Women's Bundle Up Blog Tour: MODKid Women's Malibu

Good morning!  Welcome to Day Three of the Pattern Revolution Women's Bundle Up Blog Tour!

I'll be posting a bit this week to show off the patterns I've sewn from the bundle, but let's start here with the gorgeous MODKid Malibu.  

*Disclaimer, I am totally and completely awkward when it comes to photos, so enjoy my attempting to follow Inara's instructions to "pose pretty."  

The details:
Sizes XS to XXL (30"-42" Bust and 32-44" Hip)
Made for knit fabrics
Two back options (crossover or solid)
Two lengths (mini or maxi)

I did the mini-length with the crossover back.  I am kind of at the top end of the fit for this pattern, and I feel like I could have taken it in a little, so there is definitely some give room if you're worried that it won't be big enough, don't worry!  In fact, my hips are definitely outside the measurements and I was a little worried that I might have to adjust the skirt, but it didn't need it.

This is me attempting to listen to Inara's constant critiques of me posing.  She was standing off camera on her play set yelling down at me.  She goes "Mom, your dress is pretty, how about you pose pretty too? AND take that frumpy sweater off."

Apparently, she doesn't love my cardigan... but it was a bit chilly, and I wanted to show that it layers up nicely for cool summer nights!

The pattern gives instructions for either using FOE for the binding or doing a knit binding.  I thought a pretty lace edged bias would look cute.

What I loved: I love that the back shows off my tattoo, while still allowing me to wear a bra.  I also like the A-line skirt shape, which I find to be much more flattering to my body type than a straight or gathered skirt. I also like that it has a solid back option for more modesty, if that's what you're looking for.  Also, this I thought was cool, the pattern gives 3 cutting lengths for the skirts: petite, average, or tall.  Which meant that I wasn't cutting a skirt that would end up being 3" too long, because I'm kind of short.

What I'd change: This one comes down to body type, I think, but when you add the elastic at the waistline, it gives the dress a better shape, but if you're like me and have a natural waist that is significantly smaller than your hips, it almost pulls the bodice up a little too far.  So I think for the next one I will shorten the bodice a little bit, so the crossover in the back sits more flat when worn.

This is my first MODKid Women's pattern, and I'm really happy with it.  I found the instructions to be easy to follow and understand, and the dress came together in about two hours from print to hem, which is amazing for a dress for me!

If you're still deciding which patterns to bundle up, this one is a yes from me!

And if you need more opinions and to see more options on all the patterns included (which come on, we all need to see more inspiration!), make sure you check out the rest of the bloggers on the tour

I've found that the best way to see all the posts, is to make sure you're following the Pattern Revolution Facebook Page!  

**Last disclaimer... this pattern was provided free to me in exchange for blogging about it, but all opinions are my own, and I picked it because I loved the teaser pics!

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: