Back to School with Bee Quilted Beauties: CKC Day 2

Today, we're continuing on our BTS Series with the adorable Create Kids Couture outfit.  We last talked about the Clarissa's Belted Pants, today let's talk about Sabrina's Ruffled Top.

This was a really easy and quick top to put together, but the details really give it the "wow" factor.  

The shirring at the waist really gives this top a polished, "big girl" look, which is great for kids who are going off to school and might be starting to get a little reluctant about wearing clothes that Mom has made them.

The back has a knot where the straps feed through the bodice.  This top will be adorable with a t-shirt (short or long sleeve, depending on the weather) underneath to keep it within dress code standards.  When my kids were in school, my daughter had many tops with straps like this and she had a collection of solid color t-shirts to wear under them on school days.  On the weekends, we just left the t-shirt out. 

This pattern also has the measurements to make it into a dress, which might be a better option for some girls.  My girl is a "frilly tomboy", so tops and pants work a little better with her for everyday wear.

Up next, we will be finishing up the CKC outfit with Adele's Ruffled Jacket.  

~Princess Bee~

Back to School with Bee Quilted Beauties, CKC Day 1

It's that time of year again, time to start planning for Back to School!!!  I'm putting together some of my favorite PDF patterns for BTS sewing to share with you.

We're starting off with a three piece outfit from Create Kids Couture, which I made out of the Woodwinked line from Dear Stella, available now in our shop: Bee Quilted Beauties

Clarissa's Belted Pants are great for BTS sewing, they're easy to sew and the ruched hemline is great for older girls who are outgrowing the ruffled pants, like my daughter is doing to me.  She's 7 going on 17, I swear!!!

These pants have an elastic waistband for easy wear and also easy fitting.  The amount of elastic you use can easily be shortened or lengthened for size.

They do have a wider leg width on them, which my daughter really likes.

Overall, these pants took me maybe 2 hours from start to finish and they can easily become a wardrobe staple for your little girl.  Make them up in a solid and they can be mixed and matched with lots of different tops, or make a few different tops from the same fabric line to increase the versatility of them.

On mine, I picked up a really cute burlap flower from my friends at 2 Shabby Chics and attached a safety pin to the back of it.  I pinned it to the side of her left pant leg for a cute little touch.

Later this week, I'll be giving my reviews of the top and jacket that were made to match!

Molly & Me Monday: Time for Bed!

This week, Molly & Layna got some cute new jammies!!!  My little girl is growing like a weed and has almost outgrown all of her current pajamas, so it was time to make some new ones!  I mixed pieces from a couple different patterns I already own to put these together.  The fabric is some Art Gallery that we picked up at Quilt Market last fall.  I still had a few one-yard pieces and it made such a pretty pajama set!  Plus, the Art Gallery fabrics are so soft, they really are perfect for lounging around in.

For the top, I used the Ellie Inspired Dreamy Girl pattern.  I love this one because I have both the girls and the doll sizes.  I didn't add the strip for elastic on the top because I added a touch of embroidery.

The shorts are from Made For Mermaids.  I've used the Lucy pattern before and it's a really quick and easy pattern.  For Molly's shorts, I used a doll shorts pattern I already had and I cut the hemline of them to match the pattern piece from Lucy's shorts.

As I was finishing up this morning, I saw that Urban Threads had a new freebie today that was perfect for these jammies!!!  This design is free through July 27, 2014.

Watch the blog in the next few weeks for some great Molly & Me Back to School Fashions!

~Princess Bee~

Business Owning Beauties: Sew Stinkin' Cute

I love small businesses!!!  And selling fabric, we get to meet a lot of small business owners, generally ones who sell clothing.  Today, we chatted with April Smith of Sew Stinkin' Cute.  Here's what she had to say about her life as a WAHM.

Let's start with a little introduction to who you are, your family, your boutique name, etc.
My name is April Smith and I'm the owner of Sew Stinkin' Cute. I have an amazing husband Tim and two precious boys Stephen 17 and Elijah 3.

What was the inspiration for you to start your boutique?
Elijah was born with a Lymphatic Malformation and to date has had 14 surgeries. When he was very small a friend sent me a message with Psalm 139. I printed that and it hung above Elijah's bed for a year and a half and every night when i laid him down I would recite that scripture over him. He is the inspiration behind me starting Sew Stinkin' Cute.

What has been the biggest challenge you've faced since starting a business?
Trying to balance being a wife, mom and business owner. Trying to find the key to make it all work harmoniously.

What is your favorite thing about being a business owner?
My favorite thing about being a business owner is being able to be home with my boys. I also love the friendships that have blossomed from getting to know my customers and other ladies in the boutique business.

Do you have a favorite item that you are currently selling? 
This spring the Butterfly dress by Tie Dye Diva in the fabulous Kumari Garden fabric was my hottest seller!

What is in store for the future of your boutique?  Where would you like to see yourself in 5 years?  10 years?
I absolutely love what i do and would love to see the boutique grow but not too big. LOL! I love the smallness of it and the warmth and friendships we have being a small business!

Here are a few more of the "Sew Stinkin' Cute" items that April has made.  What a talented seamstress!  We wish her many years of success in business!

Would you like to be featured as a Business Owning Beauty?  Visit our facebook group, Bee Quilted Beauties for details!

Fairy Mini-Backpack

Adding wings to a child's backpack is a fun way to add a little whimsy to their day!  What little girl wouldn't love to play pretend on their way home from school?  It's easy to make this little addition while making a new backpack for your child this year!

I used a free toddler backpack tutorial for this one, but this project can be done with just about any backpack pattern.

The tutorial I used can be found by clicking here.  For the most part, you will be following her instructions.  I just made a few little changes here and there.

The first thing I changed was adding a hanging loop between the straps on the back.  I cut a piece of fabric 3" x 8" for this piece.  To make the loop, fold and iron along the long edge (making it 1.5" x 8").  Open this up and fold both sides in towards the crease down the middle.  Iron again and then fold along your original crease and press one more time.  Stitch down both sides 1/8" from the edges.  When you get to the step where you're placing the straps on, pin the loop on first in the middle, then position the straps to the side of the loop.

The other change I made was adding the wings!  You can buy the design that I used at Urban Threads.  This change was a little more complicated than adding a loop to the top.  I stitched out my wings on stiff felt (I bought mine at Hobby Lobby).  I'm spoiled and have an embroidery machine that will cut my wings out for me, but it's really not that hard to cut them out by hand.  Make sure that you also cut a piece for the back, that way the back side of the stitches are covered.  Glue those two pieces together with the hot glue gun.  After sewing the side strip to the front of the backpack, you'll need to attach the wings.  Make sure they're centered and even.  I added a bit of hot glue to hold them in place while I was sewing them on.  

Be careful when sewing them so you don't catch the other parts of the bag!  I sewed a quick little V shape, following the lines of the embroidery.

You can see my stitches in this picture here.  Now, continue on with the tutorial, just making sure that when you attach the back piece of the backpack to the side strip that you make sure you tuck your wings into the bag and they don't get caught in your sewing.  

One other change I made to her tutorial was that I did serge all of my seams.  She says that it's not necessary because we're using iron-on interfacing, but I like a nice finished seam.  Besides, a serged seam just adds a little more stability to your seams.  When dealing with children, more stability is ALWAYS a good thing!  

Now all you need to do is find a child to attach the backpack to and let them fly!!!  

**If you have a boy who won't be so crazy about fairy wings, you can follow these same steps with dragon wings instead of fairy wings!  How cool would a dragon backpack be???**

Quilters Cotton: Not Just for Quilts!

We all use it on most of our sewing projects, we all love the many options that it offers, for many it's the first thing we have ever sewn with.  I'm talking about Quilting Cotton.  It's so easy to work with and what many of the wonderful PDF patterns are written for.  But just how versatile is this wonderful fabric that we all love?  Here are a few projects that we at BQB have made from various quilting cottons that we carry.

                       

Those are all cute and such, but where's the versatility in those outfits?  Well, Mom did make a matching bag out of cotton for this one:

And she also made me a really cool boho style bag last year, which was mistaken at a high end fabric store for a designer bag (I can't remember the name of the designer).

But what about things that other people have made from quilting cotton?  I've seen countless tutorials for book covers made from cotton and will be making some binder covers with my kids before our school year starts.  We're using the PDF tutorial from Gingercake for them.  I'll be sure to share them when we're done!

There are tons of backpack patterns available that use quilting cotton, too.  And with a little bit of imagination, those backpacks can be made into some really neat creations!  I'm working on something this week that will hopefully turn out to be a pretty awesome backpack creation!

But what if I told you that quilting cottons could be used in elaborate costumes?  Not just Halloween costumes (though it's great for that too), but for really over the top gowns and such.  Have you seen the movie Mirror Mirror about Snow White?  Really good movie, I highly recommend it!  Look at these costumes from one of the scenes in the movie.  Would you believe that they're made from quilting cotton???

I attended a "Costuming on a Budget" panel in 2012 at DragonCon in Atlanta, GA.  One of the speakers of the panel talked about how amazing quilters cotton is for costumes and she talked about how the costume designers for Mirror Mirror used quilters cottons on the costumes for the wedding scene.  They helped create those over the top looks without all the work of adding the details on a blank fabric.  The dress pictured above was fussy-cut so that the large flowers were on the shoulders and also in just the right place on the bodice and skirt of the dress. 

The wonderful woman who was speaking at that panel was wearing a beautiful corset with a steampunk mermaid on the front of it.  Luckily, I was able to find a picture of her in the costume on her blog, since I didn't get a picture at DragonCon.  You can check out her blog, Confessions of a Craft Addict, where she talks about all sorts of crafty goodness!  Here is the picture from her blog of her beautiful costume: 

And guess what.  Her corset is made out of quilters cotton.  Pretty cool!  I'm actually working on a corset right now out of some quilters cotton that I bought a couple years ago.  I can't wait to see it come together!  

There are so many ways that quilters cotton can be used in our sewing!  I really do think that it's one of the most versatile fabrics out there.  Now what are you waiting for?  Get to creating!!!

~Princess Bee

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~*~