A Boo! Designs Pattern Mash - The Tankini Meets The Skater Dress.

Hello, it's been so long since I blogged that I've almost forgotten how!!! Anyway, it is Summer here (yay) and I've been sewing lots of swimwear at the moment. As everyone knows, I love Boo! Designs patterns, and I love the spandex available for sale in the Boo store. I know many of you also share my love of these things, but lack confidence to try the Boo! Designs togs in the Swimmers pattern because of the binding. This is what I'm talking about for those that don't know.

Whilst the binding is not hard, it just takes practice and some understanding of how your machine sews spandex, I get that many people out there just want to sew their daughter some cute swimmers without spending hours perfecting the binding technique. Call me strange, but I now enjoy the binding and find it to be one of the least stressful parts of sewing swimmers now!!

Anyway, Kristie from Boo also has a few other spandex patterns - one of which is the Skater Dress. The skater dress is a great pattern for those new to sewing spandex. The binding for the neckline does not involve elastic which takes an element of trickiness out, and there are two different binding methods described in the pattern, so if you are not confident with one, you can try the other.

I'm going to share with you today how to mash the skater dress top with the tankini top (found in the swimmers pattern) to make a spandex singlet. This is a very simple pattern mash that many of you will not need a tutorial for, but I know that Boo attracts a lot of beginners who may not be confident with pattern mashing, which is why I am including this tutorial. In the end you'll end up with a spandex singlet that can either be worn for sports related things - like gymnastics, little athletics, dancing if paired with shorts or my choice - one of the lengths in the Boo designs leggings pattern; or paired with one of the three swimmer bottom options in the swimmers pattern.

To start off with you need your pattern pieces for the top of the skater dress (remember there are three options in this dress - I am using the simple front, racer back option), and also your pattern pieces for the Swimmers tankini. Just my front pattern pieces are shown below.

1. Take your skater dress front piece and lay it over the tankini front piece so that the underarm seams meet up. You want to use the skater dress for the top portion, and the tankini for the bottom portion, to get the length and fitting round the stomach right.

2. Trace around the overlaid pattern pieces, using the skater top as the guide for the top half, and the tankini top for the bottom half. Remove the original pattern pieces, place them back in your file so you don't lose them (sorry, had to include that for a few of my less organised sewing friends, you know who you are), and you are left with your new pattern piece. Label it now so you don't forget what it is.

3. Repeat the process for the back pattern pieces. Overlay the skater top on the tankini back, making sure the underarms meet up. You can see with my pieces that the tankini actually sticks out a bit on the bottom of the curve for the racer back - we are going to ignore that part of the tankini pattern and use the curve of the racer back skater instead.

4. Trace around the overlaid pattern pieces. Label the new back pattern piece and cut both the front and back pattern pieces out.

5. You are now ready to go and make your new singlet top. Cut 1 x back on the fold of the fabric, 1 x front on the fold of the fabric.

6. Place right sides together, sew shoulder seams front and back, side seams front and back (remember to use stretch stitches) and hem as per your preferred method (the Swimwear patter explains hemming options in good detail).

7. Follow directions in the skater dress pattern for the binding on the neck holes and armholes and you are all done.

8. Photograph child in new singlet (optional) and share in the Boo! Designs Pattern Club Facebook group so that others can be inspired to give it a go.

All my spandex used in this tutorial was kindly sent to me by the lovely Kristie from Boo! Designs. It will be available as of this week in the Boo! webstore to purchase….lets hope I am fast enough to get some more because I love it!!!

Thanks for reading along,

Marnie

One Thimble Edition 7!!!!!

I'm so excited to be a part of the One Thimble Blog Tour for Edition 7 of the ezine, which is released today!!! I haven't seen the whole edition yet, but I know it will be full of fabulous articles and the patterns look great. Today I'm sharing with you my thoughts on the Alyss Dress by Ainslee Fox Boutique Patterns, and also the Jukebox Duet Pattern from FLOSStyle. I really like them both and they are completely different sews, so here are my opinions on the two of them. I'm going to start with the Alyss dress.

The Archie Tailored Shirt

I'm jumping on the blogging tour for One Thimble ezine today. I have been a follower of One Thimble right from the beginning. I am a big fan of Jen Kennedy's - the brains and talent behind One Thimble and Ainslee Fox Boutique Patterns.  I look forward to each new One Thimble ezine release - not only is it full of wonderful pattern, many of which I would probably not know about without One Thimble, but I have learnt so much from the brilliant articles.

A Boo Swimwear Summer

Ahhhh Summer. It's a beautiful thing. My favourite season of the year hands down. It's full of sunshine and laughter, freckled noses and ice cream eating, long daylight hours and backyard cricket when dad comes home from work, BBQs and friends, summer showers and brilliant thunderstorms, shorts and sundresses, havianas and bare feet. There are so many wonderful things about summer, and woven through all of them is swimming! In Australia, swimming is part of our culture. Pools are full of kids learning how to swim freestyle and backstroke, and it's amazing how many "old friends" that you didn't hear from all winter start calling when the weather warms up and you have a pool in your backyard…

The Little Miss Sweetie Pie Dress

I'm back catching up on blog posts. More things are slowly being added to our page as we move across to this site. I've still got quite a few patterns to catch you up on, but for todays one, I just wanted to say that I love little girls dresses. Not the ones you necessarily see in the shops, but the ones you find when you are a sewer. Dresses that really suit girls, and allow them to look like girls, and not little versions of what teenagers wear. Here's my new fav...

The Firefly by Boo Designs

I've got an absolute ripper of a party dress that I'm reviewing today. It's from Boo Designs and it was recently released in the 4th and latest addition of One Thimble Magazine. Here's the cover picture. Isn't it adorable? I love it! Just the right amount of frills, a gathered skirt, the perfect length sash and all those delightful square shapes and angles to work with. I was fortunate enough to pattern test for this one. I have to say it was the most inspiring and intimidating pattern testing group I have been part of. There are so many wonderful versions of this dress to check out from the testing group. I'm not quite sure where they have been posted at the moment, but definitely join the Boo Designs Pattern Club on facebook to see all the cute versions of this people are sewing here.

Joey

Hi all, I was planning on waiting until we had moved out blog over to blogger to post this - which is why my blogs posts have been so minimal of late, but I have a few great patterns that I wanted to review - starting with this one.

Zoe's Winter Coat

I've been very slack about blogging lately and I finally got around to taking some pictures of Zoe in her winter coat. I actually finished this little coat a month or so ago, but haven't had my camera handy when she's worn it until the other day.

BOO Design Your Own Overalls. A Pattern Review

It is high time I wrote a Pattern review about a BOO pattern. For those of you who have never ever purchased and sewn a BOO pattern, you are really missing out. Boo Designs is the brilliant company of Kristie Gilbert and you should really take the time to visit her webpage. http://www.boodesigns.com.au.

A quick fix for when that t-shirt won't go over the head.

I'm continuing on with my posts about basic t-shirts today. Have you ever spent time and effort making a t-shirt of some description only to go and try it on the recipient and discover that no matter how much pulling and tugging there is, it is just not going to fit over that head.  Plus most children are crying and writhing if there is too much pulling and tugging required to get it over the head, so the fit needs to be good and fast and easy to get on.

Adding a Peplum style ruffle to your Basic Tee

Hello and welcome back to another tutorial on how to get a little more from your basic tees pattern. My first tutorial in this series can be found here.
Today I'm going to be showing you how to add a pelpum style ruffle to your t-shirts. I love the practicality and comfort factor of a knit t-shirt, and when you combine it with a pelpum style ruffle, it just adds that touch of sweetness and transforms it to make it a little more girly. It really is a no brainer as well.

Getting more from your basic tees pattern - tunic length dresses

Hello and welcome to the first of a series of tutorials on how to get more out of your basic t-shirt sewing pattern. If you are anything like me, you are a little addicted to buying sewing patterns. I have lots. Lots and lots. And yet, even with the many that I have, once I find a good basic pattern, I tend to stick to it - especially if it is a downloadable pattern and I have to go through that whole rigmarole of printing, cutting and sticking, and then tracing the size you are after and cutting it out and filing the pattern pieces so you can find them again. I am trying to be a little more strict on myself this year (been wildly unsuccessful so far) and remember that you can use a basic pattern to create lots of different looks.

One Thimble Edition 3

Hi! I hope you are excited about tomorrow's big release of the One Thimble Ezine Magazine, Edition 3. And if you don't have any idea what I am talking about, you should really get your head out of the sand and head on over http://www.onethimble.com.au to find out more.

One Thimble is a fantastic resource for sewers, both beginner and advanced. It is packed full of great patterns, helpful sewing tips, interesting articles, and great advice for those who are interested in selling their homemade products. I had a sneak peak of this addition and it is amazing Here's what is included:

Sewing patterns for - women, girls, boys and babies. And we are not talking silly little patterns that you won't use. We are talking some serously awesome patterns. I tested a couple of them and they are some of my favourite patterns ever.

Avery Dress

Hello lovely blog visitors. I have so many sewing projects to blog about that it is ridiculous....who knows if I will actually get around to them all, but I am determined to get some of them up here. So today I am going to share with you a pattern that I bought a couple of months ago and absolutely LOVE! It's the Avery dress by Modkid patterns. I have been a modkid fan for years, I love the interesting patters and all the lovely bright fabrics. The Avery grabbed me straight away. It is a drop waisted dress with buttons down the front and a peter pan collar. There are a few different variations to this pattern and it has fast become one of my all time favourites.

Oliver and S

It is slow going on the blog around here at the moment. I have been unmotivated to blog and have been taking a little break, and Kate has been trekking around Tasmania with the family on a holiday I can't wait to see lots and lots of pictures of!

Anyway, I sort of lost my sewing mojo there for a while after all that market sewing I did and all that stuff that didn't sell. It was very discouraging, so I just wanted to take a break for a while. And then there was all that Christmas sewing to do for family, friends etc. Anyway I've finally sat down this week and done a little sewing for both myself and Zoe and it's made me remember why I love to sew! It's been really quite nice to just sew for us. I've got quite a few projects to share with you over the next few weeks.

Skipper Top

One of my favourite patterns released this year was the Seafarer top by Sew Much Ado. I may have become a little obsessed with this pattern. It's a little embarrasing to reveal how many of these I have made in the past couple of months (some have been gifts), so I wont reveal the exact number. Let's just say it may or may not be upwards of 10.

Anyway, I follow Sew Much Ado on Instagram so I was stoked to see that she was developing a mini seafarer top for girls. It is called the skipper top and I was lucky enough to test the pattern for her. I actually tested a size 7, but will do that post a little later, I just want to get a few better shots now that the weather is warming up (yea!!). 

Hero Vest

It's been ages since I blogged. We got back from a fabulous family holiday to Hawaii last week and it has been busy getting the kids back into their normal routine, unpacking and getting back to school. I plan on doing a quick blog highlight of our trip sometime next week. Before we left, I had the chance to test another pattern that was released while we were away. Somehow in the last few weeks of her fourth pregnancy, Toni from Make it Perfect managed to get this cute pattern together and emailed it through to be tested. Seriously, she is one organised lady. Makes me feel quite inefficient at times…

Zip It

Make it Perfect Patterns released this little beauty last week

Basic Tees into Pretty Dresses

We have been having such beautiful summery weather in Sydney lately that it seems a little silly to be sharing this post with you. I wish it could last forever, but I know come some point in April/May, the weather is going to turn quickly and before I know it, it will be the dreaded months of winter (no guesses as to which season I prefer). I have had a few birthday pressies to make this week and with the impending weather change ahead, I made some dresses for the cooler months.

Summer Carnival by Make It Perfect

 Last weekend I was fortunate to test a new pattern for Make It Perfect Patterns. As soon as Toni sent me the picture of this one I knew I had to make some time to sew it. Luckily it was fast and easy, like many of the Make It Perfect patterns.

This little baby is called the Summer Carnival and is new, hot off the press. It was released on Tuesday and in my opinion if you have a little baby, it is a must. The photo below is from the pattern cover.