Greenstyle Cambria Top

It's not often that I buy a pattern when it's released and make it right away. When I saw the Greenstyle Cambria Top I knew immediately what fabric I was using and I needed to make it right then!

I recently received this fabric from My Fabric Designs and while I had a different top in mind initially, I just knew the Cambria Top was the best choice to show off the design when I saw it released. Every tester photo I saw of the Cambria Top was just beautiful and it was so flattering on all body shapes and sizes.

This fabric was designed by Vincent Desjardins (Vinpauld) and is called Women of Science and Learning. It's a beautiful toile design featuring some lady scientists that I have always admired. I was very  pleased when I saw that Rachel Carson's portrait ended up front and center of my bodice. In high school I read her book Silent Spring and aspired to be like her and try to save the planet. While I haven't found a way to save the planet, I did become an environmental scientist and do my best to make our world a better place.

Jane Goodall is also featured and her life story has always been so inspiring to me as an animal lover. The design also include Marie Skłodowska Curie for her work on radioactivity and earning two Nobel Prizes.  And many others that I won't bore you with. 

I ordered the Polyester Pongee Silk. I love this base for its softness and slight sheen. It has a dressy  feel and love it for making items that I will be wearing to work. My Fabric Designs describes it as a 100% microfiber polyester interlocking silk knit. It's stretchy with 50% stretch horizontally. Since it doesn't contain spandex, I would not suggest using it for fitted items.

The Cambria Top comes with many options. There are 4 top length options  - high hip, low hip, banded and hemmed. I did the banded length which is cut between the high hip and low hip then a band is added. The Cambria Top also has neckline options - mock turtle neck, high crew, low crew, and wide scoop. I made the low crew. There are also fit options - FBA front piece, easy fit, and slim fit. I went for easy fit. 

Then there are sleeve option. Lengths are short, 3/4, long, and with a long cuff. There are 3 sleeve styles gathered at top and bottom, pleated at top and gathered at bottom, and a Bishop sleeve which is only gathered at the bottom. This is one area where the pattern instructions could be clearer. I printed both sleeves and the pleated sleeve is easy to identify, but the other sleeve is not clearly labeled. I  was thinking of doing the gathered at top and bottom sleeve, but since nothing had it clearly labeled I ended up with what ended up being the Bishop sleeve.

All sleeves are finished with a band. Since the Polyester Pongee Silk does not contain spandex, it is possible that my sleeve bands will become loose over the course of the day. I used the Pongee Silk on another top with sleeve bands for a short sleeve and have not had an issue with the fit over the day. With these bands lower on my arm where there is more movement I will have to see how it fares. 

The Cambria Top is one of the Patterns of the Month for December at Greenstyle . The top has so many options and I plan to make a few more and to try the gathered sleeve and the pleated sleeve. 

I also have a discount code for My Fabric Designs! You can use the code SS15 to get 15% through December 31, 2021 (this code can be used up to three times per user)! The Polyester Pongee Silk is a bargain at $15.50 per yard and even better with the discount. I also love several other bases offered.

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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 To the Point Tunic & Dress

It's Wacky Wednesday at Ellie & Mac! This week I'm sharing the To the Point Tunic & Dress.

I've made this pattern only one time before and have intended to make another. The first one I made was a tad too tight across my belly, so I graded out one size for this To the Point Tunic.

Last time I really thought there was going to be enough ease that I wouldn't need to grade for my waist or hips. I was wrong. It wasn't a horrible fit on me, but I felt self conscious in it.

This one has the perfect amount of ease and I'm ready to make another!

I paired my To the Point Tunic with a pair of Greenstyle Creations Everyday Yoga Pants that I made with a reverse french terry  distressed knit.

Wacky Wednesday patterns are on sale for only $1 though midnight on August 28th. Find all the Wacky Wednesday patterns on sale 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.

Zenith & Quasar Fabric Technology Round

I always look forward to the technology round every year at Zenith & Quasar. It's usually my opportunity to grab some computer science themed prints to make my son fun pajamas or underwear. I still need to ask him which print is his favorite. My favorite is the Glitch Screen.

I love the mix of colors and patterns. I takes me back to the old days of playing pong on an Atari and having to wiggle all the connections to get the game to show back up on the TV screen. Oh the good old days of signal loss. My tank is the free tank from Life Sew Savory. I did modify this one a tad to make it more relaxed. I'm wearing a pair of Greensyle Chelsea Pants in these first few photos.

As I looked over my stash of Zenith & Quasar fabrics, the yellow mesh grabbed my attention. I loved how it pulled out the yellow and green tones from the print. This mesh is cool to the touch and not super see through. It has holes, but the holes are not really holes, the fabric is just really thin inside the holes. I'm wearing a navy blue bra with the tank I made (as evidenced by my strap showing) and you cannot see the thick back band easily through my tank.

I didn't have a whole lot of this Glitch Screen print to play with. I had about 24" by wof (58"). It's a good thing I am short because I was able to get some stride inserts out of it and added the cross cuff to give them a little more length.

This was my first time making the cross cuff. I had to modify the piece slightly since I did not cut the legs at the cut line for the cross cuffs, I cut mine longer and the opening was narrower. I cut the cross cuff to match the width of the neon red supplex. I then eyeballed the length of the criss cross straps. I only did two sets of two instead of the three sets of two in the pattern.

I really love how the strides make my butt look. I really love how opaque the budget supplex is. I'm wearing underwear with black stripes and you can't see them. You can make out the outline, but I don't care.

The strides have become my favorite athletic tights. They are so comfortable and go together fairly quickly. Maybe not as quick as plain leggings, but the extra effort give such a cool pair of leggings that fit amazing.

I'm undecided if I actually like my tank with my strides. I was really wishing I had bought some of the neon green hybrid athletic knit. It would have looked awesome as strides.

Here's a look at the other prints in the Technology Round.

The Preorder closes on Saturday at midnight! 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 Aspen Pants

Me Made May is coming up and this year I pledged to only wear me made bottoms. That means, I'll be spending some time this month making myself some more pants. My wardrobe has been severely lacking in me made bottoms for awhile and I have been slowly working to fix that. I printed out the Greenstyle Creations Aspen Pants awhile back. I've lost weight since I printed out the pattern and probably should have printed out a smaller size, but went ahead with these as I felt I needed to make a pair to check fit anyways.

 I made these Aspen Pants with a blue Tactel from Zenith & Quasar Fabric.

The Aspen Pants are one of the older patterns from Greenstyle Creations and don't have some of the features of the newer patterns - like layers.

I love the flared leg of the Aspen Pants. Even though they do take quite a bit of fabric. I made the 46" hip (I should have made the 44") and cut at the short length on the pattern, then I ended taking 1" off of that. These took just over 2 yards of fabric. One of the great things about the Aspen Pants is that they can be made with a woven if you size up one size. So, I might take this 46" pattern and try it on a stretch woven as I'm not sure there is enough ease for a non-stretch woven, but could see it working well on a stretch woven.

 My top I paired them with is the Halla Patterns Agnes. This is a free pattern and it's one of my favorites. I made this Agnes last year and it ended up in my UFO pile. All it needed was to be hemmed. Since I thought it would look super cute with my Aspen Pants, I hemmed it.

If you are interested in Me Made May or you want to sign up. Go to the So, Zo Blog HERE! I already have a few more pairs of pants in the works and will posting them soon.

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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 Staple Tank

Greenstyle Creations always has the trendiest patterns when it comes to activewear, but sometimes you really need a basic everyday pattern. That is why they just released the Staple Tank. It's a simple tank top that has two finishing options - banded or binding. It's perfect to wear on its own or as a layering piece.

I made this one in an athletic knit I found in my stash. It's a beautiful heathered teal color that will coordinate with many of my athletic leggings. Here I'm wearing my leggings I made with Vibrant Vapors from Zenith & Quasar. This print is currently at preorder.

I do have a swayback and did not make any adjustments for it during testing and ended up with a bit of pooling at the small of my back. I hope to correct this when I make my next Staple Tank.

I also want to note that the front and back have nearly the same amount of scoop - there may be a 1/4" difference. So it is very easy to get the front and back mixed up after you sew them together. Be sure to mark the back piece so you can easily identify it.

 

After I made my Staple Tank, I noticed it went perfectly with my Midway Bomber Jacket I recently made. You can find my blog post about it HERE.

The Staple Tank also looks amazing with the Chelsea Pants.

Grab the Staple Tank for $8.50 through Wednesday, March 27th.

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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 Midway Bomber Jacket

I really have been needing a good jacket for spring. Something that can keep me warm and somewhat dry as I run into work in the Spring. I also did not want a hood. Enter the Greenstyle Creations Midway Bomber Jacket.

It took me excruciatingly long to pick fabric, ribbing, and a zipper. I have such a huge stash and everything I looked at I would have loved to use. So I might just have to make another.

 For this Midway Bomber Jacket, I used Stormy Streaks Yoga Swim Spandex (YSS) from Zenith & Quasar fabric. This fabric is currently at preorder.

 This print is so beautiful. It's shades of navy blue and mint.

I love that the sleeves on the Midway Bomber Jacket are shaped. The have a seam down the outside edge. The pattern includes an option to have a stripe along that seam.

Since everything was completely enclosed when sewing in the lining, I decided to go ahead and sew the cuffs so that they had enclosed seams too. My Midway Bomber Jacket is completely reversible, but it does not have a reversible zipper. But I rarely zip up my jacket.

I had so many fabrics that coordinated that I had a hard time picking a lining and ribbing. I had a few friends over to sew and they all said I needed to use the Blue Tint Tactel. I used a white ribbing, which is not what I had planned. I was leaning toward using Navy, but was convinced that I needed white for more of a Spring look.

The Midway Bomber Jacket looks amazing with my Chelsea Pants and Tank (coming soon).

I realized as I wrote this blog post that I forgot to get a photo of my Midway Bomber Jacket zipped up with my white tank above. So here is one with my "new" Tank.

The one thing I will probably regret, is that I did not add the pockets to my Midway Bomber Jacket. They have welt pockets, but they are done in a manner that I am not familiar with. I'll be sure to try them on my next one.

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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.

George + Ginger Road Trip Body Suit

Only Kristi of George + Ginger could get me to ever make a bodysuit. The Road Trip Bodysuit is the Pattern of the Month for March and I decided to try it.

I've actually been thinking about making a bodysuit for a while now. I have a couple of semi sheer tops that I love and have to wear a camisole under. My pear shape causes my camisole to always ride up and it ends up bunching up around my waist and I am constantly pulling it down.

So I thought a nude color bodysuit would be perfect to wear under all those semi sheer tops. It would stay put and a nude color would keep it less conspicuous.

Well, it would be hard to show you my Road Trip Bodysuit under a top, so I looked through my closet and found this wrap from Chico's and I'm loving how it looks with the Road Trip Bodysuit.

I love this wrap, but have only worn it once. Maybe I'll be brave and wear it with my Road Trip Bodysuit and these Greenstyle Creations Chelsea Pants for a date night.

The Road Trip Bodysuit calls for a binding, but I did bands on mine.

I'm 5' tall and took 1.5" out of the length of the body. If I make another Road Trip Bodysuit, I'll be taking a half inch off the top of the straps as I find them a little too tall for my petite height.

I love the low scoop back. The back is two pieces which allows for doing a sway back adjustment - which I did. But I still have some extra fabric and I think it's because the straps are a little too long on me. 

The Road Trip Bodysuit is 25% the entire month of March. I'll be posting photos soon of a top I recently made with a lightweight sweater knit that this Road Trip Bodysuit was perfect for wearing under.

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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.