My Sweet Sunshine Studio Blog

Art Gallery Fabric Sketchbook Blog Tour

Hello and Happy Friday,

I hope you have enjoyed the Sketchbook Blog Tour so far!! Sketchbook Fabric is a beautiful Fabric line by Sharon Holland for Art Gallery Fabrics. Yesterday Jessica from Izzy & Ivy made the most beautiful dress using not one, not two, but three pieces from the Sketchbook Fabric Collection. To see more check out her Blog HERE .

Tomorrow, Sharon will recap the Blog Tour and announce the winner of the 10 yards of Sketchbook fabric giveaway!!! Wait, What!!!??? Yes, I said 10 yards of Sketchbook Fabric!!! All you need to do is repost your favorite picture from the tour to be entered in a chance to win 10 yards of Sketchbook fabric!!! Include the hashtag #sketchbooktourgiveaway when you REPOST the pic 🔁 Ends Saturday 9 a.m. EDT. So make sure you enter TODAY to find out who won TOMORROW!

As my daughter grows so does her want for making her own decisions on what she wears (good luck kid, because Mommy has a lot of control in that area). So in trying to better myself (I am trying!), I let her pick out the fabric and the pattern. She could not have done better, I love how the Rose Dress pattern, by Violette Field Thread, Peplum plays off the movement of the Tiny Dance Fabric.

Have you ever worked with fabric that evoked an emotion in you? No, I am not crazy and I was not drinking when I was sewing 🙂 . Seriously, I feel as though I am standing in a field with Dandelions flying all around me. Very peaceful and child like!

Like I said above I used Tiny Dancer in Midnight for the main portion of the dress and for the middle insert of the bodice I used Doodle Meander. Doodle Meander is a beautiful light green with hints of peach and Navy blue.

Halo is made by Little Sparrow Bows on Etsy

Sketchbook collection features gorgeous deep blue, pretty pink pistachio green, cozy brown and mustard yellow. All inspired by nature and of course made with the AMAZING Art Gallery “Feel” !

I attended Quilt Market this past Spring and had the opportunity to meet Sharon in person. Sharon was so sweet and I was really lucky to have her share with me The Sketchbook Fabric Collection. I knew this collection would be great as soon as I saw it! So Thank you Sharon Holland and Art Gallery Fabrics for allowing me to be apart of the Sketchbook Blog Tour!!

To see more inspiration Click HERE for Art Gallery Fabrics Sketchbook Fabric Lookbook!

Don’t forget to Jump on Sharon’s Instagram page for your chance to win 10 yards of Sketchbook Fabric!!

Thank you for reading!!

-Alexis

Brooklyn Pattern Company- Bedford – Blog Tour – Discount

Happy Saturday Everyone!

A few months ago I made my first trip to the Quilt Market in Minnesota and had such a great time. Not only did I see a TON of new fabric but I discovered a new Clothing Pattern company that I had yet to learn about. Brooklyn Pattern Company had several dresses, including the Bedford and Henry Dresses, on display in the Cloud9 Fabric booth. I was jumping up and down after seeing the Bedford Dress asking where I could find the Pattern. One of my favorite design features in clothing is a Racerback and the Bedford has one of the prettiest ones I have seen!

Features of the Bedford Pattern

-Top or Dress

-A-Line

-Size 18mnth-8yr

-Lined-Facing

-Small Straps

-Racerback

-Zipper Closure

-Size Chart- I made a size 8

-Finished Chart

-Very Cool Curved Hem

I paired the top with Coachella Shorts by Striped Swallow

Floral Halo: Little Sparrow Bow

Shoes: Joyfolie

The Bedford Instruction are easy to follow as are the illustrations. I really like how easy the zipper instructions were. I know, I know, I said easy and Zipper in the same sentence, but it is!! I would say a confident beginner would feel comfortable with this pattern and will discover they can handle a zipper.

Miss T. prefers Tops and Shorts so I appreciate a pattern that offers both.

Fabric: Art Gallery Fabrics- Wanderer- April Rhodes

Thank you Erin for asking me to join the Bedford and Henry Blog Tour

Lucky you:

Readers receive 20% any pattern in the shop with the code: SUMMERFUN15. The code runs from 12:01 am on July 6 through 11:59 pm on July 15.

Click HERE

-Alexis

Summer Blog Tour Day 5- Brownie Goose Allie Oop Dress and Top

Hello, I am over at Brownie – Goose Blog Today for the Summer Blog Tour. Excited to introduce the newest pattern by Brownie-Goose called Allie Oop! Check it out and see all the amazing fabric given to me by Art Gallery Fabric.

Simple Life Pattern Company Mash up Blog Tour

I jumped at the chance to join the Simple Life Pattern Company Mash Up Blog Tour. I have been admiring them for a while now but hadn’t had a chance to try their patterns. I know crazy, RIGHT!!??? I can blame that on a crazy busy life, right?? Anyways, with each pattern they release my mouth drops and my heart pitter patters with excitement. So obviously given the chance to play with some of their patterns, I was ALL over it!!!

Ok so let talk about what patterns I picked and why…

I choose Mia Pattern for the Skirt and Aydas Pattern for the Bodice. I wanted to make the deep dramatic “V” of Ayda and the long tiered skirt of Mia. I originally planned on making a maxi dress, but when I got to the point of sewing the top and the skirt together I tried it on my daughter for a test fit and decided I liked the fullness of the 2nd tier of the Mia Skirt. I thought it worked well with the mood I was going for! I choose bold fabric prints to play off of the deep “V” of the Bodice and Full tiered skirt.

Fabric for Boice: Black and White Checkered from Joann

Fabric for Skirt: Art Gallery Fabrics- London Red

I purchased this GORGEOUS ribbon in a LA Fabric Store.It was the Perfect addition to separate the skirt and bodice.

Bodice: I made no changes to the Bodice-Same Length and Width. I did add a small button (fixed) for looks and to close the back slightly.

Skirt: I used 2nd. 3rd and 4th Tier from the instructions. Also used a 1″ seam allowance for the Hem. I attached each layer using the ruffle foot on my serger. The skirt only took 30min to sew each tier together-CRAZY fast!

I found both patterns easy to follow in both Illustrated and Written instructions. I can’t thank Simple Life Pattern Company enough for asking me to join. I am also very excited to sew more SLPco Patterns!!!

Outtakes… BOYS! 🙂

Time to Catch Up

Hello and I hope you all had a great week. Also, Happy Mother’s Day to all you AMAZING Mommies! Alright, It has been way too long since I posted about what I have been up to in the Pattern Testing World. Well , here is a run down of the last two Patterns I tested…

First up is the Bateau Garden dress by Winter Wear Designs..

-Tunic, Vintage or Regular length Dress

-Scooped or Cross Strap Back

-Size Range 1-14 (That is HUGE)

-Invisible Zipper

-Pattern also includes Pettiskirt tutorial

Fabric: Tula Pink-Elizabeth Collection

I adore the Tent Stripes and The Elizabeth 16th Century Selfie Together! I was lucky to find these at a local Fabric shop that I have fallen in love with called-Needle in a Fabric Stash

Next up is Violette Field Threads Loralie Dress Pattern

-Size range 2T-9/10

-Two bodice Style

-Pleated option on bodice

-Double Layered Skirt

-Sash included

-Easily dressed up or down

-Button Back with placket

I actually made two versions of the dress- For the First I placed the insert on the outside of the back bodice and also used faux leather trim instead of the sash.

I simple ADORE how this dress turned out! I used a Light Tan Linen for the double layered skirt, Gray/Blue Stripe Cotton for the bodice and to top It off Liberty of London for the Insert! This particular Liberty of London was used in the new Cinderella Movie.

For the second dress version I made per instruction with sash and bodice insert placed inside the bodice. My Daughter was SO excited for this fabric. This one was her FAVORITE!

For this version I used Art Gallery Fabric, Morning Walk by Leah Duncan

So there you have it. That’s what I have been up to in the Pattern Testing World 🙂

See you next time…

-Alexis/My Sweet Sunshine

Color Me Blog Tour-Dream in Color

Hello, Sorry it has been so quiet around here. I have been busy sewing, sewing, sewing! 🙂

I am back today to share with you a new FABRIC Collection by Hayley from Mouse House Creations and Michael Miller fabrics. Color Me is a collection of fabric designed for both Boys and Girls that you can COLOR on. Yes!! I said COLOR!! This soft Quilter’s Cotton weight fabric was a perfect substrate for coloring and sewing with. I forgot to add a hard board between the fabric layers when the kids were coloring it, but no worries because it did not bleed through! SWEET!

Coming up with my plan for the blog tour I wanted to sew a clothing item that was good for both Boys and Girls and BIG and little children. My kids LOVE to jump into PJ’s the minute they get home so this was the perfect opportunity to make some PJ’S. Art in the day, Dream in Color at night, right!?!?!

So let the games begin! Interesting trying to mange 3 kids! Ummmm, note to self: the dissolution that all of them would be standing still and smiling at the same time, NOT going to happen!

Before we got our Art on we had to get some before pics…

It cracks me up -One of those kids has been in front of the camera way too much!

I used Whimsy Couture Easy Boy/Girl Pants

LET’S COLOR!!!!!!

Miss S. who is almost 4 yrs old was very excited to color on her PJ’s-Oh my! I hope she does not go home and do that on her other Pj’s Mom may get a little mad at me-Eeek!

Mr. L was very excited to have fabric that he could play with. I found him last night sitting quietly at the table coloring his pants. I may need to make MORE!!

Miss. T is still coloring her pants to this day… Love her seriousness! That is SO her!

After…

Yep, it got a bit crazy the 2nd time I let them jump on the bed ! At least no one was injured!

Fun Fun Fun Fun

Thank you Hayley for having me join the Color Me Blog Tour!!

Make sure you check out all the other Bloggers for inspiration…

Bonnie Christine Ribbon Tour/ Ribbon Headband

Hello and Happy Thursday!

I am so thrilled today to be joining 18 Bloggers on Bonnie Christine’s: Going Home to Roost Ribbon Blog Tour.

If you don’t know who Bonnie is (you can come out from under the rock now) here is a quick bio ::
Bonnie Christine is a surface pattern designer, mother hen of the Roost Tribe and author of Going Home to Roost – a blog dedicated to living an extraordinarily creative life. She is inspired by the great outdoors and is passionate about sharing what she knows and creating community around creativity.

If you are following along on the Ribbon Blog Tour then you have already seen an amazing collection of ideas on how to use Bonnie Christine’s new Jacquard Ribbon collection with Renaissance Ribbon. I hope you had a chance yesterday to check out Whitney Deal from Darling Dexter and please come back tomorrow for Marni Weaver from Haberdashery Fun to see how she lets her creativity flow. Today I get to share the headband I made using the Aqua Butterflies Jacquard Ribbon from Bonnie’s Collection.

As many of you can relate, I started out with an idea of what I would make for this blog tour and 5 minutes later came up with 50 other ideas. By the time I finished the headband I was up to 101 (ok, maybe not that many). What impressed me the most with this ribbon was that no matter how many pins I used in it, they never left a mark. QUALITY!! I finally decided on this headband because I wanted a change from my typical clothing projects. My daughter and I both love headbands and I often us them to add the perfect finishing touch on my projects.

When you are ready to purchase, check either A Stitch in Time or Renaissance Ribbon

I used one of my favorite patterns, the Alley Cat Pattern by Lil Luxe Collection

I used the Winged Fabric collection that was designed by Bonnie with Art Gallery Fabrics

Thank you Bonnie for letting me join in on the fun Blog Tour!!

Ok, I know that was a TON of pictures!! But here is one more collage….

-Alexis/My Sweet Sunshine

Full of Joy- Violette Field Threads

Hello!

It’s FRIDAY! Last day of the school and work week (unless you are like me and work 24/7). I know many of you are looking forward to Spring and hopefully thawing out from all the snow that has come down this Winter season. Last week I had the privilege of testing Violette Field Threads new pattern, JOY. The name is perfect for this dress, it radiates joy and Spring!

It is due to release – Monday 2/23/15

Quick Look at Joy:

The Joy pattern will come in size 12mnth-10yr

Panel Skirt

Side Ties

Back is 2 Rows of Elastic

Curved Bodice that is perfect for embroidery or applique or vintage fabric design

Button Closure in back

Features Finished Size Chart

*****ALSO- You can now skip the printer!!! VFT Joy Pattern features a Measurement Chart for cutting all rectangle pieces. Only piece you will need to print is the Front Bodice

The Fabric is a combination of Riley Blake (Aqua/White Stripe) and Square Dance in Sweet Voile by Anna Maria Horner. I have been waiting to use this out of print fabric for just the right project. The Voile Fabric swings in the breeze.

My daughter will be wearing it to Church for Easter and My Grandmother’s 90 Birthday Party (or maybe she will be wearing the Annabelle Dress? Hmmmm)

One of my favorite features of this dress are the panels. You can mix and match fabric to create a unique one of a kind MASTERPIECE! It is so much fun to play around with fabric and this is the perfect dress to do so!!

Outtakes…

Thank you Violette Field Threads for allowing me to test the Joy pattern, It was a Joy (ok-had to say it-LOL) to work with you.

Thank you for reading My Sweet Sunshine Blog today!!!

-Alexis

Little Lizard King Sewalong- Day 5- Last Day

Hello and Welcome to Day 5. The LAST DAY!

So we finished the Top and Skirt and now we are going to bring them together (love bird-it is Valentines after all).

So grab your favorite beverage and snack and lets go and finish up

Attaching Bodice to Skirt:

34)Mark the skirt into quarters with pins as shown below-This will help for the next few steps

35)Take your bodice and flip upside down and match raw edge (or the edge you serged) of bodice and raw edge of the skirt making sure you have right side to right side. **Bodice will be on the outside of the skirt***

36) Start Pinning by Matching Side seam of Bodice with one side seam of skirt. Continue Pinning all the way around the skirt. My bodice side seam matched the other side seam of the skirt. Your bodice back will overlap- Make sure the back bodice side that has the ELASTIC LOOP is ON TOP after it is flipped up. The back bodice side with the elastic will be closest to the skirt

37)Start sewing at side seam and sew all the way around.

38)Flip it up, love it and now flip it back and serge or pinking shears

39)Now you can flip it up , Iron and Top Stitch- eeek!!!!! Almost time for the Happy Dance!

40)Last Step decide where you want the button- sew it and DONE! **I like to use Wonder Tape to hold button.

Please please please share what you made with use on LLK Cafe Facebook Page. Congratulations!!!

41) HAPPY DANCE!!!

Thank you Little Lizard King for allowing me to host your Peggy Sue Sewalong! Also Thank you to RJR Fabrics , your fabric was a dream to sew with and I look forward to many more projects with your fabric!!
Don’t forget #PSSAL on Facebook.

Little Lizard King- Sewalong -Day 4

Hello Ladies!! I hope you have been sharing on LLK Cafe Facebook page. I know I am loving what everyone is doing. Ok day 4 – we are going to Work on the Skirt

(Sorry for the quality of pics- working late at night with no good lighting)

Skirt: Option: adding a ruffle- see pattern instructions.

27) Grab the 2 skirt pieces you cut on day 1 and fold each in half widthwise. Right sides together.

28)You will now need to use either a measuring tape or ruler and a fabric pen to cut the circle skirt from the fabric you just folded in half. Use the Skirt Length measurement found on the Measurement Chart (page 3). For example I am making a size 7/8- my skirt length needs to be 22″. Using a fabric pen and ruler or tape measure start at the top corner of the folded fabric and mark the required skirt length. Make several marks and then connect them to make a curved line.

29)Cut Curved line

30) Now Grab your pattern piece . place on top corner and cut. ***Important to be exact cuts so that it will align with your beautiful top properly.

31)Bring the two half circle skirt and place then right side together and sew along both raw edges. 1/2″ SA. Serge edges or zig zag or pinking shears if you do not have a serger.

32)Serge bottom of skirt and hem. If you do not have a serger fold over a 1/4″ and fold over again 1/4″ to enclose raw edge. option: rolled hem, ruffled edge – see pattern instructions

**Now is the chance to add options like Ric Rac or Ruffle – See instruction for more details,

Alright ladies that is it for day 4!

I will see you back for tomorrow for day 5 and we will attach the skirt to the bodice. -Alexis

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