Pattern Review: Love Notions JamJams

Hi! Welcome to my third post about the Bundle Up!  You're running short on time if you want to bundle, so let me tempt you one more time.  Today you get to see three patterns

Love Notions JamJams - which I was a tester for
and two patterns which I made from my bundle purchase (yes, I liked the bundle enough to buy!)
EYMM Harems
Jocole Wide Leg Pants

First up, I tested this pattern and totally love it.  Here are the Love Notions Jam Jams

First, the details

Size 2- 14

Shorts or capri bottoms

drop shoulder top with gathered back

Perfect for mixing, matching and upcycling

What I love: Like all of the Love Notion patterns, this includes some great tips for working with knits, so if you are new to knits, this is a great place to start.  The back toke and ruffles make this pattern perfect for mixing and matching different prints and my daughter loves the fit of the top so much she wears it to school!

What I'd change:  I think the capris run a little long on Inara... though she's also not very tall.  Either way, for our next pair, I'll make the capris a 5 in length, but the fit is otherwise spot on.  

And... because I want to make sure that you don't think I'm just promoting the ones I got for free.. I did actually like enough patterns in the bundle that it was worth it to purchase.  Here was my theory.. If a normal priced pattern runs $8-$10, then I'd need to like at least 5 patterns in the bundle to make purchasing all of the remaining ones worth it.  Because at $44, that would equate to around 5 full priced patterns.  Either way, I liked enough and bought the remaining 7 that I didn't have... and here's what I had time to sew this week...

Inara is wearing the Jocole Wide Legs and Connor is wearing the EYMM Harems

First up, the Jocole Wide Legs:

Sizes NB -14

Work in knit or woven for the pants

Short, capri, or pant lengths

Knit waistband in various widths

two pocket types

What I loved: The fit on these pants is fantastic... they cover her tush nicely without being weirdly baggy on the upper part.  The big patch pockets are an adorable detail, and we both we swayed by the wide leg cuteness.

What I'd change: Actually, the only change I'd make is to shorten them by 1", but again, my kid isn't super tall.

And Connor is rockin' the EYMM Harem Pants:

Sizes NB - 18

Work in knits or woven.  

capri or pant lengths

multiple waistband options

multiple hem options (elastic, normal, cuff)

What I love: The fit on this is fantastic.  I am not a super fan of Harems, but the drop on these is nice... they don't look silly, and instead have a nice baggy fit that are great for crazy toddler play.  In fact, they are laid out to wear to toddler tumbling tomorrow!

What I'd change:  This one is total stupidity on my part, but once I got done, I wished I'd done the cuffed version, but I'll make him another pair tomorrow with cuffs!

Anyways... today is your LAST chance to Bundle Up!  So jump on it and grab yourself some awesome patterns!

Pattern Review: Sis Boom Gabriella Fae (Girl's Bundle Up!)

Back again with more Bundle Up goodness.  Today I get to show you my lovely Gabriella Fae.  The awesome pattern included in the bundle from SisBoom.

 *Disclaimer*I was given this pattern as part of my participation in the Bundle Up Blog Tour, but all opinions and sewing are my own!  For my stop on the tour I made the LilyGiggle Cecille, and you can see my post here!

We made two of these as well, because the different options gave them totally different looks and I wanted to try and show you guys that.

First off, the details:
Sizes: 12mo - 13/14
Three sleeve options: Long, short, sleeveless
Two bodice options: flat or gathered
Zippered back.
Multiple skirt lengths included in instructions.

I sewed the sleeveless, gathered bodice, knee length option first, in this really pretty nautical print I've been hanging on to.

It's about 40 out in these pictures, with a nice breeze of the ocean, so I'm really impressed that she was so happy in the pictures! I'm pretty sure that's a good testament to how much she likes the dress.

What I loved: I really love how different just adding a sleeve and using the different bodice types makes the dress look.  I think the longer with the sleeves is perfect for a winter or fall dress, and its dressy without having lots of ruffles, which gives it a nice polished look.  As with all of the SS/SB patterns, I LOVE how I can just look at the chart of the kid to pick my sleeve and skirt lengths.  Inara is really average, and so I just grab measurements off the charts and they fit her nicely.  I love the little bit of flare that the gathered bodice gives the dress.  And I LOVE that it's a zippered back!

What I would change:  There is one thing that I did differently from the first dress to the second.  I cut the lining band pieces 1/2" longer than the outer pieces.  I then sewed the skirt to only the outer band and folded the bottom of the lining under, pressed and slip-stitched it  to encase the seam.

I'm really glad that I took the time to make these, and I will definitely be making more, for both Inara and as gifts!  And I think I'm sold on getting the women's version of this for myself too!

If you haven't Bundled Up, you've only got 3 more days!   Remember... you can get 11 awesome and (temporarily) exclusive patterns for as low as $4.00ea!!

Thanks for stopping by... if you're around tomorrow, maybe I'll show off another Bundle up pattern I've made!

Bundle Up Tour: LilyGiggle Cecille

Hi! This is my first Bundle Up tour and I'm really happy to be a part of it... especially because I was really impressed with the collection of patterns in this bundle.

If this is your first intro to the bundle, here is how it works... The awesome gals at Pattern Revolution team up with a bunch designers to create a bundle that contains a bunch of new patterns that are temporarily exclusive to the bundle at awesome prices.  There are 11 patterns in this bundle, and to get the special bundle pricing, you need to pick out at least six.  The more you pick, the better the pricing..

Pricing Details

$4.50ea for 6-7 patterns

$4.25ea for 8-9 patterns

$4.00ea for 10 or more patterns

I'm really impressed with the group of designers and the variety of patterns in this bundle.  Pattern Revolution very graciously provided me with this pattern (for free) to write a review of, but all opinions and thoughts are totally my own.  

Meet the LilyGiggle Cecille Top and Dress 

The details: 

Sizes: 2 - 12

Three sleeve lengths: short, 3/4 and long

Cowl or neckband

Flounce or gathered peplum on shirt version

Woven skirt for dress version
Optional waistband

If you couldn't tell, I quite like this pattern... so does Inara.  For her top she picked out some Fancy Nancy fabric we bought last year from Funkalicious Fabrics and we paired that with some solids from Purple Seamstress.  Then I played with my embroidery machine and embroidered the little saying on the front to dress it up a bit.  The nice clean bodice is really great for embellishing solids or using fun prints on.

The poofy sleeves give it such a nice feminine look, that it was just screaming to be a Fancy Nancy shirt.  I really love the look of this dress... and it only took about 90 minutes to sew either version.

What I loved:  I have to say, when I picked this pattern, I wasn't sold on the sleeves, but after making them in two lengths, I have totally fallen in love with them... the cute poof at the bottom is such a pretty detail.  I love all the options the pattern has as well.. being able to mix wovens and knits gives me lots of great fabric combination ideas, and lets me think outside the box.  I like the wider set neckline as well, as I think it gives the dress a really nice feminine touch.

What I'd change:  I think I'd like more circle to my peplums, but that is totally personal preference.  And fit wise, Inara has slim arms, so I need to do the sleeves and cuff in a size 5 width wise for a cleaner fit.

For our dress version we used some YUMMY Art Gallery knit that I got from Whimsical Fabric and use some mint cotton/lycra scraps for the neckband and arm bands.  The skirt on the dress version is woven, so I used this really pretty bridal satin we had laying around.  It's *slightly* more aqua than mint, but it worked well together.... and I really liked the color combo of the cream and black with the minty aqua.

 Both the top and dress fit well with no alterations to the pattern. (Inara is a pretty average size 6).  I think the thickness of my cowl fabric makes it a bit more turtleneck like, but she loves it and it is great for the weather here this time of year.

This is actually the first LilyGiggle pattern I've ever sewn too.  I bought a bunch of their patterns quite a while ago (before the shop closed and re-opened), but just hadn't made them yet.  Now I know what I've been missing!

 There will definitely be more Cecille's in our future, and more LilyGiggle!

Make sure you check out the other bloggers who are posting for the tour... they've all made some gorgeous creations from the patterns included, and I think it will inspire you to Bundle Up!

Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure you head over to the Pattern Revolution blog to enter the giveaway too!  And if you'd like to stop by again tomorrow... I'll be talking about another bundle dress, the SisBoom Gabriella Fae: