Sewing for Tweens – Page 3

Modkid Sage Dress and Top

I love when pattern designers read my mind. My daughter and I have been doing lots of back to school shopping and we both fell in love with this style of dress. It was one of those styles that just kept popping up in every store we looked in and on strangers and friends too! Dresses are one of the hardest things to buy this girly because they never fit properly so we were just waiting for the perfect pattern to appear. Imagine our excitement when we saw the newest design from the gals at ModKid. I jumped in to test this darling dress and top without a second thought!

The Sage Dress and Top is a button-front dress, jumper, peplum, or top with options for a bottom flounce and either straight or cross back straps in tween and teen sizes 10-18. The bodice is straight and features princess seams as well. AND there’s pockets! It wouldn’t be complete without them. The tutorial is thorough and I’m a huge fan of the ModKid methods of construction and patterns. If you’re looking for quality, you’ll love ModKid.

I used a tencel chambray I picked up in LA ages. The pattern calls for anything from quilting cotton to linen and corduroy. I love having options and this style looks great in all of them! To finish it off I used brushed gold buttons I picked up at the CaliFabrics brick and mortar shop in San Francisco. The fact that the materials for this dress all came from California vacations adds so much sentimental value to it.

This sweet girly is so hard to fit. For this dress as a tester, I sewed it up per the pattern and her measurements. She is a size 10 chest with a 12 height. She’s at the bottom end of the sizing and I was actually worried she was too small still for it. The measurement chart is for the finished garment which is nice to see how much ease you will have but had me a little concerned since she measures 1.5″-2″ smaller in parts. Patty recommends 1″ of ease so keep that in mind when looking at the fit of this dress. I love this on her and like that she has a little growing room too!

Most of my summer sewing is quick and easy and can be finished in a short afternoon. This project did take several days of sporadic sewing but was well worth it. It felt so good to sew on that last button! It wasn’t a difficult sew by any means but a more thoughtful one with great finishing techniques and a beautiful result. I love these kind of projects and can’t wait to do more of them now that school is about to start!

One of my favorite things about sewing with pdf patterns is how on trend designers can be. They follow fashion and streetwear style and stay so up to date on the latest trends. If it’s selling in your favorite clothing store whether it’s Target or a trendy boutique, you can probably find a pdf pattern for it. It’s pretty amazing if you ask me!

I am so thrilled with how this dress turned out and know you’ll love this pattern too! You can grab your copy and any other patterns that just might hop into your cart for 40% off during ModKid’s Back to School Sale, now through Sunday August 19th with coupon code BTS2018.

Love Notions Summer Caye Pants

Oh, Summer Caye’s, I love you!

*This post contains affiliate links. I get a small commission if you make a purchase through my links, which I will then use to buy more fabric and sew up more beauties to convince you to buy more patterns (isn’t that how it works 😉 ). I am also a paid tester for Love Notions and got on board AFTER falling in love with the patterns.

The newest pattern from Love Notions is simply divine!

With tons of options for women and girls, you can wear this pattern everyday if you wanted to.

I know me and my girls will definitely have a closetful.

There are multiple length options. You can choose 4″ or 6″ shorts for girls or 6″ and 9″ inseam length for women. There are also capri and full length choices. The girl’s pattern comes in sizes 2T- 16 and 8P-16P. The women’s pattern will fit sizes 0-28 (waist sizes 24.5″-45.5″).

All my versions feature a simple hem but there are a handful of options there too. You can add a cuff, split-hem, and a gorgeous tulip-hem.

And pockets… these are genius in construction! Super cute without the bulk.

The ladies version has two width options- wide leg (a bit narrower) on the left and palazzo on the right.

So many choices… one for every day of the week. I’m excited to try some shorts for myself next!

This is a size 8 pant length out of linen from Joann’s. They are so unlike her normal skinny jeans and we both love these!

I love these pants with a denim jacket!

You might recognize her shorts fabric from this Naples top. I had just enough fabric left for these shorts. You better believe I wasn’t wasting a scrap of this lusciousness!

My gorgeous rayon challis came from Raspberry Creek Fabrics. This particular print sold-out in a heartbeat but there are still quite a few to pick from. I think the tie dye would be awesome for these. Head over to the Love Notions Blog for a sweet RCF coupon code.

This rayon challis was a Hancock fabric score (oh, how I will miss my Hancock’s!).

You can grab the Ladies and Girls patterns separately or pick up the bundle for even more savings. They are on sale through 5/6 and you won’t want to miss it!

Gracious Threads New Look Blog Tour

I’m super excited to be on my first blog tour today. Jess at Gracious Threads has a new storefront with a whole new look and feel to her website and blog. To celebrate I’ve joined with other bloggers to showcase a ‘New Look” for us.

I had a hard time picking which kid needed a new look until I realized this boy has already started creating his own fresh look the past few months. He started middle school this year and it’s been fun to see his wardrobe go from comfy sport pants and tees to skinny jeans and button-up shirts.

He is just barely hitting a size 12 and I knew the Jasper Jogger pattern would be a great choice. We headed over to Pinterest for some inspiration before we started.

These are made with grey stretch denim from Joann’s. I used the wrong side of the fabric for the main pants because it felt more lived-in and less dressy. I used the right side as contrast on all the pockets and waistband.

This is the one bum shot I was allowed 😉 I made a couple alterations to the pattern to get the right fit for my skinny guy. I tapered the waist and hips about an inch and cut off three inches from the length. I added a drawstring and grommets to the waistband too.

We headed to his school one night to get some pics and loved our little shoot. He brought a buddy along because what is middle school without your best friends?!!

I love the casual look of these pants but he loves how comfortable they are too.

Ready for the best part? To celebrate head on over to the new Gracious Threads Shop and use code ‘ANEWLOOK’ to get 40% off all patterns (offer good from November 16-29)! See how excited he is…