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.

Made Whimsy Gators & Dachs

The newest preorder at Made Whimsy is Dachs & Gators. I asked Mandy to send me some small pieces so  could make my friend Rissa a towel for her crocodile. Yes, you read that correctly. My friend Rissa is a bad ass paleontologist that teaches high school kids, and they raise a crocodile or alligator each year for the Houston Zoo!

Mandy sent me way more than just a few small pieces of fabric. She sent me an adult panel set, a large piece of the Baby Gator coordinate, and some moss green dreamy solid.

I obviously had to make Rissa something cool to wear at school. Her students love that she wears a ton of dinosaur themed clothing items and they challenged her to wear only dinosaurs for 30 days. She had no problem meeting their challenge.

It's about time she added some Crocodilia to her wardrobe.

The Gator panel set is designed to have the halves of the body match up at the side seam. This can be a bit tricky. Mine are pretty close. I also accidentally put the birds head too close to the seam allowance.

I don't think anyone is going to be looking that closely at my work.

If you are wondering - I used the Halla Patterns Essie Cardigan for Rissa. This was my first time making the Essie and I'm dying to make one for myself.

Look at how cute this print is. I love the baby gators. They have so much personality.

I think Rissa looks great in the Essie Cardigan.

And here is the baby crocodile! This is Juniper and she is a Nile Crocodile. You can follow her on Instagram at www.instagram.com/claridencrocs

Since she lives in an aquarium with water, Rissa uses some lightweight towels to wrap her in to dry her off when they take her out. Rissa came over to my house and while I finished her cardigan, she made the towel.

Juniper is weighed and measured on a regular basis and the students track her growth.

Juniper is a bit feisty. Take a look at the green section of towel below. She bit the towel when Rissa tried to move it. I'll take that as a sign that she likes it.

Below you can see Juniper all wrapped up with a little bit of the gator skin print peeking out.

Juniper will be going back to the Houston Zoo soon. The Dachs and Gators round closes on May 27th! Preorder at https://www.madewhimsy.com/dachs-and-gators/


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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.

5 out of 4 Nora Bolero

I really love Bolero style cardigans. I was excited when 5 out of 4 had a tester call for the Nora Bolero. I don't think I could have too many cardigans in my closet.

The Nora Bolero has two different options. There is lined (which can be made reversible) and unlined which is finished with a band. I made the unlined version.

This is the first one I made in testing. The pattern was changed very slightly from this version. I made this Nora Bolero with Purple Cactus Flower Tactel from Zenith & Quasar.

 Last year I made these Designer Stitch Shakti Pants in the Purple Cactus Flower Tactel and made several Sinclair Patterns Shelby Tunics that matched. Ever since I have wanted to make a matching bolero to wear over the Shelby Tunics since they are sleeveless to make them more work appropriate.

 When the final version of the Nora Bolero was released to the testers, I decided to use a bright blue rayon french terry that I bought at the Dallas Fabric District. It was only a yard, but that was all I needed for the Nora Bolero.

I paired this Nora Bolero with a Halla Patterns Agnes (this one is sleeveless).

I'm wearing the Style Arc Barb's Stretch Pants made with Pink stretch Twill from Simply by Ti.

Here's a view of the Nora Bolero from the back.

I wore my Nora Bolero with this top to work recently and got many compliments. It's very comfortable on, but I do find that it slides down my shoulders a bit over the course of the day.

The Nora Bolero goes together really quick. I do think I will try a rib knit for the bands when I make it again. I'm also thinking of making the lined version with elbow length sleeves. It has a different shape in the front that I think I would like on me better. Grab the Nora Bolero for $3.95 through April 21st! There's also a kids version. You can bundle both and save.

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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.

Halla Patterns Hollie Sweater and Cardigan

I tested the Hollie Sweater and Cardigan last month for Halla Patterns. I love sweaters and cardigans, but when I was testing this pattern, I had spring fever. So I made the short sleeve version and it's been too cold for me to wear the ones I made. That darn Groundhog was WRONG!

Like all Halla Patterns, this one is packed with options. This Hollie is the regular shawl color with it sewn closed. I used Purple Cactus Flower Tactel and Purple Tactel Rib knit from Zenith & Quasar Fabric. In my sewing room these matched more perfectly than they do in these photos. I'm tempted to carry this to work and see how it looks under the fluorescent lights before I actually wear it to work. If nothing else, I'll take this apart and make two new ones.

This Hollie is the regular shawl collar with a button closed front. You can leave this completely open in the front, but I did not find that to be a figure flattering look on me. The button closure I did is fake - I merely sewed the buttons on top through both layers.

This Hollie is made with a super stretchy coral french terry. Once upon a time I bought an entire bolt of about 20 yards of this french terry for only $5 because it was dirty. I washed it a dozen times and was not able to get it all completely clean. So I have to fussy cut when I use it. But I absolutely love the color and it feels so good.

I made my final Hollie right after I got a haircut and color! This Hollie has the fold over shawl collar with the button closure. All of my Hollies have a bottom band, but you can make the Hollie without a bottom band and leave it completely open for a cardigan!

I made this Hollie with cotton lycra with a cotton spandex for the bands and shawl collar.

The print on my Hollie is rain drops. I'm ready for the spring rains and flowers to bloom.

Here's a look at all the options in the Hollie. The Hollie is on sale for 20% off through 03/09. Get 20% off all PDF patterns in your cart with the code HOLLIE through 03/09 too!


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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.