See Kate Sew – Sew Becky Jo

December 9, 2013

Go Sign Up For Free Stuff!

Sew, Mama, Sew! is having their huge Giveaway Day and you should go check out all the amazing sites and see if you can’t win some great fabric and/or patterns.

There’s a LOT there, so take your time, enjoy it, and bookmark for future link reference!

Also, I noticed among my favorites is Kate of See Kate Sew! I’ve been really busy lately and haven’t posted about these, but when I get a chance to test for Kate, I take it. So, you should definitely sign up for those, and here are two more recent patterns I’ve tested: The Daydream Ruffle Dress and the Penelope Peplum. If you win, you might want to pick those. Oh, or the Aztec Vest. Or the Recess Raglan (I’ve used this one a LOT). Or…

Ok, you can’t really go wrong, you can really only have fun!

Here is some cute and me holding some cute.

Zoe and Lucy herding the hens in the Daydream Ruffle Dress #1 – We call this the Dorothy. It’s the cheapest light blue gingham you can get on Fabric.com – it’s a super airy cotton/poly blend.

This one I de-ruffled the the ruffles and how cute is that Riley Blake Cinderberry print? She was a bit tired of modeling at this point so I didn’t get a good shot of the fussy cut button, but take my word for it – it’s darling. This is called the Hans Wegner’s Daughter.

Hans Wegner's Daughter — Hans Wegner’s Daughter

And here’s me doing my best impression of modeling-not-modeling on my Penelope Peplum (baby accessory not included). This is a nice black knit from Girl Charlee – it’s just the basic cotton jersey but has a really good weight and quality to it.

Good luck winning – unless it’s something I’m hoping to win.

July 29, 2013July 29, 2013

Recess Raglan from See Kate Sew

I dig pattern testing. Here’s Hazel modeling a size 8 of the Recess Raglan t-shirt in cap sleeves. I made two in an afternoon, it was that easy! They’re in heavy rotation in Hazel’s wardrobe.

I knew the pattern was top secret but I didn’t know it was going to be part of a MEGA BLOGGERS WITH SUPER POWERS PATTERNS RELEASE. Back-to-school staple patterns all in one place. Nice.

Elizabeth Hartman shot an Instagram of some unicorn knit at Modern Domestic this past weekend…..I think I better go stock up!

Photos taken by my own personal fantastic disaster.

May 2, 2013May 11, 2013

Pattern Test: Aztec Vest

One of my fave blogs to keep up on is See Kate Sew – she has a an aesthetic I can get with…it’s clean and casual with attention to detail…if you read her blog you’ll know what I mean. She’ll make patterns, do a review, make a tutorial – whatever it is…it will be simple but there are little points or details that make it special. Kate is the reason I got the binding foot I chose AND when I accidentally got a ruffler foot…I kept it.

Enter an opportunity to test her new Aztec Vest. I got the email, it had a tight deadline…I took it. I made it. It’s awesome.

The PDF printed great – it was very easy to line up and tape together. No weird pre-trimming either like I’ve had to do with others…it just went together. As an ex-print designer….I can dig it.

I know the original was in a knit, and I love working with knits, but I was really envisioning a linen, Patagonia-esque thing. I prewashed and dried the bejezzus out of this Essex Linen in Jungle Green so it would work as a kid garment and could be abused later. BTW, Gutermann has a thread that matches the Jungle Green perfectly.

Alex insisted on picking out brand new flannel (as if I don’t have enough) for the lining. You just can’t argue with his choice…

I opted for the welt pocket and about 80% of the top-stitching. Again, it’s Kate’s details that make things more than homemade…they’re custom.

Alex LOVES it. He had to wear it to school the first chance he had.

I got him on a sunny day to model for me…

I used a metal, reversible zipper. Kids love the option of reversible even if they never use it. At first, I really wanted to find a vinyl zipper but I’m actually glad I couldn’t get my hands on one. The metal one is, as my man says, very substantial. It’s super quality and goes great with the linen.

I love the pockets. Everything should have pockets.

Here he is, hood up with it zipped.

And hood up, zipper down.

I probably should have thought ahead a bit more and added a few inches to the waist area since I chose a woven instead of a knit…it’s a smidge snug…instead of draping flat, he has to pull it up to zip it…

He doesn’t care at all though…

He’s very proud of his lining fabric…

The back has more top-stitching – it’s subtle but that it’s that extra something…

Most importantly…it wears like a boy needs clothes to wear….

It’s his new favorite piece of clothing and he says, “I love it so much!” I secretly really do too, but truly it’s his opinion that matters and it’s definatly a winner.