Zenith & Quasar Botanist's Notebook

Zenith & Quasar is reprinting some past designs that are popular from past rounds. The preorder runs through June 29th. I've sewn many of the prints at preorder and will be showing off a few makes new and old over the next few weeks.

First up is one of my all time favorites - Botanist's Notebook. This is a vintage Ernst Haeckel illustration. I pulled some of my hoarded stash off my shelf and made 2 new items with it.

 

I've had the idea to make a maxi dress with this print forever and decided to wait no more.

This is the Ellie & Mac Be Dreamy Dress. I recently made this dress for the first time and fell in love with it. You can read my initial post on the Be Dreamy Dress HERE.

I've been buying from Zenith & Quasar since inception. My dress is made with 2 different fabric bases. The skirt and sleeves are the original base that had 2-way stretch. The bodice and neckband are the athletic brushed poly with 4-way stretch.

The one modification that I made to the Be Dreamy Dress is that I cut the back skirt wider and gather it. I feel like this gives me plenty of room for my behind and gives a beautiful silhouette.

 My bodice was made out of a different knit because I did not have enough of the original base for the entire dress. I actually didn't have enough of the fabric for the skirt and had to cut the skirt a few inches shorter than I normally would.

To keep as much length as possible, I hemmed my dress with a rolled hem. I also used a rolled hem on my sleeves.

Since I had cut into my athletic brushed poly base for the bodice of my dress, I decided to go ahead and make myself a tank with it while I was at it. This is the Sinclair Patterns Shelby Tunic.  This is my go to loose fit sleeveless top. I'm wearing it here with Greenstyle Creations Everyday Yoga Pants made with modal jersey from Sly Fox Fabrics.

Since I was taking photos, I thought I'd share my previous makes with "new" photos. I started to wear my Shelby Tunic with my Itch to Stitch Paro Cardigan and my A Sparkly Baby Woman's Palauchos. But thought that might be too much and you wouldn't see the neckline of my cardigan.

I love the back of the Paro Cardigan. And no - I have never actually worn both of these pieces together.

So here are my A Sparkly Baby Woman's Palauchos on their own.

This outfit I have worn. My top is my other go-to sleeveless top, the Halla Patterns Agnes.

And this last photo is from July 2015. My first time sewing this print. I finally let this top go last year. So I only have this old photo of me to show you.

Be sure to check out all 24 prints at preorder. https://www.zenithandquasar.com/product-category/preorder-r34-reprints/

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. These links provide me with a small compensation if you make a purchase using my link. There is not cost to you when you do this. My thoughts and opinions given in this blog post are mine.

Ellie & Mac Vacation Romper

It's Wacky Wednesday at Ellie & Mac. This week I'm sharing the Vacation Romper with you. The Vacation Romper is not a pattern I would have ever thought to try. After seeing several that were really cute on a few sewists that are similar to my shape, I decided to give it a try.

I noticed that all the ones I liked on others were made with an ITY knit. So that's what I used for mine. It has the perfect drape to keep the Vacation Romper from looking like it's swallowing me.

The Vacation Romper is so comfortable! I took 4" out of the length from the middle of the pattern for my height. I think I could have removed at least 2 or 3 more inches. 

What I really love is that I can wear a normal bra with it and my straps do not show! This isn't likely something that I will wear a whole lot, but I definitely see myself wearing this often as a swimsuit cover-up this summer.

The Vacation Romper goes together really quick. It's one big pattern piece that you cut 2 of and you have the straps to cut. Hemming the legs is optional and with most knits it looks perfectly fine with a raw hem. The part that took the most time was doing the binding.

Another pattern that I have made that's included in this weeks Wacky Wednesday Sale is the High Hopes Dolman. Here's a photo of me in it. Read my blog post about it HERE.

All Wacky Wednesday Patterns are on sale for $1 each through Midnight on May 29th. Check out all the patterns at https://www.ellieandmac.com/collections/wacky-free-patterns

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. These links provide me with a small compensation if you make a purchase using my link. There is not cost to you when you do this. My thoughts and opinions given in this blog post are mine.

Sew Big Fabrics - A Round Has no Name

Sew Big Fabrics has a Game of Thrones themed Round called A round has no name. I have no clue what that means, so if you are GoT fan, please clue me in. Even though I have never watched a GoT episode, there were still some fun prints for me to sew.

The front panel of my shirt is the Dark Skies print. I only received a small piece so the cool print of the sky filled with dark clouds is hard to see in this piece.

The cotton lycra does not have much drape so my Love Notions Tidal Tank sticks away from my body a bit. But I love how comfortable it is. I'm loving it with my George + Ginger Zappa Pants that I made with supplex from Zenith & Quasar.

I used the Large Scale Raven Border print for the back of my top. The largest Raven's wing are so wide! I didn't want to clip its wings, so I picked this pattern since the back piece wraps around to the front.

The Raven Border print has the Dark Skies print as the background.

This is my trying to show that the wing goes under my arm and to the front.  I received the large scale border print and it also comes in a smaller scale.

And here again. I thought I'd hold my shirt out in a way so you can see all the cool ravens along the border.

Instead, I just look really awkward.

I had enough of the Raven Border print to make my son boxer briefs with the scraps. I was able to place a Raven on the front piece. 

The rest just has the Dark Skies print from the panel background. You can see the variations in the colors of the clouds  on the back seam.

When I saw the Faux Fur the thought of making my son underwear with it cracked me up. So I was glad to get a piece just big enough for boxer briefs. These crack me up! It comes in brown and gray.

He will even have a hairy butt in them. hahahahaha

Here's a look at all the prints available in the A Round Has No Name. There are even some blanket toppers! Preorder closes on 06/02! Order HERE!

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. These links provide me with a small compensation if you make a purchase using my link. There is not cost to you when you do this. My thoughts and opinions given in this blog post are mine.

Greenstyle Creations Every Day Yoga Pants

I'm so excited about this blog post! First off, I want to thank Sly Fox Fabrics for supplying me with fabric and Greenstyle Creations for providing the Everyday Yoga Pants Pattern.

Since I was making the Everyday Yoga Pants, I decided I needed to make 7 pairs (one for every day of the week) and each with a different type of fabric to show you the versatility of the pattern. I find it helpful to see a pattern when made with different fabric so I can see how the drape effects the fit.

We will start off with the pair in my favorite color - the Chartreuse Modal Jersey.  This pair of Everyday Yoga Pants feels so good on. This modal jersey is so soft and feels slinky on my legs. It has a ton of drape and hangs nicely on my legs.

I attempted to take a photo of each pair in the pose below with one leg straight and the other bent out to my side. I'm hoping this lets you see easily how the fabric hangs. I'm wearing a Sinclair Patterns Shelby Tunic made with Athletic Brushed Poly from Zenith & Quasar. This beautiful butterfly print will be at preorder soon!

Every pair of Everyday Yoga Pants were made exactly the same. The modal jersey is a heavy weight at 250 gsm. It is opaque and my undies do not show through. It feels durable and I'm curious to see if I get pilling on the inner thighs.

My next pair of Everyday Yoga Pants is made with Techno Crepe. This fabric has amazing texture and looks "dressy". This color is currently out of stock. I love the soft drape of this fabric.

I wore this exact outfit to work one day and got so many compliments. The techno crepe feels amazing on, but it snags so easily. My necklace caused several small snags where it was hanging and I got a handful of others all over the lower half of my top. My pants had a few, but were not as noticeable as those on my top.

The techno crepe is lightweight and slightly sheer. You could make out my underwear through this pair of Everyday Yoga Pants. I made a Shelby Tunic and was made with leftover Techno Crepe and love that it's long enough to cover my behind.

Next is my Techno Scuba Solid Olive Everyday Yoga Pants. I was pleasantly surprised by the subtle sheen of this fabric. I love scuba for structured items and think it gives a completely different look to the pants.

As you can see here, the techno scuba sticks out a tad as it does not have a lot of drape.

The fabric feels very durable and I expect it to hold up well to wear. The subtle sheen makes these feel a bit dressy and I have a feeling I will wear them to work often.

My next pair of Everyday Yoga Pants is made with a single brushed poly. This particular print is no longer available.  I was fortunate to get an extra large cut of it to make a matching Shelby Tunic with it. I found that most of my pants and the two tunics I made all mixed and matched very well.

I also wore this outfit to work. I wore the day after I wore the techno crepe outfit. This one also garnered me many compliments. This outfit feels like secret pajamas. So much so that I slept in my outfit - bra and all. It was completely unintentional. I guess I was so tired I just crawled into bed dressed and woke up in the middle of the night and was tangled up in my clothes and realized I was not in my pajamas!

The single brushed poly is so soft and has a lot of drape. It feels amazing on. I do tend to have problems with brushed poly getting pilly on the inner thighs, but find that it's not as visually noticeable on prints as it is on solids.

I had to snap one photo showing my single brushed poly Everyday Yoga Pants with the techno crepe Shelby Tunic.

I know it's hard to tell from the full length photo, but these Everyday Yoga Pants are made with the Natural Ash Heavy Ponte de Roma knit.  I love Ponte de Roma (also referred to simply as Ponte) for work pants. It's structured and has the look and feel of RTW pants.

This Ponte de Roma feels great and I expect it to be very durable and hold up to lots of wear.

Here is a closer look of the Natural Ash Heavy Ponte de Roma. It is an off white color with black melange specks.

This pair of Everyday Yoga Pants are definitely more traditional as what most think of when they hear the term yoga pants. These are made in a Dark Mocha Baby French Terry. I love French Terry for casual pants and Baby French Terry is so soft and has great drape.

This Dark Mocha Baby French Terry is a great neutral brown that will go with a lot of items in my wardrobe. They are probably a bit too casual to wear to work, but they will definitely get worn a lot when I'm working from home and on the weekends.

The soft drape of this pair of Everyday Yoga Pants makes them so comfortable. This Baby French Terry does contain some rayon and I find that rayon tends to pill a bit more than some other fabrics. I'm interested to see how they hold up.

My final pair of Everyday Yoga Pants is made with Party Lights Swim Knit. Swim knit is one of my favorite fabric to make clothing with for the spring & summer.

Swim knit has great drape, feels cool to the touch, drys fast, and hardly wrinkles. I find it great for traveling as it packs up light & compact and looks great right out of my suitcase. And if you are traveling to a beach, encountering lots of rain, or like to hand wash clothing while traveling - it is pretty stain resistant and drys super quick.

It also looks great and is office appropriate. Plus you can get fun prints like this Party Light print. It looks great with the cream techno crepe, but will also look good with many solid colors. The smooth and slick surface of swim knit makes it great for swishy pants and you will not get pilling on the inner thighs!

I hope you can see from my photos that the Everyday Yoga Pants are a great everyday pant. Whether you need them for working in an office, want comfy pants for travel, or really just need some pants for yoga, they are the perfect pants. They are a super quick sew and easy to fit. They do come with a foldover waistband, but I did not use it. Instead, I used the contoured waistband from the Strides as I find a contoured band fits my shape better. The Everyday Yoga Pants are on sale for the month of May for $8.50. Here's one last look at all of my Everyday Yoga Pants.

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. These links provide me with a small compensation if you make a purchase using my link. There is not cost to you when you do this. My thoughts and opinions given in this blog post are mine.