Hanami pattern test

Hi all!

I was  super happy  when An sent  me  an e-mail saying  I had  been selected as  a  Hanami pattern tester!

An's patterns are  so beautiful! very clean and  nice designs, very well explained  instructions, lots  of photos...it's  impossible to get  lost and  best  of  all: everything  fits  perfectly, all pieces match to perfection so pleasant  sewing  experience is guaranteed. Sizes  go from 1 year  to 10 years old, and you have  many, many options to sew completely  different tops or  dresses for   only  $8! Just  to learn how  to install an invisible  zipper to a fully  lined bodice it's worth the price. But, don't worry! if  you're  afraid  of  zippers you can try the  buttoned crossed back.

Here is  my girl's  new  top. I chose to sew the  crossed back top. I fell in love  with it  the very first  time  An posted a picture  of it  in her  blog.

I used a white textured gauze, that  had  to be  a  top for  myself, but  happened  to  be  the  perfect  fabric  for this  top ;)

To complete the  outfit  I also sewed some  shorts in a  solid green fabric that  happened  to be  the  perfect  shade  of  green to match with the  top! 

and  a hair  bow in the  same  fabric I used for the  top

You can find  the  pattern to make  the  bow -it's  a  free  pattern by Oliver +S!- HERE

and  they're  so cute, so easy to make  and  use  so little fabric  that  I couldn't help myself and  added two more  of  them to the  sides  of   the  cuffs of the  shorts

By the  way, the  patterns  for  the  shorts  is  a  free one too: The  anyday banded  shorts  by Create  and delegate. It  comes  in sizes 2 to 5, but  you can easily adjust  the  pattern to make  a  bigger  size  as  I did.

One  more picture  of  the  back of  the  top. I  love  it!

But, As  I  told you, my  daughter loooooooves  this  top, so I  had  to make  another  one! This  time  an sleeveless version. It's VERY hot  here  at  summer, we  can easily  reach 30-35ºC (85-95 ºF) so lighter  clothing  is  a must  during  the  sunny  hours!

I'm sure  it will get  lots of  use!

Thank you An for  having  me  as  a tester!

Fedora Hat by Elegance and Elephants

These are  my  most recent  sewing  projects. Again, a  pattern test!

I was so so excited  when Heidi contacted me to test her  new  pattern the FEDORA HAT! I immediately answered YES!

It was  my  first  time  testing  an Elegance & Elephants pattern,  but  not  my  first  time  sewing  with one  of  Heidi's patterns (I recently sewed the  bubble pockets  shorts, I hope  to blog  about  it  soon), so I was  sure the results would  be  great!

And  I was  right. Don't  you think so?

Just  have  a look at  the  beautiful professional finishings of the  interior  of  the  hat. Wow!  I can hardly  believe I've  made it  myself!

I't's not  definetly  a  beginners  pattern, but  I would  absolutely recommend it  for  intermediate  sewers. It's not  that it's  complicated, but  you need some  sewing  experience  to sew thrugh many layers of  heavy interfaced tweed or  wool fabric, I guess.

You did  a  great  job Heidi, congrats! And  thank you for  having  me  as a tester!

Flipping the Tinny

I was  very excited  to see  that  one  of  the  patterns in the flip contest was  the  Tinny. As I told you in previous  posts I was  a tester  for  An's  pattern and  was  so pleased that  I was  determined  to make  another  one, the  third, but  this  time  an sleeveless version. That  was  a  FLIP that  I  had in mind, wasn't it? So, it  was  a very easy decision.

 So these  were  my  changes to the  original pattern:

I lowered the neckline on both back and front bodice, narrowed the width of the shoulders, and also replaced the zipper with these big colourful heart-shaped buttons.

Also added piping all around the neckline, armscyes and back and added a waistband on the front and a bow at the back.

I used the bodice pieces of the pattern and the circle skirt option. I love how the pieces match to the milimetre! No extra fabric in any of the pieces = no extra work to adjust it = super fast no-trouble assembly of the dress , yay!

And best of all is that my daughter is in love with the dress! She couldn't wait to wear it!