The Berry Bunch

Friday, August 29, 2014

GYCT Designs: Rival Raglan Tee, Tunic, and Dress {Pattern Test}

I had the pleasure of testing the Rival Raglan Tee for GYCT Designs (affiliate) and it is so fast and easy to sew! I love it!

Nikolai was excited to have a camo shirt! :)

You can get the pattern discounted for 5.95 until the end of today (8/29).
Find it here:
Etsy: Rival Raglan by GYCT Designs
Craftsy: Rival Raglan by GYCT Designs
Shop: GYCT (affiliate)

There are so many options for this shirt!

Sleeves: Long sleeve, short sleeve, 3/4 sleeve. Plus directions on layering the sleeves.

Shirt: Regular length, tunic length, dress option for a girl

I have a couple that I want to do. I cannot wait to layer the sleeves! Perfect for the upcoming fall and winter!

Check out some of the tester photos and the range of options available with the pattern Rival Raglan Tee for GYCT Designs (affiliate)!

Happy Sewing!

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Bundle Up for Boys - Spiderman

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Bundle Up! And, so excited that these patterns are for boys! Yay sewing for boys!

Check out all the awesome patterns for this bundle. I have to say it is a pretty incredible collection! And I hope to be able to make a purchase soon. Better hurry though, it ends the 29th! That is in 2 days! Then the patterns can be purchased through the designer at regular price.

The two patterns I sewed up for the tour are the Letterman Jacket by Fairytale Pattern Designs and the Butler Britches by Brownie Goose.

The Letterman Jacket by Fairytale Pattern Design

Fabric: I used a red suiting bottomweight for the body and a blue bottom weight from the "jean" section at Joann's. The lining is flannel. I used an interlock for the neck binding, cuffs and waistband.

Modifications: The lining is not in the original pattern. I used the pattern pieces and modified to the bodice front pieces to incorporate the facing as a panel. I quilted the bodice flannel pieces over cotton batting to add in an extra warmth layer. The sleeves are not quilting, just lining and shell fabrics.

Because I used the lining (and Little man was extremely upset when I put the shell on him to try because he couldn't see the pictures) we also made this jacket reversible! All seams are hidden.

Embelishments: I traced the Spiderman Logo on freezer paper. I used the same image for both, just resized when printing.

Butler Britches by Brownie Goose

Fabric: I used the same blue bottomweight and flannel from the jacket.

Modifications: I used the flat front waistband option but did an adjustable elastic by creating my own buttonhole elastic.

Embelishments: I did not add any of my own. I had a hard time matching the button color and little man wanted a brown button... So brown it was.

The patterns were relatively quick to sew and so much fun! Directions were clear and easy to follow. :)

There are only 2 more days for the sale! Head over to Bundle Up! :)

And, don't forget to check out all the other awesome sewing projects completed using the patterns from the bundle.

20th Boy, Oh Boy, Sew Like My Mom, Sew a Straight Line

21st Made By Sara, Friends Stitched Together, Max California

22nd Just Joshin, Kid Approved, Gracious Threads

23rd Mimi's Mom, Feather's Flights, Once Upon a Sewing Machine

24th Handmade Boy, Made By Momma, Bee Quilted Beauties

25th Handcrafted By Red, The Crazy Tailor, Kelly Hogaboom

26th Mae&K, Get Your Crap Together, Lady and the Gents

27th Paisley Roots, The Berry Bunch, Knot Sew Normal,

BabyFish Designs, Rebekah Sews, Lady and the Gents

28th Swoodson Says, Petit a Petit, Kelly Hogaboom

29th Beaza & Llama, Shaffer Sisters, Fabulous Home Sewn

Happy Sewing!

Monday, August 25, 2014

Color Block Dress: So Sew Easy {Blog Tour}

I will be honest. When I first saw the Color Block Dress by So Sew Easy I thought, "there is no way I could pull something like this off. " Honestly, the curves, the hug, everything about it screamed that I could not wear it. But, I defied my thoughts and decided to jump on and sew up this dress. It had immediately thought that it would make a great 'little black dress' with some color detail. I needed to have little man help with the fabric choices, and I am loving how this turned out! I have a second one, alternated, cut and ready to sew. Perfect for date nights!

don't you love these pictures my 3 year old took? I'm impressed! :)

Now, I am really self-conscious of my momma tummy. I have that mommy pooch that seems it will never go away and anything tight fitting is just waiting for ridicule. All I have in my closet for dresses are either too small or are so loose fitting from wearing during pregnancy that I feel frumpy. But I don't in this dress, I love it!

I tried on this dress the moment that I finished the side seams and I loved it right away! I felt great, beautiful, and didn't even care of my mommy tummy!

I cannot wait to wear it on date night with hubby!

The pattern is so easy to tape together. No cutting needed witch is great.

The directions are easy to follow. I had never done princess seams before and this made it so easy. I used 4-way stretch for the black and this was the easiest time I had ever had with 4-way stretch.

Directions are provided to modify the sizing to fit your body type.

Color Block Dress by So Sew Easy

Happy Sewing!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

August Mystery Challenge: Cover Up

Did you see the challenge I did last month? We swapped a yard of fabric and had to create something from it. If you missed that post, you can check it out here! This month it was an idea that we swapped, fun!!

My Theme is Cover Up. So I did a hooded towel for little man! My first time sewing with terry cloth, and my first time using the serger that my mom gave me! I wont lie. It took me forever to thread the darn thing. Then it took a while to figure out how to get a seam. Once I got the hang of it, it was fun. I did learn that you cannot get 4 layers of terry cloth through the serger. Just in case you were wondering...

So thankful for the ladies putting this together. I would not have attempted this without the little push!

I gave Ula over at Lulu and Celeste the theme of morpho butterfly/rainforest.

I got my idea from Irene over at Sugaridoo. You should check out her Shop on Craftsy, I love her amigurumi patterns! So cute!

I knew what I wanted to do the moment I got the theme from Irene. I have been meaning to make little man some new hooded towels because he loves his hooded towels, but he has outgrown all the baby ones which is most of them! They really should make those baby ones a little bit bigger.

I bought 3 pretty decent sized bath towels from Walmart. There were only a little over $2 per towel. Not bad when considering a hooded towel is about 2-3 times as much.

I used one towel to cut out the hood and a contrasting towel for the spikes. I cut the other towel in half and sewed it back together with the spikes... I was going to stuff those spikes with poly-fil, but hubby thought that would be a little silly for just a towel. so, no stuffing. The colors... Nikolai picked out the colors. I didn't even realize they were kind of Christmas-y until putting them in the washing machine. I love it. :)

I just used my triangle ruler for the spikes, but took them in at the bottom so they were kind of like a jewel shape. it was fun sewing them together using the serger. I had to go back over some of the seams so many times. But I still think they turned out cute. Little man says it looks like a stegosaurus. So stegosaurus towel it is.