Recently my daughter has been into pink. Waaaay into it. Especially when it’s paired with purple. Oh, barf. Pink has never been a color I’ve been attracted to and though I’m sometimes strangely drawn to purple, it’s not my favorite either. Together? No way! Sewing something you hate is no fun, but sewing something that will end up being hated is even worse.

So I came up with a compromise: a salmony pink paired with burnt orange. Boom! We both love it. The pink is a thrifted sweatshirt fabric that is super soft on the inside–sweatshirt fleece maybe. Is there such a thing? And the orange is an old tee shirt. The pattern is completely made up and I’m not super happy with it, but I think it’ll do.

It’s a raglan sleeve with a high-low hem. I haven’t been able to get this shirt that Brienne made out of my head. There was going to be a lot more color blocking going on, but in the end it was too much. I love the idea of striped cuffs, but I liked this shirt more with 3/4 length sleeves. My daughter did not agree, so I made the sleeve hem big enough to roll up. It’s all about compromise these days.

The gold polka dot leggings were easy peasy. The only mishap came when I went to hem the bottoms. Instead of pressing a nice crease, my iron melted the damn fabric. Luckily they melted in just the right place, so they’re not too short. I serged the bottoms and called it a day.

Stylish, comfy, pink: this outfit ticks all the boxes.

If you’d like to know more about these items, you can see all the details on their KCW page: sweatshirt and leggings.

The women who make up the amazing pattern making team at Pattern Anthology asked me to remix one of their winter patterns. There are so many good ones to choose from: hats and coats, hoodies and party dresses, but it was the cape that caught my eye. The Juliet Capelet is a frilly affair, perfect for cozy holiday parties or cool summer evenings.

I wanted to go in a different direction. I wanted to make a cape that carhartt would make. I wanted to make a utili-cape!

With visions of lumberjacks (wearing capes) dancing in my head, I walked into my local fabric store for supplies. I came out with khaki twill, deliciously soft faux fur, and metal buttons. Then I headed home to turn a pretty cape pattern into a tomboy’s dream.

I subtracted and added a bunch of thing to the original pattern. First I took out some of the fullness of the cape. Then I lengthened it quite a bit. After sewing up a quick muslin, I thought the cape needed to be even longer so I added more to the front and the back. I ended up with a grand piano-like pattern.

I decided to skip the hood and instead I added a collar. The collar can fold over or stand up to ward off the cold. The original pattern does have buttons, but I added a button placket as well. The metal buttons–the kind you have on your jeans–could not have been more perfect. They have a large shank and yeehaw! you do not have to sew them on! The button comes in 2 parts: a nail-like bit that you poke through the back of the fabric and the button proper that pops on top of the nail.

The buttons were so much fun to put on, that I kept finding more places to put them. I added a button to either side of the cape to create a sleeve.

Pockets were next, because what is a utili-cape without pockets? And then I slapped some buttons on those too! I drafted a double pocket–one that could keep her hands warm, but also keep her treasures safe. I love how these pockets turned out so much that I’ve got a tutorial in the works for them.

You will not see a tutorial, however, on how to sew with faux fur, because wow! I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. There was fur all over my studio floor, in my ears, up my nose, and miraculously on the cape as well.

I’m happy I wrestled with the faux fur–and won!–because the fur really makes the cape. It’s soft and cozy and oh so warm. All in all, I had a fabulous time playing around with the Juliet Capelet pattern.

This cape pattern could become so many different things. I am smitten with Alida’s version. Be sure to check out all of the amazing garments that have been made so far on the winter wonderland tour.

The bundle will be on sale until November 18. You can purchase all the patterns or the boy and girl patterns separately.  Happy Sewing!

*I was given a copy of the pattern for this post, but my opinions, as always, are my own.

When Stacey asked me to be a part of her Scandinavian style series, I jumped at the chance. But what is Scandiavian style? I don’t think I could have summed it up better than Mie, who is Scandinavian herself. She said Scandianavian style is clean lines and cool vibes.

And I have to add, bold prints! I have always admired how those northerly folk embrace the crazy and make it look so natural. It’s not easy to mix and match bold patterns. But I think my daughter pulled off polka dots and flowers quite well.

let’s start with the pants:

PATTERN: the skinny pants pattern is from Happy Homemade vol 5 (did you hear vol 2 is out in English?! post on that awesomesauce coming soon). I made this pattern in orange a few years ago for my middle son.

FABRIC: this floral fabric is amazing. It’s cotton with some spandex in it, not a lot, but enough to give it some weight and some give. I was hoarding it for myself, but it was too perfect for these pants and I had to cut into it.

SEWING: I muddled around with the pattern a lot trying to make sure the pants would be skinny, but not skin tight. I would actually like them to be skinnier than they are, but maybe this way they will fit until the spring. 

now for the jacket:

PATTERN: the nituna jacket pattern from Figgy’s

FABRIC: I think it is quilting cotton, which I don’t sew with very often, but the polka dot pattern was just so right.  I lined it with soft, gray fleece.

SEWING: the sewing went well until I got to the welt pockets. I usually like the super concise style of the directions in Figgy’s patterns, but I could not for the life of me figure out what they wanted me to do. The internet was, oddly, not that much help either. After much frustration, I forged my own way, which involved a fair amount of jamming through the machine and seeing what happened.

Except for my welt pocket meltdown, this outfit was a joy to sew. Polka dots have a way of making you smile. And how could crazy flower pants not make you happy? I think those Scandinavians might be on to something.

See all of the Scandinavian Sewing Series on Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy.

 ******GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED******

Shannon from luv in the mommyhood asked if I’d like to sew up a version of her new pattern, the Sally Dress. How could I say no? It’s a simple dress with no closures, super big pockets, and three variations of sleeve length (zero, short, and elbow). The perfect staple dress, really.

But what fabric to use? I knew I wanted something for winter. I wandered around the fabric shop trying to find the right material: twill was too stiff, flannel was too clingy, suiting was nice, but too expensive. I kept coming back to the corduroy, but my mom jammed me into so many awful corduroy jumpers when I was a kid (sorry, mom) that I just couldn’t do it.

So I  left the shop empty handed. I was all set to make a polka dot version out of some homespun fabric I had on hand. When I spotted this huge, raspberry purple, wool skirt in my stash. I picked it up for pennies at the thrift store ages ago. The plan was to make it into a smaller skirt for me, but there was just enough to eek out a Sally Dress from it!

The only thing left from that skirt is the waistband. I used every little bit of fabric that I could!

When I was just about done, there was a brief moment of panic when the lighting made the dress look like a bad waitress uniform (specifically, a Perkins uniform–if you live in the states). When I brought it out of the depths of my basement studio, thankfully, it was a lovely little raspberry jumper again.

If you make the sleeveless version, there is only 1 page of the pattern to print out. One Page! You get to skip all the pdf pattern puzzling, but there is some mental origami that goes into making that bodice. Don’t worry, Shannon holds your hand the whole way. And in the end you have a beautifully lined bodice!

It seemed a shame to waste the (already hemmed, perfectly matched) skirt lining, so I lined the skirt part of the dress as well. Now it swishes and twirls with the best of them!

But sadly, there wasn’t enough fabric to make the awesome pockets on the Sally Dress. I used the last little scraps to make some in seam pockets, but it’s not the same.  Still, it’s a great little jumper.

How would you like to win a copy of the Sally Dress pattern? I knew you would.

 ******GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED******

The winner is #19, Erin! Congratulations!

******GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED******

To enter the giveaway:

* Leave a comment about what fabric you would use for the Sally Dress.

For additional entries:

* follow elsiemarley on Bloglovin, Feedly, or by email. Then leave a comment telling me you did (or already do).

* like elsiemarley on Facebook. Then leave a comment telling me you did (or already do).

* like luvinthemommyhood on Facebook. Then, that’s right,  leave a comment telling me you did (or already do).

Giveaway ends Friday October 4 at 9pm (central time). Good Luck!

Don’t forget to follow along with the rest of the Sally Dress pattern tour to see all the different versions of this lovely dress!

* Shannon kindly gave me a copy of the sally dress pattern in exchange for this post. My opinions are, as always, my own.

Normally I can’t stand sewing clothes for myself.  There are many reasons…

#1. I am not a rectangle. Unlike my children, I am not shaped like piece of spaghetti. All the curvy bits make for complicated patterns that involve darts and tucks and cutting just right and actually (for once) transferring markings from the pattern to the fabric.

#2. I am not a child. Which means I cannot make a top out of 1/2 yard of whatever random fabric I have lying around. I need to buy something I like (I’m horribly picky) and I need to buy rather a lot of it (I’m horribly cheap). So more often than not I leave the fabric store with a 1/2 yard of something cute for my kids.

#3. I do not have the world’s most perfect body. I know this, I don’t dwell on it. I just try to accept myself and move on. But when you make a pattern, every way your body differs from the norm becomes hugely amplified. It’s like the damn pattern is mocking you at every turn.

#4. I do not like looking at pictures of myself. And seriously, there were like a 100 to look through just to get a few decent ones. This one has some subcategories: #4a. I make ridiculous faces when my husband takes pictures of me and #4b. Hello?! did you not realize your jeans are dirty? 

But! But! in spite of all that I hate about sewing clothes for myself, I love this shirt! I found a lovely, super neutral, sweater knit fabric in the sale bin that worked out perfectly. The pattern–a free pattern by Kristin from skirt as top–was very simple and easy to follow.  I’m happy to report the pattern did not mock me as I made it. And! And! I’ve worn it multiple times since I’ve sewed it.

This is what victory looks like, wonky seams and all.