Ellie Inspired

By far, my most popular pattern this month has been "Twirl Girl".  It is easy and lends itself well to embellishment or letting the fabric be center-stage.

A dear friend of mine, Karen, sent me these beautiful pictures of her daughter Emily modeling her Easter dress...Twirl Girl.  I love how she carefully chose the design to center on the bodice and that little tulle showing beneath her skirt.

Look at her twirl!!!!!!!! 

She always does an amazing job but I really loved this one.  It's perfect for Easter!  Thanks for sharing the pictures with us, Karen!

I realized that all the sewing I've been doing lately has been for other people and my baby has next to nothing for fall/winter!!  So this weekend is all about her and I made two dresses last night.  I'll show you one now and the other later because I don't have very good pictures of that one yet.

We had a wedding today and I couldn't decide which one to have her wear so I posted both dresses on facebook.  Thanks to all who helped me decide to go with the red one!  It was quicker to finish anyway but I was still sewing the buttons on on the way  while my girl sat nekked in her car seat.  Has anyone else ever done that????

Sorry for the blurry picture!  This is when I was trying to decide this morning and we didn't have much time.  And my bow was a little off center!!  Ha!  We fixed it, don't worry!

This is a long-sleeved version of my Twirl Girl cut down to a size 3 which is still just a bit big for her but she'll grow into it before the winter gets started.  It is made out of beautiful red/white knit from Chez Ami.  They have such nice quality knits!

Check back on Tuesday because I'm going to post my long-sleeve pattern piece that you can use with all of my existing patterns!!  How exciting is that!?  You can use these patterns in fall/winter too!

Twirl Girl and Daddy's Girl are now in the Shop!!!  And I'm off to Norfolk!  I can't wait to share pictures with you when I get back!

What a fun couple of weeks this has been.  Crazy, yes, but fun.  I haven't shared half of the things I've been working on but I promise I'll catch everybody up and show you all the pictures of things when we get back from SAGA convention next week.

In the meantime, my goal to get all 8 patterns out before the convention is not going to happen.  But don't be too sad because it's not going to be much longer.  Here's what I and many, many other people as crazy as I am (just kidding, girls...you know I love ya!) have been working on the last couple of weeks:

• Twirl Girl is finished!  I'm doing final edits this week before we leave and I'm taking this new pattern to the convention with me.  I'm working on a few last samples today to take with me.  I'm going to show you the pictures from my super talented testers below.

• Daddy's Girl is finished!  I'm also doing final edits on it this week and will be taking it to the Convention.  The pictures of that one are coming tomorrow.

• School Girl has been tested.  It was turning out pretty short so I'm rewriting that to add some length and I want to do a final test of it in a couple of sizes before I release it.  Since this is not a major change - I'm anticipating putting this out very quickly after I get back next week and sharing pictures with you then.  It turned out ADORABLE from my testers!  Can't wait for you to see!

• Lil' Bluebird was revised and sent to testers.  This has not been finished testing yet so I'm not sure what the results are yet from my testers.  If there is nothing major to change, this one will also be out within the next couple of weeks.

• Nanny Etticoat was sadly, not written....yet!  I LOVE this pattern and will start on it right away when we get back.  It is such a super, super, SUPER simple pattern that I think it will take no time at all to finish.

In October, we will work on the last three:

• Sassy Girl will probably be first since my girl is needing lots of tops and dresses with elastic arms to fit over her cast!  We don't have many options right now in her wardrobe!
• Urban Girl is probably next.  This is my knit pattern.
• And, my super cute coat dress...Jenny Wren will be last.

Also, TWO free patterns are written and coming your way in October as well as three super-secret holiday releases in November.

How's that for crazy-busy???

So, first, let me show you Twirl Girl.  I'm telling you - these girls are sooooo talented and creative!

Cynthia used this cute red/white polka dot fabric.  We decided we liked it better with the white shirt underneath!  So cute and love the sunglasses!  You are stylin' girl!

Nicole made her daughter a look-alike Barbie dress with a triple-layer skirt.  What a fun mom she is!  I would have never thought of doing the skirt that way.  She's so creative!

Michelle let her daugher pick out the fabric and I think she has a natural talent!  Shd added a cute fabric flower to the waistband.  Love the picture of her looking in the mailbox.  So cute!

Sylvia made this gorgeous aqua/dk brown one for her granddaughter with a chocolate brown lining underneath, some tulle sewed to a satin ribbon for a little extra ooomph and a large grosgrain bow.  I told her I wanted one in my size!

Kathy sent me this super cute one in dark plaid and in a size 10.  I like the way she changed the waistband too to suit an older girl.  Great job Kathy!

There may be a couple of more added to this but now you can see that we have been working hard!  Oh, this is just the best part of making patterns.  I love seeing how different people infuse their creativity and personality into my pattern and it really makes it come to life for me.  Thanks, ladies!  You are really the best!

Twirly Girl

Bias-cut circle skirt for lots of twirl!

Center sash for elegance.

Fully lined with attached petticoat for beauty.

Polka dots for fun!

Coming soon!