Alida From Alida Makes: Sewing The Trends

Well readers, today is the last day of the Sewing The Trends Series.
It's been a pleasure and I'm really grateful to all my blog friends who participated. When I sent out the e- mails my biggest fear was that I would hear crickets and no one would want to do it! I was sort of shocked and also very excited that these talented ladies agreed to hang out at my little old blog.

My last guest is the lovely, witty and talented Alida from Alida Makes. I admire her style and she is probably one of the most talented photographers in the sewing and craft blog world. I seriously LOVE her photos. Her projects are great too!

Here you can see a few yourself from her blog below

Pleated playsuit, vintage raccoon girl, grown up skater girl dress

"Hey y'all!  I'm Alida and I blog at Alida Makes.  While I love all things crafty, sewing is my passion.  I like sewing children's clothes the best, but every once in a while I make something for myself.  I have 4 kids and a super busy hubby so most of the projects you see on my blog can be completed in an hour or two.  I chose the chambray maxi skirt for my post today because I love that chambray is making a comeback and I love the maxi skirt trend!"

Check out this adorable skirt! I think I'm going to try to make one for my upcoming trip to Mexico. I love chambray and its soft buttery feel. Don't forget to stop by Alida Makes to get the full tutorial on how to make yourself one.

Thank you for stopping by and reading the series!

Chambray on the spring catwalk for 2013:

DIY Gilded Vintage Frame Earrings and Pendant with Mod Podge Melts

I got a package of crafty goodies in the mail recently.

There were some red silicone molds, some white looking glue sticks, and some printed papers from the Mod Podge company.

The new product is called Mod Podge Melts.

You use the white glue sticks in a glue gun and shoot it into the little silicone molds to make a variety of cool shapes for a variety crafty little projects. Fun!

You and your imagination can figure out how to use them. Here's how we used ours:

Vintage Guilded Frame Jewelry

The molds were shaped like little frames and I was supposed to make something from them.

Lily and I got to work experimenting. We had a lot of fun together.

We tried lots of different ways to make the frame molds, finally deciding to make jewelry with them.We put some of the paper shapes inside the frames, and then Lily had the brilliant idea to just use the frames by themselves.

Lily is a pretty experienced crafter and knows how to handle a high temp glue gun!

You have to make sure the glue gun is very hot so the white milk glass colored sticks melt evenly into the molds.

We cut some little metal jewelry posts and placed them into the molds while the mod podge sticks were wet.

Then we painted the molds with gold gilding liquid.

 I added earring wires and a jump ring and necklace chain.

 I think this is a really cool product and the molds come in many other shapes that are perfect for the beginning jewelry maker, like me. You can paint the molds any color and you can also leave them plain white. It has a milk glass look.

Check out some more bloggers' projects below! 

Disclosure: I was financially compensated for this post but the opinions I have about this product  are not influenced by that fact.

Mie From Sewing Like Mad : SewingThe Trends

My special gust today is my blog friend Mie from Sewing Like Mad. 

I met Mie last year online and we became friends immediately. Well, we finally met in person at Fabric Weekend and were room mates. We had so much fun joking around about stuff until late at night and I wish we didn't live across the country from one another!

Mie had her own ladies clothing line in Denmark before moving to the US where she is now a mom of two cute little girls. She KNOWS her stuff, and lately has been designing lots of great outfits for her girls . Here are a few projects I pulled from her blog to share with you:

My inner Grandma, Bulle De Savon dress, shirred top and shorts.

Take it away Mie!

"I am Mie and I blog at Sewing Like Mad.  I am Danish, have been living in the US for almost 5 years and I have a sewing degree from Denmark. I used to have a very small women's apparel company but closed it down when I became pregnant with my first child 6 years ago. I am married and have two girls, aged 3 and 5. 

Because I am a formally trained seamstress I sometimes have an almost geeky way of sewing. I love when the things I sew (for me and the girls) look nice both inside and out. In other words I am a regular user of French seams, double yokes, bias tapes and facings.....AND I am a massive fan of color block and just colors in general. I am SO happy that the neon colors have finally made their way into 'everyones' wardrobes. Definitely a summer trend for 2013!!"

Mie bought all of these fabrics at Fabric weekend. I know, I helped her carry these bags up from my car and they were heavy!

Please stop by Mie's blog to read the whole post!

Thanks Mie!

I would say Mie's look really has a graphic feel, wouldn't you!

There's our pin below from our group pin board

Mercedes from Aventuras De Costuras : Sewing The Trends

Today's guest is Mercedes from Aventuras De Costuras. 

Mercedes blogs from the southern coast of Spain and I love seeing the beautiful clothes she makes for herself, as well as the scenery of one of my favorite countries to visit, Spain! Mercedes blogs in both English and Spanish and I've learned a lot about European sewing patterns from reading her blog.

 I admire her chic style as well as her advanced sewing skills !

I had a fun time looking through her blog to find the three projects I would show you. In fact, I think that has been my favorite thing about doing this series. Spending time going through the projects of my blog friends. I have really enjoyed seeing all of the beautiful creations from everyone.

Welcome Mercedes!

 "Hello, I'm Mercedes from Aventuras de Costuras. I started sewing in April 2010 because my mother gave me her sewing machine and haven´t stop ever since. First it was just to make my kids some clothes just for fun but I realized that the ones I made for them fitted them much better than RTW clothes. I don´t sew for them as much as I do for me, but I try to make at least the "nice" garments, the ones they´d wear to birthday parties or so. On the other hand I try to sew all my clothes, I think I just bought a couple of t-shirts from the shops in the past year. 

I love sewing trousers in the winter and pretty dresses in the summer. I just couldn´t define my style, Justine... Eclectic maybe? 

Oh I almost forgot! I live in Algeciras, that is right in front of the African coast, actually on aclear day we can see the Moroccan coast. We are surrounded by really beautiful beaches, one of them, Tarifa, Beach, is a great windsurf spot! "

          

Mercedes interpreted the Floral trend which has been going strong through spring and summer. These shorts are gorgeous! And so is the scenery.  Stop by Aventura de Costuras to see the full post!

Floral trend from Dries Van Noten.

Stacy From Boy,Oh Boy,Oh Boy Crafts: Sewing The Trends

Today's guest is Stacy from Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy Crafts! 

I really enjoyed guest posting earlier this year at Stacy's Sew In Tune series. You make your child an outfit based on a popular song. I had so much fun making Gigi a mini hip hop outfit based on an LMFAO song! Stacy kindly returned the favor and is now guest posting today at Sew Country Chick.

"Hi everyone!  I'm Stacey and I blog over at Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts where I write about designing and sewing clothes for my three boys and most recently, myself.  I started sewing about 5 years ago.  The bug bit me while I was in the third trimester of my second pregnancy, when I suddenly decided it was necessary to sew this boy: a quilt, sheets, a crib skirt, some burp clothes and pretty anything else I could think of.  Nest much?  The obsession has just gone down hill from there.  I spent 2011 sewing my way through the Sewing For Boys book and have progressed from there to drafting my own patterns for the boys.  This year my goal is to sew for myself, so I was thrilled when Justine invited me along for this series and gave me the push to design something based on this season's fashion trends.  Thanks for having me along, Justine!"

Glad to have you over too, Stacy!

                                                 Here are a few of Stacy's recent designs:

Stacy's design today was influenced by fashion's Asian trend

Here is a photo of the trend on the catwalk via our group Pinterest Board.

I think Stacy did a great job of interpreting this trend into a really cute and wearable summer look here, don't you? To read Stacy's full post about her Sewing The Trends experience please stop by her blog for a visit! 

Abby from Sew Much Ado: Sewing The Trends Guest

Today's guest is Abby from Sew Much Ado!

That's Abby wearing her  cute new pattern, the Seafarer top.

And here is another popular pattern of hers for girls, The Polly Dress.

I actually met Abby in person at Fabric Weekend and Girls Night Out a few weeks ago. What a fun time it was, getting to know bloggers I admired from afar like the beautiful Abby.

There's Abby in the middle on the far right! And there is me on the far left. And a whole lot of other AMAAAZING bloggers!

From the top: Mie from sewing Like Mad, Melissa from I Still Love You, Marissa from Rae Gun Ramblings, Sabra from Sew a Straight line

Middle: me, Stef from Girl Inspired, Jen from i Candy Handmade, Miriam from Mad Mim, Andrea from Train To Crazy, Bev from Flamingo Toes,

Bottom row: Melissa from Melly Sews, Caila from Caila Handmade, Leanne from Vogue Apparel, Merrick from Merrick's Art & Marigold from Hideous, Dreadful, Stinky.

Photo taken by Jess from Me Sew Crazy

Abby has a very popular sewing blog with lots of great projects, tutorials, and patterns. She has a new pattern she just came out with called the Seafarer Top pictured above,

Let's hear a little from Abby and get a sneak peek of her project she made for Sewing The Trends. You will have to go to her blog to get the lowdown on her project and the full story!

"Hi everyone! I'm Abby from Sew Much Ado and I'm really happy to be a part of Justine's series today! I think I was around 5 years old when my mom first taught me how to sew, and it's been one of my very favorite things to do ever since! I also design sewing patterns when I'm not chasing my three little ones around.

 
I've been through many phases of sewing, but clothing has always been my favorite. I love being able to make things that are unique and one of a kind, that you know you won't see anyone else wearing. I think it brings such great personal satisfaction to wear an article of clothing that you made for yourself, doesn't it?!"

I have a feeling this trend here has something to do with mixing patterns. Stop by Sew Much Ado to see the rest!

Bombshell Bathing Suit Review

I was really excited to buy the Bombshell swimsuit just released by Closet Case Files. Good looking bathing suit patterns are few and far between and this one looked really adorable.

So how did it go for me?

Hmmmm....

OK, I'm probably insane to post a photo of myself in a bathing suit on the web but this suit is pretty modest if you ask me so I will go ahead. 

I loved the pinup vibe of the Bombshell pattern. It reminds me of an Esther Williams suit I already own and love.

Here is a suit similar to the one I have on a plus size gal. It's super flattering on all shapes as you can see.

But something went wrong with my version. And there are a few reasons for it that I'll get to....

The suit goes way up on my behind so I guess I won't be wearing it any time soon! It's about 3 inches too short. Don't worry, I won't be sharing any photos of my backside in this. As you can see from the sew along button above, the front of the bathing suit should be a lot longer, almost like a skirt. 

I knew I was in trouble when I had cut out a size 8 and then saw on Lladybirds blog that she had made a size 8, too. She looks way smaller than me. 

I could just tell by looking at it on my cutting table that the suit was going to be much too short. But I couldn't leave well enough alone and soldiered on!

There is NO BUST SUPPORT in this pattern.

It would have been great with the addition of bust support and some pattern alterations. If only it had had instructions on how to install a shelf bra. There is no way I could wear this suit as is without constantly tugging and um, rearranging....

Many higher end one piece bathing suits have some sort of elastic under the bust. I'd add that, some boning on the sides, and maybe some underwire support as well. 

I  had this navy lycra lying around. It was only two dollars downtown, so no big loss. But still, I did like the matte texture. 

The instructions on the pattern were well written and photographed. Plus, there was the detailed sew along on the designer's site that was very helpful. However, I still had a hard time figuring out each step. But now that I have done it once it will be much easier next time. It's a complicated suit as far as sewing bathing suits go because of the gathered extra panel that goes over the bottoms. 

I do still have  hope for my next version if I ever get to it! 

I think I will go make a dress now.......

Sew & tell saturday 6/22

Welcome to Sew & Tell Saturday!

Where you can post your sewing projects and readers can find new blogs to love! Yay!

 I have a SEWING SERIES going on that I HOPE you all will come check out!

Week one is already over and the second and last week starts on Monday.

Sewing The Trends. Summer 2013 edition

Yeah, trends aren't always so bad now right? They're actually pretty fun sometimes!

 I have some talented sewists, bloggers, and designers from around the globe who I'm proud and humbled to have in the lineup. And they're sharing their own handmade outfits based on the current summer's trends.

Here are last weeks posts linked below if your curious:

Tropical fun from Bethany @ from Lil' Bit & Nan

Metallic mania Marie from @ a Stitching Odyssey

Playing with patterns from Shannon @ from Little Kids Grow

High waisted retro bikini  from Melissa @ I Still Love You

Maxi skirt from Marissa @ Rae Gun Ramblings

<center> <a href="http://www.sewcountrychick.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j431/sewcountrychick/sewntell.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> </center>

So let's see what you have been up to!
But first, here are some featured projects from last weeks party.

Chambray Shirt dress by Melissa @ Scavenger Hunt. So cute!

Adorable romper tutorial by Michelle @ Handmade Martini

Vintage style Polka Dot Shorts by Bethany @ Lil Bit & Nan. Please don't get on that bike with those shoes, Bethany!

If you would like to see more sewing and craft related posts consider adding Sew Country Chick to your rss feed reader. Or follow with Facebook, Twitter, or Friend Connect!

Marissa Rae Gun Ramblings: Summer Trend Series Guest

Today my special guest is Marissa from Rae Gun Ramblings. Her blog is full of fun, crafty projects and if you love reading, then you will really enjoy her book reviews and literary themed crafts.

Below are a few of her projects I found on her blog and in her shop.

i Phone Case Holder, Ruffle romper from her shop,  Glass tile Insurgent pendant 

Hi everyone! I'm Marissa from Rae Gun Ramblings and I'm so excited to be participating in this Summer Trends series.

I blog about all thing crafty, delicious, and bookish. For my day job I run an Etsy shop where I sell handmade baby clothes and fan stuff for YA readers so I sew all day long. I have been admiring the maxi skirt trend for a while now but I haven't jumped on board until recently. I feel like I see these floor length skirts all over: on celebrities, on ladies in the stores, and of course on friends.

What I love is that these skirts look good on all shapes and sizes. And what's even better is that they are SUPER easy to make. Today I'm excited to share a tutorial for a basic fold over knit maxi skirt.

I think I'm going to have to make on too! Click here to see her tutorial and read her full post about it. Tell her I said hi!

Melissa From I Still Love You: Sewing The Trends

We have another awesome blogger today. Melissa from I Still Love You!

I love her blog and had a great time meeting her at Fabric weekend. This girl is so funny, she had me laughing nonstop! I was with her when she picked out her fabric for her vintage style bathing suit for her project and am so excited to debut it here. Vintage style bikinis with a high waist are all the rage now and I can't wait to see her version. To see her full post and how she designed this ADORABLE BIKINI click here to visit her blog!

"I'm so excited to be part of this series! I'm a calligrapher, designer, blogger and sewer. 

In the last few months I've sewn like never before. I've tackled some tough materials (leather and chiffon), but I really pushed myself with the series and made myself a swimsuit! After visualizing it and problem-solving it in my head, I got the courage to construct it. It took nearly a whole day to sew, but it was worth it. 

I couldn't have done it without the encouragement of Justine! Seriously, how inspiring is she? We were in Michael Levine and I was telling her about this awesome swimsuit I bought that didn't fit me at all. She said, "Make one! They're so easy!" Then she walked me to the swim fabric and showed me the high quality swim suit fabric. It was revelatory. She was the push I needed to make this thing happen! Thanks, Justine!"

And THANK YOU Melissa!  Love that bikini! here area  few of my fave projects from Melissa's blog. her blog is CHOCK FULL of fashionable sewing tutorials!

DIY Peplum top tutorial

Essential t shirt tutorial

Wiggle Dress Tutorial

If you would like to see more sewing and craft related posts consider adding Sew Country Chick to your rss feed reader. Or follow with Facebook, Twitter, or Friend Connect!