A sparkling little gift bag

During a weeklong school holiday, I filled out two forms for pattern testing. One for a company that had turned me down a few times before and another one in a group I must have joined for a contest and forgot about. I did not expect to get picked by either of them and forgot about the forms. Until I found acceptance e-mails for both tests on the same day ... oops: no more chilling out!

This is the first result, the other pattern is launching tomorrow ;-)

Lauren (Sew By Pattern Pieces) is launching the #11600 Jenny Tote Bag in honor of her mother. She passed away last year due to pancreatic cancer. Half of the proceeds from this pattern will be donated to Pancare Foundation, which finances cancer research in Australia. 

The pattern is available in 4 different sizes (S/M/L/XL):
from a cute gift bag right up to a spacious beach bag..

For easy storage the bags can be rolled up and closed by 3 different fastening methods: Ties, straps with a snap and an elastic.

The smaller model offers a choice between short or long handles.  The shorter handle is meant for children. The longer version allows an adult to carry the bag on the shoulder.

I picked a small, with short handled and ties closure.

never change a winning team !

  

The winning team in the girl PJ department over here has changed last May.
It went from "girly nightgown" to "girly top and pants".

I used the Nore - top (Compagnie M) with the cute high-low hem and the Wolf (Zonen 09) pants. Both pattern designers are Belgian. The Nore top/dress is also available in English. My daughter loved the first attempt with this pattern combination. I thought it was a bit large and wanted to size down. The little lady did not agree: she ordered the exact same size, because it's so very very comfy. Her heels won't get cold for a while ;-)

The fabric is the result of my participation in rafflecopter give-aways. I know quite a lot of people don't trust the system. Entering your e-mail or facebook name? What about safety? And do they even give actual prizes? I go by the principle: if you entered your e-mail anywhere, your data is out there. So might as well try and get something in return. I think this is prize number 5 or 6 in a few years. I love give aways!

4 tips for Fancy Gathered Skirts

Gathered skirts are pretty simple projects. I have made quite a few with elastic in the waistband when I started sewing. My daughter loves them, because they are so easy to put on. No zippers, no buttons, just step in and go play! I put together some tips & tricks I used for the "Fancy Gathered Skirt" in  the Cat's Cradle post.

I'll explain how to draw the "pattern" with just 1 measurement in tip #1.

Lately I have been seeing loads of gorgeous gathered skirts with sparkly elastic waistbands. My daughter had asked for them whenever she saw on pop up at my screen, but I didn't try because I did not see how to finish it nicely. What does a sewing mom do in cases like these? Ask Google! It found a great tutorial in Dutch by Seija that really works like a charm. You get a clean finish without itchy threads on the inside. Check out tip #2!

I like it when a gathered skirt has some volume, so I usually go for at least the whole width of the fabric. On Starbrite (Cat's Cradle by Michael Miller) skirt, I even used twice the fabric width. If you want the skirt to stand away from the body a bit more, you add a little something to make the hem firmer. If you get a nice finish in the process: bonus points. On my first elastic skirt I used piping: Have a look at tip #3! The Starbrite fabric was too shiny to let anything else steal the glory, so I went for bias binding on the inside. Check out tip #4 if you want more info on that.

Cat's Cradle winner and more chances to win!

Ladies and gentlemen: we have a winner!
Check out the Sewing Portfolios FBpage to find out who won 13 yards of Cat's Cradle goodies.

You didn't win?
There are more chances for you to win gorgeous Michael Miller fabric out there:

Here's 3 of them running right now:

Cat's Cradle (+ give away)

SewingPortfolios.com gave me the opportunity to work with gorgeous Michael Miller fabric from the Cat's Cradle line.
The whole line has been fairy dusted with golden metallic details. 

Can you already see those stars reflected in the eyes of a little girl?

The Team members got to sew a few projects with full creative freedom. The only true limit to my creativity was my daughter's taste. She loved both Starbrites right away, but the Love Lines don't feature her favorite colors. 

That means I got to keep that one for myself: YAY!

I chose to work with free patterns. With these, you can make totally free projects if you are the lucky winner of the fabric give-away!
(at the end of this post)

Why I love SewingPortfolios

SewingPortfolios.com is a FREE website.

You can create a portfolio of your sewing accomplishments.

You can arrange them in albums and flip through them whenever you feel like it.

Business Members can find you and offer you collaborations to test patterns, showcase fabric, write for a blog or magazine and much more... If you don't want them to find you, just keep your settings private. You can find more information about the quick set up of an account in the SewingPortfolios tab on top of the blog.