Designs by Moo

Have you heard of Designs By Moo? Meghan's pattern line is pretty recent and I've pattern tested 2 of her patterns so far. I made the boys Moo shorts a while ago. The moo shorts are really basic and came together so quickly. The pattern covers sizes 3 months to 6 years, so Jude is covered for shorts for a good long while! Since Jude still isn't really standing or walking it is super hard to get good pictures of pants, but here's what we got.

I know this photo isn't a great one of the shorts, but I couldn't resist showing off my little boy! 

Super cute and basic shorts. They were a really quick sew and look adorable! Now that the weather is somewhat staying warm and should just be getting warmer, we'll be making a lot more. 

The second pattern I tested of hers was the Bubble skirt. The pattern covers sizes 3 months to 6 years again. And of course my girls all wanted one. We made 2 cause Aevarie is well out of the size 6 range. She's been getting tons of cute things lately though, so I didn't feel too bad. Again this pattern was super easy and very well made. I also have to say that this was one of my most favorite photo shoots with my girls. They were so silly! 

I couldn't resist posting all these pictures. My girls have been asking everyday for their "photo shoot". We really need to get some of Gavin and Jude in there! I really do love how the skirts turned out too. 

You can check out Meghans blog here: http://www.designsbymoo.com/blog.

She has some fun free tutorials on there and her kids are just adorable!

Thank you Meghan for letting me pattern test for you!

Heidi & Finn Sporty Maxi Dress

Here is the Heidi & Finns Sporty Maxi Dress. We had a lot of fun with this one and made a few of them. I still need to buy the bigger size so I can make one for Aevarie as well. 

I know a lot of people worry about little girls and maxi dresses, but you should seriously give them a try! I was actually kind of hoping putting my girls in the Maxi dresses would slow them down a bit, but no. There isn't even the slightest hesitation or hiccup in their movements. 

This pattern was a lot of fun. I really liked the hi-low skirt and the racer back. It also came together SOOO fast. I had the first one made in an hour and the second one less than that. 

We went to the park and played a little baseball. 

Zoe had no problems running to the bases. 

We also went to the park and swung on the swings and she ran around the playground. Zero problems with her on the playground. I honestly had such a hard time keeping up and getting any pictures! You can see for yourself.

You can check out all of her pattern testers versions here: http://heidiandfinn.blogspot.com/. As well as hear any new news from them or calls for pattern tests. 

I love Heidi & Finns patterns!

Popolok Designs Nelia Dress

I've been doing a ton of pattern tests lately, so I'm sorry that I am now just catching up with posts and that they will all be about pattern tests! I did entertain the idea of mashing them all together, but honestly, these patterns are amazing and deserve their own little spotlight!

 I had the opportunity to pattern test for Popolok Designs again. I was so thrilled to be selected! I just love her patterns. She always gives so many different variants and options that you are really getting multiple dress patterns all in one. Her new one, the Nelia, is no different. It gives you 3 different sleeve options, 3 different neck options and 3 different lengths. 

With the first one I made, I chose the tea length dress, sleeveless and with a bow tie neck. 

The instructions in the patterns are fantastic. I had no problems following along. There is a bit of going back and forth for different options, but I feel it's very well worth it. 

For the second dress I chose the tea length again, but chose the puff sleeves and peter-pan collar. 

You should check out Alviana's Facebook page for all of the different versions. It's amazing that they're all the same pattern. And another thing that I love about Alviana is that she shows off everyones review of her pattern, so you know exactly what you are getting. I just can't say enough good things about Alviana!

If you havn't heard of Popolok Designs you really should check her patterns out. They are always very well written and make such cute outfits, and are always at a great price!

Tikatuly Usha Twirl Dress

I had the honor of pattern testing for Tikatuly Designs and their new pattern the Tikatuly Usha Dress. What first drew me to this dress was the bodice. I love the folded look. I also love any pattern that gives me the opportunity to mix and match patterns and colors! The best part? This pattern comes from sizes 3 months to 14 years! I'm still so stoked that we'll be able to make these for Aevarie for quite some time.

You can either make a maxi dress (like I did) but you could also leave off the bottom layer for a tea length dress. Humaira did an awesome job with her pattern an tutorial. I found it to be very 

thorough and I loved that she had options on finishing the back. I still havn't figured out the "magic touch" for shirring, so I was grateful to have another option! 

Aevarie loved it and had a blast taking pictures. Now if we could just get the warm weather to stay....

We'll be making more of these (when I'm done with ALL pattern tests!) 

You can grab your copy here: Tikatuly Usha Dress.

Storing My Patterns

When I first started wanting to sew clothes, I did what most normal people do and I went out and bought some patterns. My problem? I could not make heads or tails out of them. Sure, they explained things in a well written paragraph. I'm more of a "hands-on learner" though, so unless it had pictures, it was all gibberish to me. It also didn't help that when I would sew the thing up and get it to look roughly how it was supposed to, the garment always turned out 20 sizes too big. I bagged using patterns and would just wing it. Sometimes an item would take me forever to figure out, but it would at least turn out and fit my child. 

For years it went like this. Now, my BIG sewing dream is to be able to make nice jeans for me. My legs are ridiculously long and finding jeans to fit them......yeah. Sorry short girls, you can complain all you want about having to hem your jeans. I would gladly trade you any day! I could not for the life of me figure out a pattern and how to put them together though. Then one day I happened upon Peek-a-boo Patterns Shop, Skinny Jeans Pattern and after a little debating with myself, decided to take the chance and buy it. 

OH MY GOODNESS! Step by step instructions! Being able to print out and use more durable paper! And the finished product actually FIT my child! YES! That was all it took and I was on my way down the PDF patterns road, never to turn back again. I have to admit, I went a little crazy and bought almost 80 patterns with-in a month. WOW. 

I really needed a storage system and one that my kids couldn't easily destroy or mix the pattern pieces up. I chose to buy binders and plastic sleeves.

(Don't you just love my childrens artwork on the fronts of some??)

One of the big white ones holds Dress patterns (I have that many) and the other one holds all of my shirts, pants, shorts, skirts, leggings, etc. I separate each category with tabs:

 For the smaller ones, one is my Japanese book patterns. 

I have the "master patterns" in one sleeve, then each pattern in their own sleeve.

Then one each for each season of Ottobre. Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. And after my son ripped off the cover to one issue, I decided to put them in a sleeve too.

Now for the nitty-gritty. I print off a "Master pattern" and then trace out the size I need and tape that together. Here's my master plan and pattern pieces ready to go into a sleeve.

I always put the master pattern in the front and the pattern pieces that I've cut out in the back. And because I'm more of a "visual" person, I added pictures of each pattern, so that way I know what the pattern looks like. They are also alphabetized, cause I'm weird like that. lol

(And in case you are wondering the pattern in the picture is the Little Geranium Dress by Made By Rae.)

Both the Itty Bitty Baby Dress and Little Geranium dress by Made By Rae, and are a free download. :D

And here's how I label my pattern pieces:

So that's how I store my patterns. What about you? 

Why I've been MIA

I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged. I have not been idle. I've been doing TONS of pattern testing and working on my own pattern as well. Here's some peeks of all I need to blog about. :D

Mae's Shirt

Tikatuly Usha Dress

My dress pattern :D

And Heidi & Finn's Sporty Maxi Dress

Maybe next week I will have more time to blog. I still have a couple more patterns to test and my own to get up on the computer! :D

Heidi & Finn Summer Maxi Dress

I was selected to pattern test Heidi & Finns newest pattern, the Summer Maxi Dress. 

This pattern was really quick to sew up and I love that it's so basic that you can add things easily to change it up and make it unique. 

I made two dresses in one day. Which, with 5 kids on my plate, that should tell you how easy and fast this pattern is! 

The first one I made out of white cotton gauze fabric. I had originally planned to do an ombre dye, so that's why we started off with white. In case I screwed up massively, I chose to take pictures of it first. So here's Aevarie in the all white version:

And yes, the ombre dye did NOT work. It still turned out all purple and wearable, and that's all that matters!

I love the added flowers!
 And again I have to clarify. My girls are really tall, so on an average 7 year old, this dress would go down to the floor.
We made a second one out of knit and modified the length to fit Aevarie. The pattern doesn't recommend knit, but knit is just so comfy and I couldn't resist! So here's that version:

I added a ruffle at the bottom too for that "unique" factor. I love that she could totally wear this to bed. He he he. :D

Zoe was dying to try on the purple one (although Aevarie said she could only borrow it for the day). 

Fit her perfectly! 

The weather has been horrible but the girls really wanted to go out and get pictures. Luckily it wasn't really cold, just super windy. We don't have to mention how many pictures have been taken of this dress......

You can buy the pattern here at Heidi & Finns Etsy Shop. And seriously check out all the other amazing versions of this dress on their blog. 

Loved this dress (we actually just finished our 3rd one last night!) and Thank you so much to Heidi & Finn for choosing me to be a tester! :D

Update: Here's our 3rd dress. I just love it!