Pattern Review: Bluezette Dress from Love Notions Patterns

I love this dress.  Love love love love.

Okay, now that I've gotten that out of the way... let me tell you what I'm talking about...

Meet the Bluezette Dress from Love Notions.

The details:
Sizes 2 - 16
Three Sleeve lengths: tank, cap, and elbow.
Three skirt options: tulip, high low, and gathered
Knit bodice and underskirt with multiple fabric options for the over skirt.

I did view A - the tulip skirt, with elbow length sleeves.  For my bodice and under skirt I used a sparkly stretch panne and my tulip over skirt is in a pretty floral chiffon.  **I did receive this pattern for free in exchange for testing, but all opinions are my own**

The construction in this pattern is fantastic... the bodice is fully lined and the pattern has a great step-by-step explanation of how to properly hem chiffon and imagine my glee at the use of under-stitching!

Inara actually squealed when she saw the dress finished.  She insisted on wearing it to school the next day.  It's not quite that warm here yet, so she ended up having to wear leggings under it, but she got so many compliments on it.. and rocked it at the park after school too.

Yup, we wear our fancy dresses on the monkey bars around here!  Actually, I was impressed at how it worked with some random leggings and sneakers too... perfect for school or a fancy event!

The dress took me about two hours total to sew, and I think about 45 minutes of that was slowly cursing my way through hemming the chiffon properly.  I bet some lace or knit would have been a bit simpler, but man does that chiffon flow so nicely.

The instructions are well written and easy to understand.  The fit matches nicely with the size chart, and the construction of the dress as a whole is nice.  You can make this dress as casual or dressy as you like depending on the options and the fabrics you use.

The dress is available here for 20% off using the code "bluezette" through the 28th. **This is my affiliate link**  

Thanks for checking out my post, and you'll LOVE this dress!!

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!