Welcome to Pattern Parade catwalk Janelle from The Janelle Wind Collection! Janelle is a fellow Aussie pattern designer with a big heart who loves all things vintage, thrifting, sewing and her beautiful family (not in that order!) Each Wednesday on her blog, Janelle shares a fashion post often featuring thrifted clothing and accessories. I’m excited today for this post to coincide with her appearance on the Pattern Parade!
Isn’t she a stunner?! Janelle has such a gorgeous, unique style. I love her Poppy Tunic and entire outfit and could find myself quite comfortably wearing it every day. Make sure you visit The Janelle Wind Collection for more photos of this beautiful outfit.
The Make It Perfect Pattern Parade Virtual Catwalk introduces…
Well, my dear audience members of the Pattern Parade…we are half-way through the month! Hope you’ve enjoyed meeting some new bloggers, picking up some inspiration and seeing all of the wonderful creations as much as I have!
Joining us on the catwalk today is Laura from Craftstorming. Laura lives in the UK and is an avid sewer and baker – you will find lots of great sewing creations and tutorials on her blog, as well as mouth watering sweet treat baking. Laura has also designed a couple of great sewing patterns for children that she sells under her Titchy Threads label.
Check out the beautiful Poppy Tunic Laura is sharing in the Pattern Parade – this is still one of my absolute favourite patterns…makes me want to sew another! And she added pockets too, which I always wish I had done after I finish!!! See more and win a PDF pattern over at Craftstorming.
The Make It Perfect Pattern Parade Virtual Catwalk introduces…
Gail from Probably Actually is one of my favourite sewing bloggers. I would describe her clothing sewing as “understated elegance” – she has a knack for mixing just a little print with some pretty solid and ending up with a wow-factor garment every time. Sometimes I think I need to take a lesson from this kind of style and not go so crazy with print and pattern all the time!!
Gail’s precious daughter Lila is showing off her brand new Mini Poppy in the Pattern Parade today and once again Gail has got her magic fabric combinations happening! Pop over and visit Probably Actually and enter to win a free Make It Perfect PDF pattern. Oh, and while you’re there, tell Gail to bite the bullet and get sewing for herself…I can only imagine the beauties she would come up with!!
The Make It Perfect Pattern Parade Virtual Catwalk introduces…
It’s no secret that I love Nani IRO fabrics. Naomi Ito, the designer behind Nani IRO is my favourite textile designer by far. I love her style, especially for clothing sewing. Everything she produces is a careful mix of pretty and playfulness and her fabrics are one of the most luxurious textiles that I have sewn with.
My favourite place to purchase Nani IRO fabrics is from Miss Matatabi. Miss Matatabi has declared the month of June “Nani IRO Month” and has invited some of her friends to help celebrate! I didn’t need much encouragement at all to join in, another excuse to sew with Nani IRO fabrics…I’m in without hesitation!
I’ve got a looooong list of “things to sew” (mostly made up of things to sew for myself!) and a new Poppy Tunic was at the top of the list. Poppy Tunics are one of my favourite items of clothing for layering, and I especially love wearing them when it’s cold over a pair of skinny jeans or leggings with my boots. So, I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and sew a Poppy Tunic from Nani IRO fabric.
I had in my mind that I wanted to sew my Poppy Tunic from one single fabric, usually I make them with a contrasting chest piece and hem but have been wanting to try one out with no contrast fabrics for awhile now. I also had in my mind that I wanted my Poppy Tunic to be a dark colour, which narrowed my fabric choices right down and actually made it easier to decide on which fabric I wanted to use. The fabric that I decided on is Shine Many Ways B. It is completely different from fabric I would usually select, but now that I’ve sewn with it I love it. So wearable and a lovely, earthy colour palette with enough detail to stop it from being boring. If you look really closely in some of the photos, you might be able to see that the bronze colours in the fabric are actually metallic – so cool!
This fabric is a cotton sateen…I usually pick the double gauze when I purchase Nani IRO fabrics and I haven’t sewn with cotton sateen before. I wasn’t sure how it would go but it is AMAZING! Absolutely perfect for sewing clothing with. It has a heavenly feel and drape – kind of reminds me of that soft, buttery feeling of voile but has a bit more substance to it and isn’t as sheer.
Most Nani IRO fabrics are a double gauze, which I’ve sewn with lots but there are other substrates to choose from as well – such as this cotton sateen, brushed cotton, cotton canvas and even knits! I’ve got a big pile of Nani IRO fabrics in my stash, I will take a pic and share them and my previous Nani IRO projects with you later on in the month.
I know that I will get so much wear out of this Poppy Tunic. The only thing I wish I had added to this one is pockets in the side seams because I keep looking for somewhere to hide my hands! They will be easy enough to add in if I ever get around to it anyway.
Make sure you keep in contact with Miss Matatabi for the rest of this month as she shares more of her friend’s Nani IRO creations (see the list below for participants). And if you make (or have made) anything from Nani IRO – or even if you just want to share a photo of your stash, then hash-tag “ilovenaniiro” to share it with us all on social media! Thanks for having me Frances, love your store and grateful for your friendship and for doing cool things like hosting Nani IRO month!
If you are a lover of sewing patterns, you have probably noticed the trend of buying pattern bundles for a discounted price. Perfect Pattern Parcel supports independent pattern designers by selecting a group of PDF sewing patterns and bundling them together to create a coordinated parcel of patterns – the theme for Pattern Parcel #3 is “women’s Summer wardrobe essentials.” And although it isn’t Summer in my part of the world, it’s always good to plan ahead! Actually, a few of these patterns can easily be layered for cold-weather wearing anyway.
Included in this parcel is my Poppy Tunic pattern. This is one of my very favourite me-made items of clothing to wear. It’s especially comfortable and flattering with a pair of leggings and boots for winter.
Perfect Pattern Parcel is unique in that it allows customers to choose how much they want to pay for their parcel! If you choose to pay $28 or more (which is a bargain for 6 patterns!) you will receive a bonus pattern in your parcel. The best part about PPP is that a generous chunk of what you pay is donated to a great charity (donorschoose.org) which helps schools and teachers buy educational supplies! You can see what was donated from the last parcel here.
Pattern Parcel #3 is only avaliable for 2 weeks so don’t miss out on your purchase now!
