Friday, September 26, 2014

LilyGiggle Jujube Sew Along- Day 5

Anyone else excited that it is Friday? :)

Today is our final day and we are going to attach our skirts. Before we start sewing, you need to stabilize the bottom of your bodice. If you look on page 22 of your pattern, step #21, you will see clear directions for this process. I personally love knit interfacing. I cut a strip 1 inch x the width of my bodice. Make sure the stretch in your interfacing is going the right direction before you iron it on! (This girl I know *ahem* did her's wrong one time and had to rip it all off and start over.)  Now that your bodice hem is stabilized, lets talk about the skirt.

Today I'm going to show you a double tiered skirt. I saw a dress on pinterest with a skirt like this and I sent a screen shot to Beth and told her we had to do this for the sew along.  The pattern calls for the skirt to be 2 SW pieces. Because we are doing two tiers, I went with only 1 SW per fabric. If you are using voile or a very lightweight fabric, you might be able to still do the 2 SW pieces. I was worried that with this regular cotton fabric it would be too heavy for the knit bodice and possibly pull some.

Cut your bottom tier as according to the length directions on the pattern, but only cut 1 piece instead of 2. For my size 4, that was 10.5 x the width of the fabric. Then take your other fabric, (this will be your top tier) and cut it half the length of your first piece. My first one was 10.5 so I cut this one 5.25.


 Now hem the bottom of each piece and run a gathering stitch across the top.


Gather your top tier and pin right sides together to your bodice. 


Sew the top layer on. Be very careful not to pull the fabric as you sew. Repeat with the bottom tier. Finish seams with your serger.  Top stitching is optional.


YOU ARE DONE!!!!!  WOOHOO!! 

Thanks for participating in the first ever Lilygiggle Sew Along! When your dress is completed, please load your photo into the Jujube Sew Along Album on our LilyGiggle group. Voting will begin Sunday and run through Tuesday. Winners will be announced Tuesday night.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

LilyGiggle Jujube Sew Along Day 4

I just have to say how much I'm loving all the photos of the things you are all creating this week.  I love to see all the different creative styles.  

Today we are going to talk about sleeves. The Jujube pattern comes with three sleeve lengths- short, 3/4, and long sleeve. I know some of you already have your sleeve length chosen and even cut, so feel free to proceed as planned.  If you are undecided, here is a variation you might want to try out.

First we are going to start with the flutter pattern piece from the Secret Garden dress. My dress was a size 5 so I used the flutter that was for the size 2-6. We need this to be just a bit fuller than it is for the Secret Garden dress so I placed my pattern piece 2 inches from the fold and then cut.


Here is what you should have now. 


This next step you can do two different ways. You can use your serger or your sewing machine to do a lettuce edge along the curved side of your flutter. I did mine on my regular machine. I set my stitch width to a 4 which is the widest it will go, and my length to 1/2. (I have a Bernina if that helps any.) As I sewed along the edge, I stretched the fabric and it makes a beautiful "ripple" for a
 great lettuce edge. 


Now take your flutter to your machine and run a basting/gathering stitch along the straight edge.  Gather it to fit your arm whole opening and pin in place. 


Now, if you would like to just have the flutter you can stop here. Serge your edge and then sew your side seams up and you are ready to move on to the skirt.  


Super cute!!  BUT......you can also add a sleeve! 
Pin your sleeve on right over the flutter.


Sew in place. 


And there you have a sleeve AND a flutter! :) 

Sew your side seam up and hem your sleeve and you are all ready to put your skirt on tomorrow!

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

LilyGiggle Jujube Dress Sew Along- DAY 3

I've seen a lot of great looking necklines on the LG group, thanks to our post from Kristi yesterday. I hope you all learned some helpful techniques! 

Today we are visiting another one of the LilyGiggle testers, Kim Wilmes. I'm guessing some of you probably know her from other testing groups, as she does quite a bit of pattern testing.  We fell in love with her twist on the Jujube Dress and thought you might want to try it too.

If you have read through your pattern, you see that today we will be using Wonder Tape. I had never used this product prior to the Jujube dress, and I actually made my first one without it.  Let me give you a tiny piece of advice. If you don't have it, pack up the kids and run to the fabric store and by it! It's worth the trip. I promise. My first jujube had approximately 9,000 pins in the ruffle and took about 20 mins to get it all pinned perfectly! With Wonder Tape you can cut that down to about 2 mins and NO pins. Go get some. For real. 

Who's ready for ruffles???!!  :)


THANK YOU KIM!!!

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

LilyGiggle Jujube Dress Sew Along- DAY 2

Good Morning girls! I've enjoyed scrolling through the sewing group page this morning and looking at all of your fabric selections for your dress.  I see some of you are very ambitious and are making several!  I'm excited to see all your finished products. 

I have a few small changes from my blog post yesterday.  Our grand prize winner is going to actually be chosen by Random.org.  I'm afraid this competition is going to be intense with all the gorgeous photos I've already seen and I want this to be fair, so we will let the grand prize be a random winner. The other two winners will be selected by our host/admin team and then a final one by "fan favorite". 

Our other slight change is that today we AREN'T doing the sleeves. I had that wrong on my notes so that will actually be on Thursday. :)  

Today I have the pleasure of introducing Kristi Elston to you.  She is a talented seamstress and designer. She has been a tester with us for a while and does great blogging.  I hope you enjoy Kristi's blog today and learn some great tips! Thank you Kristi for hosting today!!



Monday, September 22, 2014

LilyGiggle Jujube Dress Sew Along- DAY 1

Today is the first day of LilyGiggle's first ever sew along! I hope you are excited to sew along with us this week as we learn some new tricks and encourage and inspire each other from our sewing rooms all across the world. 

At the end of the week we will be having a fun contest for you to show off what you made. Three winners will be chosen. The SAL hosts, plus Beth and our LG admins, will choose their favorite to be the grand prize winner of 4 yards of fabric from the sweet lady at PurpleSeamstress and 2 patterns of your choice from LG. Two more contestants will be chosen- one via Random.org and the other as the Fan Favorite (you get to vote!)- and each will win 2 patterns of their choice from LilyGiggle.

The pattern we are using this week is the Jujube Dress


This pattern has quite a bit of versatility, and you will see that even more this week.  I hope you find some fun new ways to make this dress that you may not have thought of before. 

For today we will start very simple. 

First you need to print and tape your pattern together. If you haven't purchased your pattern yet, you can buy it here.  Be sure to use code "sewjujube" for 30% off! Don't forget about the cool layering options for printing that Beth has added now.  You will find the details on page 4 of your pattern. 

Our next step is to prep your fabric.  Your knit REALLY needs to be prewashed and dried. Knit sometimes does a significant amount of shrinking in the wash so it's always best to prewash it.

Now for the cutting--- For today I would suggest that you only cut the front and back bodice. Tomorrow there will be some sleeve options discussed, so you may want to wait to decide on your sleeves until after you see the featured looks.  

Now wasn't that easy? Day 1- check! 

See you tomorrow!

Monday, September 1, 2014

Labor Day Giveaway!

I recently made this beautiful dress for a pattern testing for LilyGiggle. I love it so much that I'm going to give one away today!


The bodice is knit from Art Gallery's Arizona line and the skirt is woven cotton from the same line.
Features a drop waist bodice and is available in size 2-12. 

To enter to win this dress enter the giveaway here.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fall Is In The Air

As most of you now know, I'm working for a pattern designer. My favorite thing about this job is that I am having to make time to try out new patterns. Callie's favorite thing about this job is that she is getting lots of new clothes! LilyGiggle just released several updated classics. I purchased all 30 of her patterns last year, but as usual most of them have been waiting patiently in my dropbox for me to find time to make them. One such pattern is the Secret Garden Dress


This dress was redesigned with the updated "Classics" and I was excited to try it out. I started working on this dress and was worried it was going to be a little boring with the solid ivory color knit I had chosen. The dress was almost completed, but I was exhausted so I put it down and went to bed.  As usual, I lay in the bed thinking of ideas for this dress.  Suddenly I remembered the stretch lace fabric in my scrap drawer, left over from a recent flower girl dress I had made. The next morning I got up and went straight to the sewing room to try out my idea.  The lace added the perfect touch to this dress! 


The Secret Garden Dress is an all knit pattern. I used a cotton/lycra blend from Purpleseamstress Fabric. Her knits are great quality and very affordable. 
There are four different sleeve options for this dress. I choose the 3/4 length for fall, but it also includes a short sleeve, long sleeve and sleeveless version. Flutters are included for the sleeveless option, but I have also used them on top of the 3/4 length version for a little extra "girly".  The bottom ruffle is optional, but I live in the south so it's 
actually not optional. ;)


My next project was the Zinnia Dress. I made my very first knit item from this pattern about 3 years ago. Since then, I've made quite a few of these dresses. The Zinnia has also been updated with a slimmer fit and some new features. The petals on the sleeves are now lined to prevent curling on the edges. 



The bodice of this dress is knit, which I also purchased from Purpleseamstress Fabric. This shade is magenta. The Zinnia has 3 sleeve length options. Again, I went with the 3/4 length but the short sleeve and long sleeve are also included. You can also choose a single petal or double petals.
I had some gorgeous fabric from the Emmy Grace line from Art Gallery Fabrics that I chose to use for this dress. I love Art Gallery. Their fabrics are exceptional quality and so soft! These colors are going to be popular for fall this year.

The skirt and sash of this dress are both woven cotton. The pattern includes a top, tunic and dress length for the skirt. I have plans for another one in tunic length over some leggings.


I love the banded neck on this dress. Everyone seems to have their own method for a banded neck, but my preferred technique is the 75% rule.  I sew both of my shoulder seams together and then measure the neckline and cut my band 75% of the length. I've had a perfect fit every time.


I won't spend too much time on the Jujube Dress since I just blogged about it recently. (You can read here.) I'll just share a few photos to get you excited about this great pattern!
 All of these patterns come in size 2-12 with baby sizing being added in the future.


This is another great fabric by Art Gallery Fabrics from the Emmy Grace line. The knit bodice is also Art Gallery and is so soft!


And so concludes my round up of three of Beth's fabulous dress patterns. I hope this has inspired you to try one, if not all three.  If you aren't convinced yet, here are a few more photos
because they are too cute not to share! :)







Thank you to MaddyEm Photography for the great photos!