Victoria who?

February 12, 2023 sewwhatwithafton1 Comment

Picture this, it’s 2011 I’m a 21-year-old newlywed Air Force wife who just moved from Utah to Virigina. I was working at Victoria’s Secret, selling beautiful and delicate lingerie, pajamas, sweatsuits, and bathing suits. I was always amazed at the intricate details that were in these slinky little bras and panties. I would have never imagined that one day I would make my own. Guess what?! I did!

In January 2020 I purchased the Bridgette Bralette and Victoria Panty bundle from Made for Mermaids Lounge and Lace Collection. I had seen so many amazing photos of fellow sewists sharing their makes on these sexy little patterns. I was feeling confident enough I wanted to give it a go myself. Well, I chickened out and didn’t actually do it until two weeks ago. I have had more than a few battles with my sewing machine and eating up certain types of fabric, (I even broke my first machine in 2019 while sewing up a full sequin dress) where it just left me in frustration and wanting to throw my machine out of the window, which I’m sure many of us have felt on more than one occasion. I was terrified of buying some luxurious lace fabric and have my sewing machine destroy it.

Well, I am pleased to announce that no lace was eaten during these projects and honestly, I’m SHOCKED! Now you may be wondering what gave me this recent motivation to finally attempt these patterns. The older I get the more I loathe bras. I hate the underwire, the discomfort, the sweating, and just feeling suffocated. It’s always the first thing to come off when we get home from going somewhere (that is, if I even bothered to put one on). I’ve made plenty of sports bras which I really do adore, but most times the neckline is higher and that doesn’t always work with certain tops.

Raspberry Creek Fabrics recently released their Easter fabric line, and while I typically don’t make anything for myself for this holiday, this Tonal Royal Blue and Green Blue Bonnet Floral Print Fabric, from The Cottage Core Collection by Bri Powell print really caught my eye. I’m not a floral expert and you definitely shouldn’t ask me to take care of your plants when you’re out of town, so when I first saw this print, I thought they were Snapdragons. In my personal opinion I do feel they look very similar. This print drew me in due to some sentiment, it reminds me of my grandparents. When my sister and I were growing up we would often have sleepovers at this set of grandparents’ home. While there are several memories I will cherish from these sleepovers, I am only going to mention said snapdragons. They had these flowers in their backyard. My sister and I loved them, we thought the opening looked that of a mouth. My grandma would occasionally pull a bud or two off and place her fingers at the closed end of the flower and apply pressure, then release to make the flower appear as if it were talking and we thought it was the funniest thing.

Given this sentiment I had to buy a small amount to make myself something. I only allowed myself to purchase a half yard. I can make a pair of shorts for my kids out of a half yard, even a color blocked tee. For myself though, not so much. Flowers are a very delicate thing, I thought what else is delicate, a bralette. Using this cotton spandex fabric also gave me the opportunity to make a muslin of the Bridgette bralette pattern before moving onto a full lace version. I did still however, need to purchase stretch lace trim to finish all of the edges and making the straps. This Royal 1.25″ Wide Stretch Lace from Surge Fabrics was a near perfect match to the blue in the print and made the flowers really pop. I also chose to line this version with White Power Net to give myself more support. This pattern has three different back options, for this version I chose the racerback. Made For Mermaids did an excellent job in executing the instructions for this pattern. Not only were there written instructions but also links to video tutorials if you are a more visual learner.

This first version did still come with a lot of trial and error. First, I didn’t pay attention to the cup pattern pieces in regard to which way the greatest direction of stretch needed to be. While, I did have enough fabric to re cut these pieces the correct direction I opted to just try it out as it would cause the floral to be sideways which I didn’t find visually appealing. I also realized that I should have disengaged my blade on my serger or just used my sewing machine altogether due to the fact that it left some of the lace edges looking funny. I thankfully was able to seam rip and correct by folding over some of the lace edges or carefully cutting off excess to make it blend in instead of looking choppy. Lastly, I determined that I needed to cut longer shoulder straps to fit my body. The fact that I cut the cup pieces the wrong direction also contributes to the shorter strap issue as well. Overall, I do feel my cotton version turned out rather nicely for my first attempt at this pattern.

For my full lace option, I ordered the Tropic Rose 8.5″ Wide Stretch Lace from Surge Fabric. I also ordered the 3/8″ Pink Glo Satin Strap & Picot Elastic which was a nice pairing to the lace. To make things different from the previous I chose to go with the cross-back option and make it unlined. This version came together much quicker due to the fact that I didn’t have to finish the edges by adding lace trim. I also added 1.5″ to the shoulder strap pieces to give myself more wiggle room to work with which would up being the perfect length for my body. I also was lucky enough to have enough lace fabric to make a matching pair of Victoria Panties. This pattern comes together so freaking fast! If you go for the unlined full lace option like I did you only need to sew together the front and back seams, top stitch, sew together the crotch seam, and top stitch then, BAM, you’ve got a new pair of panties! I was worried I wouldn’t like these cheekies, as I’m not a fan of thongs or anything riding up my butt. I am pleasantly surprised that when I wear these, I don’t even notice that I’m wearing anything at all.

I am still in disbelief that I made something so stunning and can’t wait to purchase more lace to make more. There’s one thing I constantly have to remind myself of and that is, we can’t gain more experience and grow if we stick to our comfort zones all the time and making these patterns definitely took me out of my comfort zone. I also put together a Tik Tok for each of these makes that you can watch here and here. I would also love if you gave me a follow across other platforms.

I hope I inspired you today. Remember to always be true and always be you.

Until next time,

Afton

This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through this link, I may get a % at no additional cost to you. Thank you! Happy creating!

Halloween · Halloween costume · kids clothing · Kids fashion · Pattern Hack · pdf patterns · sewing · Tortoise · Uncategorized

Tortoise Costume

January 27, 2023 sewwhatwithafton2 Comments

I briefly was a part of Raspberry Creek Fabrics blogger team (and absolutely LOVED IT!) I wanted to share it here as well. This has somewhat been edited since I originally wrote it. All photos and writing are my own.

Hello, I’m so thrilled to share my sons costume for Halloween (2021) with all of you. My son has been turtle obsessed for a couple of years now and has wanted one as a pet for just as long. Well, this past July we finally decided to add a baby sulcata tortoise to our family. We are all absolutely smitten with him or her (we won’t know gender until around 4 years of age). Of course, that only made his love for turtles grow more.

When I asked both my kids last month what they wanted to be this year I was not at all surprised when my son said tortoise. My mind immediately started to ponder ideas on how I could make this happen for him. I mostly couldn’t wrap my head around how I could create the shell while still allowing it to have volume and dimension. I took to google first to see if I could find any tutorials, that turned up no luck. I saw this as a challenge accepted, I would take this opportunity to try something new and really get my creativity flowing.

I absolutely love RCF fabrics so I wanted to check what taupe/light brown shades they had available in the shop that would work for my vision. The khaki tan french terry fit the bill perfectly. All RCF french terry always amazes me with how soft and cushy it feels, my son was getting his dream costume but would also be so incredibly comfortable!! (Win, win!)

Once I decided on fabric, I moved onto what patterns I wanted to use as my base. For the pants I immediately thought of the Drew Joggers from Petite Stitchery Co. The rouching detail option perfectly depicts our little torts cute wrinkly legs. For the top I knew I wanted to attach the shell to a hoodie, I went with the Hannah from Sonia Estep Designs (which has since been discontinued) and used the crossover hood option from the add on pack.

For the base of the tortoise shell, I did a standard oval. Now, let me note that I have a projector and I have found that I love using it for more than just projecting patterns. I also have a Cricut, so I used design space to make an oval in the shape I wanted and projected it onto my cut mat, over the back bodice, to visualize how large I wanted it. Once I determined the size I wanted the oval to be, I cut it out. I then lined up the back bodice of the hoodie and centered the oval over that with right sides together. To secure the two I used wash away wonder tape, then measured 1.5” from the edge of the shell and sewed all the way around using a zig zag stitch. (You don’t want to sew too close to the edge or you’ll interfere with the remainder of the hoodie construction)

Next, we’re going to work on the top of the shell. To make sure we can add volume but keep the sides at a 1:1 ratio you’re going to measure the circumference of the oval. I marked the top center and bottom center and measured the distance between those two points which came to 27.5”. You’re then going to make two half circles, the straight line being the measurement you got for your oval. The fun part is you now get to decide how large you want your shell to be, there’s no wrong answer here. Once you’ve made your two half circles, you’re going to use your serger or sewing machine to sew the two half circles on the curved edge right sides together. (I used a 1/4” seam allowance)

Before attaching the top of the shell to the base I decided it would be easiest to add the scutes (the darker plates on the top of the shell) first. There are a few ways you can do this, you can use a fabric marker and draw them on, use another color of fabric and sew them onto the shell, you can use an embroidery machine, or use HTV (heat transfer vinyl). For my muslin I used fabric markers. While it didn’t look terrible a friend mentioned it gave Teenage mutant ninja turtle vibes and I must agree with her. The fabric marker was also inconsistent and didn’t give full coverage. So, I decided to go for HTV. I went back to my Cricut design space and made a mockup of the shell so I could play around with how I wanted my scutes to look. I found that using a standard hexagon shape but narrowing the height and bringing out the width it gave the look I was going for. After completing my mockup, I used my Cricut to print out the scutes in pieces. (With the round shape it would be very difficult to have it all in one piece)

I started by finding the center of the shell and using a pin to mark it. I also marked the center points of the first scute I wanted to place and lined the two up. After adhering the first scute I worked from top to bottom then moving my way outward. This step was by far the most challenging. It took time and patience to ensure I didn’t iron on the htv with a crease in the fabric.

Now that the scutes are finished we are going to attach the upper shell to the base shell. I’d like to note that before doing so I made a small little tail by cutting out two narrow triangle pieces out of the main fabric and one out of fusible interfacing. Once my tail was put together, I basted it to the right side of the shell base with the flat edge to the edge of the shell (you don’t want to cut off your tail!) You’re then going to sew the two shell pieces sides together. This means your back bodice will be sandwiched between the two. I marked the top and bottom center points of the base and matched the top shell pieces center points. Before stitching you’ll need to decide how you’d like to enclose your shell, (remember you still need to turn right side out, so you need to leave a small opening!) you can ladder stitch or use an invisible zipper. I went for an invisible zipper in a similar color so I could remove the poly filling for washes.

I installed the zipper at the top center of the shell

After turning the shell right side out, I then used a zig zag stitch and sewed around the entire shell to add detail and try to mimic what an actual tortoise shell looks like. My stitches are ¾” long and about 1” spaced apart.

Close view of the stitches around the entire shell.

Next you will finish construction of the hoodie pattern you chose before moving onto filling the shell. During construction of the hood, I added eyes and nostrils using black htv. If you have an embroidery machine, I think that would look even better! Sadly, I don’t have one yet. Finally, you’ll fill your shell with poly fill and sew it closed if you left an opening. Now we’re done! My son is absolutely in love with how it turned out and has asked to wear it whenever possible. I can’t wait for him to show it off to everyone this Halloween.

Thanks for joining me today!

Until next time,

Afton

This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through this link, I may get a % at no additional cost to you. Thank you! Happy creating!

kids clothing · Kids fashion · sewing · Uncategorized · Valentine's Day

I’m a sucker for you.

January 26, 2023January 26, 2023 sewwhatwithaftonLeave a comment

Or maybe lollipop, lollipop, I can’t decide. Either way I’ve been singing both songs in my head since we took photos.

Let me back up a little bit, yesterday my kids school district called a snow day due to an incoming storm. However, you’ll see this was unnecessary when you notice a lack of snow in our photos. I understand they were erring on the side of caution because the weather can be unpredictable. As I’ve mentioned in the past both of my kids have special needs. One of those needs is speech therapy (my son has apraxia of speech, and my daughter is suspected to have it.) Wednesday is our speech day, typically it’s after school but because of school closures our speech therapist reached out to us inviting us to come earlier in the day as the worst of the storm was expected to come in the afternoon. (Still, not very eventful here. Although I’m not mad about it. I hate the cold.) We accepted this offer, at first, I was extremely disappointed to hear about this “snow day” as both kids missed Monday, and my son missed Tuesday due to illnesses. I didn’t want them missing another day of school and I honestly needed a break now that they were feeling better. Then with more thought I turned a negative into a positive, we could spend time together having fun (we also went shopping to spend some Christmas gift cards of theirs) and, bonus, I could grab some photos and video of their new Valentine’s Day tops.

I had Tayln and Ellie wear their V-DAY shirts to speech therapy so we could try to grab photos afterwards. Speech is about 15 minutes away and because of this I’m still learning that area. After speech I decided to scope out the surrounding area for a place that could make for a great background. Much to my luck just up the road was a beautiful pond with a gazebo overlooking it. I pulled into the small dirt parking lot and asked my kids what they thought. They both agreed that it looked fun, so we unloaded from the car and headed towards the gazebo. It was so serene, and I could see it become a sanctuary to just be lost in thought and enjoy nature. To add to the excitement there were a handful or two of ducks swimming around in the pond. My kids were both so tickled and this brought my daughter to forget why we were there in the first place and just wanted to look at the ducks. My son on the other hand was like, okay, we’re here for pictures can we do that first then enjoy the ducks? Because it’s still winter and it’s cold. These ducks must be fed by visitors often, as they continued to follow us wherever we went, my kids thought that this was the coolest thing. My son started spouting all the information he had on ducks, how the males are called drakes and they are the ones that are green and brown. The females are primarily brown with black specks. I was so amazed by his knowledge of this! Okay, anyway….

My son’s choice of fabric was this red and black multi-stripe from Raspberry Creek Fabrics which is part of the “For You” collection for Valentine’s Day 2023. I showed him the adorable panel that would pair with it and said yes, I now opt for the adult panels for Tayln. We chose French Terry for the fabric base to make sure he would be warm and cozy. I’m a sucker for Bow Button Fabric’s ribbing (see what I did there), so that is what I used for the neckband, cuffs and waistband. The ribbing she carries has a great stretch and recovery and it holds a press SO WELL! Sav’s sweatshirt from Greenstyle Creations is my all-time favorite slouchy sweatshirt for adults and kids. Tayln is usually between sizes in all patterns because he is extremely slender but also very tall for his age. For this pattern he was between size 7 and 8, I chose to make a straight size 8 since this pattern is already intended to be slouchy and oversized. When he first tried this on, he was unsure about it and in his words thought it “looked girly.” I reassured him that a girl or boy could pull it off and that he looked very handsome in it. This made him feel much better about wearing it. What do you think? Doesn’t he look so handsome and very cozy?

My daughter was a complete spit fire when it came to taking these photos. As I stated before, she saw the ducks and that was all she cared about. After my son finished his pictures, I pulled a lollipop out of my pocket to give to him as a thank you for taking pictures. (The pictures are for me; they could care less about them.) This caught Ellie’s attention rather quickly. “WAIT! YOU HAVE LOLLIPOPS?! I WANT ONE!” I reminded her that she would earn hers after some photos. She pulled herself together (somewhat) to take pictures. The idea of this soon to have a yummy lollipop brought a huge smile to her face while she proceeded to try and stand still but couldn’t help but jump up and down yelling “lollipop, lollipop, lollipop” over and over.

Ellie did not much care to pick out her V-DAY fabric, so I chose for her. I know she loves candy, so of course she’d love the Red Black and White Sucker Heart Print Fabric. This is also from the same “For you” collection from Raspberry Creek Fabrics. I again, chose French Terry as the fabric base (and also used the same ribbing as what I used for Tayln’s.) In 2021 I made Ellie a Hannah hoodie from Sonia Estep designs, which has since been discontinued. I used a neon fuchsia and carmine brushed French Terry from Fab Clique Fabrics and cut out a heart shape to make as the front pocket as I did for her hoodie last year. I also included elbow patches. Since then, I’ve decided to incorporate a heart applique to her Valentine’s tops.

I was initially so torn on which pattern to use for Ellie. Ultimately, I decided on the Janie top from Petite Stitchery Co. I considered making the panel a pocket like I did last year but decided it would take away from the elasticized waist in the pattern. After I cut out the pattern pieces, I took the front bodice and placed it face up on my cutting mat. Using a projector to cut out patterns is such a game changer and time saver (and it saves some trees), anyway, I like to open Cricut Design Space and add a heart shape design. With the projector I am able to project this image over my cut mat, the same as I do when cutting out a pattern. From there I play around with the sizing I want to use for the front applique. I am a visual learner so this helps me to ensure I will be happy with the final outcome. Once I decided on the sizing, I removed the bodice from the cut mat and centered the panel with the heart. (I still use youth panels for Ellie by the way.) Then I simply use my rotary cutter to cut out the panel. I was afraid that the panel alone against the sucker/heart fabric would blend too much so I cut out a slightly larger heart in black French Terry to separate the two fabrics. This also helped bring out the small hearts in the fabric. I write in more detail on this from last year’s blog post if you’d like more information on how I added it to the bodice etc. This will help me from repeating myself (I already do that enough as a mother, LOL)

She’s enjoying her reward, that’s for sure!

I think that’s it for me for today! We definitely made some fun new memories yesterday and I plan to bring them back to this gem again. It’ll definitely be more enjoyable once it warms up. I also made a TikTok featuring some video from our shoot if you want to check it out! I hope I gave you fellow crafters some inspiration today, and if I did, please let me know because I’d love to hear! Always be true and always be you.

Until next time,

Afton

Saying goodbye to the ducks on our way back to the car.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through this link, I may get a % at no additional cost to you. Thank you! Happy creating!

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Swimming into summer with RCF

March 24, 2022March 24, 2022 sewwhatwithafton2 Comments

I’m so thrilled to be a part of Raspberry Creek Fabrics Suit up for summer blog tour this year! Since I was introduced to RCF back in 2019 I’ve been a huge fan, not only because of their fun and unique fabrics but also because I was born and raised in Utah, which is where they’re located! So, I guess in a way they’re a sentiment for me. This is my 3rd year making swim wear for myself and my two kids (second year using RCF swim)

I think most can agree that shopping for a ready to wear swimsuit can be very challenging. I find that most suits are too low rise for what I’m looking for or if they are high enough, I end up with a droopy bum. With tops there’s not enough coverage or I get gaping in the cups, or I find the top to feel a little too bra like which I don’t like.

I remember when I first started with swim, I was extremely flustered. It is a very slick fabric. I quickly found that slow and steady wins the race and you can never baste too much. Here are my top 3 favorite notions and tools to use while working with swim fabric.

A walking foot

A walking foot is wonderful sewing machine foot attachment to use with slick fabrics that may shift while sewing. It has feed dogs on it, so it’ll make sure the top layer of fabric moves at the same speed as the bottom layer! Pretty neat right?!

Wonder clips

I used to use pins for all of my sewing projects but when it comes to fabrics such as swim, I find that while stretching and shifting the fabric the pins pop out of place which can be frustrating. Wonder clips have small grooves on both sides of the clip and grip to the fabric, so they stay exactly where you place them!

Wash away wonder tape

Wash away wonder tape is a water-soluble double-sided tape. I love to use this when I need something to stay in place that I can sew right over the top of. This works wonderfully for elastic when you need it to start in a certain spot on the fabrics. (Example: a part of my suit called the elastic to end 3/4″ from the end so I used wonder tape to keep it secure) I also used it to hold my sons side pockets in place while sewing down.

Most often I find that I make matching sets with my daughter, so this time I wanted to make a point to match my son. I had him choose the fabric he liked the most (which of course I knew would be turtles as soon as he saw that was an option) Then made my choice to coordinate him. I’ll be honest in saying that I was slightly concerned that the Sea Creatures Main Fabric would look a little babyish. I was so pleasantly surprised to find that this could really work for any age!

Last year I made my son the Kids Unisex Raglan and High Tide Board Shorts from Ellie and Mac Patterns. It fit his slim figure so well I decided to use the same patterns for this year’s suit. Last year’s suit also included some Peacock Teal Solid, and it still fits this year, so I actually used last year’s top to include with his new swim trunks. Side note, you need to be so careful with heat settings with swim fabric. I wasn’t paying attention while pressing my sons and burned it slightly. Thank goodness it’s not terrible. I keep mine on the lowest iron setting and that works best. Definitely test a scrap piece first to see which setting is best on your iron so you don’t ruin your entire project.

Last year was my second time working with boardshort fabric, I did run into puckering issues while hemming last year’s bottoms with my coverstitch, so this year I decided to baste the hem first then take it to my coverstitch and no puckering issues! This year I also decided to take it up a notch and add side pockets to his bottoms. It’s recommended to add grommets to the bottom of each pocket to help with water drainage. (I don’t want my child being weighed down by pockets full of water.) When it comes to grommets, I’ve always struggled with stitching around them after they’ve installed. This time around I had a thought where I decided to stitch down the bottom of the pocket to his shorts THEN add the grommets. My goodness what a difference it made!

For my suit I decided to switch it up and try a pattern I’ve had my eye on for a while now, The North Shore from Green Style Patterns. I went with view b with the overlay for some added flair and extra bust coverage. I also chose the pullover halter option. For the bottoms I decided on the highest rise but omitted the waist band and decided to use 3/8″ elastic, fold over and top stitch. I also used the solid peacock teal fabric for my top and went for the Random Dot Bubble Print. The bottoms went together rather quickly and were very straightforward with assembly instructions.

The top was a little bit more time consuming with a lot of pieces and elastic. Between the lining and swim there were 6 layers that needed to be sewn together at the side seams. This is where a lot of basting came into play. I chose to baste together one layer at a time to prevent any mistakes. Once all 6 layers were together, I then went to my serger and finished each side. I also got to learn a couple of new hand sewing techniques! (I always love when I get to try something new)

Summer is my absolute favorite time of year. There’s just something about being in flip flops, shorts and driving my car with my windows down that makes it very freeing. Living in Las Vegas I know we will get so much use out of these suits. I hope I’ve inspired you today and can’t wait to see what you create using Raspberry Creek Fabrics Swim. Make sure to check out all of the other amazing sewist’s swim wear makes and enter to win the daily giveaway on Instagram.

Until next time,

Afton

This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through this link, I may get a % at no additional cost to you. Thank you! Happy creating!

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Sew ready for spring!

March 15, 2022March 15, 2022 sewwhatwithaftonLeave a comment

Spring and summer are my favorite times of the year! I love when everything starts to bloom and the longer days of sunshine! We’ve already had a few days of 70 degree plus temps, so it has really kicked my spring/summer sewing motivation into gear! A couple weeks back I was able to grab these adorable coordinating prints from Bow Button Fabrics. I’ve had my eye on the milk and cookies print for quite some time now to use for my milk obsessed daughter. (This print has been stocked in a few color ways so there’s something for everyone)

I knew for the Red mini spots I wanted to make some bubble type shorts. After searching through my existing pattern collection and not finding exactly what I had envisioned I decided to shop around all of my preferred pattern companies and found the kids tulip-blossom shorts from Petite Stitchery Co. While this pattern is designed for woven fabric, a quick search in their Facebook group showed that some had used this pattern for knits! I decided to stick with her measured size of 4t instead of sizing down to get more of a bubble look. The only adjustment I made was taking in the leg cuffs about 1.5″ to keep the legs more gathered.

For her top, I knew I wanted the milk and cookies to be the focal point with a pop of the dots. The pattern I chose was the top version of The Cartwheel Collection from Love Notions. First, I’d like to add that I LOVE how this pattern is packed with multiple options! I love the peekaboo opening in the back to give her more breathability when we’re at our peak temps this summer. I was quite impressed how fast and easy this pattern was to put together. I had it done in about a half hour!

I think this whole outfit fits her perfectly and she is obsessed with it. She is on day 2 of wearing it, I did get to do a quick wash on it this morning before she went to school! I see this outfit being worn often and need to add more of both patterns to her spring/summer wardrobe. Have you made these patterns? What do you think of them?!

She picked most of her poses for these pics and I love them!

Until next time,

Afton

This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through this link, I may get a % at no additional cost to you. Thank you! Happy creating!

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Matching for St. Patrick’s Day

March 8, 2022March 8, 2022 sewwhatwithafton2 Comments

Can anyone else believe that we’re already in the month of March?! I started this blog at the start of the year with high expectations and goals for myself and then life happened. February, which is usually one of my favorite months (hello birthday month!) was a huge struggle for myself and my family. Between getting sick twice, and my car breaking down in the middle of nowhere it just seemed to be one thing after another. My anxiety and depression really took over and I just found myself in a slump not really motivated to sew or do any of the things I love.

While life has still been a slight struggle, I’m slowly working on bringing myself back up. Making my kids coordinating or matching outfits for the holidays is one of my favorite things to sew. I had bought my kids matching fabric and panels from Raspberry Creek Fabrics for their St. Patrick’s Day tops. I chose to use the kids Valerie from 5 out of 4 patterns. This pattern is so much fun to be creative with due to the color blocking and multiple options, from different sleeve options and even a hood! Since we live in Las Vegas I decided the short sleeve option with cuffs would be the best choice. (Added bonus, no hemming for the options I chose!)

I really made my fabric selections based off the panel I chose, which reads “Pushing my luck today”. I instantly started laughing upon reading this, because well it can be very true for children! (Heck this can be true for adults and animals even really!) What’s even funnier is while taking pictures of my kids in their new tops, my son really was proving the shirt saying to be true. He was willing to take pictures but only with his sister and only wanted to do his own thing LOL.

Something I’ve come to learn as I’ve gained more knowledge with sewing is you can make one item of clothing with different fabric types as long as they have similar stretch and draping. For these tops I did a mix of Cotton Lyca Jersey, French terry and Cotton Spandex. I find if we’re limited in the fabrics we chose during a project, it really limits the creativity and fun that truly goes into making something your own. I hope I inspired you today and wait to share with you what I create next!

Until next time, Afton

This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through this link, I may get a % at no additional cost to you. Thank you! Happy creating!

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Valentine’s hoodies with heart pocket hack

January 25, 2022 sewwhatwithafton3 Comments

Happy Tuesday everyone! I’m super excited to share one of my most recent makes with all of you! Last year I made my daughter a hoodie with a heart pocket for valentine’s day and wanted to include the same hack again for both kiddos! It’s a super simple and fast hack and I’ll share how I did it below.

For both of my kids I used the Tami hoodie from Pattern Niche, the only differences being the hoods. My son’s the standard hood, my daughter’s the double hood with drawstring. (I’ve learned over the years that my son can’t have drawstrings on his garments as they make their way into his mouth) All fabrics came from Raspberry Creek Fabrics; the prints are part of this year’s Valentine’s collection and will be available until Valentine’s Day.

For this hack you can use any top or hoodie pattern that you prefer. First, you’ll cut all your pattern pieces as the tutorial indicates. Once you have all of your pieces cut out you can set everything aside except the front bodice. You’ll want to use a pin/clip or fabric pen to mark the center bottom of your front bodice piece.

Now we get to move onto the heart pocket! At this time, you’ll decide the size you want to have the heart pocket. I jumped on the projector train last year for cutting out my pdf patterns. That being said I’ve found it very useful for more than just cutting. I’m a very visual person, so I placed my front bodice on my cut mat and projected a heart over the top and played with the sizing. One thing to note, if you choose to do this and aren’t using a program like adobe that allows you to set the scale. This is perfectly fine if you’re just planning to trace the projected image though!

I used Cricut Design Space to print out my heart on cardstock so I could have a hard copy. (If you do it this way, make sure to measure the heart that’s projected over your bodice and adjust the size. (The one in design space will be much larger than the image projected) After I got my heart cut out, I folded it in half and placed it on the fold of the fabric I was using.

Grab your front bodice piece and use that mark you made for the center bottom to line the heart up. Also take this time to take into consideration seam allowance or hem allowance. You do not want to line up the bottom of your heart with the bottom of your bodice, when it comes time to hem or add a band that part of the heart will be hidden. I just eye bawled this, it doesn’t need to be exact. Once you’ve determined the center bottom is lined up, grab a ruler and make sure the whole heart is aligned in the center.

Example of aligning the heart with the center.

Yay, our heart is lined up! Before we stitch, we need to do more things. First, we need to secure our heart in place so there’s no shifting while sewing. You can do this by using pins, or I like to use Wash away wonder tape. I use wash away wonder tape for nearly every single project I make. It works just like double sided tape, then washes away when you wash your garment.

The second step we need to do is use a fabric marker to mark where you want your pocket opening to be. If you’re omitting a pocket and just want it to be an accent, you’re free to sew the heart in place! To mark my pocket opening I used my ruler again to make sure that the openings on both sides lined up with the other. How large you want the opening will depend on the wearers size. My sons pocket openings are slightly larger than my daughters because he’s bigger.

All that’s left is to is stitch down the heart to the bodice. Make sure to stitch as close to the edge as possible, and don’t stitch closed your pocket openings! Assemble the rest of your top or hoodie as indicated in the instructions and you’re done! My kids both love their new hoodies, more specifically my son. Once he realized that the heart was a pocket, he told me I was the best and coolest mom! Mom win! I hope I inspired you today!

Afton

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A little bit about me.

January 18, 2022 sewwhatwithaftonLeave a comment

Hello, everyone! I thought I’d do my first post just to introduce myself a bit. My name is Afton, I am a stay-at-home mom in my 30’s. I have been married to my husband for 12 years now and we have two beautiful children. Our oldest is 8 and our daughter is 4.5. My husband and I are high school sweethearts and have since become a military family when he joined the Air force in 2010.

Shortly after covid started I decided to take my son out of public school and home school him. My son was diagnosed with autism at age 4, when everything switched to online learning, he didn’t adjust well with the change. Since starting home schooling his learning has been back on track and he enjoys it as much as any 8-year-old does. While I never imagined becoming a home school mom and am not sure if this will be a permanent thing, it has helped in balancing out my son’s busy schedule between school and all of his therapies.

My two children in their swimsuits I made last summer

In the 2014 my husband went on his first deployment. Our son was 5 months old at the time, so we made the decision that I move back with my parents in Utah during that time, so I wasn’t all alone. Shortly after my husband left, when I wasn’t tending to my son and his needs, I found it hard to find things to do to help pass the time. My mom told me that I needed to find a hobby, so next thing I know I’m standing in Walmart picking out my first sewing machine.

I had no idea how to sew and neither did anyone in my family. With the help of my instruction manual and YouTube I quickly caught onto all the basics. I started out by making blankets my son, myself and family members. Looking back now I ask myself why I started with such a difficult fabric to work with… minky! It is so soft and cuddly, but it is so slick and messy (hello trail of fuzzy plush) to work with.

After I ran out of people to make blankets for, I moved to making accessories for Tula baby carriers. Anyone that had a baby around this time may remember all the craze with Tula. Moving to the baby carrier accessories really opened up a creative outlet for me and I loved it! I actually ran a business through Facebook selling these to other parents for a short period before I decided to take a step back and focus on my family as it was consuming a lot of my time.

My love for sewing moved to the back burner for a few years as we moved to a new state and expanded our family. Fast forward to early 2019, my daughter was about to be 2 and was obsessed with baby shark. I searched high and low for baby shark apparel for her to wear for her birthday and just couldn’t. I decided that I would try to make her a dress myself. I went to Joann to try to find some fabrics that would fit the baby shark theme (I wasn’t aware of all the amazing online shops yet)

My daughter has been in love with the color pink for as long as I can remember, I found a pink cotton fabric with a cute, scalloped design on it that I picked for the skirt portion of her dress then went with a solid white knit for the bodice portion. With the help of one of her RTW (ready to wear) tops, I self-drafted her dress. With the help of my Cricut Maker I added a cute shark design with the saying “baby shark is two two two”. It was far from perfect, and it took me a day or two to make because of lots and trial and error but I was excited when I completed it and my daughter loved it, which in the end is all that really matters. Looking back at this I often ask myself how I managed to make a dress having no idea what I was doing and just winging it. It reminds me now that I often get stuck doing is overthinking it. If you really put your mind to something that you want and don’t let yourself stand in your way you can do anything.

My daughter and I at her 2nd birthday party, and her dress I made

After completing my daughters dress, I knew that my true passion with sewing is clothing. Since that moment I’ve never looked back. I discovered the Facebook sewing community and all the pdf patterns available. I’ve learned so much along the way and have loved every minute. I now mostly work with knit fabrics but have made it my goal for this year to become more comfortable working with woven fabrics again. I look forward to sharing all of my future creations and hacks with you on here.

Until next time,

Afton