A Pattern Mash-up

In my promise to blog more - today I bring a pattern mash up that I did to create the look I and my daughters were going for.

My daughters have been dancing for years. Well - 9 years and 7 years each. They starting competing at 9 & 7.   Last year we talking about the two of them doing a tap duo together. They are both really good tappers and they love it. In our discussions we had decided to compete with it in the 2014-2015 season. Mainly to give me a chance to learn to work with dance fabrics a bit more and because at the time they were already in quite a few competition dances.  Well things changed and we decided to just go for it this year.

Our research and discussions with people led us to Spandex World for our Plaid fabrics. That was the easy part. We decided that the girls would each wear a different colorway to add more to their duo.

The next part proved to be a bit more difficult. I am not a pattern drafter (for the most part). If I HAVE to, I will and have drafted a piece to work as I wanted.  However this time I was working with fabrics that were $15 a yard and there was not a lot of room for error.

I received the fabrics on Friday and thought I'd get started right away. (just in case it didn't work) I still didn't have a plan. The end result..... Success!!! For the most part. Still had some tweaking - but I was ready to go cut into the good stuff.

In the end it all worked out and my girls LOVE their new tops. I still have some finishing due to the fabric not being 4 way stretch - but that's ok.

So here's what we did.

We used the SisBoom Sophie and sized down a few sizes. I cut it shorted to give us a cropped top look and added a band around the bottom. I used the cuff sleeve version but sized the cuffs down one size smaller than the arm I used. I also did not cut the opening into the decorative style. Once sewn together I just cut a small slit straight down the middle (about 2 inches - I should have done about 1 inch) Then for the collar I used the Carla C - Scientific Seamstress Bowling shirt collar. Here instead of sizing down I had to size up. On the red shirt I used the 7/8 and then for the purple shirt I used the 7/8 enlarged 105%.

In the end the girls are happy & so am I! Now to put the rest of the costume together!

Excuse the messy hair and goofy faces. This is what I get when I
"pose" them late at night! 

Sitting in a deep Freeze...

Brrrrr......

  It is sooooo cold out there! I bet a lot of you are sitting in temps way below normal.  I myself don't want to leave my house! I do have a puppy who needs to go out though. Charlotte "Charlie" is a Chihuahua, poodle, Shitzu mix. A tiny little 6 pounderish puppy full of love. She LOVE the snow so to make her stay in is tough - so we need to take quick trips out. (like SUPER QUICK!) I needed her to have a sweater to keep her warm.

I went on a search - I looked & looked for one and couldn't find one I liked anywhere - until in one of my Facebook groups someone posted a pattern by Stitchwerx Designs. I fell in love with it RIGHT AWAY!
Affordable and fashionable! Finished my dinner & went to work on making one for Charlie. I chose to do the turtleneck version so I could pull it up & keep her head & ears as warm as possible in the cold.

My daughters picked out the fabric & supervised the construction. With clear instructions this sweater went together quick! I think I maybe spent 20 minutes on it. The best part - Charlie LOVES it. She doesn't fight to get it off - she sits to let me put it on!

This pattern is a WIN WIN!

 

Charlie modeling...

The neck pulled up.

and the cutest puppy on the planet! 

I'm such a bad blogger.....

I always come back here and say I'm going to be a better blogger - but lets face it - I'm bad - really bad. I try, but life just gets going and I forget to come back and share. So this year I'm not going to make promises about how much I'll be here or how much I'm going to share. But I will promise to try.

Until then - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

SUMMER RECAP

This summer saw a lot of growth at the Island in terms of patterns! We have found some amazing PDF designers and have begun to grow our "stash" of patterns. However, as that stash grew - less time was spent actually SEWING them.  LOL! 

So, the eldest on the Island pointed out that maybe  I should take time and SEW something from those patterns I have begun to hoard. (however if they are all digital no one can see my hording right?) 

I thought today would be a good day to take a break and recap some of the patterns sewn over the summer.......

VFT Josephine

Funktional threads Knit UPcycles

Wonderfully Made 4 You One shoulder Dress

Tumble & Twirl Shorts (so much cheaper to make our own for dance)

Aivilo Charlotte Pleated Skirt

Can't leave the little man out - Peak a boo Pattern Shop Classic Chinos

I had so much fun stepping out and doing new things! I did more - but as I realize now I didn't photograph them! And there are all the items that have been loaded into the Etsy shop and all the customs that are off at their new home! 

WOW! So I knew I had neglected my blog, but I really had no idea that I had totally ABANDONED it!! I am really going to try and revitalize it and I hope to have some help. I plan on having the eldest Monkey guest post here & there to keep you all updated on what is going on around the island. She is learning about blogging at school and she's a good writer so I told her she can help out here and blog for me. 

So in the next few days we will have a bunch of new posts so you can see what we've been up to here and where we are going! 

Welcome to May!

OK , I'll admit it - I am not a very good Blog writer. I try, but really - I'd rather take the time to create something than write about creating it. But I'm going to get better - promise!

The last few months have seen the Island grow in wonderful ways. We have added new offerings and grown in fans. In the coming months I hope to continue that trend. We have had giveaway weekend and freebie Fridays and "Grab boxes" of bows & hair accessories.  Who knows whats to come - my mind is in overdrive 1/2 the time and even I am not sure which way we are going next.

I can tell you that when the Island has 100 Fans (likes etc) over on Facebook, we will be having another fun "giveaway weekend"  Those that joined in back for our "Super Saturday & Sunday" had lots of fun and most went away with something new.  Other than that we are gearing up for a few "in person" sales - so you may not see us again til June ;-)

Welcome to 2012!

We are kicking off 2012 with a BOW GIVEAWAY!

13~ 3" bows! Completely FREE! all you have to do is check out the Facebook page to find where to enter and stop back here to see if you won on Jan 14th!