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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Free Tutorial Tuesday: Roxanne's Rumba Pants

It's that time again...Free Tutorial Tuesday! Aren't you so proud of me for trying to be on time? I am on time right???

Are you ready to be blown away with our incredibly unique AND cute tutorial today? You better sit down for this one because it's super duper cute! 

Introducing Roxanne's Rumba Pants. TA DA...


Cute right? I bet you've never seen anything like them have you? We try to tell you guys that we LOVE ruffles and over-the-top boutique designs and hopefully this helps you realize that we are serious! No joke. Can't get more ruffly than this! This design stemmed from our love of the rumba pants and our hate for sewing and sewing and sewing ruffles on those darn pants. All. Day. Long. So here's OUR take on the Rumba pants. Best part? You can sew these puppys in about 30 min. to 1 hour! Take that Rumba Pants! In this pattern we will teach you how to add ruffle fabric to already owned, leggings, jeans, or shorts to create a fun and unique look! However, if you happen to own our Layne's Ruffled Shorts PDF Pattern then you can make your own shorts and modify them to be these using any amazing fabric you have lying around! Here though, we are using boot leg knit pants from Target and Frilly Double Stretch Ruffle Fabric from RuffleFabric.com.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Busy, Busy

So I'm sure most of you have noticed that we haven't quite been pumping out patterns like we used to. It sucks. I know. But, we have a good excuse! We're going to Quilt Market!!! Well, not *us* in the flesh, but some of our outfits and a few of our patterns! Yup! That's right. Remember when we told you oh so long ago how we were turning our patterns into paper--and then we got too busy and put it to the side? Well Riley Blake Designs (have you heard of them? lol) contacted US about distributing some of our patterns via paper-style at the International Quilt Market. Did we mention they contacted us with less than a MONTH until Quilt Market? You can imagine our panic! lol. Then a week later  RuffleFabric.com contacted us about carrying some of our dresses at Quilt Market as examples. Ummmmm....yes, please! Two booths at QM? Is this a dream?

 
So, your first question may be "What is this Quilt Market you speak of?"
Well, friend, let me tell ya! It is like the International Auto Show of Quilts, Fabrics, and Patterns. If the International Auto Show means nothing to you (because you don't live near Detroit like us) then in laments terms its THE trade show of trade shows when you're in the industry we're in. Do you understand our enthusiasm now???

Your next question may be, "What patterns are you releasing?"
This is the best question of all because it's the answer we're most anxious to spill. Riley Blake helped us pick out the patterns that they felt suited them best and we couldn't be happier because not only are they some of our faves but they are all great sellers as PDF patterns so we *hope* they will be great sellers as paper patterns.

First up is.....


Natalie's Ruffle Butt Romper! I'm sure that most of you saw us sneaking peeks of this on our Facebook Page because we needed help deciding on the cover. This was one of Tiffany's first designs people have been drooling over this pattern since we posted pics of it at the end of last summer. Now that it's been out for a couple months and this summer is fast approaching people have been eating it up! And how could you not? It is too cute, comfortable to wear, and easy to make! For the cover fabrics we used Apple of My Eye by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake Designs.

Next up is....


Whitney's Ruffle Neck Romper! This is one of my personal fave designs I've come up with. I saw something I liked at a popular store, said to myself, "Hey, I can totally make that", and I made it nice and easy so there are no buttons or zippers and it is still super cute! Best of all, when I created it, there were NO patterns out there like it--believe me, I looked! For the cover fabrics we used Millie's Closet Cottons by Bee In My Bonnet for Riley Blake Designs.

Next up is....


Elena's Double Layer Peasant Dress! Obviously, this dress is a favorite of everyone! It is so versatile and the outcome is breathtakingly beautiful every time...and it helps that its extra twirly so the little ones will love it as much as you do. For the cover fabrics we used Bohemian Festival by Lila Tueller Designs for Riley Blake Designs. 

Finally....


Helen's Maxi Dress! This was our very first maxi dress and it is easy, breezy, and just perfect for upcoming summer. This one holds a special place in my heart because it's named after my grandma--who I inherited the sewing bug from! For the cover fabrics we used Song Bird by Carina Gardner for Riley Blake Designs.

Well, that's it! That's what we've been working on for the past 2 weeks. It has been crazy, fun, scary, exciting, stressful, BUSY and we loved every minute of it! We are anxiously awaiting the first orders coming in from QM next week. Until then, we're putting the finishing touches on the patterns and we hope to have them printed off and in our hands by the end of the month.

As for the beautiful fabrics, be sure to write ALL of your favorite places to buy fabric from, whether it be Fabric.com, Hawthorne Threads, Skye Reve Fabrics, Pink Castle Fabrics, or the local quilt shop and tell them to get their orders in at QM so you can purchase all these fabrics from them!

And now, I'm going full circle to the beginning of this blog where I talked about how we are so busy we can't do everything we want to do! Please put in a request to your fave fabric store to have them carry our paper patterns. If you own your own shop and would like to carry our patterns please contact us and we can get you started!The more patterns we can sell, the more new patterns we can make! Our husbands seem to think that they are gonna be able to quit their jobs and stay home with the kids. We're leery but, hey, we're up for everyone proving them right. If they can stay home, we can have even more time to work <3 
We love our *job*

Happy Sewing!
Shannon and Tiffany

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Lucky Us...

Penny's Patchwork Twirler Dress and Vivian's Peasant Top paired with Danielle's Cuffed Short
 So, about a month ago, we were contacted by THE Pat Bravo--famous fabric designer and co-owner of Art Gallery Fabrics. She said she loved our pattern designs and would like for us to create some outfits using fabrics from one of her lines. Tiffany and I wrote back within minutes of her email *thrilled* beyond our wildest dreams. First, let me say, that one of our fave fabric designers IS Pat Bravo. Since we started purchasing designer fabrics we always seemed to gravitate towards her fabrics; I don't know if it's her bohemian-like style or her beautifully unique color choices. Whatever it is, we dig it! So Pat Bravo is awesome and we love her fabrics so we did not hesitate to say "yes". Now the fun part: choosing our fabrics. We got a huge catalog of about 235435342 fabric choices and samples and we chose the first line we looked at: Poetica. It reminded me of picking my wedding dress because the same thing happened. lol. I tried on exactly 2342308 dresses and still chose the first one I tried on.

Autumn's Peasant Romper and Serena's Stripwork Double Layer Dress
Once we chose the Poetica we knew exactly which outfits we wanted to make. In the pink and purple colorway, I made the Autumn's Peasant Romper and Tiffany made the Serena's Stripwork Double Layer Dress. We also both made matching headbands for the outfits using scraps and we were really pleased with how the outfits came together. The fabric was soft and easy to work with and the colors were vibrant! We really just loved how these two outfits, in particular, look together; of course, the adorable models help! Huge thank you to Puddle Jumpers Photography for providing us with cute-as-a-button models and crystal clear pictures. They make all of our hard work worth it <3

Serena's Stripwork Double Layer Dress
Autumn's Peasant Romper
With the blue and purple colorway, I made the Vivian's Peasant Top with the Attached Sash paired with the Danielle's Cuffed Shorts and Tiffany made the Penny's Patchwork Twirly Dress. We asked Angela of Shake-Up Snow Designs if she would make headbands to match for us and she graciously agreed. I've been working with Angela for a year now and I just love how she is able to pull out the perfect color combos from any outfit we give her; on top of that she's an amazing person to work with. We loved the cool tones of these fabrics and thought they looked breathtaking on our adorable models. Again, these images were captured by Samantha of Puddle Jumpers Photography who continually amazes us with her beautiful images. She really does bring these outfits to life. 

Vivian's Peasant Top with Attached Sash and Danielle's Cuffed Shorts. Headband by Shake-Up Snow Designs.

Penny's Patchwork Twirler in action! Headband by Shake-Up Snow Designs.
There were so many beautiful pictures from this shoot it was so hard to narrow it down to just these photos. If you would like to view them all check out our album on our Facebook Page. If you're not our fan be sure to become one so you can stay up-to-date on what we are working on next and be the first to know when we have sales or release a new pattern!

Also, check out Puddle Jumpers Photography. If you are lucky enough to live in the Chicago-land she could totally take your family photos. Or if you own a boutique, she obviously takes amazing product shots that will SELL your items for you. They are worth their weight in gold I tell ya!

Finally, be sure to head over to Shake-Up Snow Designs. Her hair candy is gorgeous and, most importantly, affordable. Her kindness and talent will knock your socks off!

Finally, be sure to like Pat Bravo on Facebook so you can stay up-to-date with her fabric lines coming out! Her style will blow you out of the water and leave you wanting more. We are so honored that she asked little 'ole us to create outfits using her fabrics. She doesn't have any kids clothing patterns so hopefully we were able to help show how cute her fabrics are FOR boutique children's clothing and we inspired you to try using her fabrics for the little one in your life.

Happy Sewing!
Shannon and Tiffany

April Boutique of the Month

For our April Boutique of the Month we have chosen Faith's Fashions.
Faith's Fashions is owned by Candice who is the sweetest woman ever! We've had the pleasure of knowing Candice for the past year and we just can't say enough good things about her! We encourage you to read our interview with her below and to visit her on Facebook and say "Hello". We know you will love her as much as we do!

Autumn's Romper as made by Faith's Fashions.