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Introducing Five and Ten Designs – Volume 1

July 22, 2013 by girlinspired 10 Comments

I’ve been hard at work behind the scenes, keeping a secret for quite a while now. And today is the day that I get to make a very VERY exciting announcement!!! I have collaborated with some of my very favorite sewing friends to create an eBook with 10 amazing dress designs that I think you’re going to love! Five & Ten Designs is debuting today with our first pattern book, Volume 1. The basic premise behind our work is this: we’ve taken one basic pattern block – the bodice block in this case – and from that, we’re showing you how to design 10 totally unique dresses!

The designers behind this new venture are: Jessica Abbott from The Sewing Rabbit, Delia Randall of Delia Creates, Jessica Christian from Craftiness is Not Optional, Heidi Kettner of Elegance & Elephants, and me, Stef! Get it? Five Designers – Ten Designs – Five & Ten Designs!!!

Grace was all over it when it was time to model the first design – the basic dress for Volume 1. I put together this tutorial and it is used as a foundation for several of the other looks in the book. It’s your staple dress – lined bodice, full gathered skirt. Perfect for embellishing or whipping up a closet full to practice your basic sewing skills. If you’re ready to take the leap into garment making – this dress is the place to do it.

And then when you’re comfortable with the basic techniques of constructing a sleeveless dress, you can delve into some of the more complex designs…there are pattern pieces for a cap sleeve, peter pan collar, even pockets! And then step-by-step instructions and high resolution photos to guide you through each of the ten designs.

I am so excited to debut this book…there is so much potential here for sewists of all skill levels! I’ll show you more of my other design later this week – I think you’re going to love it!! Bet you can’t guess which one it is – haha! Alrighty! Please check out 5 &10 Designs and consider putting some of the amazing designs in our Volume 1 book to use! See more of all the designs HERE or click below to purchase the eBook!

Project Run and Play Summary

April 24, 2013 by girlinspired 12 Comments

Participating in the All Star Season of Project Run and Play was beyond wonderful. Similar to my first go at the competition, I’ve finished the competition with four new children’s outfits that have pushed my design, pattern-making, sewing, and photography skills to new heights. Not only that, but I feel so blessed to have designed alongside some of the most talented sewing bloggers I know. I am so grateful for these friendships that have strengthened, for Liz and Elizabeth who continue to orchestrate such an inspirational series, and for my readers who continue to support me and leave the most encouraging messages to rally me on! Thank you!!

I want to get all four looks here in one place for your easy reference.

Week 1: Petal Splash – Art Inspired Design

I was so flattered to win for this week’s art-inspired design. It was a fun dress to make and continues to please Addie as she romps around in it dripping popsicles down the front. Follow the link to see more of the Petal Splash Gown.

Week 2: Schoolgirl Sophisticate – Chevron Inspired Design

This look for the chevron week is probably my most proud design – it took so much work to manipulate the chevron fabric into the skirt and the shirt is the perfect combination of delicious fabric and complimentary design. Plus, the photo shoot for this one was super fun bonding time with my little schoolgirl! Follow the link to see more of the Schoolgirl Sophisticate Chevron Design.

Week 3: Sparkle and Shine – Detail Inspired Design

For the “detailed-look” week, I based my design on one of the most important goals I have when sewing – creating something that my children will love. I used comfortable fabrics, casual styles, and non-traditional color accents, paired with my recent obsession – metallics – and came up with this fun design. I also came up with some of the cutest pictures of this kid!! Follow the link to see more of the Sparkle and Shine Detailed Design.

Week 4: All Dressed Up Formal Design

This formal dress was really fun to make – I didn’t really have a design in mind and it developed from start to finish through draping on my child dress form. The peachy pink silk, the gold and sequin accents, and the comfortable fit of this dress reflect so much of my own personal style preference – it’s like all of my favorite things wrapped into one dress. Follow the link to see more of the All Dressed Up Formal Design.

Did you enjoy the All Stars season? I found it really inspiring! Instead of feeling exhausted and drained at the end this time around, I feel like I’m exploding with ideas and goals!

How about you? Are you working on anything special?

Sparkle and Shine – The Details – PR&P Week 3

April 12, 2013 by girlinspired 29 Comments

Aaaaaa! This All-Stars season of Project Run and Play is too much fun! Since no one goes home, the pressure is off, and I’m taking the opportunity to experiment, try new things, and create designs that suit each of my girls perfectly. This week, the challenge was to use details to make the outfit shine and I chose leather and metallic accents on a casual outfit for my casual girl. You can read all the details and vote over at Project Run and Play!

I love this little outfit. In fact, I’d like to wear it myself.

I love the metallic stitching, snaps, and studs.

I love the skinny little jeans and the comfortable style with the ruching of the knit tunic.

I like the slightly funky/Western feel of the orange leather accents.

And I love this girl. I’ve mentioned that our first photos were pretty awful because she fell asleep in the car just before we were supposed to take pictures and then was so tired and cranky, she wouldn’t smile for anything. But when we ran outside a couple days later to take pictures, she turned on the charm big time.

I wish you could’ve seen her in action. Hands up on her shoulders, spinning and twirling and flipping her ponytail this way and that, squatting, and showing off the pockets – she was so cute and so funny. When that girl is on, she’s ON!!

Are you as excited as I am to see how everyone used details to create their own designs this week? Head over to Project Run and Play and check them out. And don’t forget to VOTE!!! Thank you so so much for taking this journey with me!

Schoolgirl Sophisticate – Chevron Inspired PR&P Look

April 5, 2013 by girlinspired 40 Comments

Hello! Friday again! That brings us to week two of Project Run and Play! Thank you for all of your wonderful words of encouragement last week. I cannot begin to describe how great you make me feel!

I am excited to share this week’s look with you! The wonderful people from Riley Blake sent us two yards of chevron-printed cotton to incorporate into this week’s look. It was interesting to choose a color before I knew what I would be making, but once I had the fabric in front of me, I decided to make a skirt and blouse.

You can read all the details over on the Project Run and Play blog if you’d like! Here today, I wanted to show you a slew of pictures and also a couple more detailed shots of the fabric manipulating that I did with the chevron. The patterns for both the shirt and skirt were drafted completely from scratch using the pattern-drafting methods we discussed a while back. To draft new patterns in full was one of my goals for this round of Project Run and Play and the feeling of accomplishment to see the garments come to life is just awesome!

Let’s start with the fabric! I utilized most of the two yards to make enough new fabric for the skirt. I started by cutting lots of horizontal strips, holding my breath as I went. If my idea didn’t work, I didn’t know what I was going to do!! But, it worked!

Here you can see what the finished fabric for the skirt looks like – once all the pleats have been sewn in:

And here, you can see how the little triangle scales pop open just a little, giving a neat texture to the skirt and a little peek at the teal blue of the original contrasting chevron color.

We headed over to the high school for the photo shoot. I tried to drag along a bunch of potential props because I had never walked around the campus before and I wanted to have something for Olivia to play around with if she got bored with my camera directing. She thought this was great – the old books, some of my old glasses frames, the cool hallways and architecture at the high school. She was such a goofball and so giddy, I could hardly get her to hold still. We had so much fun!

Here’s a great shot where you can see the texture of the skirt “in action” :

Love, love this picture in the window!

And finally, my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE picture from the whole shoot – not exactly showcasing the outfit, but a total keeper for the family album….she’s such a goof!

Okay! So head on over to Project Run and Play and check out all of the chevron-inspired looks! I just know they’re going to be amazing – did you see last week’s? I’m so excited to see what everyone did this week!!

~~Go here to VOTE for your favorite!!~~ Voting is closed for this week – thanks so much for your support!!

Sharing at: Make It Wear It and Knock Our Socks Off

Skinny Jeans with Sparkle

March 11, 2013 by girlinspired 15 Comments

My second-grader lives in skinny jeans. For years, she rarely wore pants at all and flat out refused to wear shorts, but this year, she’s all about the skinny jeans.

The thing is, she’s tiny. She’s seven and a half and still can slip in to 18-24 month clothes, width wise. Of course, the length doesn’t fit, which brings me to our current challenge: trying to find pants that are slim on her, but long enough.
Now, she’s not tall, she takes after her 5’1″ mama, but she’s definitely taller than she is wide. So, I’ve figured out that I can make her a pretty good pair of pajama pants by using a size 2/3 pattern and adding an inch up top and 5-6 inches on the length – this yields a perfectly fitting pair of regular pants. I tried Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop‘s “Skinny Jeans” for Olivia, thinking they might work. The pair that I shared previously, here, were too small for Olivia at a size 4, but fit Grace perfectly. So, I made another pair in a size 6, but they came out HUGE for her. I think actually, that the 4 would have been a good fit, but the fabric I used on that pair didn’t really have any stretch, so they were too snug. But with a nice stretchy denim, they would have been great. Anyway, I haven’t had a chance to try them again. This pair I’m sharing today, fits her okay, but the waist has to be cinched up so much that the pants get all bulky and weird around the back waist. And the front pockets got a little strange because I kept stitching further and further in on the sides of the jeans to get them more snug. As long as her shirt comes down a couple inches over the top of the waist, they look pretty awesome.

I love the slightly floral embossing on the jeans – this showed up much more before I prewashed the denim, but it still adds a little special touch. I also pulled out my jewel setter and added sparkly hearts on the back pockets, which are eye-catching and adorable!

I printed out a heart outline and used it as a guide to mark punch evenly spaced dots. Then I set the “stencil” on the pocket of the jeans and marked each dot with a chalk pen. Once I had the heart marked out, I used my jewel heat-setter tool to apply the crystals. Then I proceeded with the pattern to attach the pockets to the pant leg panels. Super cute, right?

You can find the Skinny Jeans pattern here.

A Gymnastics Birthday Party

January 13, 2013 by girlinspired 14 Comments

Grace celebrated her fifth birthday last week and it was the first party that we’ve done for the girls away from home. I have had so much fun planning the girls’ birthday parties for the last seven years, so it was an adjustment (though not a surprise) when Grace asked that her party be at a local gymnastics center. She’s a no-muss, no-fuss, all-action, all-the-time kind of girl. She can skip the decorations and fluff – and that’s exactly what she told me. “Mommy, I want my birthday party at the gymnastics place, and I don’t want any decorations.” And it went on further….”I don’t want you to spend any time making decorations because I just want you to play with me.” Dagger to the heart.

I need you to understand how hard I work to make sure that my creative time doesn’t impede on quality time with my girls. I mostly craft after the kids are in bed or on the days that the girls spend playing over at Grammy’s house. On occasion, I’ll pull out a project in the daytime if the girls are all occupied upstairs playing together. So, when Grace threw this request at me, it really triggered my mom guilt/panic.

But, we went with it. I planned absolutely nothing for her party except for reserving the gym and inviting a few children. It was such a relief to celebrate the holidays without worrying about the looming birthday party that was upcoming.

I held off from the planning until four days before the party. I went to the craft store to get some fabric for another project and came across the cutest little mason jars. I hadn’t figured out the cupcakes for the party, so I jumped on the chance to make something cutesy and crafty without breaking the “no decorations” rule. Grace did specify “red” as her preferred party color, so that was helpful.

I also picked up some polka dotted oilcloth for the party table and some washi tape to stick on anything I could…..and then I found some great metallic dancewear fabric, knowing that there was no way Grace would turn down a new leotard. In fact, she kind of went crazy for it when I made it.

I made some little labels for the drink bottles with the guests’ names, and added a little clipart for labels to top the cupcake jars and treat bags. I cut out larger labels and added some die cut letters for a banner. And that’s about it.

The party was awesome and EASY!!! I spent very little on new supplies. I packed everything I needed into a single tupperware bin in about 15 minutes. I didn’t have to clean my house or panic about timing. We loaded the bin of supplies and the kids up in the car, went and picked up balloons and some pizza and we were party ready! And the only crafting time I put in was (when Grace wasn’t watching) at night and on my babysitting day. Everyone was happy and the birthday girl had a smashingly good time.

Introducing Five and Ten Designs – Volume 1

Project Run and Play Summary

Sparkle and Shine – The Details – PR&P Week 3

Skinny Jeans with Sparkle

A Gymnastics Birthday Party

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