Sew Big Fabrics Florals of the Zodiac

I just love the Florals of the Zodiac Round at Sew Big Fabrics! The flowers of each zodiac sign are beautifully designed on a striped background. Each floral stripe comes in two color variations. In addition, there is a panel displaying the zodiac sign and it's flower.

I was sent three prints to sew up.  This one is Cancer. The flower for Cancer is the Iris.

This is the Golden Beige Stripe and Panel.

This is the cotton lycra and it's a great weight and the white is not sheer.

The Iris flowers are beautiful. The details are gorgeous.

My birthday puts me under the sign of Taurus. I never knew it, but the flower for Taurus is the rose.

This rose floral stripe on black is gorgeous! Especially on this black stripe, it's so striking!

This print is so over the top girly that I knew I needed a feminine pattern for it.

This is the brushed poly and it has such great drape that I wanted to show off. I picked the Ellie & Mac Women's Breezy Dress pattern and made the peplum length.

The bodice of the Women's Breezy Dress is lined and I lined mine with white athletic brushed poly.

I was able to get the Women's Breezy Dress peplum out of 1 yard of fabric - minus the lining.

Last is Aquarius. Aquarius has orchids as it's flower. My dear friend Sharon (Sweet Mama Life) has a birthday coming up and she so happens to be an Aquarius. I made this 5 out of 4 Mabel Tunic for her. She has no idea I made this for her.

The Orchid Stripe on Black is my favorite.  I love orchids and keep several in my bathroom. I have a little bit of this stripe left and plan to make myself a little something with it.

The details in the orchids is just gorgeous! I also can't get over these vibrant colors.

This Mabel Tunic is all brushed poly. I was concerned that the white background of the Aquarius panel might be a bit sheer and decided to make the bodice lined.

I hope Sharon loves her new Mabel Tunic. She listed it as one of her favorite makes from 2018, so I felt confident making her one. I was thankful that her blog post for the Mabel Tunic gave me all the adjustments that she made to get the perfect fit.

The Florals of the Zodiac preorder closes on February 15th. Below is a graphic showing all the panels. Be sure to check out the coordinating stripes - they are all so beautiful!



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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.

A Sparkly Baby Awesomesauce Tee

I've made a couple of A Sparkly Baby Patterns before and decided to try out the Women's Awesomesauce Tee.

I have to say, it's pretty awesome! It has a slim and regular fit options. I made the regular fit.

I do find the sizing of A Sparkly Baby patterns to be a whole lot different than most PDF patterns. For the Awesomesauce Tee, there is only an underbust measurement.

My under bust is 31" which is 6" smaller than my under bust and 7" smaller than my over bust measurements. According to the pattern, I should make the size 30".

I printed out sizes 30" - 36". Because while I have a small under bust measurement - my hips are quite a big larger. I also have a broad back. I graded my pattern pieces from a 30" underbust to a 36" at the hem line.

I then cut my back piece with an extra inch at the fold line to give me the width needed for my back. This gave me the perfect fit across my shoulders and upper back.

I love the loose fit of the regular cut line, but I did add some additional ease to the top.

When I cut the lower bodice piece I again added some extra width at the fold cut line adding an extra 1.5 inches to the center section.

I used a single brushed poly from So Sew English that has great 4 way stretch. I bought it about 2 years ago.

This top is so comfortable and I love how it accentuates by bust and then is nice and loose over my waist and hips. There are 2 options for the center bust. I did the center band option, but think I'll do the elastic option next time.

I'd suggest using a light weight knit with 4-way stretch for the bust pieces, but a 2-way stretch should work for the rest of the top. I also recommend printing multiple sizes if you are a non standard shape like myself and measuring pattern pieces to ensure you get a proper fit.

A Sparkly Baby does have a multi pattern discount- 20% off 2 and 30% off 3. I highly recommend the Renni Dress and the Palauchos.

The entire shop is currently 40% off through October 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.

Nature's Fabrics Bamboo Spandex Stripes

I love Bamboo fabrics - they are so soft, breathable, and feel so much cooler than cotton lycra. I've also become a fan of stripes over the past year. I use to never get stripes, but then I started finding some that I liked. I don't like simple even stripes. I love stripes that vary in spacing and size. When I saw this gorgeous gray tone on tone stripes at Nature's Fabrics that have skinny and wide stripes in varying thickness - I had to have them. 

This Bamboo spandex jersey is 66% Bamboo Viscose, 28% Organic Cotton and 6% Spandex. It is 57/58” wide and weighs 200 GSM.

It has such lovely drape and is so soft. I just had to make a maxi dress with it.

Bamboo is naturally anti-bacterial and anti-fungal supposedly because of a bacteriostatis agent unique to bamboo plants called “bamboo kun” which also helps bamboo resist harboring odors. The bamboo kun in bamboo fabric stops odor-producing bacteria from growing and spreading in the bamboo cloth allowing bamboo clothing to be more hygienic and to remain fresher smelling.

Bamboo is highly absorbent and wicks water away from the body 3 to 4 times faster than cotton. In warm, humid and sweaty weather, bamboo clothing helps keep the wearer drier, cooler and more comfortable and doesn’t stick to the skin. Which makes it perfect for the 100 degree temps we have in Texas during the summer.

Bamboo clothing is naturally more wrinkle-resistant than cotton, and while it might still require ironing after washing, bamboo fabric can be ironed at a lower temperature than cotton. Shrinkage during washing and drying is minimal at warm temperatures.

Are you ready to try some bamboo?  Nature's Fabrics has bamboo spandex jersey and bamboo jersey on sale for 20% through July 21! There are 130 bamboo spandex jersey options! Now is a great time to stock up on an assortment of solids and be sure to grab some of the gorgeous stripes!

Information on Bamboo from http://organicclothing.blogs.com/my_weblog/2007/09/bamboo-facts-be.html


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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.