The Julia Cardigan Review and Some News

Happy Selfish Sewing Week!! I hope you all are having a great week. Have you been over to check out any of the Selfish Sewing posts on Imagine Gnats? You should go over and check out all the awesomeness that is going on over there. My Selfish Sewing Week has gotten off to a bit of a bumpy start. This first top I made was a challenge to say the least. (More on that later this week) However the Julia Cardigan I made has totally redeemed this week for me.

I bought the Julia Cardigan pattern last month for my birthday, but for some reason I had been reluctant to start it. I am kicking myself now for not doing it sooner. You have heard me RAVE about Haley and  Mouse House Creations before. There aren’t enough great words for me to say about this pattern. It comes together so quick and it is the most comfortable piece of clothing in my wardrobe now. The instructions are as clear as can be. I didn’t have a single issue with any steps in the pattern. I would have had this finished in less than an hour if I hadn’t had a little accident. ALWAYS check your iron settings!

Crafty PSA of the day. Always double check your iron settings so you don’t burn a hole in your almost finished garment.

I am planning on making a few more for this summer. One of the great things about this pattern is it comes with the option of a cap sleeve (this is the one I made) a 3/4 sleeve and a full-length sleeve. I will also be making several of these for the fall and winter. I love that different knit fabrics will give you different results with this cardigan. I used a very light weight, stretchy knit and my cardigan is light and airy, perfect for summer. I am excited to try a thicker more structured knit to make a blazer type of cardigan for the winter. This pattern also offers 3 different finishing methods. You can do a traditional fold-over hem, a rolled hem or a doubled-over no hem version. I used the rolled hem method on my cardigan. I am eager to try the doubled-over no hem soon.

Now for my news. I have joined the Mouse House Creations Affiliate Program!!! That means if you buy a Mouse House Creations pattern through my link I will earn a small commission on the sale. Also if you have any questions about the patterns I am here to answer those for you. I personally LOVE Haley’s patterns. I own all of them except the Women’s Caroline and I am sure I will be buying it soon. Stay tuned next week for reviews of the Norah Dress and the Caroline Party Dress.

You can go here to buy the Julia Cardigan Pattern or here to look at all the patterns Mouse House Creations has to offer. You can also click on the banner on the side of the page to go check out all the patterns.

Sprouting Seedlings and Fruit Friends – Farm Day Chronicles

 

Happy Monday Morning Friends!! It was another beautiful weekend here. Lots of rain is in the forecast for the next 3 days and I am looking forward to all the plants getting a nice big drink of water. We got the bulk of the hard garden work done last week and now we are waiting for things to start to sprout. We did notice that the corn and a few other things are starting to sprout. We have tons and tons of strawberries coming in.

 

The pumpkin and cantaloupe that I started indoors last week are starting to sprout. 

We also picked a couple of peach trees and an apple tree. The kids really enjoyed helping to plant them.

 

 

 

I think we might be doing something right with all the gardening. The kids got some money for Easter and Mr. T picked a watering can.

 

These two are always being silly!

 Miss G also got her big girl bike this weekend. She is flying without her training wheels now.

We also did some more brush clearing around our field. It is going to take a while but it will be worth it when we are all finished.

 We finished up the weekend with cookies and a good movie. Recharging our batteries for the week to come.

Nautical Siblings & An Applique Tutorial

 

I just finished up another Aster Cardigan from Willow & Co and I made Mr. T a matching shirt and shorts also . For Mr. T’s shirt I roughly used the Made By Rae, Little Bit of Color Hoodie tutorial. For both pairs of shorts I used the Flat Front Pant tutorial from Dana Made It. I have tweaked the flat front pant pattern to fit both of my kids really well. As a matter of fact, Mr T has grown a bit since I last made them and I had to re-draft his pattern.

 

My favorite part of this cardigan is this little anchor applique that I put on the back. This little detail is what I like to call a happy accident. I am going to show you what I do when I almost royally mess something up.

 Sometimes when I am cutting out fabric I get a little sloppy and things like this happen. This fabric was from an upcycled t-shirt and I didn’t want to waste it, so I decided to cover it up.

 The first thing I did was trace this cute anchor onto some freezer paper and cut the design out.

 Next iron your stencil onto your fabric.

 Paint your design in. On this dark blue fabric it took about 4 coats of paint, then I added the sparkle paint last.

 After your design dries iron some Wonder Under onto the back of the applique.

 Iron the applique over the hole.

 Sew around the edge of your applique. You can use a zig zag stitch or a straight stitch.

That’s it. Now you have a cute detail where there once was a hole. Easy peesy, lemon squeezy.

 

 

The Ladybug Persimmon Tunic – Willow & Co.

It’s here, it’s here. The launch of the Willow & Co. Wanderlust patterns. They should be on sale this afternoon. You can follow them over on Facebook to keep up with the latest news.  I can’t decide which pattern that I want to buy today. They all look so cute!! I am really leaning towards the Hawthorn Zip-up Sweatshirt. It is just such a wardrobe staple!

I have made a couple of versions of the patterns I tested already. Today I am bringing you the Ladybug Girl Persimmon top.

  

Miss G is a HUGE fan of the Ladybug Girl books. We read one almost everyday. When I was looking through my fabric I saw the red and black fabric and immediately thought ladybug. I also had some sweet little ladybug buttons that I picked up one time because they were so cute. (I may or may not have a button obsession.)

Since this top is cotton and dark fabric I just did the bodice facing instead of the full lining. It came together so quick and it only took me about an hour to whip it up. I see lots and lots of Persimmon tunics and dresses in our future and with the size range on this dress, 6 months – 12 years, I will get YEARS of use out of it.

Here are a few of the outtake photos. This girl just loves being silly in front of the camera!

  

 

Stayed tuned later this week for another version of the Aster Cardigan and the Clover Shorts. I have something perfect for those days at the beach or the lake in the works.

 

Starting the Garden

Hi dear friends! I hope you all had a fabulous Easter weekend. We had the most beautiful weather here this weekend. I want to welcome you all to a new weekly series. The Farm Day Chronicles. We have decided to start gardening more and growing more food. We are also working on getting our yard set up so we can start enjoying more time outdoors. This past winter had me hibernating and I am ready for LOTS and LOTS of fresh air and sunshine. Make sure you tune in every Monday to see what we are doing here around the ol’ homestead.

I just wish I could capture a little bit of this beauty in a bottle to save for one of those cold winter days.

   

Everyone getting ready to get the day started!

We turned the dirt in the garden again, and got the rows started and all the seeds in. I even decided to put in a new little herb bed for my favorite herbs.

Starting the new herb bed.

Almost Finished Herb Bed

 

  

 

Our little flower bed by the garage was really in need of some TLC. It is all cleaned out and ready for lots of pretty new flowers. I am hoping to get one more rose bush and some other perennials to anchor the bed and then I want to plant some pretty little annuals. I would love to have lots of color in this bed. If you are trying to landscape and garden on a budget you can get a lot of perennials on clearance after they have finished blooming. I bought that pretty little azalea for $1.98 on clearance last year. It looked really puny when I got it, but it is coming along nicely. We also got our apple tree, grapevine and blueberry bushes on clearance.

 

 

 

The kids loved putting the seeds in the ground. Miss G did such a great job. I have to say that I think 5 1/2 might be my favorite age! I sure am going to miss her when school starts. We did have a few tears from Mr. T, but we just found another job for him.

 

We do have lots of fruits already blooming. Blueberries, strawberries, grapes and apples. We had some freezing weather and even some snow last week so we had to cover everyone up. We did lose a few blooms off the grapevine, but everyone else came through really well. We already have teeny tiny strawberries growing. It is going to be a lot of work to get this mini farm up off the ground, but I think the rewards are going to be well worth it. I am more than willing to work my tail off to give Miss G and Mr T healthy super-locally grown food.

 

Thanks for checking in with us here at the beginning of our mini-farm adventures. Be sure to check in with us every Monday for more adventure with us here at the Brooks Family Farm!!

Make sure to tune in tomorrow to check out something new I made from the Persimmon Pattern from Willow & Co and don’t forget that the new pattern line launches tomorrow afternoon.

Still A Little Under The Weather.

Well we are still feeling a bit yucky around here. I went to the Dr and found out that I have strep throat. (Really?!?!?! I didn’t know that you got that at 36 years old.) Since the kids have been under the weather I immediately called and got them an appointment. There rapid test came back negative so we are waiting on the 1 and 2 day cultures. Our pediatrician was shocked that they didn’t come back positive right away. She says usually the kids have it then the parents. LOL! Since we were at Kindergarten round up last week, I guess this was my welcome to school present.

We did get these awesome stick on moustaches at the Dr’s office and had lots of fun with them.

Ok since I am still behind on the Willow & Co sewing that I am wanting to do I wanted to bring to you my Izzy Top review. My great friend Amber White over at the Spirited Butterfly told me about this free pattern. Have you checked out Amber’s Facebook page. If you haven’t go now. She has some of the cutest stuff. Since I don’t have a machine to do embroidery she is my go to gal for embroidery. Not only is her stuff SUPER cute but she is one of the most awesome people I know. She was one of my very first mommy friends when Miss G was just a couple of months old. I don’t know how I would have made it through that early bit of mommyhood without her! She also has 4 fantastic kids. I am constantly in awe of how well-behaved her children are. She is my mommy inspiration.

This top is the Izzy Top from Climbing the Willow not only is it the tutorial but it is the pattern for sizes 18 months – 12 years old. I am always thrilled when I can find a pattern for free, especially one as versatile as this one. The pattern is easy to read and it only has 8 pieces to cut out. The bodice is fully lined and it has a cute button closure on the back. It only took me about an hour to sew this up and that included accidentally cutting my front bodice piece in 1/2 and having to piece it back together. This did lack some of the finishing details that I am used to doing, but I just added those in quiet easily.I just added in a little top stitching onto the bodice.

  You can see here where I had to add the ruffle to the front bodice to cover up where I chopped in half. (We like to call those happy accidents.)

Miss G absolutely adores this top. When she put it on she said, “Ohhhh…it is almost like a dress, but I can wear cool pants with it.”

I just love that sweet little button tab closure at the top. It is a great place to add a sweet pop of personality to your top.

Don’t forget the Willow & Co Wanderlust Pattern Collection launches Tuesday Morning.

I hope all of you have very very HOPPY EASTERS!!

The Best Laid Plans and a Kipper Capri Review

I had planned on doing different versions of the Willow & Co. patterns that I tested and blogging them all week. However, best laid plans and all that jazz. Mr T and Miss G were under the weather Monday and Tuesday and then I woke up feeling like death warmed over yesterday morning. Pretty sure the evil yellow pollen + Mother Natures crazy mood swings this week = sinus infection for Jonie. So, off to the Doctor I go this morning. I have to get a handle on this before the weekend, because we have lots of gardening and fun Easter stuff to do this weekend. Plus Miss G wants to get more practice on her bike without training wheels. (The girl is starting to fly without the training wheels.)

(This girl is so silly. It is hard to believe that she claims to be shy. If I can get her to burst out of her shell around strangers she is going to rule the world.)

 
Since I have been to sick to do anymore sewing since Monday I thought I would show you Miss G’s Paris Kipper Capris. This is a free pattern from Haley over at Mouse House Creations. Go over and check out Haley’s blog. She recently did a redesign and it is even more fabulous than before. It only comes in a size 4, but you could probably change up the size fairly easy. Miss G loves these and I have already made her 2 pairs with another few pairs in the works. Go over to Sew Mama Sew to get the pattern and tutorial for these awesome capris.

As you can tell on Miss G, this capri pattern is more like shorts, but she has been requesting her shorts to be a bit longer so these worked out perfectly for her.

Don’t forget that the Willow & Co. Wanderlust glamping collection patterns release on Tuesday April, 22nd. Go on over to their blog to check out the Q&A they posted about the pattern release.

Willow & Co – Aster Cardigan

Today brings the 3rd pattern that I tested for Willow & Co for the Wanderlust Pattern Collection that launches on April 22nd.

 

The Aster Cardigan is designed by the talented Vanessa from LBG Studio. I first started following Vanessa when she was on Project Run & Play. To say that  I am in love with the Aster Cardigan is an understatement. I am swooning over this sweet little cardigan. I think Miss G is going to have to have one in every color. The best part is how comfortable it is. Miss G wore this all day and then asked if she could wear it to bed. This cardigan is 3/4 sleeve and has the option of a regular collar or a faux piping collar. I tested the faux piping collar and it looks so nice, but is very easy to sew. It also pairs perfectly with the Clover Shorts.

 

 

 

Willow & Co. – Clover Shorts and Persimmon Sundress

There is just something so magical about kids and summer time. That is why I jumped at the chance to test patterns for Willow & Co. a pattern collective by some truly amazing pattern designers. This week I am going to bring to you the 3 patterns I tested. Wanderlust a glamping collection launches on April 22nd and I am going to be adding to my collection with some more of these patterns.

The first pattern that I had the pleasure of testing is The Clover Shorts.

This pattern is by Haley over at Mouse House Creations. I have been a fan of Haley’s for years. She has impeccable taste and is always amazing me.

The Clover Shorts – Pattern by Willow & Co. sewn by Knot Sew Normal

The Clover Shorts are classic with a modern twist. I love the pleats… and the button tabs… and the sash… and the cuffs. Heck I just love everything about them. I love how easy they are to customize with different fabrics at the pockets and the sash. These are flat front with an elastic back that makes them easy on and off for younger kiddos. The Clover Shorts pattern goes all the way up to a size 12 so we will get a lot of use out of this pattern. The best part of these shorts are the fact that Miss G LOVES them!! I see us sewing up lots of the shorts this summer.

              

The second pattern that I tested was the Persimmon Sundress.

 

It is also designed by Haley at Mouse House Creations I just can’t say enough about the Persimmon Dress. It has so many options, you can choose a dress length or tunic length. It has the option to add ruffles and pockets to it. This dress is fully lined. I love the full lining because it gives the added benefit of wearing a slip without an extra piece of clothing. The pleating at the top makes this such a sweet top for a girl and I just love that it ties at the shoulder. That detail just takes me back to my own childhood. We decided on the tunic length in this nice airy fabric.

              

 

 

There were so many other awesome testers in the test groups and I was continually inspired by what they came up with. Go and check out what some of the others have done with these two patterns.

PiePie Designs

leighlee

Once Upon A Sewing Machine

Sprouting Jube Jube

Lady and The Gents

Rebel & Malice

Our Chez Nous