Ellie Inspired

Everyone knows how awesome Ivey is.  I've been a fan of hers for a long time.  Ivey sews for Sew Blessed fabric store and has been featured in Sew Beautiful magazine.  She also has a wonderful blog of her own.  She has an enviable knack for putting together fabrics and trims that makes you say..."Why didn't I think of that?"

So, when I saw she had used one of my patterns on Facebook the other day, I was thrilled to see what new twist she might have brought to my pattern.

Isn't she amazing?  The girls look like they're having so much fun and Ivey says these may be their Easter dresses.

Hope you forgive me, Ivey, for stealing the pictures but thanks for using my pattern!! 

Oh, I forgot to say...this is my Daisy Bell pattern!  It's a fun one to make!

P.S.  She also used my pattern to make this adorable Dr. Seuss dress during "Dr. Seuss week" the beginning of this month.  Here's a picture of it hanging in the window at the shop.   Adorable!

Well, I worked this weekend on my final edits to Daisy Bell...and I ended up with an extra empty half a page!  Well, we can't have that, so what did I do?  Create a sweet hand embroidery design of daisies to include free!!

I worked on it til about 4 am this morning so I could keep my promise of having it ready on the weekend (since I hadn't gone to bed yet, that counts, right??)  And then, when I went to bed, I was so excited about how it turned out that I couldn't sleep!! 

I am very proud of some things in this pattern that I think you will really like:

• more diagrams
• step-by-step simple instructions on making the continuous bound placket (even if you've never sewn before, you can do this one...really!)
• a cute little sunhat
• a gored skirt that's really fun to make
  

And, as with all of my patterns, you get:

• optional hand-embroidery and smocking design included free
• lots of detailed instructions
• still kept it a short pattern so it is not overwhelming to print (21 pages)
• black and white computer-generated diagrams (so you don't use up your color print cartridge!)
• available as both an e-pattern and a paper pattern
  

So, it's going in the shop now in both e-pattern and paper pattern formats and being sent out to stores around the country later today.  But I'm tired (ha!) so I will post some pictures later of the hand embroidery and smocking designs.   Here is what the embroidery design will look like.  It is a very simple outline design that can be completed with just a backstitch, outline stitch, or if you are currently obsessed with shadow work like me, shadow work!

Isn't it so pretty on the back side too?  Okay, enough with my love affair with shadow work embroidery!  Ha!

Happy Stitching!

Say that five times fast!!  he he

A sweet polka dot Daisy Bell...

Having a tea party...

Oh, just kidding!  It's only pretend!

I always do one final test of my pattern after I get back all the comments and results from my testers.  So, the fact that you are seeing these pictures means, Lord willing, I will have the pattern available for sale THIS WEEKEND!!

Check back here if this is a pattern you would like to have.  It comes in sizes 1-5.  The older sister version will be available soon after (sizes 4-12)!!

Some more pictures of Daisy Bell.  Are these too cute or what!?  Each one put their own creative spin on it.  I love the end of the testing process when I get feedback and get to see my pattern interpreted in so many different ways by different people.  I can't wait for that last day when I know my inbox will contain pictures for me to look at!

Thanks everyone!  I really have the best group of testers and I appreciate you so much!!

Look at this darling one Barbara made with that Daisy fabric and polka dot gores and bodice!  I love all kinds of dots on fabric...big gigantic polka dots or little pindots so this one really caught my eye.  This is a size 2.

And look at this cute little size 1 Dixielee made for me!  I love the cherries embroidered on the front and the little sunhat.  I can just picture this on a sweet baby girl this summer.  You have such a perfect model, too!  I bet you don't have to bribe her with M&M's to get her to sit still!  LOL

Cynthia always does a great job thinking outside of the box and look at how she embroidered the gores!  GENIUS!  It takes this dress from fun to heirloom.  She added a ribbon sash on the back.  I love the pictures of her sweet girl twirling away!

I love the colors on this one.  The soft peach colors are so beautiful for summer.  Thanks, Julie for doing such a great job on this!  This is a size 3.

We had a beautiful service up at our church cemetary this morning with "Taps" played by my brother-in-law on the trumpet and a gun salute and readings.  A young girl who was the daughter of someone who fought in Desert Storm sang the National Anthem.

I didn't get the most flattering pictures of Miss E because she was very nervous about the guns.

Here is the back of the dress with the belt.  When I add this to the pattern, I'm going to change it a little but it has a hidden button that buttons right to the placket which keeps it in place.

And meeting the soldiers.

And I rarely show pictures of my kids but here are the rest of them.  Aren't they handsome?

"Daisy, Daisy,

Give me your answer do!

I'm half crazy,

All for the love of you!

It won't be a stylish marriage,

I can't afford a carriage

But you'll look sweet upon the seat

Of a bicycle made for two."

Next, in the Nursery Rhyme Collection...

"Daisy Bell"

A sweet sundress for summer!!

I'm so excited about this pattern and isn't my model just so cute?!!!  I don't have anyone with those blond curls in my family so I'm just eating them up!  I first made this dress for Elisabeth last year and she wore it a lot that summer.

The skirt has gores at the hemline to make it flare out nicely without adding a lot of bulk.  This one is done in seersucker and a linen/blend for the contrasting solid fabric with striped binding.   It will include a pattern for a matching floppy sunhat.

I am going to make a couple more while the testers work on my pattern.  I want to make a dressier one out of either eyelet or embroidered linen and I want to make a fun one for my daughter when we go to baseball games this summer.  Wouldn't it be cute in school colors with the gores a contrasting color?  She will look just like a little cheerleader and I just need to find a cute little machine embroidery design to go on the bodice for our mascot!

This will come in sizes 1-5.  Keep an eye on the pattern shop for it's release in the next couple of weeks!  Shops can pre-order now by contacting me!