New Patterns Sneak Peek!

Coming soon...

 

Winners!

Hope everyone had a safe & fun Halloween 

{or a great weekend if you don't do the Halloween thing}

We have our two winners of the THREE packs of patterns:

SaraJ 

& 

Simone k

Congrats!!

Email us at sewsweetpatterns@gmail.com to let us know which three pattern you would like!
 

Here is a little snippet of our Neverland Trio last night!

Sadly the adults were so focused on the kids'

costumes that our own costumes never came together.

But it was worth all the time & energy!

Giveaway & a Sale? Yes, please!

We were thinking it is time for another giveaway!

So how about a THREE pack of patterns to TWO lucky winners?

As usual, you need to be a public follower of the blog, but this time leave a comment here telling us what your kids, nieces, nephews or grandkids  are going to be for Halloween!

Giveaway will end Sunday night at 12 am PST.  Winners will be announced Monday am.

Then just in case you need a sewing project for the weekend and don't want to wait to see if you won the giveaway...use coupon code PUMPKIN on the website for 20% off your entire order!

By the way, I was told by Asher that he is Peter Pan & Harper is Tinker Bell {which she was thrilled about}.  So then of course my nephew had to be Captain Hook and my pregnant sister-in-law had to be Mr. Smee.  Then my brother decided to be John, my sister is Tiger Lily, I was assigned Wendy {by Asher} and my husband and parents will all be pirates.  How is that for family participation?!?  
We promise to post pictures!  

Have a wonderful & safe weekend!

What distractions?

Many of you ask us why it takes us so long to get new patterns up in the shop? 

So we thought we share just a few of the adorable little things that slow our pattern design process down a little!

Want a free pattern??

Our pattern descriptions need some revamping! 

So we thought we would ask for you some help in return for a free pattern!

Here's how it is going to work...

1. We will go through the patterns two at a time.  

2.  Review our current description

3.  Send us your new and improved description.

4.  We will accept submissions for a 4 day period.

5.  A new description will be chosen from those submitted within that time frame.

6.  The "winner" will receive a new pattern of their choice.

**You must have already completed the pattern

that you are submitting the description for.**

We will start with The Flutter Skirt and The Elsie Dress.

Send in your submissions to info@sewsweetpatterns.com
by Monday, September 26th at 12pm PST. 

Winners will be announced Tuesday morning!

New Winner for the Down Shadow Lane Package!

Alright, we picked a new winner!

Joe and Camille!

You are the new winner of the 3 pack of patterns and 3 yards of fabric from Down Shadow Lane. Email us so we can get your contact info.

Winner, Winner, Winner

We have WINNERS!

According to RANDOM.ORG...

The winner of the Down Shadow Lane fabric & 
Sew Sweet Patterns three pack of patterns is...
kyandkin.

The winner of the Stitches N' Giggles fabric &
Sew Sweet Patterns three pack of patterns is... 
Doll Baby Bowtique.

The winner of the Spice Berry Cottage fabric &
Sew Sweet Patterns three pack of patterns is...
Britt's Stitches.

Please email us your contact information as soon as possible.

Thanks so much for participating in our National Sewing Month fabric & pattern giveaway.  I got so excited about all the incredible fabric I forgot to mention why we were actually doing this giveaway!

The Costco Connection had an article this month called "In Stitches: Sewing sees a resurgence" where they talked about how Generation X may be the first generation that is growing up not being taught to sew because our mothers didn't force it on us, but we are choosing it for ourselves.  If you haven't read the Sew Sweet Patterns story, this is how and why we got started.  The Costco article reads "Spurred by a the new do-it-yourself culture and the renewed interest in making things by hand, young women are embracing needle and thread in droves."  We think this is pretty fabulous and are happy that you have all chosen us to be part of your handmade journeys.  I know that my mom (who is off scuba diving in Jamaica right now) is thrilled to be helping new sewers gain confidence and experience, hopefully without using the seam ripper too many times.  

And thank you so much to Down Shadow Lane, Stitches N' Giggles & Spice Berry Cottage for your willingness to participate with us and giveaway some of your beautiful fabric.

Happy Sewing!

Fabric & Pattern Giveaway!

We are so excited, we can hardly stand it! 

Three of our favorite fabric companies have agreed to partner with us for a big fabric & pattern giveaway!

Here are the details...

There will be THREE winners and THREE fabulous packages.

(listed in no particular order cause we think they are all 1st place prizes) 

Winner #1 will receive a THREE pack of the child patterns of her choice AND...

THREE yards of the fabric of her choice from Down Shadow Lane.

You can find the amazing selections of discounted fabrics that Down Shadow Lane offers here.  I usually spend hours just scrolling through the pages trying to narrow down my order!  You can also find them on Facebook.

Winner #2 will receive a THREE pack of the child patterns of her choice AND...

THREE yards of the fabric of her choice from Stitches N' Giggles.

 

Stitches N' Giggles supplies everything you possibly need to sew...fabric, notions and thread.  They even have a "deal of the day".  You can check them out here to get a head start on deciding what fabric you will pick out when you win!  Follow Stitches N' Giggles on Twitter and on Facebook.

Winner #3 will receive a THREE pack of the child patterns of her choice AND...

a $20 store credit to Spice Berry Cottage. 

We love Spice Berry Cottage, their fabulous selection and great specials!  You can find their website here.  Wouldn't you like a weekend away in that sweet little cottage!  You can also following Spice Berry Cottage on Twitter or on Facebook.

So what do you think?  Are you ready to enter?

Here's how:

1.  You must be a public follower of Sew Sweet Patterns.

2.  You must be a US resident  (unless you agree to pay the international shipping rates which are NOT included in the fabric giveaway).  

3.  Visit Down Shadow Lane, Stitches N' Giggles & Spice Berry Cottage.

4.  Come back here and let us know one of the fabric you would chose if you win and which one of our pattern you would make with it!

We are jealous!  Wish we could enter!

Giveaway will end Saturday night September 10th at 12 am PST. 

Harper Turns Two!

This sweet & sassy girl turned two  turned two last week. 

Still trying to absorb that.

And she is still trying to figure out how to do 2 with her fingers. 

Thought I'd share a glimpse of the last year...

Winter Beach Day

Ghetto Pool time in the front yard

Aunt Jessi's sunglasses

The Mascara incident of 2011

She's a kisser...I am in trouble

Fed a few animals at our local petting zoo

 

And a few from her birthday week (yes, we celebrate the whole week around here).

Off to Legoland with Asher

Build a Bear LOVE

Mermaid Birthday Party

Pretty Cupcakes

Great end to a great week!

Now that the big birthday is over, we are working hard to put finishing touches on our new patterns!  We have our product shoot on Wednesday and hope to have them up in the shop soon!

The details on our big pattern & fabric giveaway will be revealed tomorrow!  So check back to enter!!

Super Cape Tutorial

Things I needed to do yesterday:

1. Laundry-drawers are getting empty and hamper is full 

2. Shopping for food, birthday and shower gifts for this weekend
3. Organize fabric in my office so I can finish 4 new patterns I've been working on. 

4. Deadhead the roses so I can get the cuttings in the trash tomorrow. 

5. Clean the floors...kinda sticky. 

6. Work on training the new puppy
7. Clean out the inside of my car. 

But what do I do instead?  Well of course I make a Super hero cape for my 3 year old grandson, Asher! And a pink one for his sister, 2 year old Harper.

Glad I have my priorities straight!

I decided to make a quick tutorial to share with you, but beware- with a cape on little boys suddenly have the urge to jump off whatever they can climb onto!

Cut out two rectangles- one 36 inches wide x 23 inches long,

another 18 inches long x 3 inches for the tie. 

Fold up raw edges of both short sides and one long side (now the bottom) 1/8 of an inch and then 1/4 of an inch and hem, hiding raw edge.  Across the unhemmed top make a basting or gathering stitch.

Pull gathering stitch until the top is gathered, evenly spaced to be 8 inches across.

Pin top gathered edge to small rectangle(neck piece) right sides together so the raw, gathered edge is even with the top edge of the neck piece, with 4 inches on one side and  6 inches on the other side.

 Fold up neck piece lengthwise so that the right sides are together and sew-stopping when you get to the gathered cape piece. 

 This is what it should look like now.

Trim seam allowance on neck piece.

Turn neck piece ends right side out.

 

Fold neck piece center down to cover seam  allowance made when attaching neck piece to cape.  Pin and sew it down, either by hand or by machine. 

 

Sew  velcro pieces onto neck piece ends with the soft side on the inside of the longer end  of neck piece and the roughside of the velcro on the outside of the shorter end. Don’t use the super firm grip velcro because you want it to release if pulled rather than choke them!

Add logo if you like, or an initial.

We haven’t decided if he is going to be:

Superman

the "Itsy Bitsy" Spiderman

or just Super Asher.

Winner & In the Works!

Hello!

First of all...we have a winner!

Congratulations to Jenn!  Random.org has selected you as the winner of the three-pack of patterns!   Send us an email just to confirm the three patterns you would like!

We also though we would let you know what we have in the works!  

We are almost done with a super fun, completely reversible wrap dress with little capped sleeves that we have called Iris and a sweet, pleated front dress we named Elizabeth.  Also a new adorable, ruffled Apron set for mom, daughter and doll!  We are seriously excited about this pattern and think it will make a fun holiday project and gift set!  

 

So in between finishing our bathroom remodel and "play fighting" with Asher and his new light saber, that is what we are working on!

Who wants some patterns?

Alright then!  We will give some away!

We just hit 4,000 sales in our Etsy Shop and 200 followers here on the blog!!!

So we wanted to say "thank you" with a THREE PACK pattern giveaway!

As usual, you must be a public follower of the blog to enter and leave a comment telling us what patterns you would choose if you win!

Giveaway will end Wednesday, August 17th at midnight PST.

Placket Tutorial

Hello!  Remember us?

It has been a busy summer!  We have been away on multiple vacations and in between those we have been working hard on four new dress patterns!

So we are long over due for a new post and thought we would start back today with a tutorial! 

Lately, we have been getting a few questions about how exactly to complete the placket that is found in the Kylie, Goldie, Raven and Isla Dress patterns.  

The word “placket” comes from the Old French plaquer, which means “to lay on,” 
During stressful sewing occasions it has been called other things, not  appropriate to put into print!  

I will simplify plackets for you so they won’t be so intimidating!

A placket is a made on a slit in a dress or shirt is intended to facilitate putting on and removing clothing, giving a nice, clean appearance to the slit made.  We are used to seeing plackets in shirts,  especially men's shirts,  above the cuff, or on skirts that have a button closure at the waistband.

1.  Cut a slit down the center back of the skirt  (some patterns have a back seam- if so then the top few inches of the back is left unsewn.  Fold down the slit so the sides form a straight line.  The placket should be double the size of slit.

2.  Put the placket face down over the turned down area and pin.

3.  This is what it will look like from the skirt side.  Sew across the top.  The seam allowance of the skirt  should be 1/2 inch at the beginning and the end, but in the middle it should be 1/8 inch.

4.  Trim the seam allowance and clip the center  of the “V” down to the seam allowance.

5.  Fold the placket over twice, hiding raw edge of placket and covering seam allowance.  Pin.

6.  Topstitch placket.  To hide stitches “stitch in the ditch” or sew right at the point where the two fabrics are attached.  Just make sure that you are catching the inside (see next photo).

7.  This is what it should look like from the inside.

8.  Fold the right side of the placket under and stitch across the top, reinforcing by going back and forth.

9.  This is what it should look like from the inside.

10.  Finished!  Now you are ready to add the waistband or bodice.

So hopefully that will help clarify the plackets section! 

Have you seen the new "Flutter Skirt" pattern? 

Thanks to Melinda from My2SugarPlums for providing the name!

Ok, back to work on our new patterns!  Hoping to have them ready to go very soon!  

Fourth of July Favorites!

Around here we love the 4th of July!  We all pack up and head to our little cabin up in the little town of Green Valley Lake.   We dress up the kids {and dads, whether they like it or not} and they walk and ride bikes in the sweet parade.  We all sit around the lake afterwards and have a BBQ and play games.
It is like a serious time warp. 

Since it also, my mom's birthday {on the 3rd}, my sister and I are planning the food and fun for the rest of the weekend.  I have been looking around for some inspiration.  I thought I would share my favorites with you!  I am dreaming if I think I will get all one of these actually done, but I can try, right?  

Source: thelongthread.com via tipnut.com

Source: marthastewart.com

Source: blog.hgtv.com

Source:  julytipjunkie.com

Source: funkyvintagekitchenblog.com

 

Source: thecraftychicks.com

So that is what we are up to for the 4th!

What are your plans?

We have a Winner!

Congrats Christy T!!

Send us an email here and tell us which 5 patterns you would like us to send you!

I am off to work like crazy to get the new Ruffled Skirt finished!  

By the way, this skirt needs a name!  

So far we have the "Happy Skirt" and the "Sassy Skirt."  
We need an adjective for this new skirt.  
Leave a comment here with your ideas.  
If we pick yours, we will send you the pattern for free
(when we finish it of course!).

100th Follower Pattern Giveaway!

Woohoo!  We have our 100th follower!  Thank you WinnieL!  

We are so thankful for all of your support and feedback as we are starting this blog that we are doing another pattern giveaway!

So how does a FIVE pack of the child patterns of your choice sound?

To enter you must be a public follower of our blog and leave a comment telling us one of the patterns you would pick, who you would make it for, what fabric you would use and who you would make it for!

That's it!

Giveaway will close Friday night at 12pm PST.

Thank you again for "following" us!

What we are working on Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday!

Ever feel like you just need to stop and getaway?  

My husband, Peter, had the busiest teaching year EVER, so we decided that right when school got out to drop everything and just get away!   I work on an on-call basis at our Ritz-Carlton here in Laguna Niguel, which gives me a pretty fabulous employee rate, so we booked a few days up in San Francisco at the Nob Hill Ritz!!  We somehow talked my mom and dad into coming along with us and they even agreed to watch the kids for one of the nights so we could have a date night! 

We packed into our mini-van.

{my parents sat in the WAY back - it was like a total role reversal!}

Thankfully, our kids are actually really great in the car!

We were total tourists the entire weekend!  

Maverick's - Peter got to show us the spot he dares to surf once in a while!

We almost blew away at the Golden Gate Bridge Lookout Spot!

Relaxed at The Beach Chalet with live music & lots of dogs so Harper was a happy girl!

Rode the Carousel!

Met "Captain Hook" - Asher is currently totally into Peter Pan!

 Got to spend lots of fun time with Captain!

 Played in a windmill!

 It was so nice to have Peter around for the whole weekend!

Asher LOVED the cable cars! 

{Gogo & Captain even bought him one - and yes, I said "Gogo & Captain"}

Despite the 14 hour trip home (we took Highway 1), we had a wonderful time!

 The Nob Hill Ritz is dreamy and the city is absolutely magical! 

But now it is time to get back to work!

This Wednesday, we are working hard to get the new ruffled skirt FINALLY finished!  We also have a one-shoulder, ruffle dress in the works, a new wrap dress with capped sleeves and a pleated bodice dress with a fun "twist" for the closure!

The Kylie Doll Dress and Doll Ruffle Pants are coming very soon as well!

Oh and a giveaway is in the works too!