The New and Improved BLAVERRY Upton Dress

I finally get to share one of my BLAVERRY tests, and I am so excited! I had the chance to test the Upton redo last month, and my little girl wears it all the time! I've now tested three different BLAVERRY patterns, and I really love them. BLAVERRY patterns are very trendy, and at the same time, perfect for girls to wear and have fun in.

This pattern comes in multiple sleeve length options, and it's a wonderful dress pattern! The pattern comes with the option to print in layers, and is very quick and easy to put together. The pattern comes in sizes 2-16, covering toddlers, little girls, and tweens.

I tested the short sleeve option, but there are also half- and long-sleeve options. The pieces assemble very easily and I hardly had any trouble with it. My main trouble? Yep, it came from using a twin needle! I'm certainly getting a lot better, but my neckline had some issues because of the neckline. But it's certainly better than my first attempt.

What's my favorite part of this dress? The hidden pop of color on the back of the dress! Check it out! The neckline did get a little bulky in the back from the pleat on the back of the dress, but it's worth it.

The back of my dress ended up longer than the front of the dress, but I think it was all fabric and user error. The turquoise fabric I used was a knit I purchased at a yard sale and is very very stretchy. I really think it stretched every which way imaginable. But my little girl loves it the way it is so I left it.


My girl is so not a girly girl! She loves dresses and skirts, but also loves to jump and play. She's our little rough and tumble girl. Since the dress front comes right above her knees, she wears this dress with pants as a tunic, but it works. Especially since she's grown since testing time. This next picture shows another reason this little girl will be wearing pants with her dress... :)

The pattern also comes with an easy way to extend the dress out to the right length for your girl's height. The designer has done a great job of making it easy for everyone to make the perfect dress. Since testing was completed, the designer went through the pattern and made updates to the neckline and some pattern pieces, to make sure the dress fits all the specified measurements. I haven't had a chance to make a new one since the updated pattern was sent out, but I can't wait to make another one with all the adjustments.

Make sure you go check out Blaverry designs on the website. And if you're a little like me, and gun shy about pattern cost, give the Zozo dress a try first. The Zozo is $1 and a great price to try a designer you've never tried before. The three patterns I've tested are fantastic, and I plan on buying many of these patterns.

I can't remember where all the fabric is from, but the summer/ice cream fabric is definitely from Purpleseamstress Fabric and can be found on facebook. She always has wonderful quality knits, a huge selection, and incredibly fast shipping. I love all my fabrics from here.

Boxwood Joggers by Sew Like My Mom

It's time for another new pattern by Sew Like My Mom! And guess what? I absolutely love it! The designer's patterns are always very simple to follow, but having great design details that
make them amazing. I can honestly tell you I felt so accomplished when I finished these. I've sewn many garments, blankets, quilts, etc... but when I saw my finished pockets looking so great, I felt like a million bucks! However, the fact that I totally screwed up the back seam took some of that excitement away.

The Boxwood Joggers pattern comes in sizes 12m-8, and 6-16. These are unisex joggers, come in 3 lengths, and the pattern has been thoroughly tested and undergone revisions for the little sizes and the tween sizes; the middle sizes were pretty on target. It comes with the layering feature, making it easy to print just what you need. The best way to make sure these fit perfectly is to go off height, and adjust the elastic waist down if needed. I tested these on my 5 year old, who has a 22" waist, 26" hips, and 44" height. I ended up using a size 6 with a 5 elastic, since size 5 height only goes to 43.5". And as you can tell from the pictures, they fit her perfectly.

This pattern is meant to be used with french terry or sweatshirt material for added stability, but other testers used fleece and knit, and they turned out great as well. For me, the flower fabric is french terry, and the green is knit. I look forward to making many more of these. She has already worn these 2 times, and wants me to wash them again tonight so she can wear them to school again tomorrow. And yes, I just finished sewing these up late Thursday night! That's how much she loves these. You will also need 2" elastic.

Of course, to get some fun pictures, she wanted to go to the park and play in them. She has played so much in these, and the fit is wonderful and they are holding up wonderfully.

 She's done the splits, climbed every playground equipment imaginable, rolled down hills, and even fell off the monkey bars to a perfect crouch...and they are still so comfortable. :)

 These will be releasing in the next few days at the etsy page, and I strongly suggest you make them. They are trendy, versatile, and very comfortable!

Sew Like My Mom facebook page can be found here.

COMPLETE OUTFIT DETAILS

Late Thursday night, I finished the Boxwood Joggers capris up, and couldn't wait for my girl to see them the next day. Then I remembered, her only plain white shirt was dirty and in the wash. So what did I do? While I waited for laundry to finish up, I decided to make her a shirt to match. I didn't have time to try a new pattern, even though I really want to try one of Sew Like My Mom's knit shirt patterns. So I resorted to my trusty Jolly Roger Raglan by Patterns For Pirates, and made her a fun shirt pretty quickly.

I've made this shirt many times, but the fit isn't always consistent. I don't blame P4P though; I'm pretty sure I don't pay enough attention to measurements or seam allowances. But this time, I was very on target and the shirt fits her perfectly and looks great! Wouldn't you agree? And the best part? There is no pink anywhere in this outfit! Anyone else have this problem? :)

Updated to add: Green solid and orange stripe fabric are from Purpleseamstress Fabric found on facebook. She has such a great selection and quality of fabric, with incredibly fast shipping. I can't wait until my next shipment comes in. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I got the flowers. :)

Jolly Roger Raglan by P4P

I forgot, I have sewed a little more recently, and want to share.

One of the first knit patterns I ever made was the Jolly Roger Raglan, by Patterns For Pirates, or P4P. They started out designing a lot of patterns for boys, but recently have designed more patterns for women. And as great as those patterns look, I'm just too afraid to make things for myself right now. So even though I've bought several of the women's patterns, I haven't ventured there yet. But I still love using the Jolly Roger Raglan as a basic for my kid's shirts. It comes together very quickly, and the instructions are detailed and easy to follow.

I have used this pattern for all of my kids, boy and girl, but the shirt seems to look better on the boys than the girls. Not sure if it's the neckline, or I need to make the shirts a little slimmer for my girls, but I prefer it on my boys. Nevertheless, I still love this pattern. It uses knit fabric with good recovery, especially for the binding. It has many options, including straight hem, baseball hem, and a band. It also comes in long sleeves, 3/4 sleeves, and short sleeves, with extra options such as an elbow patch and triangle patch at the neckline.

Recently, I won that amazing penguin fabric in the picture above, and really wanted to use it. I can't even tell you where it came from because the website has been closed down, but it's truly great fabric. The store is called Sew Much Fabric, but all the related websites say they are under construction or not loading up. I won this by winning a Nightgown sew along last winter.

This summer I finally got around to using this fabric, and made a pair of PJs for my twin boy. But of course, I had to make my girl something as well. So I ended up making 2 PJ sets for my boy and 1 set for my twin girl, and I love them. I used the Jolly Roger Raglan for the shirts, color blocked them because my panels weren't large enough, and used existing 3t shorts for a pattern for the PJ bottoms. I've sewn for the twins a few times since they were born, but this was the first time they were aware they were getting new clothes from mom. It was very exciting for them.

I have to say, I love it when I match up my stripes! Anyone else get that happy feeling when you realize what an awesome job you did? When all the time spent lining up the fabric really pays off?

P4P has recently been updating their patterns, and adding layering to their older patterns. I'm sure this one will be done soon. I only wish the original pattern had the PDF layers. I spent hours tracing all 16 sizes, but glad I did. I have used many of them over the last couple years.

You can find P4P at their website, on etsy, and on facebook. They have so many new releases for women, I think you'll fall in love! I love looking at them, buying them, and I'm sure one day I'll love making them for me as well!

Darling Daisy by Sew Like My Mom

Part 3 of the summer testing! I had the chance to test the Darling Daisy pattern for Sew Like My Mom. This was one of her first patterns, so this test was a redo test. She updated the pattern a bit, added some options, and added layers. I don't know what this pattern was like originally, but I love the redo!

This pattern is for woven fabrics, and is fun and twirly. This dress comes in different options; knee length includes solid fabric dress and 1/2/3 tiered dress choices, and maxi length includes a 3 tiered option. I chose the 3 tiered maxi version, because my girl doesn't sit very lady like, and loves to twirl and spin! It has an elastic neckline and is easy to get on and off. This dress comes in sizes 12m-8.


I've been holding onto this bird fabric for the last 3 years until I found the best pattern to use it for, and it was perfect for this dress! It's also a great pattern to use those coordinating fabrics.

Once again, you start with the height on this dress and adjust the width from the height if necessary. I used my 5 year old again so I wouldn't need to remeasure, and because I knew the maxi length would be perfect for her height. I tested size 5.

The dress was very easy to assemble. I was nervous doing the bias tape around the sleeves, but it went very smoothly. I chose to use store bought bias tape because I don't have the patience to make bias tape myself, and I haven't purchased a bias tape maker yet.

I have to tell you, there was so much fabric on the last tier! I can't even imagine doing all that fabric on a bigger size! But the final product was so worth it. I also have to say, I love that you start sewing the bottom tiers together first, then move up towards the bodice. I'm sure that's the best way to do it, but I loved it because I don't think I would have ever finished the last tier if I'd worked my way down. Yes, I know, it's all in the head! But knowing that I had less to do on each consecutive tier made it easier to go on.

When the dress was done, my girl started twirling around and had a blast. Then my toddler saw the dress, looked down at her shorts and shirt, held her shirt, and started spinning around like big sister. So I knew I needed to make her a matching one. But since we don't often wear sleeveless, and this dress has a lot of shoulder exposure, I had to make a few modifications before making one for little miss.

So here's the final product on both girls! Not the greatest picture of my girls since it was very sunny on that Sunday morning, but you get the idea. I added a strip of fabric to each side to add a little sleeve to the dress. I added this fabric before attaching the neckline to the dress and slid the rectangle inside the neckline, and made the width the same size as the gap between front and back bodice pieces. The length is personal preference. It worked out wonderfully and added just enough coverage to wear these to church.

You can find Sew Like My Mom on facebook and on etsy. I can see many more of these dresses in the future. Can't you just picture a dress made out of western fabric for a rodeo? That's what I'm picturing at least!

Dogwood Dress by Sew Like My Mom

Part 2 of my summer testing! I had the chance to test the Dogwood Dress by Sew Like My Mom. This is a knit dress that is perfect for summer weather, so perfect for Arizona. This dress comes in 3 versions - straight hem, a curved hem, and a hi-lo hem. All 3 versions come in either knee length or maxi length. The only sleeve option for this is sleeveless with bands, so we used this as a cover up by the pool and just for fun. (Yes, we live at the pool in the summer, so my little girl is VERY VERY tan! Normally she's as white as can be.) But it can be modified and made with the sleeves from the Posey Tunic from the same designer if you wish. This dress is available sizes 12m-8, and 6-16.

When testing, I chose to do the hi-lo maxi version of this dress, because my girl loves long dresses and this version is so fun! Recommended fabrics are lighter weight knits with at least 30% stretch. Lighter weight fabric is recommended because of the weight of the dress. I chose a heavier jersey fabric which was perfect for my model because she's not super tall, but if I were making this in a size 8+, the heavier fabric would have been too heavy. But I'm so glad this fabric worked for my 5 year old because she LOVES this pink Jack dress!

I was concerned when starting this pattern, because measuring was different from other patterns I've used. Normally I've always started with chest/waist/hips and adjusted height, but for this pattern you start with height, and adjust from there to chest if needed. Thankfully, my girl's measurements were right on the chart, so no blending for me. But the directions were very clear and it would have been easy to do. This pattern is in layer format so you can print all or only the one you need. This pattern is also written with paper saving in mind. You print out the bodice and different skirt options, and mix and match as desired. No need to have one full dress printed out for every option available. Definitely a great option to include.

The bodice is put together similar to the Posey Tunic and is a snap. The entire dress was very quick to cut and assemble. The bottom of the dress has lining on the inside, and as you can see on the dress I made, looks fantastic with coordinating/contrasting fabric on the hi-lo version.

The first day my girl wore this dress, I received so many compliments and everybody fell in love. This doesn't scream homemade to me, but the fact that the ladies at the pool know I love sewing, and this doesn't scream store bought, they all asked if I made it and fell in love! And my girl? Well, let's just say that she can't stay out of it! I didn't use a stretch stitch on the lining seam because I honestly figured the bottom was big enough I didn't need to worry about it. Well, let's just say it's in my sewing room right now waiting for me to use my new twin needle to fix it since my girl lives in it. And when she wears it, she also curls up entirely inside the dress. Great that she loves it, but not great that apparently I really needed a stretch stitch. :)

Once again, Sew Like My Mom has pages on facebook and on etsy. I'm sure you'll love this and will be just as hooked once you try it!

Posey Tunic and Peony Leggings by Sew Like My Mom

This summer, a designer I love, Sew Like My Mom, came out with a couple new patterns, and I couldn't resist testing for her. I'd tested for her before and love the fit of the pattern I had tried. Now, all 5 kids were with me all summer, so I wasn't sure I could actually test, but I made it happen, and I'm so glad I did!

So my first posts of finished items are going to be the 3 patterns I tested over the summer. So first off, the Posey Tunic and Peony Leggings. I tested this for my twin girl, using a size 3. Her measurements were spot on with the chart, so it was super easy to construct.

The tunic and leggings are very well constructed and the pattern is very easy to follow. One of my favorite things about Sew Like My Mom is the many choices she offers with her patterns! She is currently updating her older patterns to include layers and better instructions, and she always has great options! These patterns call for knits with good recovery. Sizes 12m-8.

So let's start with the Posey Tunic! The tunic comes in 4 different sleeve lengths, sleeveless, short sleeve, elbow sleeve, and long sleeve, all with cuffs as you can see in my picture. The pattern instructions are great and easy to follow. It has plenty of pictures and great tips to help with sewing with knits.

I tested the short sleeve version. We are a sleeve wearing family, so I'll rarely make things that are sleeveless! But I may still test them, and alter them later. We also live in beautiful Arizona, so it is always hot, especially during the summer, so who knows?

My only dislike on the pattern is that the back piece to the tunic is actually 2 pieces, but the designer did this to save on fabric. In the future I might just adjust the pattern pieces so I only need to cut out one piece, but it's still great regardless!

Now, on to the Peony Leggings. These are wonderful, and can be made in a variety of ways and styles. The pattern includes full-length leggings, capri length, and biker short length. The leggings have a contrast panel down the side, which can be regular or ruched. I chose the regular contrast band because I didn't have enough of the pink/white polka dots to do the ruching method. I've also never done that, so I might be a tad bit intimidated. :) I'm fairly confident with my sewing machine and serger, but I'm still intimidated by things I haven't done before.

These come together very quickly and fit great! My little miss is in disposable diapers, and they fit great over it. My little miss sure loves posing for the camera and loves saying "Gees!" So she's my little ham right now and you'll be seeing many more pictures like this one on the right!

I am going to tell you right now, I have NO idea what is considered correct technique when sewing, so please don't hold that against me. Most everything I have learned has been from pdf patterns or blogs, so I'm still learning proper techniques.

You can check out Sew Like My Mom on facebook, or at her etsy page.

Hope you enjoy these patterns as much as I do!

Updated to add: ice cream/summer fabric is from Purpleseamstress Fabric on facebook. Mel has such a great selection of fabric choices, and I love her quality!