Tag: pattern niche

Cozy Cardigans for two

A few weeks ago we had a storm blow through and it rapidly dropped our temps for a few days. It was so nice and it totally put me in the mood for Fall sewing.

I was looking at fabric and my daughter “happened” to be looking over my shoulder and saw the Purple/Ivory Leopard Brushed Hacci Sweater Knit I was considering. She thought it was cute and asked what I was going to make. Then proceeded to ask if I could make her one as well.

I was going to make the Calgary Cardigan from Pattern Niche. They only have the adult sized pattern, but since my daughter is starting to fit into some adult patterns, I decided to see if it would work for her as well. She fits perfectly into the smallest size.

She isn’t tall enough so I needed to remove some height. Fortunately with the amount I needed to remove and the shape and multiple length options of the cardigan, I was able to cut the hip length and it was the perfect tunic length for her. No other mods were necessary which made it a really quick adjustment.

Options Line Drawing From The Calgary Pattern

The Calgary has so many options, you can use the same pattern to get a variety of looks.

We chose the standard bands for ours and we love how they turned out! They are so cozy and perfect for cooler weather. Hopefully we get another storm soon so our temps drop again, in the meantime these will be getting worn in the early mornings.

She may be getting into adult patterns, but she still fits under my arm 🤣

Something to note, we usually wear thin long sleeve shirts, tank tops, or short sleeve shirts under most cardigans. This pattern could be a little snug of a fit in the arms, if you were wearing something more substantial under it. You definitely need to pay attention to the required fabric stretch percentage of 35% or more.

Pattern: Calgary from Pattern Niche
Fabric: Purple/Ivory Leopard Brushed Hacci Sweater Knit from So Sew English Fabrics

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my sewing 💕

Tanks, I made it! ;)

Back in April I went to Vegas with my husband, for a work trip. While there I was able to meet up with one of my sewing friends for a little bit and actually meet her in person.

We had previously been shopping for fabric from Fabmere at the same time and she had faster fingers than I did, and scored some gorgeous floral ITY. She is so sweet, and ended up splitting the fabric in half and bringing it to me when we met up.

So I’ve had this gorgeous 1 yard cut of ITY and I’ve been trying to decide what it wanted to become. I thought of and rejected so many patterns when I finally decided to try the Athena from Pattern Niche. I wasn’t sure if the style would work well with ITY, since it is a lightweight fabric with good drape. So I scoured their Facebook group to see if other people had used ITY and found none. After asking Tara if she thought it would work well, I decided to go for it.

There are several different kinds of ITY, some are slinky and slippery, some have a brushed feel, some have a textured feel, and I love them all and how cool I stay while wearing them. This particular ITY has a slight texture to it, which is an added bonus for traveling, as it doesn’t wrinkle in luggage.

The Athena tank has a regular racer back, plus three different scoop and cutout back options. You can choose from a crew neck or a scoop neck for the front neckline. For mine I chose the scoop neck and the option 2 back.

I made a straight size 12, and added 1″ in length for my height. I didn’t make any other mods to the pattern.

I was pleasantly surprised with how simple it was to do the fun cutouts! I have been having machine issues lately, and I was really concerned it would eat my fabric, but it behaved and I love it! The cutout is perfect to show off those cute bralettes, or in my case, my green bra, that just so happens to match.

I have some more fabric that just arrived that I will definitely be using to make another one. I think I’m going to try the option 3 back next and make a coordinating set with a new sports bra.

The fabric is ITY from Fabmere Fabrics and you can see all their gorgeous options here.

The Athena pattern is available from Pattern Niche (formerly New Horizons Designs).

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my sewing 💕

The Romper Repeat – Bayside Leopard

After my daughter saw my SeaChange playsuit (you can read about it here), she asked if I could make her one. She loved how it looked like a dress but was really shorts, and of course, the pockets. Unfortunately the fabric she wanted was a knit, and Pattern Emporium doesn’t have a kids version of the pattern. So I asked her about using the same pattern we did a few years ago for her, the Bayside romper from Pattern Niche.

As soon as I reminded her which it was, she was very excited and asked to see the available options. The pockets sold it for her.

Since the fabric she picked was Bulgaree ITY from So Sew English, it has very nice drape and gives the romper a dress feel, all while feeling relaxed and cool. She has grown quite a bit since the last time, so we had to do several fit check try ons during sewing, and each time she said, “Ohhh, this feels so nice!”

The Bayside has shorts, pants, or dress lengths in mini, knee with a straight or curved hem, mid length or maxi. You can choose short sleeves, flutter sleeve, or tank, and of course, pockets. Something that sets the Bayside apart from other rompers is its fun cross back bodice design. It really makes it easy for my daughter get it on and off and adds such a fun detail.

My daughter picked the tank, shorts cutline, with pockets. She doesn’t like elastic in the cross over back pieces, so I omitted that. It does give the back a slightly more drapy look, but she really likes it. If you have a child prone to things slipping off the shoulders, I wouldn’t recommend that omission, as it can help hold the shape.

When I was making the romper, she asked if we could do some fun stitching so she picked her two topstitch thread colors for the pocket and we did a rolled hem on the shorts, to give it a slight wave look.

Tip: I can not recommend enough. Use your Child’s waist measurement to determine elastic length, and try it on before securing it all. It helps to get a much better fit and allows you to make sure you have enough support to keep the waist where it belongs. It makes such a difference in comfort for my kids and myself.

The Bayside is available in both women and kid sizing.

The fabric is Bulgaree ITY from So Sew English Fabrics.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my sewing 💕

Tie Dye Twinning – 11th Hour Gear Joggers

With the sun here, everything gets hot to the touch, chairs, swings, slides, everything. My daughter was getting frustrated with the continual “back of the thigh burn” and she asked for some longer play shorts. Her requests were to have them just above her knees, relaxed fit, and with pockets. She also wanted to match with our puppy, so she picked a beautiful royal/aqua tie dye French Terry from So Sew English Fabrics.

I recently used the 11th hour gear jogger pattern for several pairs of joggers for her and my son. She really liked the fit so I just did a length modification to it, and added pockets.

To decide the length, she tried on her joggers, and I measured down from the crotch seam, to where she wanted them. This ended up being about 6″.

I measured down the 6″ from the crotch curve on the pattern piece, and added a new cut line. Since she gave me a 2″ area she wanted them to hit, I wasn’t worried about including seam allowance or hem.

Sewing tip: before cutting, I like to place my pattern pieces together, and ensure that the modification I did to the front and the back, will match on my side seams when sewn. Once I verified that mine matched, I sewed up the pattern per the jogger instructions.

Added a matching scARF for our “little” puppy, and done!

Enabler Alert – All Pattern Niche patterns are on 30% off sale until tomorrow (March 25th) with code SPRING30

The fabric is from So Sew English Fabrics, and they have $8.50 flat rate domestic shipping, for the month of March.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my sewing 💕

Bridging the clothing gap – Olympia

My daughter is all about the crop tops right now, and while her Dad doesn’t like her looking so grown up, he understands her desire and so we are working on outfit compromises. Who knew that sewing would provide a way to bridge the inevitable clothing gap.

Part of the crop top pull, is how much cooler she is. It is hard living in our heat, being active, and trying to stay cool, so we have been exploring new garments and fabric bases. This recent sew really hit the ball out of the park for her.

The Olympia from Pattern Niche (Formerly New Horizons Designs) has several options, but the most notable design feature, is the open/overlap sides. For her first, she picked a pretty floral double brushed poly fabric, from So Sew English, that I had saved for a while. For the Olympia options, she chose the shirt length, scoop neckline, with kangaroo pocket. The Olympia also has a tunic length option as well as a hood and a scoop hood neckline.

She is a straight size 12 for the first time ever and that made this a crazy fast sew for me. You can see my timelapse of it here.

The scoop necklines are done with a facing and pattern has you use optional interfacing.

Interfacing tip: I like to cut the interfacing 1/8-1/4″ smaller than the pattern piece it is being attached to. I have found that it cuts down on bulk in the seam allowance, and avoids the risk of getting the interfacing on my iron or ironing board.

I cut out the interfacing but ended up not using it, and for the next one, I plan to skip the facing completely, add a little to the neckline, and just turn and topstitch it.

She really loves how breathable this is, and her Dad really likes how non crop it is, and that makes it a sewing win in my book.

She is requesting more for the summer, in swim, in athletic mesh, and since it has a loose fit, I kind of want to try it in a woven.

The Olympia from Pattern Niche is not only available in girls sizing, but women as well.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you.