Frozen Contest Winner!!!

You ladies didn't make this easy, we had a ton of beautiful entries!!!  And I loved seeing the creations for all ages, from a bitty baby bum all the way to a momma!!!  There were Elsas and Annas and all kinds of Frozen-themed dresses!  Great job, ladies!!!

Unfortunately, there can only be one winner.  It wasn't easy to pick, but we finally picked one!  This woman went above and beyond, her detailing was beautiful, the hand-drawn applique was perfect!  And I even saw in one of her comments that she didn't use a pattern!  Wow!!!

Congrats to Sue M, 

who won with her beautiful Anna dress and cape!!!

All of our members had beautiful creations in this contest and throughout the next week, I'll be featuring the rest of these talented ladies on our blog!  I can't wait for our next contest!!!

~Princess Bee~

Frozen

It's been a busy week at The Bee Hive!  We have pre-orders closing, new lines being uploaded, our June SAL is drawing to a close.  We also had a suggestion in the group involving a certain Disney movie and a contest to win some of the new snowflake batik we got in!  Ready for the details?

By now, just about everyone has seen Frozen approximately 3,259 times.  Give or take a little.  Our daughters and granddaughters have memorized all of the songs and have been driving their brothers insane by singing 24/7.  Oh, that's just at my house?  Really?  I was sure other brothers out there have been tormented by "Let it go" a time or three.

Real quick funny: Layna was watching Frozen the other day (again) and Anna was belting out "For the First Time in Forever", running along the docks, singing about how nothing is in her way when she runs smack dab into Hans' horse.  Layna, in all her 7-year-old sarcastic self, blurts out "That horse was in your way."  I couldn't help it, I was at the computer and bust out laughing at her.  She looked over and said "What?  It was."

Anyway, back to the contest.  There have been lots of designers coming out with PDF patterns for the Frozen sisters, McCalls has released a pattern for Anna and Elsa dresses in both women and children, and many talented women have been getting creative and coming up with their own versions of Frozen dresses.

Here's the one I did for Layna on her birthday.

Rules: There really aren't many.  We want to see how creative you can be!  You can imitate one of the costumes from the movie or you can make something that is inspired by the movie. You can also use something that you have already made.  But you can only enter one item, so pick your favorite! All pictures need to be uploaded in the fb group, Bee Quilted Beauties.  There will be an event created for the contestants to upload into.  By uploading a picture to the contest, you grant us permission to use your picture in our blog.

Deadline: All pictures must be uploaded by June 27, 2014.

Prize: One lucky winner will receive 3 yards of the Snowflake Batik.  If the winner is international, the fabric will be shipped with their next outgoing order.

What are you waiting for?  Get to sewing!!!  

~*~Princess Bee~*~

Pattern Review: M4M Alyssa

Last week, I got to test the Alyssa Dress from Made for Mermaids.

I was down at The Bee Hive when the tester call went out and what do we do when we're surrounded by tons of beautiful fabric?  We want to make something!!!  I jumped on the tester call and was picked to make the dress length.  The final pattern will have three lengths to choose from: top, tunic and dress.

I let Layna pick out the fabric and she picked a fun Laurel Birch Mermaid print. (Talk about the perfect fabric to use on a Made for Mermaids pattern!)  She's currently on a mermaid and fairy kick (how can any little girl NOT be on a fairy kick when she lives in a house surrounded by fairy wings) so the fabric was perfect.

One good thing about this pattern is that there are no pattern pieces.  This means no printing!  I was able to download the pattern to my Samsung Galaxy and get right to work!  I got everything cut out in less than 15 minutes and was ready to sew!

The bodice was finished in less than 30 minutes, and that included threading elastic through the back.  Megan uses casings and elastic instead of shirring on this one.  I'm pretty happy about that because shirring doesn't work too well when going through two layers of fabric.  Been there, done that. 

The bottom band is awesome because there is no gathering!!!  You just line it up and sew!  I'm one of these seamstresses that doesn't like gathering, so having a band instead of a ruffle was a huge bonus for me!  I did have to gather the skirt into the bodice, but I'm ok with just having to gather once when making something. 

The end result is really adorable!  Layna loves her new mermaid dress!

I even made some matching shorts from the M4M Lucy pattern!  Another quick and fun pattern!!!

Tuesday Ramblings-What is that fabric for???

It's Tuesday afternoon and I'm getting ready to head down to Bee Quilted Headquarters!  I can't wait to see all the beautiful fabrics we have coming in!!!  So what am I doing right now instead of packing?  Enjoying the beautiful weather today!!!

Last Saturday, I announced our next Sew-A-Long!  This one is going to be fun, because it can be a #selfcaresewing project or it can be something for your little one.  Plus, if you do one for your daughter, you can even make a matching one for her doll!  And huge bonus, the patterns are all free!  (You can get them here)  We're spending the rest of this week picking out fabrics and we will be starting our SAL on Monday (June 9) with cutting.  

We've been adding new fabric types to our group, specifically from Cotton+Steel.  I know we have all different levels of seamstresses from complete beginner all the way to advanced professional.  Sometimes, all those fabric types can get confusing!!!  Just about everyone knows about woven and knit, but what about voile, canvas, lawn???  What are the best types of projects for each of those fabric types?  I'll give you a little insight to some of the new fabric types we're carrying.

Woven: This is the most common fabric in our shop.  It's easy to work with and can be used on a variety of projects from clothing to quilts to bags.  It does not have stretch, is pretty strong, and is a good all-around fabric, especially for beginners.

Knit: Another common fabric, especially in clothing.  Knit does have stretch to it and the stretch can vary.  It can have a two-way (only from edge to edge) or a four-way (both edge to edge and lengthwise) stretch.  This fabric is most commonly used in t-shirts, tank tops, and bathing suits.  

Voile: The word "voile" comes from the French word for veil, which is an indication of the fabric's intrinsic nature: light-weight and semi-sheer. Voile's plain weave construction makes it similar to other light-weight woven materials, such as muslin, organdy and organza. Crisp, yet comfortable against the skin, voile has been used in women's undergarments and summer clothing. But it is not only for apparel; voile is often used in home furnishing applications such as curtains and window treatments.
Read more: http://www.ehow.com/list_7278471_characteristics-voile-fabric.html#ixzz33bvYbLzJ

Canvas:  Canvas is a heavy-duty fabric weave that has been used for centuries. Canvas fabrics have been used to make boat sails, tents, tarps, handbags and even air bags in vehicles. Canvas can be made out of a wide variety of materials, each with its own set of properties.
Read more: http://www.ehow.com/info_8385449_properties-canvas-fabric.html#ixzz33bw1pODc

Lawn:  Plain weave sheer fabric, originally of linen, but now also describes cotton fabrics. Lawn is made from very fine (thin) high thread count carded (prepared with a brush) yarns. Lawn is always made with an even weave using even yarns to produce a smooth, untextured surface. A crisp finish is frequently applied to lawn fabrics, and occasionally to other fabrics, which are then said to have a ‘lawn finish’. Comes from Laon in France, which used to be a major producer of linen lawn.
Read more: http://thedreamstress.com/2010/07/voile-lawn-muslin-whats-the-difference-the-long-answer/

I hope this helps some of you in picking out fabrics for your projects!  Now I really do have to get to packing!  Happy Sewing!

~*~Krista~*~