Sewing for Girls – Page 3

Summer Sewing with Love Notions and Raspberry Creek Fabrics

May seems to be the craziest month in our house but I love it! It’s a month of recitals, big games, so many end of school activities, and the hope of lazy summer days ahead. It’s the perfect time for new summer clothes and the big Love Notions Mother’s Day sale as we look forward to warm, fun days coming our way. Today I’m sharing our latest Love Notions and Raspberry Creek makes in honor of the 40% off LN sale and RCF’s newest summer line release.

This post contains Love Notions affiliate links. If you purchase patterns through my links I receive a small commission in return. I am a Love Notions Ambassador and love the patterns and LN community and want to share my enthusiasm and get y’all as hooked as I am!

Let’s talk fabric for a minute. Raspberry Creek Fabrics typically does two big CLUB fabric releases each year for Spring and Fall with Summer being a smaller release. This year, the summer release is just as big and there are soooo many amazing prints to choose from. I sat down with my kids and let them pick their favorites and let me tell you, their list was LONG! I usually let my kids have all of the CLUB goodies but I had to get my hands on some this round too. The new line is on sale through Monday, May 10th at $1 off per yard (which really adds up if your cart grows as much as mine!).

I sewed up this first batch in some of our favorite Love Notions patterns but will be bringing you a few more makes later this week too. These CLUB prints are available on their 95/5 cotton spandex jersey and french terry bases. These are all on jersey and are a great weight for so many things. We love tees, dresses, and pj’s in CLUB jersey. CLUB french terry makes cozy hoodies, dresses, shorts, and joggers.

Love Notions has some of my go-to boys patterns- the Moto Maxx being right at the top.

The Moto Maxx pattern has so many fun details! It features both a top and jogger pattern (you know how we feel about joggers in this house!). The top can be made with short, long, or layered sleeves making it a great year round pattern. I love the shoulder detail and the opportunity to do a little color blocking. It was perfect for this fun National Park print that had so many colors in it to pick from!

My teen has been growing like crazy and it always becomes obvious when she pulls out clothes from last season! She loves to throw on a t-shirt dress on Saturdays so I know that I need to sew up a few for summer. It was a great excuse to sew up a Prisma Dress! The Prisma Dress has multiple options and I always forget about the simple a-line (hello, that pleated drop waist skirt is too cute!). The simple shaping of the a-line was just right for this girly.

I love that so many of Love Notions kids patterns go up to a size 16 (this is one of them!). I sewed up a size 14 with a 14 length because she wanted it above the knee. It’s such a great throw on and be done dress. Paired with some sneaks and she’s good to go. She has come around to florals lately, especially if they have a little retro feel like this print.

We debated what this print wanted to be and really leaned towards a ringer tee. She has a darling muscle tank that she wears often and when I showed her the Sprint Muscle Tee she quickly made up her mind that was what she wanted. I love the color block and hood options but for this we went simple. We cropped it a few inches to wear with her high waisted shorts and jeans.

This cute stripe can read really sweet and girly but we wanted something a little more grown up. We had about 10 fabrics that we considered for the bands. RCF has solids that match almost all those stripes but we went for a little more contrast. Grey is always a good choice, right?

I couldn’t let my kids have all the fun! I fell head over heals for this print from Brittney Laidlaw and knew I needed something just for me. I wanted a tshirt dress and hacked my all time favorite LN pattern to get this look. The Classic Tee makes up a good percentage of my summer wardrobe so I knew it’d be perfect for this.

I measured from my shoulder to just above my knee and lengthened the side seams accordingly extending the curve out as well. I love the fit through the shoulders and then that it gets looser through the waist and hips. This makes for such a comfy and flattering dress too!

It is beyond comfy and I can’t wait to wear it all summer long!

Are you stumped which patterns to pick up during the sale? You can check out my past Love Notions makes here and hopefully I can help you narrow it down. I have so many Love Notions patterns that I reach for again and again. I love how easy they are to print at home, the clear concise tutorials, the great fit, and the wide variety of patterns for the whole family!

Tea with Bea from Riley Blake Designs

This girl has too many dresses as you all can probably guess but I can’t help but keep sewing them for her! These gorgeous prints from the Tea with Bea line from Riley Blake Designs were just meant for this dress.

This whole line is the best of all spring has to offer. The pretty soft hues, florals, and fun geometric prints are just so lovely!

I used the Sprigs Lake for the main and the Honeycomb Coral for the bodice. I love this combo! The colors in these prints are some of my favorites on her and are just so springy.

I sewed up the Tween Ashton Dress and Top from Violette Fields Threads. I usually show my girls all of the new releases from our favorite pattern companies and she immediately fell in love with one of the modeled versions of this dress. I’ve been patiently waiting for the right fabric to sew it up!

Now if you’re thinking, “WAIT! Those sleeves go against all of my rules for sewing for my tween/teen”, I was right there with you. They are so dramatic and usually not my girls style but I was excited to give it a try. Sometimes it’s good to push her style a bit and since she liked the examples she’d seen I felt good giving it a go.

She loved it during the shoot and I love that it’s different from her other dresses.

I sewed up a size 10 with a 14 skirt length. This girl keeps stretching right out and is trying to catch up to big sis!

You can grab Tea with Bea from your local quilt shop or online shop!

Simple Life Pattern Co. Newport

The Newport Dress pattern is part of the April Simple Life Pattern Co. Monthly Challenge. Each month a new collection of patterns is highlighted at SLPCo and you can enter to win store credit when you sew them up and share! Bonus, all of the patterns are on sale for the month of April!

As part of the SLPCo Promo team, I got to sew up this pattern in pretty Art Gallery Fabrics. I had made this pattern once before in a pretty floral that unfortunately didn’t get worn a ton. She loved the style but it was a little too young feeling for her so I knew fabric would make all the difference.

We went with a bright fun pink solid, Dragon Fruit, with a simple graphic print for the pockets, Seedmap from the Pollinate collection from Jessica Swift.

The bold bright color is so happy and I love it on her. It matches her sunny personality!

I sewed up a size 10 with added length. I love the simple design but those big fun pockets are the highlight of this pattern.

She said she was feeling very Audrey Hepburn in this (she’s forever our ideal of classic style!).

Make sure you head over to the SLPCo Fan FB group for details on the Monthly Challenge and for all the girly inspiration!

Art Gallery Knits

I’m thrilled to be here sharing the newest knit solids from Art Gallery Fabrics. This was one of my kids favorite shoots of the year- good friends and comfy clothes, yes please!

It was fun to work with Karly of Paisley Roots again and I’m always happy to be part of an Art Gallery project! You HAVE to head over to her blog to check out her incredible makes!

For this shoot we met up with Anna and her kids of Kainara Stitches and my kids really did have a blast! All of the group shots are courtesy of Anna (she’s an amazing seamstress AND an awe-inspiring photographer too!).

The newest colors added to the knit collection are soooo good! From dusty blue Spruce to the peachy blush Cinnamon, these colors are so on trend and beautiful! Art Gallery knits are the perfect weight for everything from tees to dresses and leggings. I’m always so sad when I don’t use them all for myself! They are incredibly soft and so easy to sew with.

I’ll start with Sophie’s simple tee. I used Cinnamon knit and the Made for Mermaids Pepper tee. This pattern is so full of options! I sewed up the scoop neckline, short puff sleeve with banded bottom. She is a jeans and tee kinda gal and this fits right into her wardrobe.

The cute little puff sleeve is the sweetest touch without being too much.

Charlie got really spoiled with a whole comfy outfit. I had to pry this outfit off of him after a long lazy weekend! I judge how much my kids like their handmades by how much they choose to wear them and this outfit has definitely gotten the gold stamp of approval!

For his outfit, I used Spruce as the main for his pants with accents of Camouflage, Sienna Brick, and White Linen. I sewed up the Retro Joggers from Lowland Kids and the True Bias Rio Ringer. The whole retro feel of this outfit is everything!

This top was a last minute addition and it turned out to be my favorite piece! I just couldn’t let any scrap go to waste.

This is the Logan Colorblocked Crop and Hoodie from Made for Mermaids. We made the short sleeved, cropped hoodie options and it is beyond adorable!

I’d say these are some happy kiddos! Make sure to check out the other seamstresses who are joining us!

Paisley Roots Kainara Stitches Replicate Then Deviate Sincerely Shantelle

Spring is coming with Ava Kate from Riley Blake Fabrics

I’m sure we’re like so many in the western hemisphere, getting our first glimpses of spring. Utah spring means snow one day and 65 degrees the next. It means constantly checking the forecast but also knowing that if you don’t like the weather today, don’t worry! Chances are tomorrow will be completely different! The warm days have me so excited for spring!

The sunshine and warm weather was perfect to photograph the newest line from Riley Blake and Carina Gardner, Ava Kate. Ava Kate is full of beautiful florals, stunning damasks, and fun stripes. The black, seafoam, blush, and cayenne palette is one I can get behind.

I used three fabrics from this collection. My younger daughter is in Vines Seafoam and my older daughter picked Cayenne stripes. I lined them both with Flowers Cayenne and did a matching hair tie as well.

Payton has a thing for baby doll style dresses. Week after week she reaches for this style to wear to church. Something loose and easy to wear almost always wins with her. I sewed up the Chloe Dress from Vintage Little Lady. This is a free pattern and is available in Tween, girls, and baby sizing. Talk a bout a winner!

I sewed up a tween size 10 and forgot to add length to the skirt (she’s in a 14 height!). Yep, this little miss is shooting up just like her sister. For so long, she was my easy, one straight size girl. The last year she has really lengthened and is growing up way too fast! I tried to convince her it was ‘vintage length’ and she said “Vintage like what they wore on the Brady Bunch?” That was my cue to add a little more to the skirt, lol! Luckily I had just enough fabric left to do another quick tier and now we’re calling it a design feature.

This dress pattern is a dolman style bodice and is a super quick sew. I’m pretty sure both girls will be getting many more of these. It’s just such a classic style!

I had a sweet neighbor give me some of her old sewing notions and I was so happy to come across these buttons in her stash. They were just the perfect pop!

I just love this color on her and will keep filling her closet with it. She had to double check when I told her it matched her eyes perfectly!

This cute girl is definitely a teenager and it’s getting a little trickier to sew for her. Luckily she’s easy to please!

She’s still barely in the sizing at Little Lizard King and I am going to be so sad when the day comes that we can’t use their kids patterns for her anymore. I sewed up the Mavora in top length. The Mavora has so many options and darling ruffles (you might not even recognize it from my version!) but I fell in love with a simple tester version in stripes and knew I had to use it for this fabric. I was hopeful to fit a dress out of this fabric but sadly didn’t have quite enough. I think it was a happy accident though because this top couldn’t be more perfect for her!

I love the wide shoulders and fit. It feels sporty but still very feminine.

I sewed up a size 12 with added length to both the bodice (1.5″) and peplum (1.5″).

I used another vintage button for her keyhole closure and it was meant to be too! Her hair tie is created like you would do bias tape but I just sewed up the edges. Left untied felt very teenage-y!

Shooting these pics really had me excited for more outdoor shoots in the future. I have so many new favorite shots of my girls from this shoot!

Like these two! Pretty much sums up their relationship and personalities!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’re enjoying that first taste of spring in your neck of the woods!

Suit Up for Summer Blog Tour Final Day

This is it! The last of the the Suit Up for Summer tour. It’s always bittersweet. I love what we’ve seen all week and the other bloggers on this tour have just been incredible. With each new suit I saw, I had a new favorite. It feels like an honor to be surrounded by such talent!

Today’s post will be covering two things- coordinating swimwear for the whole family and using your favorite everyday patterns for swimsuits. I love that Raspberry Creek fabrics swim line is so full of options. You’re sure to find something to suit your own personality as well as everyone around you. If you’re looking to sew coordinating sets, RCF has you covered!

Each collection has little mini collections that perfectly coordinate making it so easy to pair prints. Throw in all of the swim basic dots, stripes, and ginghams and you can have dozens of cute combinations. This is so fun when you want to do family suits but don’t want to be too matchy.

I put together some more options featuring prints from different collections and throwing in swim solids and CLUB basics too! When shopping on the website, note the colors that are listed in the title of the print. If a color is listed, it will match other prints and solids with the same color.

This year we didn’t try to be too matchy and each kid picked out prints they loved. I was thrilled when went together so well.

Of course you can always just go big and pick one print and sew for the whole crew! I think the tie dyes, the paint splatter, the orange abstract, and the earthtone palms might be my top choices if I went crazy and sewed for all of my family.

One of the questions I hear so much in my sewing groups is what rashguard pattern people use? Or what is your favorite little boy boardshort pattern? And don’t forget, what’s your favorite swim bottom? I think we naturally think that if we’re sewing a swimsuit we need a swim pattern. Guess what? You don’t!

This is particularly true when looking for a rash guard pattern. Chances are you have a good slim fit tee pattern in your stash. I like the Rowan Tee from Titchy Threads for my boys, the Camden Raglan from Hey June or Xfactor Top from Patterns for Pirates for my girls.

The Layer Me Up from Patterns for Pirates is my go-to for myself and the Xfactor is my new favorite. I’m smitten with my new Love Notions Willow Wrap top too! I’m also tempted to try the Summer Basic tank from Love Notions (this one comes with a shelf bra option!), the Hepburn from Patterns for Pirates, and the Be Trendy top from Ellie and Mac. The tricky part for women is finding the support you need but once you figure out that alteration (or if you like to wear a supportive swim top underneath) the skies the limit!

For boys swim trunks, you can use your favorite shorts pattern! The Sew A Little Seam Linden is a swim short and everyday short in one and was the a-ha moment when I figured out that I had way more options than I thought. You can take the lining/underwear piece from a trunks pattern and add it to another pattern if your son prefers them.

For women’s and girls bottoms, look to your underwear patterns! I prefer those with a little more coverage and that makes it easier to fully line them as well. The Norah’s from Petite Stitchery have me so intrigued and I’d love to sew up a pair of swim bottoms with it for this summer.

As far as swim coverups go, this is where we can really think outside the box. Cardigans, robes, dresses, skirts, flowy pants, tunics… you name it will all work when you want to get from the car to the beach in style. I sewed up the Love Notions Boyfriend Cardigan in rib knit and added a removable tie to make this easy coverup that can also be worn over jeans and a tee! I’m all about versatile pieces! The Love Notions Allegros in a lightweight or sheer fabric would make gorgeous beach pants. One more Love Notions pattern I love to throw on over my suits is the easy breezy Laundry Day Tee. When we finally hit the beach earlier this year, I couldn’t wait to wear my Vero Beach Set from Hey June. I made this one during testing and it just was born to be worn at the beach. What are your favorite things to wear over your suits? Do you have a dedicated coverup or do you throw on anything that’s clean?

Can you believe this is it? The end of another great year of the tour. Make sure you head to the RCF Instagram for an extra special giveaway today.

Sew Mary Mac Merritts Makes Wild + Wanderful Call Ajaire

Made by Kates Violet and Jewels Sweet Mama Life All Things Katy!

Intensely Distracted Pins & Pinot My Heart Will Sew On The Petite Sewist

All My Spare Time Kara Metta Handcrafted by RED Sincerely, Shantelle

Replicate Then Deviate That’s Sew Kari Desert Blooms Boo + Lu

Titchy Threads Sew A Little Seam Simple Life Pattern Co. Pattern for Pirates Ellie and Mac

Lowland Kids Gingham Hive Striped Swallow Designs Honeydew Kisses Little Lizard King

Jennuine Designs Greenstyle Creations Made for Mermaids Call Ajaire Hey June Boo Designs!

Sofiona Designs Love Notions Lil Luxe Collection Jalie Sweet Red Poppy

Suit Up for Summer 2021 Day Four- Tween Girl Fashion

We’re almost to the end of our week ‘o fun! I’m pretty sure I’ll go into swimsuit withdrawals when the tour ends. Good thing for you, you can still pick up Raspberry Creek Fabrics swim fabrics at 15% off with code SWIMTOUR.

Every year my girls and I go swimsuit shopping and every year we leave empty handed. We struggle so much trying to find suits that both fit their personalities and just plain FIT! My oldest daughter is now in junior sizing and somehow that means that their are even less options that work for her. It makes me so happy that I can sew both of my girls suits that really work for them.

This year I tried a few new to us patterns. The first is the Hibiscus pattern from Honeydew Kisses.

I think my girls have been a part of the design process for so long that when I asked for swimsuit ideas this year, I should not have been surprised to get this drawing from Payton. She really wanted the cutouts on the side and a fun strappy back. She was thrilled when I pulled up the Hibiscus pattern and it matched up with her vision!

I sewed up view B in a 9/10 with added length. We skipped all the ruffles to get as close to her inspiration as possible.

When I was her age, I had a very similar suit that I thought was THE COOLEST! My mom loved it because it was a one-piece and I loved it because the little cutouts seemed so grown up to me. This tie dye print just ups the rad factor!

For her second suit I used the Little Lizard King Sanibel. She loves all the little tie front tops in the shops and the Sanibel is absolutely adorable! I love all of the Little Lizard King swim line and plan to work our way through them all.

We used another fun tie dye and paired it with the light blue and yellow swim solids. The colors are just so cheerful and scream summer to me!

I sewed up a size 10 classic neck tankini length top with tie and the gathered side panel bottoms. This pattern had multiple options for the top and you can add lots of little extras like flutters and ruffles too. It’s no surprise that we skipped most of those. I love that this suit feels sporty but also a little feminine with the side gathers on the bottoms and tie on the top.

Big sis picked out fabrics and had ideas too but I steered her towards the Xfactor top after sewing my own. She was super easy to persuade and picked out the long sleeves for her version.

I added the same bra cups and shelf bra lining to hers that I did to mine and it gives just the right support for her.

She picked out this Dash Dot Abstract print and then we struggled with what to pair it with. It looked great with the black and white micro stripe as well as the bright yellow solid we had too. We settled on this vibrant lipstick pink and I love the pop of color it brings. We used the Calypso bottoms (they’re her most worn from previous years) and I did the same modification from the past, cutting them at the non-banded line but still adding the band. This gives them a little more height and she likes that her top and bottoms just meet.

Sophie has had this inspiration pic saved and wanted to recreate it. The Viridian from Jennuine Design was perfect with it’s separate panel pieces.

She loved this bold leopard print and then pairing it with black really made it suitable for her. She loves fashion but doesn’t like to draw too much attention to herself so this is the perfect way to wear a bold print like this.

For her top, I lined it in a lightweight techno scuba fabric instead of adding cups. This added a bit of smoothness and was a great solution. I sewed up a straight size 12 with the racer-back and she has a teeny bit of growing room so hopefully this will last all summer.

While getting ideas this year we came across this unique top from Albion Fit. She loved it and I immediately started looking for ways to recreate it. It’s a simple peasant style and searched my pattern stash to no luck. I asked in our swim tour group and they were so helpful and I landed on the Gypsy Top from Striped Swallow Designs.

I sewed up a size 12 crop length with short sleeves. We made it so she can wear her Viridian top underneath so this is just like a little coverup top. I made casings instead of following the pattern instructions since she wanted it to look more like the inspiration.

I like the higher neckline but could see her wanting a wider, lower neck in the future. This was a fun, creative make that isn’t your typical swim top and that’s what we love about sewing our own swimwear! It allows you to dream big and try new things.

My girls are loving their new suits and we’re dying for warm weather to break them in! Sewing for tweens and teens can be tricky but I love the collaborative process with my girls. It’s so fun to bring an idea to live and to create suits that fit them so perfectly!

Make sure to check out the other amazing blogger this week! Today’s sewists are bringing it big time!

Sew Mary Mac Merritts Makes Wild + Wanderful Call Ajaire

Made by Kates Violet and Jewels Sweet Mama Life All Things Katy!

Intensely Distracted Pins & Pinot My Heart Will Sew On The Petite Sewist

All My Spare Time Kara Metta Handcrafted by RED Sincerely, Shantelle

Replicate Then Deviate That’s Sew Kari Desert Blooms Boo + Lu

A huge thank you to our sponsors and don’t forget to check out today’s giveaway!!
Again, you can find the tour on Instagram with the hashtag: #suitupforsummer2021

Titchy Threads Sew A Little Seam Simple Life Pattern Co. Pattern for Pirates Ellie and Mac

Lowland Kids Gingham Hive Striped Swallow Designs Honeydew Kisses Little Lizard King

Jennuine Designs Greenstyle Creations Made for Mermaids Call Ajaire Hey June Boo Designs!

Sofiona Designs Love Notions Lil Luxe Collection Jalie Sweet Red Poppy

Riley Blake Stardust

In the middle of all of my swimsuit sewing, I took a break to sew up this sweet dress. I’m really in the mood for all of the warm weather sewing and this dress just hit the spot.

Working with Riley Blake is a treat and I love being able to sew up their new lines. Stardust by Beverly McCullough of Flamingo Toes is such a fun line and was a pleasure to sew up!

I picked Glam Glasses in mint as our main print and paired it with Scallops Peony. I love the retro beachy vibe of the whole collection.

To keep with that retro feel, I sewed up the Byron Bay dress by Little Lizard King. The simple silhouette screams 50’s housewife to me. I sewed up a size 10 according to her measurements and lengthened the skirt a bit for her height (she’s a 14 for height).

The elastic back means this dress will grow a little with her. I love the look of it too!

I kept things simple and used snaps instead of buttons. I can’t remember the last time I used snaps and I love how easy and quick they are!

To finish off the look I sewed up a Lilly Bow Scrunchie from Little Fish. Rachel shares a genius way to make a scrunchie using your favorite hair elastics and the end result is just too cute!

This dress makes me want to head to the boardwalk and eat ice cones as the sunsets. It just makes me think of all the simple pleasures of life!

Suit Up for Summer 2021 Blog Tour Day Two- Adding Graphics to Your Swimwear

It’s day two of the Suit Up tour and I hope you’ve already been thoroughly inspired. Today I’m sharing my tips for adding graphics to your swimwear and a happy little discovery!

The techniques I share work great for embellishing rash guards but they’ll also work well for the front of a swimsuit or wherever you’d love a little something extra. For my kids tops, I turned to two of our go-to patterns: the Hey June Camden Raglan and the Titchy Threads Rowan Tee. I use these patterns often in their everyday wardrobe and they work great for swim tops too. Both of these patterns are slimmer fitting making them perfect for the pool.

I sew up my boys rashguards exactly like I would a tee shirt but for my girls I make a couple of simple alterations. I like to line the front of theirs with an extra layer of swim fabric for a little more coverage. When cutting this lining piece, cut it slightly shorter than your outer piece so you aren’t folding it up in the hem. I also cropped this top 2 inches to better suit wearing it with all of their high waisted swim bottoms. If you’d like even more chest coverage you can follow Nicole’s easy tutorial to add a shelf bra or head to my post from last year to add swim cups as well.

I love any chance I get to pull out my Cricut and adding a little personality and pizzazz to their pieces. For these tops I used stretch vinyl and Cricut Infusible Ink. In the past I’ve used Cricut SportFlex HTV and I’ve been thrilled with the results. I use my Cricut EasyPress and their swim tops have held up year after year (until they’ve outgrown them but they still look brand new when we pass them on!). I swear by Teflon sheets when using iron-on vinyl. They add a layer of protection to your garment and also seem to help the vinyl melt into the fabric better. When pressing SportFlex on to swim fabric I set my EasyPress to 305 degrees and do 30 seconds on the right side then flip it and do 15 seconds on the back.

This year I headed to my local vinyl shop, Vinyl Outlet, and picked up these three stretch vinyl sheets. You want to look for stretch vinyl since knits, especially swim, will be stretched when worn. I’ve heard great things about this stretch vinyl so I’m hopeful it will hold up as well as the SportFlex. There were so many colors to choose from that I’d love to be able to match all of the RCF swim fabrics! I designed this digital design and it’s available in the Project Run and Play shop.

For this one, I was dying to try Cricut Infusible Ink. Cricut recommends only using their blanks but that is so limiting. With a little research I found that many had had great results using synthetic fabrics, perfect for this poly spandex swim knit! I did a couple of test swatches and then went for it. I recommend doing all of your embellishing PRIOR to sewing up your pieces. 1- it’s easier to lay our your fabric and 2- it’s not quite as heartbreaking if you mess up!

For this design, I used a graphic available in Design Space and Bright Teal Infusible Ink. I followed the instructions for cutting and fusing the ink (using the Heat Guide here) and it worked beautifully! I love seeing that ink just melt right into the fabrics. I talked to Diana of Raspberry Creek Fabrics and she said the infusible ink process and setting temperature is similar to what they use in their shop when printing swim fabrics so the result should be easy and long lasting.

These both have their pros and cons. The infusible ink will only work on white, possibly light colors, while the vinyl will work on any solid or print. The infusible ink melts into the fabric making it a great choice if you want to add sizing labels to garments without the itchy tag or vinyl. Vinyl is fun to layer and you can create more complicated designs with it. I’m just excited to have options when it comes to creating unique looks for my family!

My little guy got two new suits this year. And I promise he wasn’t as miserable during this shoot as his pictures look! This studio looks out over a busy street and this boy is so car obsessed he hated missing watching them, even for the few minutes it took to take these photos.

His first suit is a Lowland Kids Swim Brief. This pattern is unique because it uses swim knit making is especially soft and great for kids with sensory issues (there’s instructions to fully enclose seams too!). I used this teal tie dye print that I think is perfect for the whole family.

His second suit is Jennuine Designs Cobalt Boardshorts. I like the clean flat front and elastic back. He likes the pockets! I used this Teal Wave Print, another classic print that I think all of my boys would wear.

This is his “I’m not trouble, you’re trouble” look!

And this one is his “What?! I’m smiling, I promise” reaction.

I hope you’ll follow along all week as these incredible bloggers show off their new swimwear! I promise you’ll be in love!

And make sure to pick up your swim fabrics this week at 15% off with code SWIMTOUR.

Sew Mary Mac Merritts Makes Wild + Wanderful Call Ajaire

Made by Kates Violet and Jewels Sweet Mama Life All Things Katy!

Intensely Distracted Pins & Pinot My Heart Will Sew On The Petite Sewist

All My Spare Time Kara Metta Handcrafted by RED Sincerely, Shantelle

Replicate Then Deviate That’s Sew Kari Desert Blooms Boo + Lu

Titchy Threads Sew A Little Seam Simple Life Pattern Co. Pattern for Pirates Ellie and Mac

Lowland Kids Gingham Hive Striped Swallow Designs Honeydew Kisses Little Lizard King

Jennuine Designs Greenstyle Creations Made for Mermaids Call Ajaire Hey June Boo Designs!

Sofiona Designs Love Notions Lil Luxe Collection Jalie Sweet Red Poppy

Suit Up For Summer Blog Tour 2021 Day One

I’m so excited to be co-hosting the Suit Up for Summer blog tour again with Karly of Paisley Roots. We hosted our first Suit Up Tour way back in 2017 and the last two years have co-hosted the tour featuring Raspberry Creek Fabrics. Sewing swimsuits is one of my favorite things and this tour always gets me so excited for pool days and sunshine! To get you started on your own suits this year you can use code SWIMTOUR to get 15% off swim fabrics all week long.

This year I sewed up almost twenty different pieces and can’t wait to show them all to you this week! Raspberry Creek’s swim fabrics this year are sooooo good and were so much fun to work with. I loved that my kids and I got to really pick fabrics that suited us and we’re just itching to hit the pool now!

You can find our first year of the swim tour here. I give tips for adding a shelf bra to your favorite raglan or tee pattern for a supportive rash guard. I rounded up girls and women’s swim patterns, sewed the most complicated swimsuit to date (I’ve yet to tackle that pattern again), and even did coordinating family suits. Looking back at these pics brings me back! My kiddos have grown so much since then! Would you believe that Sophie is still trying to squeeze into that darling black and white stripe rashie suit?!

2018 wasn’t a tour year but that didn’t mean there wasn’t swimsuit sewing. This was the year of the Made for Mermaids Mermaid Shores collection and we were instantly smitten! The Calypso, Camila, and Lainey are still go-to’s at our house and I sewed up more Calypso’s this year too! If you are a beginner at sewing swimwear, I highly recommend Made for Mermaids for their spot on fit and excellent construction and instructions. I also love that some of these suits have held up so well and are still in rotation!

2019 brought more gorgeous Raspberry Creek swimwear as we hosted the Suit Up tour through the then new RCF blog. I love looking at the huge variety of prints from that year from bright bold florals and stripes to that soft pink floral. Those black Hello Sailor bottoms are my most worn swim piece ever! Classics like that are the best!

Last year’s tour was epic. It was at the beginning of the pandemic and sewing swimsuits seemed both silly and also just the distraction we all needed. The hope of sunny days ahead kept us going and these fun prints were such a joy to work with.

As you can see, sewing swimwear is something I never get tired of. You can search this blog for all of my past adventures in swimsuit sewing or simply click here. I also have a post over at Cali Fabrics full of all my favorite tips to make sewing swimwear a dream!

Make sure you check back in all week for this year’s new suits! I’m happy to share this tour with an amazing group of bloggers too!

Sew Mary Mac Merritts Makes Wild + Wanderful Call Ajaire

Made by Kates Violet and Jewels Sweet Mama Life All Things Katy!

Intensely Distracted Pins & Pinot My Heart Will Sew On The Petite Sewist

All My Spare Time Kara Metta Handcrafted by RED Sincerely, Shantelle

Replicate Then Deviate That’s Sew Kari Desert Blooms Boo + Lu

Titchy Threads Sew A Little Seam Simple Life Pattern Co. Pattern for Pirates Ellie and Mac

Lowland Kids Gingham Hive Striped Swallow Designs Honeydew Kisses Little Lizard King

Jennuine Designs Greenstyle Creations Made for Mermaids Call Ajaire Hey June Boo Designs!

Sofiona Designs Love Notions Lil Luxe Collection Jalie Sweet Red Poppy

And a huge thank you to our sponsors. There will be daily giveaways over on the RCF Instagram that you don’t want to miss!