Bundle Up Blog Tour - Sisboom Jenny Dress

It's Bundle Up time at Pattern Revolution again and this time it is women's patterns. "Bundle UP is a collective of your favorite established PDF sewing pattern designers coming together to offer you a sweet deal on both hot new patterns and your favorite closet staples from recent releases."  You can build the bundle you want, with the patterns you want. It is a great idea and a fun way to get the patterns you want to sew.

One of the patterns in the Bundle Up is Sisboom Jenny. This fab pattern can be a top, tunic, dress or maxi.  It can have cap sleeves, no sleeves, or a ruffle down the front.  As with all Sisboom patterns, it is extremely well written and you will not go wrong if you follow the directions.  Carla is one of the best pattern writers in the blogosphere and she has been doing it longer than most. 

I was hesitant to sew something for me because I am no skinny minny anymore. But Jennifer sent me some of the new Beauty Queen fabric and I just fell in love with this print. This is Charlotte in green.  Isn't it pretty? And I do think this is a good color for me, so it was meant to be used to make a Jenny.

Now, be kind. I am not a skinny minny and sewing for oneself is hard. I truly did the best I could and hope you don't find fault!    The pattern is amazingly well written. It is truly impossible to go wrong with a Sisboom pattern.  If you measure yourself well and make a muslin, it will fit!  I made my muslin out of Swedish Tracing paper and the dress turned out great. I only had to take in the sides a smidge but tailoring a tiny bit is pretty much assumed when sewing for grownups.  

I did make one major booboo and that is I forgot about the pattern when I cut out the bodice parts. I paid attention to the waist band, as you can see by the excellent print placement, but did not do so good with the bodice. So, I added the ruffle after the fact, to cover the booboo, and I like it!  It wasn't hard to fix.

What is amazing about Jenny is all the options! You can make the skirt mini to maxi and everything in between. You can make it a tunic. You can add cap sleeves. There are so many options. And the way Carla teaches you how to install a zipper is fool proof! Seriously!!  The bodice is fully lined so all the seams are enclosed.  It is not a hard pattern to sew, but it does have a lot of steps. And be sure to sew a muslin!  Whenever you sew a pattern for the first time for yourself, you need to sew a muslin.  Remember: There is no such thing as true to size, only true to your size.  So, always make a muslin the first time.

Here is information on the rest of the tour. Check out the rest of the bloggers!

June 20

Max California, Gloria June, Mother Sews Best

June 21 

Feather's Flights, Gloria June, Becca Duval Photography,

June 22

The Mother Huddle, Gloria June

June 23

Mother Sews Best, Idle Fancy, Swoodson Says

June 24

Shaffer Sisters, That's What She Crafted

June 25

Friends Stitched Together, Handmade Dress Haven, Sprouting Jube Jube

June 26

Modern Handmade, Rebel and Malice, Lulu and Celeste

June 27

Sew McCool, Pienkel, Gloria June, Sew Maris

Happy Broad Brim Hat

It's Happy Home Blog Tour Time!  Happy Home is the new book Jennifer Paganelli, of Sisboom.   It was co-authored by Dolin O-Shea.  This is a fun book with a lot of easy to medium patterns, including cute pillows and decorative elements like a party banner, pretty aprons, stockings, and bedding items like a quilt, bed skirt, and even a lovely canopy!  My girls are in love with the last one, so we may have to try it out soon!  There are also patterns for accessories like pretty fabric-covered boxes, totes, bags, and a lovely hat, called The Broad Brim.  

Here's my version of The Broad Brim:

 That's me and yes that is as good a pic of me as you are going to get with that wee camera.  I wish I had a nicer one!

Here is the finished hat.  This is all made from Jennifer's Crazy Love line of fabric for Free Spirit.  I love this line! Such pretty patterns and vibrant colors. 

I used an embroidery stitch to add a little detail.

Now, for a review of the pattern. I felt this was a pretty easy pattern to follow but I had a hard time picturing how to do things.  I am a visual learner and there are not a lot of graphics. That is my own problem, and not a ding on the pattern.  I read each direction step several times before sewing and really only had to rip out seams once.  I chose to leave off the casing for the shoe lace because I have a big head and I knew I would not need to tighten this hat.  It fits a head 21.5-24 inches in circumference and my head is 24 inches!  I did take pics of a few hints for people to try when they do this pattern.

Tip #1: cutting out a perfect circle. The top of the hat must be a perfect circle, so here is a tip.  Make your pattern piece by folding a piece of tracing paper in fourths and cutting out a piece of pie. When you open it, it will be a perfect circle.  

 Now, do the same thing for the fabric.  Pin the pattern piece and the fold and fold again, like this picture below:

 Cut it out.

 Open it up and you have a perfect circle!

Tip #2:  Trim the excess layers of interfacing before you sew parts together.

Tip #3: Use a lot of pins!!!

 Tip #4: Every time you sew something wrong side out, turn it right side out and check how it looks before you move on. 

 Tip #5: When it comes time to sew on the crown, you might need to unpin and make a size adjustment so it will fit well.  (seen below, I had to take it in a half inch)

Tip #6: Make sure your hat looks good on the outside

 and the inside!

And then enjoy!!