Sew Yourself Some Love (Round 2)

Me again!  Back at it on the Sew Yourself Some Love tour, and I'm super excited for this one!  If I'm being real, 95% of my life is spent at home with my kids.  I'm usually barely awake, drinking coffee, gathering books and activities, reading to my kids, homeschooling, potty training, cooking, cleaning, and doing all the other glamorous mommy things every single day of my life.  Mostly, I don't wear real people clothes.  That said, I'm tired of the same pair of black lounge pants and random 5 year old t-shirt so super worn with holes and stains from painting the house.  I'm convinced that it's entirely possible to wear lounge clothes and still feel like you're making an effort.  I want my husband to come home to the woman he married rather than some shriveled existence of her.  So, I decided to do something about that frumpy "mom wardrobe" and I challenged myself to make something comfortable and cute.

I knew Patterns for Pirates Boyfriend V-neck Shirt was going to be an awesome foundation.  I have a gazillion other Patterns for Pirates sewing patterns so I already know what to expect as far as fit and how her patterns are put together.  The first v-neck I made was actually my muslin.  I always need to add about 2'' to shirt patterns, and I never know how it'll turn out.  I'm 5'8'', so I'm taller than the average bear.  I used some super thin (i.e. cheap) random navy jersey I found in the sewing room thinking it would be a throw away.  I was wrong.  I love the loose fit of this shirt, and how it drapes!

So, I went even further and decided to personalize my top even more.  I designed this graphic and used my Silhouette Cameo to cut it out and iron it on!  Now, I've got a snarky little tee that makes me happy whenever I walk by the mirror.  I can make my hundreds in my sewing room while wearing this tee and maybe one day I'll be able to upgrade to the "thousandaire" shirt. :)  And guess what?! I made a coupon code just for the SYSL blog tour readers so you can make your own snarky tee shirts.  Head to my Etsy shop where you can get 20% anything at all using the code "SEWLOVE."  Yippee!

I loved my first v-neck so much that I made another one.  This time, out of some Ponte Knit from Girl Charlee.  I'm a sucker for every single floral fabric I've ever seen, and this one with the coral and black is so cute!  I'm dreaming so hard of spring right now, and I can't wait to wear these colored jeans for real.  The pattern includes two different neckband techniques, and I tried them both to see which one I liked better.  I also love the sleeve length options, and the option to add a cute little pocket to the shirt too.

I paired my navy bf v-neck with these FANTASTIC Terra's Treasures Portlander Pants.  In my opinion, all of Terra's patterns are seriously underrated.  She creates high quality patterns that result in such wonderfully fitting clothes.

These pants have an option drawstring that you can add (I skipped it because I didn't have anything on hand).  The waistband is a simple fold over (or not if you want more tummy control).  I made no mods to these pants at all.  The fit is snug around my booty and upper thigh with an awesome flare out down below the knee.  I made mine out of a french terry for optimum comfort, and I just love the way they're fitted and not sloppy looking.  I've got plans for more Portlanders ASAP.  I can totally see them at the pool or even in a stretch linen-look fabric for the spring and summer.  Nothing like some easy pants to round out your closet.

Here are all of the pattern details

Patterns for Pirates Boyfriend V-Neck

• XXS-XXXL
• Semi-fitted
• Short Sleeve, 3/4 roll up with button tab sleeve, and long sleeve (with or without cuffs) options
• Shirt and tunic lengths
• Shirt pocket option
• 2 different tutorials on doing the v-neck band
• Tips and tricks for sewing with knit fabrics

Terra's Treasures Portlander Pants

• XXS - 3X
• Fitted through the booty and upper thighs, flared at the knee
• Tall control panel waistband (can also be folded down like a yoga waistband)
• Drawstring option
• Lengthen and shorten lines and tutorials
• If you join Terra's Facebook Group there's a special code for $3 off!

Tutorial: Instagram Photo Wall

We all have it, a bare wall in the house we just haven't gotten around to decorating yet.  You know the one.  We've lived here over a year now and I'm still working on getting the house in order.  I have 3 kids that I homeschool, a husband that's frequently away from home between military duty and his full time job, and very little spare time.  So, I need things to be fast, easy, and effective.

I was online printing some pictures for our master bedroom when I saw that Walgreens had 50% off all prints and they also offered photo printing from Instagram.  Sweet.  I settled on 25 different pictures from my Instagram account and had them printed in the 4'' x 4'' size.  I had no clue what I was going to do with them, and no clue where to find 25 different 4'' x 4'' frames either.  So, here's what I did.

What you'll need:

• 1 foam paintbrush
• 1 small jar mod podge (I used the matte finish)
• 1 or 2 sheets of black foam board (I got mine at Hobby Lobby at 40% off it was less than $2)
• 4'' x 4'' pictures
• Ruler
• x-acto knife

1. First, I grabbed my foam board and cut it into 6'' x 6'' squares.  I used my ruler to mark out all my lines and then I cut them with my x-acto knife.  Like buttah.

2. Then, I grabbed my mod podge and my foam brush and slathered a little bit in the middle of one of my foam board squares.

3. You can measure this part but I'm a rebel and I just eyeballed it and centered my picture in the middle of my foam square.  Then, I painted another layer of Mod Podge right over the top of the picture and the entire square.  Make sure all your brush strokes are going in the same direction.  The glue will dry clear but you'll still be able to see the brush strokes from certain angles.

4. Once the glue turns from white to clear, it's dry.  It doesn't take long, maybe 30 min or so depending on how thick a layer you used.

5. Repeat as many times as needed!

I hung all my pictures up on a wall that borders the stairs.  I used small 3M tape strips cut in half (because I'm cheap and these foam squares are really light). I used the level app on my iPhone to make sure the first row of pictures were straight and then I just eyeballed it from there.  Start in the middle and work your way out to the left and then to the right and you'll be good to go.  Easy peasy!

P.S.  While I would love to be one of those bloggers that's fancy and sponsored by big companies, alas, I am not.   I received no compensation for this post.  But, if you're Walgreens and you want to send me free things, I accept. Thankyouverymuch

The Pattern Exam Undies Review

This past few months I've been busy sewing a ton of stuff that's a secret.  Secret tops, secret bottoms and secret undies.  It kill me to not be able to share what I'm working on!!

Today, I get to share one thing with you all.  FINALLY!

I made 5 pairs of undies, each from a different girls' undies pattern.  They're all green in the spirit of St. Patrick's Day (I finished these in early March), and, in conjunction with a lot of other talented sewing bloggers, we reviewed them all and posted our thoughts in one collective spot!  You can see all our posts over at The Pattern Exam.  Do forget to go like us on Facebook to keep up with themes and make suggestions for patterns to review.  We'd love it if you followed us and used us as a pattern directory to make informed buying decisions.

Thanks for looking!! You can find my post and all the details here.