Spring Sewing Patterns Go Casual

Wow, thank y’all for all the lovely comments on yesterday’s post. Today I thought I’d show you the rest of the spring sketches and how they were realized. Starting with the Beachy Boatneck and the Coastal Cargos. As you can see in the picture above, I originally planned to have buttons on my shirt. In fact, this shirt was an early version of this idea, but I didn’t love the way it turned out and I thought the instructions would be too complicated. So gradually I moved toward this boatneck, and designed this fabric (which you can get at Spoonflower here), and the look pulled together. But not before I made this muslin with not so cute scrap knits (see how happy Tater looks to have to be a fit model?) while waiting for my Spoonflower fabric.

As you can see from my sketch, the cargos started off as true shorts – this was one of the places the collaboration on Sun & Surf came into play. Without some group brainstorming, I wouldn’t have done the convertible pants, and the super cool bias detail that finishes the seams and adds that great color pop wouldn’t have happened.

The next look was this Cool Cardigan/Clean Slate Pants combo.

The main challenge with this look was finding the fabric for the pants. As I did with the tuxedo yesterday, I ended up dyeing white twill. I am in love with Dharma Trading Company’s Fiber Reactive Procion Dyes. These pants were done with Amber Waves. For more about using these dyes, check this tutorial  . And I’m not affiliated with Dharma Trading Co, but I think they’re awesome.

Here’s the look that changed greatly from the sketch, the Pristine Swing Dress.

I never was quite happy with the colors on this dress, but was trying to stay within the Pantone color scheme. Then I was looking at the knits at my sponsor Banberry Place and fell in love with this Tangerine Cotton. They still have some in stock, as well as many more really cool knits. It’s pretty much my go to shop to find knit now, and not just because they’re a sponsor. The accent print is one of the few fabrics I got at Joann (that and the massive amount of white twill I bought).

The next look was originally planned for Tater, but then I decide to include Bean in the photo shoot. He used to be a less-than-cooperative model, but after 2 1/2 he’s gotten steadily better and loves to do photo shoots.

Since Bean was wearing the Hipster Henley and the Coastal Cargos already fit Tater, I swapped out the Clean Slate Shorts in this look. They’re made from this awesome cotton herringbone twill I got at The Fabricker. The Fabricker is a local fabric shop, but they have an online shop too. Unfortunately you can’t get any more of this twill because I bought it all. But they do have other cool fabrics available, and I love that this store specializes in fabric for garment sewing.

The off-white fabric in both the Hipster Henley above and the Perfect Polo below is from The Fabric Fairy. 

See – this was where I had originally planned the Clean Slate Shorts. But this polo looks great with the cargos, too. The insets on the shirt are more dyed twill, this time in Celadon. I dyed that in the same tub as the Cargos below.

And still one of my favorite sewing patterns, the Prepster Pullover. This shirt goes so well from casual to dressy, all while being really comfy. My boys each have one and love theirs; I foresee more in the future. And there’s a good chance the outfit below might be someone’s Easter look. You can see this outfit turned out pretty much exactly like my sketch.

Finally, I wanted to show another girls Vintage V-Neck with one of my new patterns, the Schoolday Skirt, and a spring twist on the Ruffled Cardigan.

More Fabric Fairy fabric in this look – the Vintage V-neck is pieced from the off-white interlock and some that I dyed yellow. I even used some of the dyed yellow interlock to make the Ruffled Cardigan, but after putting the whole outfit on my model, her mom and I agreed the green side tied the outfit together better.

The skirt is also the awesome cotton herringbone twill I got at The Fabricker. And since I put an image of this up over at the shop, I know some of you are chomping at the bit to get your hands on this new sewing pattern. Well, I’ll let you in on something – I’m releasing it on Friday. So, more to anticipate, right?

Thanks again for letting me share my process with you. This whole collection was the first time I ever sketched out a bunch of pieces and created everything at once for a cohesive look. I’m thinking I’ll do the same for the summer patterns – I am so in love with how these photos look (woot-woot Alison Eden) and how organizing my thoughts into a collection made everything look better.

Tomorrow- a new version of a current pattern.