by aaronicac | Pattern Tests, Sewing With Knits
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I swear… Every time I’m on Pinterest I see some variation of the tulip dress. Some are maxi’s, some are high-low hems, and some are your basic ones. Either way, I’ve always wanted one! So when Ellie & Mac tested theirs, I jumped on that bandwagon as fast as I could!
Ellie And Mac Tulip Dress & Tunic Pattern
Ok so let’s talk pattern options. You can do two lengths–dress and tunic. I’m sure that more lengths can be hacked but that’s another post for another day *wink wink*. It comes with short, 3/4 and long sleeves. There are no pockets here but I’m sure you can add them if you wanted.
Pattern Construction
The directions were pretty easy to follow–definitely way easier than I anticipated. I was thinking this was going to be a super hard dress to make but it wasn’t! It didn’t require too much paper while printing which is always a plus. The only part that could be seen as a little challenging was creating the tulip with the ruching. The ruching wasn’t too hard but making sure it was even and lined up properly was a little bit of a challenge.
Fabric Options & Styling
You definitely want to make sure you’re using a 4-way stretch. Because mama has a couple things to hide, I chose a cotton lycra. I think CL is way forgiving when smoothing out your lovely lady lumps on more fitted pieces. I actually made this fabric and was hoarding it for months until I could decide on the perfect pattern for it. This was it! I also love the versatility in styling it. I paired mine with Chucks but this could easily be dressed up with heels.
Rating
This is a must have pattern. It’s soooo on trend that taking 2 hours to whip one up yourself is truly priceless! This pattern definitely gets 5 out of 5 needles!
Grab your pattern from EllieAndMac.com now!
by aaronicac | Pattern Tests
**Affiliate links have been used in this post. I make a small percentage from your purchases when you click them.
It’s funny, looking at pictures you would never know that I’m super insecure with my body–I’m working on it though! Last month I lost a whopping 10lbs and I’m celebrating the work that my body did by showing a little skin in Ellie & Mac’s newest pattern the Be The Leader Top.
Ellie & Mac’s Be The Leader Crop Top
There are many different options that come along with this pattern but this short sleeved crop top is literally what I’m dreaming about for the summer heat. It’s perfection. The pattern also has the shirt and tunic lengths as well as long sleeves. This pattern is unique in that it also offers different lengths for the flounce. This is perfect especially if you’re petite and don’t want to drown in flounce lol!!!
Pattern Construction
Super easy. This pattern only requires you cut out 3 pieces essentially: the flounce, bodice and sleeves. The bodice and sleeves use the same pieces so boom, super easy. With patterns like this I tend to line up my fabric and just cut both pieces at once. To do this, you need super sharp shears. This top is literally a 20 min make though.
**Note: Because I used picot elastic I did not make a casing for my elastic. What I did was the following:
- Construct bodice per instructions.
- Serge flounce to bodice.
- Place picot elastic right side facing my ride side of fabric and serge.
- Flip the picot elastic down and then top stitch.
Doing it this way gives a cleaner look in my opinion.
Fabric & Styling
The sky is literally the limit with this pattern. I used a fabric that had about 25% stretch in it because I thought the colors were perfect. This pattern is for knits though. Something drapey like a Rayon blend would be beautiful. I plan on doing one in a jersey knit as well. Because I’m still a work in progress, I paired my crop top with high-waisted joggers. These are the Mama Lexi joggers from M4M that I hacked using the waistband from the Fusion leggings from Petite Stitchery. That waistband fits me like a dream!
Rating
5 out of 5 needles for sure. It’s very straightforward and a super easy sew.
Grab your patterns here:
Women’s Be The Leader Pattern
Mama Lexi Loungers
Petite Stitchery Fusion Leggings
Don’t forget that the Aaronica’s Box of Faves is on pre-sale now!!! There’s less than 10 boxes left for sale so be sure to grab yours soon!!!
by aaronicac | Pattern Tests, Sewing With Knits
Please note that the links here are affiliate links. I get a small percentage of any purchase made using said links.
I’m an 80s baby and a 90s kid. One of my favorite dresses as a kid was a babydoll dress. It was mint green and it this little bow in the front. When I wore it I felt amazing and like I was the cutest girl. I also remember how sad I was when I grew out of it.
And now Patterns for Pirates is allowing me to relive my childhood favorite dress with the Boho Babydoll Dress.
Patterns For Pirates Boho Babydoll Dress
This pattern has oodles of options. It has maxi, dress and top lengths. You can make a racer back tank, short, half, 3/4, or full length sleeves. So yeah, basically you’re set for life with this pattern.
I think my favorite part about this is that I can make my girls dresses and they can relive my childhood. They love the flowy maxi just as much as I do.
Pattern Construction
This was a really straightforward pattern. The only challenge in piecing the pattern together was how much space the skirt took up for the Women’s Maxi Dress. That was a bit challenging since my table isn’t a real cutting table size. But this pattern is soooooo easy to put together! I recommend using a serger when gathering since it makes life super easy and the gathers come out near perfection. I used to hate gathering until I used this method.
Pattern Styling & Fabric
I love the versatility that this pattern offers with the fabric choice. For my daughters, I chose to use some nice, boho-chic fabrics to give them that feel. For myself, I chose a simple solid gray. Mine is a Rayon Spandex blend I got locally. Both of the girls are cotton blends–Mini’s is from Knitpop a couple years ago and ABC’s is from the same place I got mine. I’m going to make them some tops as well to style with shorts and some gladiator sandals–super cute, right?
Rating
Definitely a 5 out of 5 needles!!! This is everything I’ve been waiting for!
Grab your patterns here:
Women’s & Youth Bundle
Women’s
Youth
Don’t forget that the Aaronica’s Box of Faves is on pre-sale now!!! There’s less than 10 boxes left for sale so be sure to grab yours soon!!!
by aaronicac | Pattern Tests, Sewing With Knits
This post contains affiliate links which means I get a small percentage if you purchase using my links.
I’ve already expressed my love for Made for Mermaids patterns. I feel like they really speak to my style and their newest pattern collection the Adeline is no different. This is THE perfect dress for Spring.
The Adeline Dress Collection
There is a baby (this includes the romper add-on), girls and women’s sizes in the collection. This dress has a circle skirt in 3 different lengths (mini, dress, and maxi) with the both sleeveless and sleeved options. So basically you can make whatever you want to out of this pattern! Oh, and did I mention pockets?!?! There are the slat and inseam pocket options.
Pattern Construction
Be prepared to use LOTS of paper for this–especially if you’re making the maxi length. The good thing is that you don’t need to put together 2 skirts since they’re the same. There’s also another print out for the mini and dress options as well. Putting it together was easy and I’m appreciative of that! It’s important to note that the directions call for a binding method around the neck and arms (if doing sleeveless) that can be a little tricky. My double needle made it hell for me for my maxi so for my mini version, I just did a normal banding method.
Fabric Options & Styling
For my maxi dress, I used a double brushed polyester from SewWeird. I looooooove this maxi dress!!! For the mini dress I used a modal for the top and an rayon blend for the skirt–both from Sincerely Rylee. Both of these fabrics fit this pattern perfectly. I don’t necessarily love my combination of the modal with the rayon though. I wish I had done a straight modal dress.
As you can see, you can pull off a super cute boho-chic look with this pattern or a very romantic look depending on the fabric used. One of the ladies added a leather belt to her styled shots and now I’m shopping for one myself!
Did I mention I did a nursing hack? Click here to be linked to it.
Rating
Definitely a 5 out of 5 needles here!!!
Grab your copies of the patterns here:
Adeline Bundle
Mama Adeline
Girls Adeline
Baby Adeline
by aaronicac | Pattern Tests
Baby, it’s cold outside. Like the highs in Atlanta are 30s and 40s and my desires to be warm are definitely higher than these low temps! But it also makes for the perfect weather to make the new Cassidy Sweater designed by my friend Kelly Stevens for Petite Stitchery.
The Cassidy Sweater
I’ve seen sweaters like this all over Pinterest (my fave place to go for style inspiration) and was just waiting for someone to come out with a pattern so that I could make it for myself. And then Kelly did it. I was so excited when she showed me the pre-test photos that I had to pull out my fabric to be ready when test time came!
Pattern Construction
Petite Stitchery uses no trim pages which makes for easy assembly. There’s only 4 pattern pieces which meant it was going to be easy–so I thought. I’ve never made one of those knotted shirts so this was something completely new for me. And honestly, it was hard. For some reason I couldn’t wrap my mind around how to make the knot but once I got it, it was super easy.
Styling
This sweater is literally all the rave right now. Because it has dolman-like sleeves, I think it’s best worn with a bottom that is closer cut to the body like a pencil skirt or skinny jeans. It comes in 2 lengths–shirt and tunic–so it can have different feels depending on your own style. As I’m getting my post-baby body in check, I’m loving these looser tunics that are hiding my trouble areas. Best part: it can be worn both ways!Home
Fabric
I recommend using a more stable knit (think liverpool, French Terry, double knits) so that it doesn’t get stretched out. I used a material that’s normally used for sweatpants. It has about 15-25% stretch but I love it.
Rating
I give this pattern a 4 out of 5 needles because of difficulty and time for construction.
Ready to grab yours? Click here:
The Cassidy Sweater
by aaronicac | Pattern Tests
I love an easy pattern to sew. You know what I love more? An easy pattern that I can make for myself and my girls and that’s just what the Catherine Dress offers.
Made For Mermaids Catherine Dress Bundle
You guys already know that Made for Mermaids is one of my favorite pattern makers. They create these wonderfully elegant patterns that just speak to my spirit and they did it again with this Catherine collection. This dress features a lined smock top that goes into a gathered skirt. I’m sure that vocabulary is ALL wrong but the pictures do a better job of explaining than my words can. There’s also a fancy sleeve option which my daughter absolutely loves.
Pattern Construction
Way easier than I thought it would be! I generally don’t do lined things because, well, they seem hard. But I did it not once, not twice, not three times but four times in making this pattern! I had to make myself two version during the test and I’m currently working on another dress because they’re so easy to make!!! My daughter helped to make the dolly one and she loved being involved.
Fabric And Styling
We used a Rayon blend for ours that had a nice drape but was thinner because of the gathering. This fabric came from Pretty Posh Prints during their fast fingers sale. It’s not the easiest fabric to work with but it’s totally worth it. The one that I’m working on now has a woven bottom from Art Gallery and I can’t wait to see how it comes out!!! When making the top, it pairs well with leggings or something with a skinny leg to balance out the flowy top. I love my dress with boots!
Rating
Definitely a 5 out of 5 needles!!!
Grab your copy here:
Mama Catherine
Catherine
Dolly Catherine
Bundle
Click the image below for the nursing hack I did for the Made for Mermaids blog!
Happy sewing!
