.Linen Circle Scarf Kit Giveaway - The Drapery.

I'm back tonight with a little more from The Drapery.  As a lovely surprise, The Drapery girls also sent me a Linen Scarf Kit from their store to try out. This kit is a super simple sew and the end result is a stylish and warm circle scarf (cowl). The kit includes absolutely everything you need to compete the cowl - yep, even the needle! It would be a great portable project to take away with you on a little holiday.

 I love a bit of hand-sewing on the couch when I'm watching telly, and this scarf is completely sewn by hand! Of course, if you are a bit impatient or don't want to sew by hand, you can make the scarf on the sewing machine and it would probably take you less than 15 minutes from start to finish!

I personally prefer the hand-stitched look. The contrast thread shows up in little irregular stitches on the cowl and gives it some interesting detail.

Not only is the cowl lovely to look at, it is also so, so warm. The one I used is made from a washed Lithuanian double-sided linen and is really soft and not at all itchy.

The Drapery is giving away TWO LINEN SCARF KITS to two lucky winners! The kits are valued between $20-$25. Simply leave a comment on this blog post to be in the running! Entries close Sunday 16th March. Please leave an email address with your comment.

.Essential Shorts.

It's a breakthrough since childbirth...I finally got my act together and produced a new pattern! Life feels semi-normal again!

 I wanted to sneak in a Summery pattern before the weather turns so was motivated to get to work on this new pattern for some easy-to-wear Women's shorts.

ESSENTIAL SHORTS

 Essential Shorts are a wardrobe staple, the pair of slim-fitting shorts you will find yourself choosing over and over again.

 Whether you choose to dress them up and have a fun night out or keep them casual for a relaxing day at the beach, Essential Shorts are a Summer must-have.

 Essential Shorts feature a flattering front waistband, elastic back waistband and drawstrings for a perfect fit.

Sitting on the knee, they are easy and comfortable to wear for all of your daily duties or night time adventures!

 I've got to say, I love wearing these shorts. The elastic in the back waistband means that they are super comfortable but the fit is still very flattering. Essential Shorts are suited to most mid-light weight fabrics. I've used mostly linens in my versions so far, these ones are made using Yarn-dyed Essex Linen in Denim from Robert Kaufman.

Essential Shorts are an easy fuss-free sew for any sewing level. You can easily make them a little shorter or longer if you feel like changing it up a bit and making a various pairs with different fabric choices will give variety to your Summer wardrobe.

Essential Shorts is avaliable in women's sizes 2x-small - 2x-large, catering for a wide range of sizes. You can purchase an Instant Download PDF Pattern from my website now or paper versions of the pattern will start hitting stores soon. Check out my list of stockists here.

If you would like to win a copy of Essential Shorts, simply leave a comment on this blog post!
(Please make sure you leave an email address with your comment. Giveaway will close Thursday 27th February and winner will be drawn at random.)

.Serendipity - a new winter coat!.

Brrr...it's cold!  Still plenty of time to get stuck into some Winter sewing and I've just finished up designing my latest pattern - a super trendy little girl's coat:

Serendipity 

Playing outside is only fun when you are warm and the Serendipity coat is designed to keep you warm - and looking good! 

Featuring cute pleat detail in the front and back, Serendipity is a stylish double-breasted coat with a sweet Peter Pan collar and side pockets to keep those little hands warm.

Serendipity is a gorgeous coat guaranteed to brighten up any drab, rainy day.

I thought it was about time to introduce a new girl's winter coat/jacket to the Make It Perfect range. Serendipity is classy and sophisticated and most importantly - warm, warm, warm!  

Serendipity comes in two size ranges, catering for sizes 6 months to 10 years. You'll find more information about Serendipity on the Make It Perfect website. If you are looking for a place to purchase a copy of the pattern for yourself, take a look at our stockists or ask your favourite store to order one in for you.


A massive THANKYOU to Makayla Graham Photography (blog here/facebook here) for the beautiful photos - she did an amazing job with them at our favourite funky farm and we were blessed with a small opening of clear weather on a super rainy day!  Thanks Makayla :)

If you would like to win a copy of this new pattern, simply leave a comment on this blog post telling us what you love most about Winter!
(Please make sure you leave an email address with your comment.  Giveaway will close Monday 23rd July and winner will be drawn at random).

SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect, Serendipity pattern
Lizzy House, Hello Pilgrim, Butterfly Sky in blue
Sarah Jane, Children At Play, Gingham in coral

.Creative Cards by Make It Perfect.

Have you heard of the new Creative Cards my distributor, Creative Abundance have started producing?  They are such a cool concept - a mini-pattern, if you like.

Make It Perfect Creative Cards are a fun, compact mini-pattern.  They come as a single folded, high-quality A4 card and contain all of the step-by-step instructions and templates needed to sew fast and easy projects.  Creative Cards are perfect for people with little pockets on time to create!  Best of all, they are priced at a very affordable $5.50 (RRP in Australia), making it even easier to pop into your shopping cart for a very achievable project.

I've been working on a few Creative Cards and want to share my first two with you today...

Snappy Tie & Tea Party Skirt

Snappy Ties are a great way to accessorise your boy for church, special occasions, holidays or just because!

They are fully lined for a crisp, durable finish and easy to wear with an adjustable neckband.

Snappy ties fit sizes 1-10 years and are so fast to sew that you won't be able to stop at one!

The Tea Party Skirt is guaranteed to put a delightful smile on any little girl's face.

It features a cute apron panel with decorative ribbon trim and is light and comfy to wear.

The Tea Party Skirt is extremely quick and easy to sew and comes in two size ranges 6 months-5 years and 6-10 years.

You may recognise the Tea Party Skirt as a pattern from my book.  I love this skirt so much that I've decided to release it as a Creative Card for people who don't have a copy of my book and also for people outside of Australia who can't get a copy of the book (and as far as I can tell, it doesn't look as though it is going to be released internationally at the moment) so hopefully this will tide you over for a little longer!!  Book patterns only go up to a size 5 so the Big Tea Party Skirt Creative Card will also come in handy for those wanting to sew for older girls.


Check out the Snappy Tie and Tea Party Skirt pages on my website for more information about these patterns.


I'd love to give away some Creative Cards - two lucky people will win a copy of each of the new cards.  If you would like to enter, please leave a comment on this blog post and make sure you leave an email address or have an email address connected to your profile.  Winners will be drawn at random and giveaway will end on Wednesday 23rd May.

.Giveaway winners.

Thanks to all who entered the giveaway celebrating my two new patterns, the Milkshake Skirt & Sun Kissed Hat!  I'm always grateful for your words of encouragement :)

Congratulations to the following lucky winners...

I've sent both of you lovely ladies and email and look forward to hearing from you :)

.Basic Tees - a new pattern for you!.

Hi all!  Things have been a little quite around here lately...and my house has been messy...that only means one thing - I've been busy working on my latest pattern and am all ready to share it with you today!

BASIC TEES

 

An indispensable starting point for everyday dressing, Basic Tees is a pattern you will find yourself using again and again.  

 

 The classic long or short-sleeved tshirt is a wardrobe staple that you can’t do without.  The easy style of Basic Tees allows you to express your creativity and create one-of-a-kind tshirts that suit every occasion.  

 

Featuring a straight style for boys and more fitted body with gathered sleeves for girls, as well as options to include short-sleeve overlays and contrast hems, Basic Tees is the ideal foundation for thousands of outfits!

Basic Tees is another Make It Perfect pattern designed for use with knit/stretch fabric.  If you are a newbie to sewing with knits, I highly recommend a simple tshirt pattern as your starting point.  They are quick and easy to make and something that your kids are bound to get a lot of wear out of.  

The pattern comes with lots of tips and tricks for sewing with knits, but my number one tip is to use the best quality fabric that you can afford.  All of my failed attempts at sewing with knits have happened when I have been using cheaper quality knits.  Good quality is much easier to sew, washes and wears better and gives a much nicer finished result.  These tops were sewn using gorgeous knits from Crafty Mamas - the solids are all Stella and the stripes are Hilco Campans.  Crafty Mamas now offers free postage within Australia and great International postage rates - gotta love that!

There is heaps you can do with the Basic Tees pattern...instructions are given to create a plain tee or tee with short-sleeve overlay and contrasting hem and neckline as shown above but, of course, these are just starting point suggestions - you can mix and match fabrics and decorate with applique, freezer paper stencil, buttons, ribbons, iron on transfers, etc. and easily come up with a whole cupboard full of tees to suit your style!

Once you sew one, you'll be itching to make more (trust me, I'm up to my 10th tee this week!) my kids wear long and short sleeved tees every single day so I know I'll be sewing lots more in the future!

Big thanks to my beautiful photographer, Chelsea (check out her work - she is amazing!) and the GORGEOUS models she rounded up for me.  They are the cutest kids ever - chooks, books, rain, cute kids...what more could I ask for?

Take a look at my new website for more information on Basic Tees.  As always, copies of the pattern will be avaliable soon in retail stores - or you can always ask your favourite store to order a copy in for you.

GIVEAWAY

I'd love to give one lucky winner a copy of Basic Tees - leave a comment on this post to be in the draw!
(Please make sure you leave an email address with your comment.  Giveaway will close Wednesday 17th August and winner will be drawn at random).

.Want to come to the Melbourne Fair for FREE?!.

Do you realise that it is only SIX sleeps until the Melbourne Craft and Quilt Fair?  I didn't, until yesterday.  Yikes!  

Lucky I'm orgainsed this time and don't have as much to get ready as I did for the Sydney Fair.  And just like I did with the Fair in Sydney - I've got another FOUR ENTRY TICKETS to give away to four lucky winners!

If you'd like a chance at winning a ticket, leave a comment on this blog post, or a comment on the Make It Perfect Facebook wall.  I need to be able to get in contact with you if you win so make sure you leave an email address.

The giveaway will end at 8pm on Sunday night and I'll be in contact with the winners to arrange getting tickets to them.

Please only enter if you are able to use the tickets (i.e. if you can go to the fair yourself or have someone that you can give the ticket to!)

And after my slackness with no photos from the Sydney Fair, I did manage to scrounge a few off some friends...

...with sweet Yana...who was the lucky winner of one of the entry tickets in Sydney!

...me and my banner (thanks for the following pics Bec!)

...Elissa from Kelani Fabric and I in her amazing stand!

...catching up with special friends - Kate (with baby Grace) and Bec!

See you next week Melbournites!!!