Feels Like Summer
My first fabric collection is here!
If you are following me on Instagram then you know I recently released my first collection of designs “Feels Like Summer” now available on the Spoonflower website!
My collection features a few of my favorite things and colors for summer. Obviously I’m obsessed with watermelon and my plant babies.
One of my first makes with my own design, I choose Watermelon Skin in original and pink background. You can find these prints in my Spoonflower design studio here.
Feels like summer has a total of 11 designs (some smaller scaling upon request). There are currently 3 variations of Watermelon skin, 3 variations of Hot Plant Summer, 3 variations of Bouquet, 1 Like Water, and 1 Colorful Feathers.
This collection was created and intended to mix and match prints with each other. For instance, the stripes in the Like Water design share the same colors as the Colorful Feathers design.
Hot Plant Summer would look beautiful with any mix of the 3 color ways . The Bouquet print features a large scale bouquet in green background, medium scale yellow background, and small scale nude background. I think it would be fun to mix the large scale with the small scale for a fun floral project.
The dress
For my first project I went with the Mimi G Simplicity pattern 8639 and Spoonflower Sport Lycra. While sport lycra is most used for swimwear, I love to also create dresses and activewear with this fabric. I used a strong power mesh lining for the bodice portion of the dress and a lighter weight mesh for the skirt. Overall the dress hugs my curves very nicely if I might say so myself.
The pattern is very straight forward and does also include an invisible zipper and darts in the back bodice. I feel if you aren’t the greatest with installing a zipper on stretchy fabrics, you can opt out of the zipper as long as the dress will stretch enough for you to put on the dress. The pattern instructions do not specify but some seams need a zigzag stitch and not a straight stitch. You don’t want your seams popping when you put the dress on and if you sew in complete straight stitches, this will happen.
Mimi G has a YouTube tutorial per usual that you can also refer to.
SpoonflOwer Fabric suggestions
My top choice in every print is Spoonflower Satin! I mean why not satin? Satin is lightweight, smooth, sexy (slip dress season) and perfect for maxis, blouses, and as my friend Seweu likes to say booty clappers. Lol
Sport Lycra is my next favorite because we’re making all the swimsuits this season right? But we can also make all the activewear and dresses with this one too.
All the knits Spoonflower offers are a great choice, Modern Jersey being high on my list for color boldness.
Chiffon and Poly Crepe de Chine are also perfect for those flowy lightweight blouses, coverups, and dusters for summer.
The Lightweight Cotton Twill has won me over in the bottom weight fabric category. I have plans to make several boiler suits and jumpsuit with this fabric.
Cotton Poplin and Cotton Lawn are great for all those gathered, big, puffy sleeves we want this summer.
I love creating new designs so this is only the beginning. My next collection will be dropping soon!!
Please subscribe to my newsletter so you can stay up to date with new drops. I’m so excited to share this portion of my creativity with you all and I can’t wait to see what you create!! Thank you for stopping by and your continued support.
Happy Summer!!
HEXY SET
What’s better than one? Two!
Hey y’all! I pulled out this Spoonflower Sports Lycra™️ to create not one but two of my favorites, swimwear and leggings. For the swimsuit I used the Closet Core Sophie swimsuit pattern and for the leggings I used a TNT Mccalls pattern (more deets on those here). I’m all for a matching set and I was inspired to make these two because I wanted to purchase a similar set from IVY PARK. Well them thangs sold out as quick as you can inhale. So I went to the drawing board and thought how can I achieve this look myself? And here you have…the HEXY SET!
Sophie Construction
This swimsuit was also an introduction to bra making (more on that journey really soon). Obviously you would need to create bra cups for this look. For me, finding the right cup size was a challenge. I still didn’t get the perfect fit that I was trying to achieve and I even made an initial practice cup that covered about 3 inches of my girls lol, but this will not be my only Sophie swimsuit this season.
I lined the swimsuit with a white Jersey fabric a bit lighter in weight than the Sport Lycra. You can use whatever swimsuit lining you like. My preference is always whatever will hold the tummy in comfortably. You will also need something to shape the cups. I used my tailors ham but I do wish I had something more circular. Maybe next time I’ll use baby watermelons, I mean they’re about the right size lol.
Sophie and WATERFALLS
It’s summer right? Well I’ve had this swimsuit made since winter and this Sophie was literally waiting for the right time and scene to make an appearance. My 1st water outing this season was this beautiful, nature filled hike to and even more beautiful waterfall!
Overall I love this swimsuit and I will definitely make another with a few adjustments to cup size and make the legs more of a bikini cut than full coverage bum. Tell me what you think about my HEXY Set below. As always thanks for stopping by.
Peace & Blessings!
Details Honey
Here we are in the thick of Spring!
I have dreamed of the perfect fabric for this Vogue 1548 Guy Laroche pattern for quite some time. The model on the pattern is wearing this dress in white which to me was very chic but not bold enough. It was then I realized I didn’t want to use a solid this go round. Just before I became a Spoonflower Ambassador I racked up on a few prints I had my eye on. A few of those prints were obviously my sis Katie Kortman. So I had this Spoonflower Silky Faille that I never used and my machine was ready!
Designing
This pattern has lots of details; topstitching, making bias binding, covered buttons, pleats, invisible zipper, gathered hems, fully lined, and a good bit of hand sewing and I really wanted to highlight as much of these details as I could. If you don’t already know, I’ll usually start with a contrast. So I happened to have some sky blue linen on hand and it was perfect to contrast with this Katie Kortman print. The hard part was deciding which areas would be sky blue contrast and which wouldn’t. The binding on the sleeves were definitely an area I wanted to bring attention to so light blue on the sleeves it is. The overlay is another must for contrasting and when the dress isn’t completely buttoned up you get this peekaboo of blue and it makes me so happy. I also wanted to add the blue linen to the hem of the sleeves and the dress but I changed my mind (I wanted to use every inch of this Silky Faille).
Construction
This dress is not beginner level friendly!
The binding was one of the more tedious steps but I managed to cut down a little time with using my bias binding tool.
Tip: Be sure to always change your needles for new projects. Topstitching the binding on the sleeves are thick layers and this Spoonflower Silky Faille likes my Schmetz Chrome needle the most.
At first glance I thought that the gathered hem was achieved using elastic. Instead your gathering the outside only. I made a slight change to the sleeves and actually added elastic because the fit around the wrist was too baggy for me. This is totally by preference.
As always thanks for stopping by. I do hope you enjoyed this colorful Guy Larouche Dress.
Peace & Blessings
Drippin’ Rainbows
A LATE BUT COLORFUL START TO THE NEW YEAR
I finally managed to blog for the start of 2021 and oh how great it feels to share this creation with you all. If you have been following me on IG then you are aware that I am one of the new Spoonflower Ambassador’s for 2021! I couldn’t be more excited and thankful. 2021 is my year of rainbows! Each year I focus on expanding my wardrobe with one particular color that I’m craving or lacking. So it was only fitting that after all the rain in 2020, we deserve Rainbows in 2021, right?
Construction
Does this boiler suit look familiar? Well it is the same pattern used for my Fall Florals. You can check out deets and tips there.
In today’s blog I want to highlight this yummy Spoonflower Dogwood Denim™️ from the Katie Kortman Rainbow collection. I’ve made this boiler suit 3 times so far and this time I needed denim. I had a huge fabric haul from Spoonflower just before the year came to an end and I decided to try out the Dogwood Denim this go round. You can find this exact fabric here. I’m not disappointed at all and it softens once you wash. But let’s talk about color! The colors in this watercolor design are bold and vibrant. I had the most fun matching the prints. Luckily, I had plenty of fabric…well just enough fabric.
The pink shades in this print reminded me that I had an old pair of jeans that I could no longer squeeze into and I decided to use them for the under collar and back yoke. I added a third row of topstitching to give the suit a little more detail. It’s not my best topstitching but I survived!
So what did I do differently on this boiler? I did not add an inside zipper facing and I made the sleeves quarter length instead of full length. There’s also the obvious print matching which turned out lovely and very rewarding. If you can’t find the pockets right away then my job is complete.
The Dogwood Denim does not have any stretch by the way but I’m sure it will make a great pair of classic jeans.
Alright alright, I’ll let you finally get into the Rainbow!
I hope that you enjoyed my drippin rainbow and I’d love to hear from you below. Until next time,
peace & blessings
