Cultivate in Fall Wrap Up

About a month ago, I saw Art Gallery Fabrics post about a new contest, Cultivate in Fall.  It was a simple contest, create something with Bonnie Christine's line Cultivate and email it in.  Then, all of the entries were posted to Pinterest for voting.  

The winner was chosen by popular vote and the Beauties pulled through for me!  

Thanks to all of our fans and my friends and family voting, I took first place!

I made this cute dress with the Giselle Pattern by Kate & Rose Patterns.

I made the dress out of voile to keep it nice and lightweight for fall.

Gamer was my photographer for this dress and for 10 years old, I say he's got some talent!

I had a lot of fun during this contest and got to sew for myself, which is something I don't do much.

And the best part?  My prize package came in today!

I can't wait to get sewing!  Once I get caught up on a few other projects, first...  lol

Happy Sewing, Beauties!

~*~Princess Bee~*~

Indian Summer: One Thimble Blog Tour

The new issue of One Thimble, a quarterly sewing ezine, is out and it's full of cute patterns!  I especially love the versatility of the Cosmos Reversible Skirt by Sew Maris Designs.

I used some Art Gallery fabric from a couple years ago that I had in my stash.  The line is called Indian Summer and Bitty Bee loves it!  For the first side, I picked a light background with trees and teepees and mountains.

For the reverse side, I chose a darker fabric, this one in teal with feathers and cacti.

To go with the skirt, I found a teal long sleeved shirt and added a touch of embroidery to the front.

I really like the length of this skirt, it comes down to her knees, 

which is a good length for back to school.
Plus, it's "dad-approved" at this length!

I did change up the construction just a little,
I made a casing for an enclosed elastic waistband after sewing the bottom scallops and turning, instead of the fold over elastic waistband.

I look forward to taking the time to read the rest of this issue of One Thimble, the patterns all look amazing and I hear there are some really good articles!

~*~Princess Bee~*~

8/13 Pattern Revolution, Call Ajaire, Happy Okapi

8/14 Rebel and Malice, Handcrafted by Red, Lily Shine Boutique

8/15 Lady and the Gents, Horris and Deedle,  Bee Quilted Blog

8/16 Create 3.5, Lulu and Celeste, 

8/17 Beri Bee Designs, Finn's Door

8/18 Hibbadoray, HattieLu Handmade

8/19 Made by Sara, Snickerdoodle Stew

8/20 Stitches By Laura, That's Sew Kari

Adding Pockets for Bitty Bee

Bitty Bee has taken a fancy to rompers this summer and has tasked me with making her some new ones this summer.  Normally an easy task, but she also loves having pockets and not all romper patterns have pockets.  For example, this free romper pattern from The Purl Bee.

When trying out new designers, I like to make a trial run out of some of my older fabric stash before cutting into good stuff.  For this trial run, I had some really pretty green Native American style fabric.  Bitty Bee loves that it has horses running across the front.

The fit was pretty good on her, she's tall for her age and I made the size 8/9.  For future ones, I'm adding about an inch to the bodice length and an inch to the length of the shorts.

The challenge she gave me for her next one: she wanted pockets!

I can do this, easy peasy!  All I needed was a shorts/pants pattern that has pockets.  For mine, I used Simplicity 1625.  This pattern uses a single piece pocket instead of two separate pieces, like I've seen in many PDF patterns.  I prefer the single piece pocket.

 

I took the pocket piece and cut out the pocket curve from my romper front short pattern piece.  Then I made a new pattern piece for the fold over pocket, since the Simplicity pattern has a slight curve to the hip.  I kept the overall size of the pocket the same, just made the outer edges of the pocket piece straight instead of curved.

To insert my pocket, I lined up the shorts front to the pocket piece, right sides together.  I used a 1/4" seam allowance for my seam.  Make sure you clip the curve before turning to press.  I topstitched along the curved edge after pressing.

Next, to make the pocket, I folded the pocket piece so that the edge lined up with the side seam of the shorts and pressed in place.  Then I ran the bottom of the pocket through the serger.  I basted the pocket edges the side seam and top of the shorts front to make the rest of the construction easier.  (I forgot to take a picture of my basting.  Oops!)

After adding the pockets to the shorts, I followed along with the remaining instructions on The Purl Bee.

The Exploding TARDIS fabric can be found on our website.

This romper is becoming a staple in my summer sewing collection!  Bitty Bee love the style and with the elastic in the bodice, she is able to get it on and off without untying the straps.  That's a definite win for me!

~*~Princess Bee~*~

Beehive Buzz - July 15, 2015

It's been a busy week around here and I haven't had a chance to sit down to write any updates!

I've been busy uploading more and more fabric to our website, we have a lot to go through and inventory!

We have also been talking about a new addition to the website: patterns!  Queen Bee has found some really cute paper patterns that she's ordered and we also met with some really awesome designers at Quilt Market last year who we're looking at placing orders with.  I will be looking into adding PDF patterns to our site as well.  We're both really excited about this new expansion in our shop!

New preorders have been posted in the group on Facebook, please join us if you haven't yet!

I'm looking into teaching some simple sewing classes soon and will be sharing the projects from our classes in the coming weeks!  I was given a great idea for a simple class by Queen Bee, who saw a youth sewing class in progress yesterday.  I can't wait to teach this class!

~*~Princess Bee~*~

Time to Celebrate, times two!

Tomorrow, we, as a country, will celebrate our independence.  Celebrate the birth of our nation, the start of this glorious country.  Bitty Bee and Gamer have been down at the Beehive all week, but I'm joining them today so that we can celebrate together tomorrow.  I've been missing my babies, the house has been too quiet, and I'm looking forward to lots of hugs tonight!  

Tomorrow, we, as a small business, are also going to be celebrating a new step in our journey.  We recently launched a brand new website and have been in a "soft launch" mode.  On July 4th, as we celebrate our nation's independence, we will kick off our official launch of the new site with a big sale!

Everything on the website (excluding Beauty Boxes) will be 40% off with code FREEDOM, starting at 12:01 am and lasting until 12:00 pm on July 4th.

Also, in our Facebook group, we will be having special fabric sales all day tomorrow.  These will be fabrics that are not on the website at this time.  Come join us for these extra, exclusive sales!

Have a Safe and Happy Fourth of July!

~*~Princess Bee~*~

Beehive Buzz: June 8, 2015

Happy Monday!

Queen Bee had a bit of excitement this morning in the Beehive, she had a little visitor to the shop courtesy of all the rain lately.  She has a slight (major) fear of frogs and the rain really brings them out, especially in the country, where she lives.  She opened the door to the shop and one of the little suckers jumped right inside!  Luckily, King Bee was home and came to the rescue!  Otherwise she wouldn't be able to get anything done today!

If you haven't joined our Facebook group yet, you're missing out on some great sales every Wednesday!  This week, we're going to have remnant bundles and FQ bundles up for grabs!  It'll be happening early Wednesday morning, so come join us.

We're still working on the new website and it should be ready to launch this week!  We're really excited about how it's all coming together and can't wait for the big reveal!  The goal is to have it launched by the end of this week, and this weekend we will have a big sale to celebrate!

Beauty Box Inpiration: June 2015

It's time once again for Beauty Boxes!  We love the fabrics in this month's boxes and think you will too! 

Due to us being in the middle of our website change, we are taking orders for these in our Facebook group.
Come join us over there for lots of beautiful fabrics, great people and lots of talent!

This month, we asked two of our talented Beauties, Ruthann and Bernadette, to be inspired with the fabrics we chose and we have been blown away by their creations!

Ruthann did an amazing job, here's what she had to say.

Loved working with these fabrics! The wovens from Japan have a tight-weave and are thinner than many so they just screamed BIAS to me. They contrasted beautifully with the textural woven cotton which is a delight to wash and sew with very little fraying! Gorgeous double-sided ribbon is plush and substantial,a perfect accent to this beautiful Beauty Box Collection! Izzy and Ivy "Beverly Belle" top slightly modified (an intermediate pattern IMHO) with a 60" skirt sweep! Sized for a custom 18mo. twirly girl.Bloomers are Tie Dye Diva "Pretty Pantaloons" which are shaped with a definite front/back so I love these! I left the pretty woven selvedge of the fabric raw for the bloomer hems. Wanted to show skirt...2nd photo is outside for color trueness!

Ruthann did such an amazing job bringing this fabric to life!  Her granddaughter will look adorable in this!

Next up is Bernadette, who also impressed us with her creation!

When I saw the fabric, I immediately knew that the textured pink needed to be a pair of pants. I used a pattern from a Japanese pattern book (Linen, Wool, Cotton Kids). They have a structured yoke, pleats in the front and the sweetest gathered bottom.

 
The toile was my favorite fabric but there wasn't a lot of it so I made a little vest from the same pattern book. I also used the great ribbon as a tie closure. It's so sweet with pink on one side and brown on the other. It's nice and thick too.

My blouse which buttons down the back and has 3/4 sleeves is modified from Tadah's Pleatie Shortsuit pattern. I added some length to the bodice to make a blouse. The dark floral had more of a fall feel so I made longer sleeved blouse that can be worn later in the year. I used the lighter floral as my facing to add some interest to the inside of the shirt. I have a decent amount left and will be making a skirt later that can also be used with the blouse.

I love the different textures and weights from the fabrics. I really enjoyed working with them.

 

 I want to say a huge thank you to Ruthann and Bernadette for working with us.

~*~Princess Bee~*~

Mash Up with Simple Life and Violette Field

The other night, I was looking through some of the fabric I had here at the house, and found some of my Petal & Plume from Art Gallery.  I love this line of fabric and Bitty Bee needed a new dress out of it.  But what dress to make?

The new Mia's Tie-Back Top and Dress by The Simple Life Pattern Co caught my eye, I just purchased that pattern and loved the bodice of it.  But I wanted a different skirt.  I had the Violette Field Threads Maggie Dress for girls that I haven't had a chance to make yet and I love the hi-lo skirt on it.  In my mind, Mia's bodice with Maggie's skirt was the perfect match up.

The end result was amazing!

Because both dresses have similar size bodices, there were no adjustments needed for the length, which made this a very easy project!

Bitty Bee loves anything out of Art Gallery fabrics because of how comfortable it is to wear!  The fabrics are especially great for summer, because of how light and flowy they are.

And, of course, true to Texas form, it's been HOT HOT HOT for the past few weeks, yesterday I was burning up outside in a tank top and as soon as I make Bitty Bee a summery dress, the temps drop to 58!  Poor girl was freezing as we were taking these pictures!

But she was a trooper and didn't complain too much about the cold.

This dress is sure to be a summer favorite, once this crazy Texas weather decides to leave winter behind for good this year!

If you haven't had a chance to work with Art Gallery Fabrics yet, I highly suggest you get a few yards and try them out.  They have such a great hand and are just amazing to work with!

~*~Princess Bee~*~

Beehive Buzz - Monday May 18

Time for the weekly update from the Beehive!  We have a lot going on this week!

First, there have been some updates to the rules and such in our group on Facebook for pre-orders.  Come join us if you haven't yet, we have a great time over there!

This week, Color Me should be in and we will start cutting this weekend.  I'm heading to the Beehive on Friday to help cut Color Me so we can get it shipped out.

We're still working on the website, waiting to hear back from our new host and then uploading all of our fabric to the new site for our big re-launch!  No estimated date yet on when it'll all be done.

Last weekend was Spring Quilt Market and from the pictures we saw, the new fabrics coming out are simply amazing!  Tula Pink showed off her new line, Eden, with some beautiful quilts done in the three colorways, Amethyst, Sapphire and Tourmaline.

Pictures from Tula Pink's Facebook page.

Art Gallery also had their new lines on display, we already have pre-orders up for many of them in the group, so make sure to get your order in, they're all breathtaking.

Pictures of the Art Gallery booth are from the Art Gallery Facebook page.

So many pretty fabrics, there really needs to be more than 24 hours in a day for more sewing!

This week, I'm hoping to finish up a new tutorial that I have in my mind, users of Essential Oils will really enjoy this one!

Until next week, Beauties!

~*~Princess Bee~*~

What I Learned While Teaching Kids to Sew

I homeschool my children and part of our homeschool routine includes our wonderful co-op.  One day a week, we meet up with other homeschooling families and our kids take classes together.  All of the classes are taught by fellow parents and the kids all love it!

In previous semesters, my kids have taken classes like Native American Studies, Musical Theater, Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Birds, Art, and many others.  We have students ranging in age from toddlers to high schoolers.  It is a wonderful, diverse, friendly, amazing group!

This semester, I taught Machine Sewing.  I had 7 children in my class, 6 girls and my son.  My youngest was 5 years old and the oldest was 12.  It was an interesting semester.

Not only did my kids learn a ton about sewing (and they have all requested that I teach another sewing class next year), but I learned a lot too.  Here's a few of the things I learned.

1. Keep the projects simple.  We started off with simple projects like fabric bookmarks and t-shirt bags.  But then I got adventurous and decided that they could make simple sundresses to donate to children in Uganda.  We used a simple pattern which would normally take me less than an hour from start to finish.  It took us about a month.  Granted, we were learning as we went and we only had one 45 minute class per week.  One whole day was spent on learning how to put a PDF pattern together.  Next time, I'll keep the projects smaller, ones that can be completed in one to two classes.

2. Precut things for your students.  Kids are impatient and lose interest in things that take too long.  While all of them did a fairly decent job of cutting out their patterns and fabric, we would have gotten through things much faster if I had done the cutting at home.  When teaching one-on-one, letting your student cut their own stuff out would be fine, but trying to keep your eyes on 7 students at once was a little overwhelming for me.  And I was doing this with 3 additional parents in the class helping!  The day I precut the fabric bookmarks should have been a heads up to how much better it would be if I cut things out before class.

3. Keep the fabric options simple and make sure you're aware of what's in the fabric bin before coming to class with it.  When it was time for the students to pick out their fabric for their dresses, I brought in a bin of fabric that was living in my garage.  It was mostly cotton quilting fabric, which was perfect for the dresses.  But there were a few that should have been taken out before class, some pieces didn't have enough fabric to make a dress, some were too thin, some were too thick.  Too much time was spent digging through the box of fabric.

Those were the biggest things I learned during this semester.  I'm really hoping that the sewing class makes for next year, from the sound of it, chances are good.  I'll be working on some new projects over the summer and will even be posting my own tutorials as I test them out with Bitty Bee and Gamer.  

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the semester.  Those are some pretty awesome kids in these pictures!  They made the class a joy to teach!