Monthly MashUp (3) - Giveaway Winner and Feature

Click here to see the details of my week 1 Project Run & Play look.

The winner of the Belinda dress and Izzy Top MashUp is Danielle with her entry for liking Call Ajaire on facebook!  I contacted Danielle and she already owns (and loves) the Belinda dress pattern so she asked if I could split the prize so that I could choose another winner for just the pdf pattern portion.  How generous, Danielle.  So I chose a second winner: Dana with her entry for liking Climbing the Willow on facebook.  Congratulations to both Danielle and Dana!

If you didn't win the giveaway and would like your own Belinda Dress pattern from Go To Patterns you can purchase it here (*affiliate link).  The Izzy Top is available for a free download from Climbing the Willow here.  And for reference the MashUp post can be found here.

If you haven't gone over to the Monthly MashUp Flickr pool you should check it out.  This lovely dress from Deux Souriceaux is the feature for March.  It is a MashUp of Figgy's Sunki dress and Blank Slate Patterns' Beachy Boatneck and I am completely in love with it.  Aren't the fabrics amazing together?  Great job Raphaelle!

I'd love to see any other MashUps you guys are making.  Join the Flickr group and add them there so we all can be inspired.

And finally, today is the last day to vote for your favorite week 1 look for Project Run & Play.  In case the flashy gif on my sidebar doesn't say it enough, I'd really love to have your vote for my Sunbonnet Panda Pinafore!! (hehe)

Put Me In The Zoo - Project Run & Play Week 1

It's the first week of Season 9 of Project Run & Play and this week's theme is Put Me In The Zoo.  If you like my outfit, please take the time to vote for my Sunbonnet Panda Pinafore before Thursday night!

Well, we all know Bean is in love with anything panda (check out the #allpandasallthetime hashtag on Instagram to see how nutso she really is about them), so it was a sure bet that I'd use pandas as my inspiration for this Put Me In the Zoo theme.  I decided to use the basic color blocking of a panda as the inspiration jump-off point.

I designed a backless pinafore with a sunbonnet attached that would cover all the white areas on a panda's body.  Over-exaggerating the sunbonnet made it extra cute for summer wear.  I had never made a sunbonnet so drafting one that didn't need a chin tie was no easy task, but I'm so pleased with the result.  The sunbonnet stays put while it's on Bean's head, but she can also flip it back if she doesn't want to wear it, without having to ask someone to untie it for her (or half choke herself in the process).

For the sunbonnet, I drafted a crown that would extend down to the neck.  Instead of gathering along the bottom edge, I wanted to the crown to fan out from origami-style folds along the bottom.  After a few muslin mishaps, I found the perfect shape.  Starting with a shape like in the picture above, I pressed folds on either side of center and then attached a piece of bias binding to the bottom edge to hold the folds.

By taking the binding edges and curving them to touch, the bottom edge becomes a keyhole opening at the nape of the neck and the new bottom edge (to the left and right of the binding in the picture above) gets sewn into the neckline of the pinafore.

This origami shaping creates a curved crown that holds its shape on Bean's head without needing a tie to the front under her chin.

For the over-sized sunbonnet brim I sandwiched some thick interfacing inside the fabric and ran some quilting lines along the edges.  The interfacing helps to hold the brim shape while still being able to use a light-weight fabric like this soft polka dotted two sided double gauze.

She's not a huge fan of hats, so this is my way of easing her into some head protection from the sun this summer.  The pinafore is backless and secured in the back with a buttoned strap.

This Sunbonnet Panda Pinafore is meant to be worn with a shirt for some sun coverage or on its own on those warmest of summer days we get here in Maryland.

To go with the pinafore I drafted a cute shirt which would be able to stand on its own and not just be a layering piece.  I added puffed short sleeves, gathering the sleeve at the band as well for a little girly flair.

I used black ponte de roma knit fabric with a piece of polka dot knit jersey to bind the inside Peter Pan collar neckline in sticking with the panda color theme.  The banded bottom also helps to make it stand out from a basic t-shirt.

The shorts started out as a pair of Oliver & S Sailboat Pants, but I cut the legs off to about a two inch inseam, gathered the outside legs, and added a band to make them bubble style shorts.  The fabric is a black double gauze that will be nice and airy for Bean to wear this summer.

Of course I added some panda fabric to the shorts' facing so there is a fun surprise for Bean when she takes them on and off.  I used the same fabric, fussy cutting the panda faces to make the panda buttons too.

I love how the banded leg changes the look of the sailboat pants.  I'm a big fan of bubble shorts, so these will get a lot of use this summer.

When Bean was a baby I drafted a pair of tights.  To complete the panda color-blocking I had her wear a graded up pair of black jersey knit tights.

It has been incredibly cold here this winter so the tights were a necessity for the fun photo shoot we had at the zoo.  It was a balmy 60 degrees that day which felt like summer compared to the surrounding days of 20s and 30s, but still too cold for shorts.

We are lucky enough to live close to the National Zoo and since admission is free we get to go pretty often.  Bean was so excited to see the pandas and introduce her Pammy Panda.

We had so much fun taking pictures around the bamboo at the zoo.

Bean did a great job feeding Pammy the leaves, hehe.

Though we're expecting another big snow storm today, I am ready for the warmer weather.  Doesn't Bean look adorable in just the pinafore and shorts?

I love how open the back is without the shirt underneath.  By next year Bean will have lost more of that baby chub, so I'm taking in as much chubby arms and legs as possible while I still can, hehe.

I hope you love this look as much as I do.  I'm so excited to be part of Project Run & Play this season and would love to stick around to show my week two look.  If you would like to vote for my Sunbonnet Panda Pinafore, you can do so here before Thursday night.  Thank you in advance!!

Pattern Workshop Official Launch!

It's an exciting day guys.  Lauren Dahl has officially launched her Pattern Workshop (*affiliate link)!


Creating PDF Patterns: From Sketch to Sale is the first course available at Pattern Workshop and I cannot rave about it enough.  In Lauren's words:

Have you dreamed of starting your own business designing downloadable sewing patterns? Do you have design ideas floating in your head – but no idea how to get them digitized, graded and ready for at-home printing? Or maybe you’ve already published a pattern or two, but you’d like to learn how to streamline your process and produce a better quality product.

For over a year I've clunked my way through digital pattern designing and though the resulting clothing has turned out well, the amount of time I've lost stuck to the computer I can never get back.  I was just designing and grading my patterns for Bean so I cannot imagine the amount of time it would have taken if I were to have created a pattern with full sizing ranges using my "make it work" method.

Pattern Workshop's Creating PDF Patterns course is a game changer.  As someone who is self taught, I know how difficult it can be to search for tips and tricks to speed up a process, but thankfully they are all assembled here in this course.  Lauren's knowledge of Illustrator and the digital pattern design process is vast, but the success of this course lies in her rare ability to look completely comfortable in front of the camera while conveying that knowledge to you, the student.  Immediately that puts you at ease and makes learning what could be a daunting subject (Illustrator can do EVERYTHING) so easy.  The breakdown of the course into bite size chunks means that you can easily take a lesson and then practice those particular skills until you're ready to move on to the next "bite."

I love that during the course you can jump around to the lessons you're most interested in and I've found myself referring back to previous lessons already.  This course is perfect for someone ready to take the leap into PDF pattern making, but even those of us with some knowledge already will find enough time-savers to make it must-have reference.

To celebrate the launch, you can take $10 off of the Creating PDF Patterns (*affiliate link) already reasonable price with the code launchparty10.  The discount offer ends Sunday, March 23 at 11:59pm MST so you'll want to take advantage of it while you can.  I can't wait to hear how everyone feels about this course.

Lauren granted me access to Pattern University so that I could try using Gimp (my digital drawing preference) instead of Illustrator for her course and provide a review.  As soon as I have completed the course and assembled my notes I'll be happy to share what I find.  So far I couldn't be more excited.

Monthly MashUp (3) Izzy Top and Belinda Dress

If you're looking for the details of this monthly series you can check out the introduction post.

For March's Monthly MashUp I'm excited to include a pattern that is available for free.  I posted a couple of weeks ago about my first Izzy top and I knew this amazing pattern from Climbing The Willow would be perfect for a MashUp.  I immediately jumped on the pocketed skirt from the Belinda Dress by Go To Patterns (*affiliate link) as the perfect pairing for the MashUp and I think you guys are going to love it!

The shape of the Izzy Top bodice is unique enough to make it interesting even without the skirt that comes with the pattern.  I like that the faux cap sleeves are part of the bodice so they look adorable without the fuss of a set in sleeve.  The bodice is fully lined which is also a plus.  I just love when a garment looks as good from the inside as it does from the outside.  The sizes range from 18 months to 12 years so this is a top that we'll use for many years to come.  There's also a super cute elastic casing option for the bottom edge of the skirt which will probably be the next Izzy I make for Bean.

The Belinda Dress (*affiliate link) by Andrea Pannell for Go To Patterns was designed as part of Andrea's Designer's Challenge.  She challenges other designers to create something unique to the market so why not challenge herself along with them, right?  This is one of my favorite of Andrea's patterns and we all know how much I already adore her Anywhere dress.  The big kangaroo pocket in the bubbly skirt is such a fun feature.  The bodice is meant to have a bit of stretch, but even a sweatshirt knit that doesn't have a ton of stretch will work as long as you can stretch the neck to go over the head.  The skirt/pocket portion is again meant for knit fabric, but woven apparel fabrics will work as well.  Bonus: for those of you who already own the Anywhere dress the sleeves work for this dress too!  That means you have the option for the puffed sleeve or no puffed sleeve.  My favorite is the 3/4 length Anywhere Dress sleeve with band so that alone was enough to sell me on this pattern initially.

This MashUp is super easy.  Since I'm currently trying to sew ALL THE THINGS for Project Run & Play (which starts on Monday) an easy MashUp was in order.  I'd had this one waiting in the wings so it was as if it was meant to be March's MashUp all along.  The great part about this MashUp is that since you can use woven fabric for the Izzy Top, it opens up lots of fun fabric pairing possibilities.  If you've been following me long enough, then you know I love mixing knit and wovens so this is a really fun MashUp for me.

To start with, follow the Izzy pattern instructions for the bodice up through attaching the lining.  I like to press the bottom edge of the lining up 3/8" before sewing it all together so later when I go to sew the lining along the bodice edge to cover all the raw edges it will already be pressed in the right position.  When you sew the lining to the main fabric, start and stop sewing along the back edges (where it will butt together) about 1/2 inch from the end.  This is so that the lining and main fabrics will not be attached at the bottom edge, nor it's seam allowance.  Do not sew the side seam yet either.

Lets move on to the skirt portion of the Belinda dress which is simply gathered to fit the Belinda bodice so there is no need to alter any pattern pieces!  The Izzy bodice cuts off higher than the Belinda bodice so if you're concerned about length than you may want to add a couple of inches to the skirt length before you gather it.  I found the length to be perfect without adjusting since Bean will be wearing this with leggings or tights until it's a tunic anyway.

Attach the skirt pieces to the front and back main bodice pieces, making sure the lining is not caught in the stitching.  When you sew the back skirt piece to the back bodice pieces, also make sure they butt up to each other so there is no gaping in the back.

To sew the side seams, simply follow the Izzy instructions for sewing the side seams with the lining, but continue down the skirt sides as well.  Once the sides are sewn you can flip the bodice lining inside the dress and since the lining bottom edge is already pressed over, you can stitch along the bottom bodice edge from the right side to secure the folded edge and contain the raw skirt/bodice seam.

Attach the Belinda band to the bottom of the skirt and your MashUp is complete!

The curved shape of the bottom edge of the bodice makes the Belinda skirt bubble out even more which is super cute.

And lets not forget about the giveaway!  In lieu of giving away the Izzy Pattern (it's already free!), Teri has offered the winner's choice of one of the three fabric pair bundles above.  That includes enough fabric to make an Izzy/Belinda MashUp of your own!  Of course if you're going to be making your own MashUp, you'll need the Belinda pattern which Andrea has generously offered to giveaway to the winner too!

Just follow the instructions in the rafflecopter below to enter the giveaway.  Due to international postage the fabric portion of the giveaway may not be open internationally, but the pdf pattern is!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Want to MashUp your own, but don't want to wait until the giveaway is over?  You can purchase the Belinda Dress pattern here (*affiliate link) and the Izzy Top pattern is available for download here.

Be sure to follow the Monthly MashUp Pinterest board if you'd like some more inspiration on garments to mash.  And remember, if you do a MashUp I'd love it if you would share it in the Call Ajaire Monthly MashUp Flickr group!  There are a few great ones out there in the group already and I'll feature a few with the giveaway winner announcement next week.

<a href="http://ajaire.blogspot.com/search/label/Monthly%20MashUp" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1QaqRN54YV5eIpr-nbvuESs6hHOsDFaMODZGPwnVmLdGK0WCIYxnF7W4dZ8eOpKDmR7oCYL_5hvysYBodMWplhjguDoc0ZpyH9QMsGqN4sm3RHmMlUNTuok4VnzI-G48rr3O_8iweIsqZ/s1600/Monthly+MashUp+graphic+600px.png" alt="Call Ajaire Monthly MashUp" width="125" height="125" /></a>

**the fabric and pattern for the giveaway has been generously donated, but all opinions are mine and I purchased my own pattern before contacting the designers.

Spring Trends - Reversible Round Table Quilt

Even though we were dumped with another round of snow overnight, spring is right around the corner so it's time to start dreaming of longer days and warmer weather.  March is National Craft Month so a fun spring trend inspired craft was in order.  My favorite trends this spring are the floral and geometric patterns.  Below you'll see I used a great mix of the two to update our kitchen table with a new Reversible Round Table Quilt.  If you're looking to make your own spring trend crafts, Jo-Ann Fabrics and Craft Stores has a $5 off $25 or more coupon and a spring crafting inspiration website.  There are lots of great projects up there so it's worth a look. This is a sponsored post, but as always all opinions are mine.

If the Brady Bunch taught us anything it's that spring is a Time To Change and as Bean will be three in May I thought it was the perfect time to change her high chair seat into a booster.  That meant she would be eating off of the table with us instead of her tray so I needed to whip something up to protect our table.

For those of you who haven't seen my other table quilts you can take a look here and here.  I prefer a table quilt to a table cloth for obvious reasons:

• There is elastic around the bottom edge so it stays put.
• The quilt padding protects from excessive toddler cup banging force.
• The texture adds some interest to the table top.
• Reversibility makes it easy to change the look of the room with just a flip of the quilt.

Jo-Ann has these great reversible pre-quilted fabrics that make it super easy to make your own reversible table quilt.  This floral and somewhat paisley fabric caught my eye and I knew we needed it in our kitchen.  I decided to use a cool geometric patterned fabric to hold the quarter circle sections of floral fabric together.  I loved the idea of making an x (or a +) shape on the quilt top to bring in even more geometric interest to the quilt.  Splitting the circle into quarters and holding them together with bias strips is also a great way to use the quilted fabric which has a width of 44" for a table that has a larger diameter.

To make your own Reversible Round Table Quilt customized to your table size you will need the following:

Quarter circle template (I'll show you how to make yours below)
Reversible quilted fabric (my measurements used a yard)
Quilting cotton (my measurements used slightly less than a yard)
Single fold bias tape (my measurements used about 2 1/4 yards)
1/2" elastic (I used about 2 1/2 yards)
Elmer's School glue (optional)

To begin you'll need to measure the diameter of your round table.  That is the measurement straight across the center.  Our table is 48" across and I plan to use a 1/4" seam allowance so the diameter of my finished circle needs to be 48 1/2" before we attach the band around the edge.  Divide that number in half and each of our quarter circles will need to be 24 1/4".

To make your quarter circle template you need to measure a line that is 24 1/4" long and then one perpendicular that is 24 1/4" long.  Directly between them and out from the corner (at 45 degrees) measure another line that is 24 1/4" long.

Cut the paper along the outside two lines.  Now we'll fold the two outside edges so they are touching.  I find with a pattern this large it is easiest to tape the bottom edge down so it won't shift while folding.

Fold the new top edge (with the previous fold) down to the bottom edge, taking care at the pointed end. Continue to do this as many times as you can with your big pattern piece.

Once you have the piece folded up use the original measurements to cut across the end at 24 1/4".

The more you've been able to fold the piece the more circular the resulting shape will be, but be sure to cut as straight as possible across the end.

Once you unfold the piece it will now be in the shape of a quarter circle.  Press the pattern to get rid of the fold markings so the pattern will lay flat.

Cut out 4 of these pieces from the quilted fabric.  I was able to get all four pieces from 1 yard of fabric.

Now you will need some single fold bias tape.  I made my own using this method and the geometric print fabric.

Line up two of the quarter circles so the edges butt each other and do NOT overlap.  Lay one edge of the bias tape on top of the center straight edge and using Elmer's School Glue (it will wash away once you wash the table quilt - read more about it here), press with an iron to temporarily hold the bias tape in place.  You want to make sure that half of the bias tape is hanging over the edge of the pieces as it will be used to attach the other two quarters of the circle in a later step.

Sew along the edge of the bias tape that has been glued down until you reach the end of the second quarter circle.

When you've finished sewing the one side of the bias tape down the two quarter pieces will be attached at their pointed ends only.

Repeat the same steps using the other two quarter circle pieces, but have the reverse side of the quilted fabric facing up.

Once one edge of the bias tape (binding) has been sewn to each pair of quarter circles we'll need to sew them together.  Butt the edges of the quilted fabric together and make sure both the bias tape on the top and the bias tape on the bottom's edges overlap to the adjoining edge.

Be sure all four corners of the quilted fabric line up under the bias tape and then glue down the free edges on the top and bottom of the circle.  You'll have to flip the circle over once the bias tape on the top is glued in order to reach the bias tape on the bottom.

To sew the bias tape down to the free edge you could either hand stitch along the glued side or machine sew from the reverse side along the previous stitches.  Do this to both sides of the circle so that the four quarter pieces are secured together along their center edge.

This is what your circle will look like at this point.  Both edges of the vertical bindings on both the top and bottom of the quilted circle have been sewn, securing the quilted edges together and hiding the raw edges.  The horizontal edges are still free.

Now you will sew another strip of the bias tape down to the horizontal edge of both sides of the quilted circle, forming an x or a + with the binding, using the same method as above.

The quilted circle is now complete and should measure 48 1/2" across.

It's time to move on to the outside edge (circumference) of the table quilt.  For the band we'll use a strip of quilting cotton long enough to go around the edge of the quilt.  You'll need to sew some strips together to make such a long band.  Again, you can use my method explained here.  The width of the strip should be 2 X the height of your table (mine is 1") plus 3" for the elastic casing and room for it to wrap under the table.  The length of the strip can be determined by calculating the circumference and adding 5 inches to that for overlap.  Or you can just wing it, make an extra long strip, and cut the excess off after you've pinned the strip and know you have the proper overlap.  With my measurements I used a little less than a yard of quilting cotton.

Fold the strip in half lengthwise and press wrong sides together.  Pin the raw edge to the outside edge of the circle until the strip overlaps.

Sew the overlapping edges together so you have one long circular strip that fits the outside edge of the quilted circle.  Cut off the excess fabric.  Sew the strip to the quilted circle along the raw edge, leaving an opening at least 2 inches wide to insert the elastic.

Trim the edge.

By the way, the pictures above are a great view of the true colors of these quilted fabrics.  The colors are just like in these pictures.

Press the 1/4" seam allowance toward the outside edge of the circle and starting at the same part of the circle as you did for the previous seam, stitch 5/8" away from the folded edge to create the elastic casing.  Make sure to leave the same 2 inch open for inserting the elastic.

Using a safety pin, insert the elastic through both 2 inch openings and feed it all the way through the casing.

Once the elastic is in place, sew the ends together and close the two openings.  Then, using a zigzag stitch, sew the raw edge of the quilted circle to the outside band to prevent fraying of the raw edge.  Plus, I like the look of the zigzag around the edge of the circle, hehe.

And your Reversible Round Table Quilt is complete!

The reverse side is just as pretty as the main side too.

Now that we're done with #craftmonthlove, you should go take a look at the other crafts on the spring crafting inspiration website and don't forget about that Jo-Ann Fabrics coupon too.

And I'd love to hear what you think about these spring trends: Radiant Orchid, Nautical, Florals, Geometric.  I'm kind of excited about the Nauticals too.