Sunday, May 24, 2015

Summer Surprise Anniversary Blog Tour! and GIVEAWAY!!





My very first blog tour! celebrating the 1 year anniversary of  Sofilantjes! This tour is focusing on the pattern Summer Surprise, which has been freshly formatted and updated! some will sew it up straight from the pattern, some will mash it with other patterns, some will hack it, with and without tutorials! Its a great way to see how versatile this pattern really is, and how in the end you are only limited by your own imagination <3.

I have had my eye on this pattern for awhile, its been on my to do list, and this finally gave me the motivation to give it ago.... but with a twist!

I decided to do a bit of a pattern mash! between the Summer Surprise and the Brueram top and dress pattern (you can read my review on that pattern here). I decided to use the bodice from the Summer Surprise and one of the skirt options from the Brueram top and dress pattern

I must admit I'm a little bit in love with the tulip/petal/wrap kind of skirts on dresses, I think its such a sweet skirt I love it on adults, tween and little ones. I have made a few dresses with that kind of skirt lately, and I see many more in my future.

Here is my brief run down of just how I put this all together.

Firstly I printed out the Summer Surprise top, size 3 in the slim because I wanted it to be firmer fitting on the bodice, and taped and cut out the top parts. Then compared it to the Brueram bodice to give me an idea of where I wanted the bodice to end.



Comparing the Brueram bodice to the Summer Surprise top to find my bodice line
just need to slim the bodice down so its not an aline shape
All ready to go!


Next was the Skirt portion, I already had on hand the wrap skirt portion of the dress printed and taped together in a size 5 and my Miss A is quite tall for her age too. Plus I like to have the extra width for extra gathering (yes I enjoy gathering :P)

I also wanted to add flutter sleeves, so I just winged that portion and made my own pattern for them. I cut two rectangles 12 inches x 4 inches, and then just cut a curve on one edge


my flutter sleeve shape
So now I have all my bits cut out and ready to sew up!

I followed the instructions of the Summer Surprise for the bodice, and just inserted the flutter sleeves by basting them on to the bodice (after running a basting stitch along the curved side to gather) right sides together.




Next I sewed my skirt pieces together, attached the right and left sides to the back skirt piece, and then did a rolled hem all the way around the edge, one of the things I love about knits is that really you don't even need to hem them! for this dress I did a lettuce hem, which is very simple just lightly pull on the fabric as your doing a rolled hem.. has such a pretty effect

Following on from the Brueram pattern instruction I ran a basting stitch along the front and back of the skirt and did my gathering.

Then it was just a simple case of matching up side seams and serging the skirt and the bodice together.. and voila all done!

I loved the end result so much that I actually made 2 of them, this will become a staple in my girls wardrobe, even my Miss 11 year old has requested one in her size!






Now for the awesome part! the GIVEAWAY!

The Summer Surprise Pattern will be on sale from the start of the tour until the 30th of May. All you need to do is use the code: anniversary and you will get 25% off the Summer Surprise Pattern when you visit the website www.sofilantjes.com! and not only that, but during the tour there will be a new give away EVER DAY!, and we are talking bundles of patterns from other designers, with different ones for each day of the Tour!

Today the first day of the tour you can win these patterns!


E+M Patterns - Winners Choice
Izzy & Ivy - Winners Choice
Mandy K Designs - Winners Choice
Paisley Roots - Saffron Twirl
Rose & Lee Designs - Winners Choice
Aivilo Charlotte - Winners Choice
Funktional Threads - Winners Choice
Sofilantjes - Winners Choice





Tour Sponsors!


Sunday, May 3, 2015

Jocole {Ladies Shift Dress} a review

Once again, I was lucky enough to be involved in testing a new Jocole pattern one for the new Bundle up package! This one took me way out of my comfort zone, I have spent the past few month sewing mainly Knits and have become very comfortable with them. This pattern called for a woven type fabric, not only that but it also requires a zipper and darts! two things I have not yet tackled in my sewing adventures.

Thankfully like I expected Jocole's instructions on both the zipper installment and darts was a breeze and easy for any first timer to do (neither are at all as scary as I thought they were, go figure). This pattern has a few options.

Length
- Tunic or Knee

Neckline
- Scoop or Boat neck

I decided to go with a cotton drill fabric for this one. I am really happy with my choice of fabric its going to be amazing for summer time (too bad winter is on the way here in Australia!) and I am super impressed with how I lined up the seams too!

size Small, Tunic length with scoop neck

This is really very comfortably, and was surprised at how quickly it came together as well.

Like usual the Shift Dress pattern, like the other Jocole patterns are very easy to tape together (especially if you use the trick of taping together on a large glass window/door), and the instructions flow well and make each step a breeze.

Next time I will try the knee length option, it would look amazing with some knee high boots this winter!