The Fabric Geeks Nautical Dream

I just love the new round at The Fabric Geeks. I love to cruise and have one coming up in September. So I was so excited to get to sew up one of the panels - The Deep Blue Sea.

The Nautical Dream pre-order closes on August 11th. There are panels, prints, solids, and a gorgeous watercolor stripe.

The Deep Blue Sea panel is simply gorgeous! I love the watercolor effect.

I also love the "never stop exploring"! I love to travel, especially by sea, and I hope it never comes to an end.

The graphic on the panel is quite big and I wanted to show off as much of it as I could. I made the BLAST from Duck Butt Designs.

I paired the panel with this wave print from Wanderlust.

I'm ready to set sail!

Sew Liberated Stasia Dress

I only recently learned about Sew Liberated patterns when I purchased a few at a fabric store that is closing near where I live. I loved the style of every pattern and wished I could have bought them all. When I got home, I had to see if there was a Sew Liberated group or page on Facebook. There was a Sew Liberated Page and the first thing I saw was a tester call for a dress & top. I'm in love with wearing Maxi Dresses this summer and put in my application to test. I was thrilled beyond words when I was selected.

The pattern is the Stasia Dress and Tee. You can get it for 20% off with the code "STASIALAUNCH".

When I got the pattern, I initially thought I would make the Tee version as a muslin to test the fit before diving into the dress. The Tee is quite fitted and was not very attractive on me. So I will not be showing you photos of that. You'll just have to trust me.

Now the dress - that's totally different. I feel like a goddess in the Stasia dress.

The Stasia dress has a fitted bodice that ends a little below my bust and goes into a very full skirt. The pattern says the dress takes 4 2/3 yards for the maxi length. The pattern also comes with a short skirt. I'm only 5' tall, so after removing 2 inches from the skirt length, I was able to make my dress with 3 1/2 yards. I played a bit of pattern tetris to get it all to fit.

The back of the Stasia dress and tee has a low back. It's almost equal in the depth of the scoop in the front and the back. I used a 2-way stretch liverpool knit for my dress. Since the skirt is very voluminous and heavy, I think using a 2-way stretch is probably best to prevent sagging as it is worn.

I took my photos the day the grass was cut, but we keep our grass fairly tall and it looks like my skirt must be dragging the ground. But it's not. I went ahead a took a photo of me standing on the walkway. The skirt touches the tops of my feet, but the breeze was blowing and blew my skirt a bit in the photo below.

I've already made a second Stasia dress. I'll be posting photos of it soon. I also took the short skirt pattern and cut it to make a peplum top. As soon as I get one made, I'll be sure to share it. This pattern goes together really quick. I think I spend more time cutting out all the pieces than actually sewing.

This testing experience has me eager to sew the paper patterns by Sew Liberated that I recently bought and to try a few more.

Dress up this Town - Blog Tour

Welcome to my stop on the Dress Up This Town Blog tour hosted by Sewing with Ti. 

I was thankful that this Blog Tour Commitment forced me to do something that I've thought about doing for awhile - make myself a dress to wear for formal night on cruises. My husband and I love to cruise and go on at least one cruise a year. Our next one is in September!

I knew I wanted to make my dress in a stretch velvet. Zenith & Quasar has the most amazing stretch velvet I have ever felt. This Navy Blue was just the color I had in mind since I tend to look great in jewel tones and it reminds me of the Ocean.

I also knew I wanted my dress to be Maxi length. I truly do not like showing off my legs.

I picked the George & Ginger Picnic Dress. This dress has a gorgeous bodice, but only a knee length skirt. But that's no problem - it's easy enough to add length to the skirt.

I love the gathers on the skirt front center and back center. I also knew I wanted elbow to 3/4 length sleeves since I get cold in the dining room and the theatre on the cruise ship.

I can't wait to go on my cruise!

I also have to give a shout out to my friend, Thereisa Candle, who made me this fascinator-esque hair clip. I just love it and think it's the perfect accessory for my dress. Contact Tereisa to order one - the quality is great and she does a fantastic job.

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out all the great blogs in the list below.

Week 1: July 1st-8th
1- Sewing By Ti (Intro) and Stitching At Night
2- Me Made
3- Tenille's Thread
4- Sewing By Ti
5- Seams Sew Lo
6- Anne Mari Sews
7- Sea of Estrogen
8- Lulu and Celeste

Week 2: July 9th-15th
9- Living in Twinado Valley
10- Ma Moose
11- My Heart Will Sew On
12- Seams Sew Lo
13- Kate Will Knit
14- Creative Counselor
15- Sewing With Sarah

Week 3: July 16th-22nd
16- Stitching and Making
17- That's Sew Lily
18- Sprouting Jube Jube
19- Auschick Sews
20- Anne Mari Sews
21- Lulu and Celeste
22- On Wednesdays We Sew

Week 4: July 23rd-31st
23- Stitching At Night
24- Sewing Curves
25- My Heart Will Sew On
26- Indulging Mum
27- That's Sew Lily
28- Adventures With Bubba and Bug
29- Capture, Craft Cook
30- Sewing By Ti
31- Sew Like a Sloth

Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter to win some cool prizes this week. Thank you so much to our sponsors!



Week 4
Giveaway:
1 Pattern George and Ginger
1 Pattern Hey June Handmade
$15 Shop Credit to Love Notions
$10 Shop Credit Patterns for Pirates
$10 Shop Credit to Simply By Ti

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Designer Stitch Ravanna Pants

I love testing patterns for Designer Stitch! They are always perfectly drafted and on trend. I was excited to test the Ravanna Wrap Pants. I've seen pants like this all over Pinterest and shopping sites. They look so fun and perfect for summer.

The Ravanna's have 2 waist options (fitted and elastic). They also have straight and curved hem options. The day I went to take my photos, there was a storm blowing in.

That wind was blowing something fierce! But the wrap around design is perfectly drafted to prevent any wardrobe malfunctions.

From the back - you can't tell the Ravanna pants have a wrap around leg. Unless the wind is trying to blow you away.

I wanted to show how the leg pieces were overlapped. I had to physically move the pieces around my leg to do this.

Just showing a little leg. My top is the Tidewater Tee from Winter Wear Designs. I made it using a Navy rayon spandex from Simply by Ti.

I made these pants with a polyester satin. These have an elastic waist and the straight hem. I can't wait to make a pair with a denim chambray with a curved hem. I think they will be perfect to go with all my summery tops.

Grab the Ravanna Wrap Pants for $8 for a limited time!

Pink Zeppelin #PZspooktakular

Pink Zeppelin always has the coolest holiday prints. The current preorder is full of some amazing Halloween themed prints and this awesome Sugar Skull design. It comes in small scale and large scale - I'm wearing the small scale. It comes in a variety of fabric bases - cotton lycra, brushed poly, bamboo lycra, chiffon, cotton woven, french terry, minky, swim, and PUL. I'm wearing the brushed poly.

I love sugar skulls and their connection to Dia de los Muertos.

My top is a pattern hack I did off of a shirt I saw in a store recently. I love how it turned out!

I can't wait to wear this on November 2nd - although I'll be wearing it all the time.

My Day of the Dead Bride & Groom look so great with the fabric too.

The preorder closes on July 20th! Don't miss it!

Jaded Threads Shoppe Not A Princess

The current round at Jaded Threads Shoppe is titled "Not a Princess". If you have a small child, then you probably know that this is a Moana inspired round.If you have adult aged children, like me, you probably are wondering why it's called "Not a Princess". But don't let the name fool you - this round has a great coordinate that's perfect for some "Adult" sewing.

Jaded Threads Shoppe is offering this cool Burlap print in 7 gorgeous colors! This is the Grass Burlap.

I was sent the cotton lycra - it's also available on bamboo lycra, cotton woven, swim, and boardshort material. I made the Duck Butt Designs Carols Favorite Tee (CFT) with it. This is just 1 yard of fabric!

I was also sent Stormy Burlap. This color is so hard to describe, but I'll call it a purplish grey. Its a gorgeous color.

The print in this color felt very serious, and I wanted to do something fun with it. I went with the Winter Wear Designs Tidewater Tee and wore a strappy back bra under it to show through the "peekaboo" back.

I love how my top turned out and it looked great with black slacks for work. I however wore a normal bra that did not show through.

I love this burlap print and can see myself making a shirt in every color. It's like a solid, but not as boring. The preorder closes on July 23rd. #JTnotaprincess

Little Roots Fabrics Fly Away Jane Austen

I love Little Roots Fabrics. They print in the US, using organic inks, on domestically produced cotton lycra. When I thought they couldn't get even better, they now plant a tree in Colorado for every order placed! That is AMAZING!

The current preorder is also AMAZING! Go check out all the gorgeous prints on the website at https://little-roots-fabrics.myshopify.com/collections/pre-orders.

I was the lucky person that was sent the Fly Away Jane Austen print. I love the quote on it from Pride & Prejudice "Til this moment I never knew myself".

It's simply gorgeous in monochromatic shades of black & white. I used the Bethouia from Elle Puls to make my top.

The charcoal dots are the perfect coordinate for it.

The preorder closes on August 1st. Don't miss it!

Starfluffle

Starfluffle Fabrics always has unique designs that I love. I was so excited to have the opportunity to sew up a sample of bamboo lycra for the preorder that opened on July 6th!

Sara Miller, the owner of Starfluffle, specifically asked that I make a ladies top with no coordinates to show off the print she wanted to send me. When I got it, I immediately knew why. It's just gorgeous and deserves to be shown off all on it's own.

Isn't that gorgeous? It's the Linen Collection - Mustard. I love the rich mustard color with the linen style design.

I was sent a yard of this print on a luxurious bamboo lycra.

I have a handful of patterns that use a yard of fabric and decided to make the Winter Wear Designs Tidewater Tee. This bamboo is so soft and flowy. It was perfect for this pattern.

The only change I made, was to add 3/4 length sleeves. This top will get a ton of wear all summer and fall. This print is subtle enough to make it an interesting solid that won't clash with other patterns.

This print also comes in a blue (like a pale sea glass), lilac, and rose. I think a need a shirt in every color. There are also some other amazing designs that coordinate beautifully with the linen prints. The preorder is open through July 24th. Order at https://starflufflefabric.com/collections/pre-order 

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