Muse of the Morning Pattern tour - the Sling it Mama Take Along Bag Very Easy Purse

Today, I am honored to share with you a really fun and easy pattern from Chrissy at Muse of the Morning patterns. Chrissy has a variety of patterns for sale and I am part of her pattern blog hop. Today, I present to you the Sling It Mama Take Along Bag Very Easy Purse.  Even though I was gifted this purse pattern for my participating in the hop, I am very happy to give it a great review. 

This is really a very quick bag to make and the pattern is very well done. Chrissy gives ample directions and photos so it is simple to follow. The finished purse is a great size for busy women. It ended up being approximately 11" X 10" X 3" with a lot of room inside.  The strap is 17" which makes it fit just perfectly under your arm. 

To sew this cute purse, I used a home decorator fabric from my local fabric store for the outer and a similar weight home deco fabric I had in my stash for the inner.  Chrissy recommends heavier weight woven fabrics, so this worked perfectly.

The pattern has only four pieces and goes together beautifully.  I really love the way it turned out and the design is great.  The bottom and strap pieces curve perfectly. It is a very well-designed purse. Chrissy has a very tricky way of putting the inside and outside and strap together that threw me for a loop when I first looked at the directions. But, the pattern is so well-written that I trusted her way would work and it did.  I sewed the pieces together and turned the purse right side out and it looks great.

As you can see, I added a button to my purse.  I had the big pink button and I felt like I need more color on my bag. I love color!  I tend to want to add ribbon trim to all my little girl sewing so I guess I am a bit compulsive. I just really needed this bag to have something on it.  The button is not part of the pattern but I like it.


As you can see below, this bag holds my large wallet, keys, and zipper pouch just fine. There is ample room for my phone and anything else I might want to add. Since we banned plastic bags in town last year, I can even use this purse for my small shopping needs.  Perfect.

Please visit  Chrissy's lovely website to learn more about her patterns and the blog tour, which is going on all week. She's also got a GIVEAWAY going on as well as a discount code for purchases.  The discount is effective from May 1 - May 17. The code is BLOGTOUR30 and gets the user 30% off all patterns bought through my website (not etsy or crafty).

blog: www.museofthemorning.com

Tie Dye Diva Perfect Party Dress Blog Hop - Day 5

It's day five of the Tie Dye Diva Perfect Party Dress Blog Hop!  This is the final day and the dresses are still amazing! 

Today's fabulous hoppers are
Deanna,   Kim, and  Zura 

(clockwise)

Don't forget the party dresses, baby size and girl size, are on sale at the Tie Dye Diva Sewing Patterns site. The sale price is $6 each, just thru us hoppers!  If you click on the affiliate link, in my side bar, you will get to Jen's store directly.  

In case you missed a post, here's a list of all the hoppers. Just click on their blog name to visit their fab version of the Perfect Party Dress. 

Tie Dye Diva Perfect Party Dress Blog Hop - Day 4

It's day four of the Tie Dye Diva Perfect Party Dress Blog Hop! This hop is so much fun.  I never imagined how creative mamas would get with this pattern.

Today's fabulous hoppers are 
Jenny and Meriel (top)

Victoria, and Nichole (bottom)

Don't forget the party dresses, baby size and girl size, are on sale at the Tie Dye Diva Sewing Patterns site. The sale price is $6 each, just thru us hoppers!  If you click on the affiliate link, in my side bar, you will get to Jen's store directly. 

And visit the rest of the hoppers all this week!

May 2 Deanna, Zura, Kim

And revisit  past posts.

April 28 Kathy, Amy, Michelle

April 29 Ren, Tasha, and Alyssa 

April 30 Sara Beth, Shelly, and Shawnta 

 

Tie Dye Diva Perfect Party Dress Blog Hop - Day 3

It's day three of the Tie Dye Diva Perfect Party Dress Blog Hop! The variations are amazing!

Today's awesome hoppers are  (counterclockwise from yellow ribbon cutie) 

Sara Beth, Shelly, and Shawnta

Don't forget the party dresses, baby size and girl size, are on sale at the Tie Dye Diva Sewing Patterns site. The sale price is $6 each, just thru us hoppers!  If you click on the affiliate link, in my side bar, you will get to Jen's store directly. 

And visit the rest of the hoppers all this week!

May 1 Jenny, Meriel, Victoria, Nichole
May 2 Deanna, Zura, Kim

And revisit  past posts.

April 28 Kathy, Amy, Michelle

April 29 Ren, Tasha, and Alyssa 

Tie Dye Diva Perfect Party Dress Blog Hop - Day 2

It's day two of the Tie Dye Diva Perfect Party Dress Blog Hop!  Check out these lovely variations!

 Today's blog hoppers Ren, Tasha, and Alyssa (clockwise). 

Don't forget the party dresses, baby size and girl size, are on sale at the Tie Dye Diva Sewing Patterns site. The sale price is $6 each, just thru us hoppers!  If you click on the affiliate link, in my side bar, you will get to Jen's store directly. 

And visit the rest of the hoppers all this week!

 

April 30 Sara Beth, Shelly, and Shawnta
May 1 Jenny, Meriel, Victoria, Nichole
May 2 Deanna, Zura, Kim

 

And revisit  yesterday's posts.

 

 

April 28 Kathy, Amy, Michelle

Tie Dye Diva Perfect Party Dress Blog Hop - Day 1

Today is day one of the Tie Dye Diva/ Handmade Dress Haven Perfect Party Dress Blog Hop! We have some great bloggers helping show off different ways to use the Perfect Party Dress pattern to make a stylish and classic little girl's dress. 

First, let me tell you about this pattern. It comes it two sizes, baby sizes 0-24 months and girl sizes 2 to 10 years.  The patterns are extremely well written and the sizing is very accurate to the size charts.  The directions are perfect. Jen, the Tie Dye Diva, is an excellent pattern writer.  And, for this week only, you can get these patterns for $6 each, instead of the usual $7.95.  You will see the discount once you put the patterns in your cart.  What a great deal!!

 I have made numerous versions of the girl size dress and love it!  You may recall my pleated-front version, which was featured on the SisBoom blog.  Today, I am going to show you how to do another variation of the bodice piece, this time with pintucks! I will also show you how to made a ruched sash instead of a flat one.  I showed this to you a few weeks ago, for Project Run and Play, but today I will actually tell you you can also get this great look. 

Here is the finished dress

And here is a closeup of the bodice and sash.  

 

Step 1 - Pin Tucks

1.  Cut out your bodice front pattern piece and then cut a piece of fabric out that is several inches larger on both sides.   This takes eye-balling but for my size 6X bodice I cut it 2 inches wider. Better to be too wide than too narrow.  I also cut the fabric about an inch higher on top and bottom.

2. Next,  in that extra inch on top and bottom, mark (with washable marker) dots every one inch.  I used my rule to make sure my dots line up on top and bottom.  Pin tucks are basically tiny pleats so you need them to line up perfectly.

3. For step three, use your fingers to squeeze the fabric together, making a small fold from one dot to the next (vertically). 

4. Place a pin horizontally to the tiny pleat to make a tuck.  Do this up and down your pleat. This is why they are called "pin tucks." You tuck fabric and pin it! Do one pleat/tuck at a time.

 

5.  One pleat/tuck at a time, use your top stitch foot or stitch in the ditch foot to sew a seam very close to the fold. If you do not have a special foot, just sew very close to the edge. 

6.  Repeat steps 3-5 for every inch. 

7.  You can pleat/tuck all the way across or, as I did, you can stop in the middle to show off the pretty flower.  Either way, when you are done, lay it all out and see how it looks. You now have pin tucks.

 

8. With your iron, use heat to angle the tucks towards the side seams.  Iron from middle to side. This just makes them lay nicely.

9. Use your bodice front pattern piece to cut out your bodice front!  Isn't it pretty!

Hint: If you want the entire bodice to have pin tucks, you might think about doing your first tuck in the exact middle and working out from there! Wouldn't that be sweet. 

 

Step 2  Ruched Sash

1.  Make a new pattern piece that is double the height of the one that comes with the pattern. 

2. Iron it such that you can see a line down the middle. 

 3.  Sew gathering stitches at either side of sash and in the middle (over the line you ironed). Use the gathering stitches to gather the sides and middle of the sash so they match the original sash pattern height. 

 4.  Don't worry if it makes the shape of a ladies swim top. It will look fine later!!

5.  Take it to the ironing table, use your hands to gather the rest, and iron it flat.  This will help it keep it's shape as we sew it to the bodice. 

 

6. Sew it to the bodice as Jen instructs in her Perfect Party Dress Pattern.

 

7. Sew the rest of the bodice parts together as Jen instructs in the Perfect Party Dress Pattern.  Stop when you get to adding the sash ties.  To add the sash ties, you will eye ball the sash side gathering and sew as much of it as you can into the sash ties. This will hold the gathers in place. Be sure to leave a bit at bottom so that the sash front lines up with bottom of lining.  The three photos below show you how I did this step.

This might seem complicated. Contact me if you have any questions!  

 

8. Follow Jen's directions to complete the Perfect Party Dress pattern! 

 

Voila!

Please visit Amy and Michelle's blogs for their versions of the Perfect Party Dress! 

April 28 Kathy, Amy, Michelle

And visit the rest of the hoppers all this week!

 

 
April 29 Tasha, Ren and Alyssa
April 30 Sara Beth, Shelly, and Shawnta
May 1 Jenny, Meriel, Victoria, Nichole
May 2 Deanna, Zura, Kim

Blog Hop Planning

I keep seeing the big girl bloggers participate in blog hops, where they all share and sew around a theme. It looks so fun! I've been in one hop, a while back, but I decided to try planning my own.

So, voila, starting April 28, 16 bloggers, including myself, will show you a different way EACH to use the fabulous Perfect Party Dress Pattern by Tie Dye Diva.  But sure to check back at the end of the month to see all these fab dresses!