictures of a model holding the print in all the different sizes. How great is that? They also show some suggested art groupings in a room environment so you can imagine how it might fit into your space.

Similar to their approach with greeting cards, Minted has curated this original art from independent artists from all over the United States. I love access to such a broad range of talent, and the idea that my purchase will support a creative individual.

I'm a huge fan of original art work, but one-of-a-kind works are often out of reach. This limited edition approach from fresh artists is a great way to add some beautiful work to your walls.

Are you convinced? Check out Minted Art Marketplace to find something that speaks to you.

And enter to win a $50 credit right here!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sewing: SOLEIL Dress Pattern Tour

When I saw the SOLEIL dress pattern by Selvage Designs I predicted Scarlett would love it. And I was right! I think she would wear this dress every day if I didn't insist on washing it. It's just her thing--comfortable, swingy, cute and cool to wear. I am definitely making her at least one more.

If you've seen all the cute examples of this dress on Instagram or on Lauren's blog you may note a few differences here. I really love the original design with the open back but I wanted a dress Scarlett could wear to school now and this Fall, so I opted for a closed back. I also needed to add a little sleeve to meet the dress code. (If this is something you'd like to try it turns out that the bottom back bodice piece for the original design works almost as-is as a sleeve! I trimmed some length and made a bit narrower to fit.)

I already have fabric picked for my next two versions of this dress and I think I'll make them per Lauren's original design. I'm sure we'll get plenty of wear from them this summer.

This pattern was a dream to work with! Seriously. Lauren's work is impeccable. And if you dream of designing your own high-quality patterns she has an online course for that: Pattern Workshop!

I think my favorite design detail is the way the gathers in the front of the skirt sit between the pockets. So cute.

For this dress I used Summer Bambi organic jersey purchased from Ottobre Design with some pink ribbing at the neck, sleeves and pockets. I love it and I can't wait to play with some other combinations. 

Let summer begin! We're ready!

Sewing: Winter Wonderland Kid Style (Pattern Anthology Review)

Don't you just love the Winter Wonderland Pattern Anthology? It's such a great concept to introduce a bundle of coordinating patterns at an incredible price. This collection of eight patterns is available at 40% off through November 18--just two more days!

The talented team behind Pattern Anthology put together a great tour of bloggers to introduce Winter Wonderland. You can see all their interpretations in the Gallery here. And today I'm sharing mine.

I chose two of the patterns to sew for my girls' Fall wardrobe. The first is the Juliet Capelet (love that clever reference to The Bard in that name) by See Kate Sew. I fell in love with the pixie hat version of this cropped cape and thought it would be a trendy topper in a bold plaid.

Plaid seems to always be a stylish option but this season it seems an especially popular look. I happened to have this great tan, black and red fabric in my stash. Looks like the British plaids I am so fond of. I love a mix of textures so I paired it with a cotton chenille for the lining. It's cozy and peeks out along the edges. And, I decided to add a classic reference with a bright red "leather" button at the neck. It's actually a vintage wood button I found at this Etsy shop.

Tess is wearing her Capelet with denim skinny jeans (a staple for her) and tall black leather boots. (Wouldn't this Juliet Capelet look fabulous with leather pants or a skirt?)

And she's as happy as can be!

Next, I sewed Scarlett the Holly Trousers from Go to Patterns (The Train to Crazy blog). I love the narrow silhouette of these Holly (Golightly!) Trousers and the retro pleats at the top. I hemmed them a bit shorter and they fit her just perfectly! I will have to sew her another pair. 

I wanted to try them in a bold floral print fabric I received from The Fabric Store (I am dying to visit their new store in person!). I love all the bold, bright prints for Fall and this one has the trendy jewel tones: emerald, teal, gold, and amethyst. I couldn't believe it when these colors came back, but now of course I've embraced them (I personally can't get enough teal). There's a bit of animal print thrown in this mix too! This is such a beautiful fabric--it's a stretch cotton twill with a very silky feel. 

I like to keep the rest of an ensemble a bit simple when there's a bold print involved, so I paired these with a cropped wool shrug (The Winnie Shrug pattern is available here) in a teal boiled wool, but I did pick another more restrained pattern in amethyst for a silky head turban. This accessory is a dressed up version of the one Holly Golightly wore while playing guitar in Breakfast at Tiffany's. It's made from a silky print that caught my eye at Joann: 1/4 yard and done! 

Scarlett is wearing these trousers with gilded loafers I bought last season from crewcuts. This Fall it seems everything has a bit of gilding...

Vintage-inspired is always a great look. But wouldn't these Holly Trousers look fabulous with another classic--the denim shirt? I'm hunting for the perfect one....

For more information about these patterns and the whole collection visit Pattern Anthology here.

Sewing: Look 5 from Five and Ten Designs (eBook Review)

Scarlett was so excited about this dress she could hardly hold still while I sewed on the buttons. She wanted to go out and dance around in it right away!

I keep finding her wearing it, which is great, but not ideal at the moment, because we're saving it for her to wear to Tess's birthday party. It's just that there's been a lot of painting and cooking and the usual stuff going on... and it would be a shame for it to look too well-loved before the official debut. 

It's no wonder she loves wearing it--it looks so fun (I love yellow and pink together!) and the fabric (Anna Maria Horner Little Folks Voile Coloring Garden) feels amazing. I have been keeping it in my stash for the right thing and Delia's "Look 5" dress from the new Five and Ten Designs ebook is perfect.

I'm sure you've seen some of the beautiful stuff being sewn from this ebook. So many great looks! I really love the way Delia designed the bodice on this dress with the half-moon piecework to match the contrasting side panel in the skirt. And the construction was so much fun. Makes me think again about quilting, or at least doing more piecing. 

So many great possibilities depending on the fabrics you choose. You can "up" the contrast or not. In addition to the original dress by Delia, I love the versions sewn by Jess and Stef. They each look so unique, don't they?

This ebook from Five and Ten Designs is such a great concept: a basic bodice pattern with tutorials from 5 different designers for 10 different looks. I loved seeing their different design personalities play out in the patterns, and learning about their preferences for different dress construction options. You can always learn something new by watching someone else, and this ebook gives you that times five! Plus it's a great little tutorial on how to alter a basic pattern piece. You can read all about it right here.