Maddalie Spring Dress

We are continuing our closer look at the 2014 Spring Collection. Today, we are discussing the Maddalie Spring Dress. I love the look of ruffles and frills on my daughter, but not all the time. Simplicity can be a beautiful thing! This was the inspiration behind the Maddalie Spring Dress. I wanted a simple dress with a classic look for her spring wardrobe.

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For the photo shoot, I decided to go with dressier fabric options. I love the look of pairing the cream eyelet used for the yoke with the silky metallic floral lame for the main fabric. Probably not the most practical fabric, but I still love it for a special occasion.  For this dress,  I took off about 2 ½ inches from the length and added a band in coordinating fabric from the yoke.

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You can easily dress up or down this dress by your fabric choice. I also love this lightweight cotton I found at Hobby Lobby. It looks super cute paired with her favorite slip-on sneakers.

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The yoke has a dip in the center front. This is designed to add a bit of elegance and sweetness to the dress. Gathers to the main fabric around the dip add a bit of fullness to the dress.

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The back is secured with 3 button loops and buttons. I LOVE these buttons I found online from MOOD Fabrics. http://www.moodfabrics.com/

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There are only 4 pattern pieces to this pattern, making this a super quick and easy pattern!  The dress is fully lined resulting in a high quality, durable garment.

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We truly have the most amazing group of talented women in the My Little Plumcake’s Testing Group.  Each pattern went through an extensive round of testing prior to release.  Here are a few of my favorites from testing (it was REALLY hard only to pick a few)!

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Oh! Sew Precious: https://www.facebook.com/ohsewprecious

 

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Fabulous tester Erin!

Blog pic 4Nicole Ryan Photography: https://www.facebook.com/nicoleryanphotography

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Sprouting Jube Jube Blog: http://sproutingjj.blogspot.com/  Today is the LAST day to register for her giveaway.  Giveaway includes the entire Spring Collection!

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And finally my favorite!  I promise she liked the dress 🙂  I think this little one was upset she could not hold her bear while Mom was trying to capture  a few shots.  This one is from the hilarious Brianne over at Ali Cat & Co: http://alicatco.blogspot.com/

Next up we will be discussing the Addie Spring Shorts.

Have a fabulous day!

-Michelle

 

Detailed Look at the 2014 Collection – The Chloe Pleated Skirt

Happy Spring!! It is so exciting to be able to finally say that now! Here in Indiana, it has been a long, cold and snowy winter. The grass is starting to get a little greener, birds are chirping all around and it’s almost warm enough to start jogging again. I am a complete wuss and will only exert myself if it’s between 60 and 85 degrees outside.

Anyhoo, I want to take a deeper dive into each pattern in the 2014 Spring Collection. How easy is it to sew? What are the options with the pattern? Fabric Recommendations? I want to address all of these with you.

The Chloe Pleated Skirt

Let’s start from the beginning! This was my first inspiration for the line. My vision was a pleated skirt with a banded waistline. The band is meant to sit high on the waist. The skirt is fully lined helping add a bit of fullness.

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Does your daughter like to twirl in her pretty outfits? This is the skirt for her then!

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The skirt is also easy to get on and off with a hook and eye closure at one side. This also helps make the skirt waistline adjustable. You could even add two eyes to help the skirt grow with your child.

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My absolute favorite feature are the pockets! These are the easiest pockets you will ever sew and look super professional when complete.

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Hannah loves the pockets! Oh, and this picture was taken about a month ago if you are noticing the snow in the background 🙂

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The straps are optional. Through testing, we found that the skirt is a bit hard to stay up high on the waist unless the straps are added. Crisscross the straps in the back for an added feature. By this point, I think Hannah was boycotting our photo session. I promise I did not put her in the corner! 🙂 However, it is a great picture to show the backside.

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The straps are not sewn into the waistband. The skirt is designed with 4 buttons on the inside of the waistband. This allows the straps to be worn one day, and not the next. The straps have buttonholes on each end so they can be connected to the buttons.

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I also love the look of using suspenders instead of the straps. It’s a great way to give the outfit a bit more personality. I am seeing suspenders everywhere this year in children’s clothing wear. This is the perfect outfit to capture what we are seeing on the runway! Here is a picture from the photo shoot. We went for a dressier look and added the suspenders.

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This pattern is geared towards advanced beginner/intermediate level seamstresses. I feel this trickiest aspect of this pattern is the pleats. It is important to iron and pin the pleats close to one another and even. Fortunately, we have taken out all the guess work in forming the pleats. We have a ruler that is printed along with the pattern for each size. No measuring is necessary with this pattern. Once you get past the pleats, you are golden. The pattern is really very simple from there on out.

So what about fabric recommendations. There is a wide array of fabrics that can be used in this pattern. Personally, I have experimented with cotton, silk, brocade and suiting material.

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Here is a picture of a tester that used seersucker. I love this skirt! Plus, the model is super adorable!!  Please check out her amazing blog for her experience with the skirt: http://www.stitchedbycrystal.com/2014/01/my-little-plumcake-skirt.html?m=1

IMG_5846 - for Etsy

You can find other great tester photos by following this link to our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.677864952252017.1073741829.417276488310866&type=1

Check back for our next blog post on the rest of the 2014 Spring Collection! Next up will be the Maddalie Spring Dress.

Spring Line Photo Shoot – Behind the Scenes

This past Saturday was a milestone for MLP. I had my first “real” photo shoot. I have been hard at work for the past four months leading up to this day. The days and weeks leading up to Saturday seem like a blur to me. There were a lot of late nights at my machine, […]

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Customer Appreciation: The Cordelia Sewn by Ali Cat & Co

  I hope you are all having a fabulous mid-February day.  We really appreciate our customers and love seeing what is being created with My Little Plumcake patterns.  We have a ton of fun showing you all off, so that’s what we’re doing!  Today, we’re taking some time to spotlight Brianne over at Ali Cat […]

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Sewing Snack: My Valentine’s Little Plum[short]cake

Valentine’s Day is only a few days away and you may be struggling with the dessert portion of your special lovey dovey dinner that you’ve planned specially for your Valentine.  Well, I’m back to smother you with sweetness. Everyone knows that I love chocolate, but I do like sweet things that exist without chocolate (although, I […]

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Tutorial: The Cordelia DRESS

We’re gearing up for Valentine’s Day here at My Little Plumcake, and we’re going to help you get ready, too!  Our pattern of the month is the Cordelia Peplum top, so that’s the pattern we’re working with today.  We want very dearly for you to “Be Mine” so we’ve put together a tutorial, tied it […]

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Pattern Of The Month: February 2014- The Cordelia!

It’s the first of the month and that means it’s time to announce the new Pattern of the month!  February is a month for sweethearts, so what better way to celebrate love than by offering the Cordelia Peplum Top for 25% off for the entire month? The Cordelia is a sleeveless sweetheart top that comes […]

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Family Time in the Arts

My husband and I decided to make family resolutions for 2014.  One of the things we decided to do was to try to get out more together.  We are SUCH homebodies.  Mainly it’s because there aren’t many family-friendly activities to do in the town I live and the things we have cost so many dollars.  […]

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Sewing Snack: Redemption

Since I failed you on Monday by not giving you something to munch on whilst you sew, I’m making it up to you today with a recipe review! I combed our “Sewing Snacks” Pinterest board for a recipe to try and I found these heavenly looking chocolate chip cookie dough bars by The Recipe Critic.  […]

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Sewing Snack…I tried

Sewing snacks! We all know that part of the sewing experience includes munchies during those brief breaks we take to look at our work and say “dang, I’m good” or “it’s missing something” or “Screw it all, I need chocolate!”  Michelle has tasked me with making sure you all have pleasant-tasting fuel to keep you […]

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Customer Appreciation (& Giveaway): The Sophie

By now I’m sure we’ve made it plainly obvious that the Sophie is our very first Pattern of the month (and is on sale for 25% off for the entire month of January).  If you haven’t gotten your hands on a copy of it, allow me to tempt you.  The Sophie is one of my […]

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Pattern Revolution Pattern Tour: Canaan’s Incredible Blazer

Hey all!  I hope you’re having a great day =)  We are! “Why?” you ask.  Well, it’s a pattern tour kind of thing.   The Canaan’s Incredible Blazer was released in December 2013 and the wonderful gals over at Pattern Revolution put together the most amazing line-up of talented seamstresses and bloggers for a pattern tour.  […]

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Testers Wanted!

My Little Plumcake is looking for fresh faces for our pattern testing!  We’ve had some great testers in the past, but would like some fresh eyes & talent added to the mix.  Although we will not be having open testing calls in the future for each individual pattern,   we would like to create a base […]

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Tutorial: The Sophie Hood

Good Monday to you!  I’m super excited to bring you My Little Plumcake’s first ever free blog tutorial.  Once we decided that The Sophie was going to be the spotlighted pattern for January, it didn’t take us long to figure out which tutorial we wanted to do.  Michelle has been aware of the desire for […]

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New Year, New Blog- Happy 2014!

Happy 2014 and welcome to the all-new My Little Plumcake blog! Most people make resolutions and while we typically like to swim away from the school, we’ve decided that this year we’re on board with the resolution thing.  2014 is going to bring about growth.  We are determined to work harder and better to bring […]

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Make sure to check us out on Pinterest!

Share My Little Plumcake on Pinterest! View on Pinterest at our profile: This month’s feature of the 2014 Spring Collection: One of my favorites, The Ruby:

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