Five and Ten Designs Volume One Black Friday Sale

If you haven't heard, Five and Ten Designs Volume One is now available with sleeves!  Considering the colder weather upon us, I couldn't wait to make my first of many longer sleeved dresses for my girl.  

Using some festive taffeta in silver and blue plaid, I made a 3/4 length sleeve party dress.  It's a size two, but I increased the width of the skirt by three inches.  It is completely lined, including the sleeves and is perfect for all the upcoming holiday celebrations.

If you already have the Five and Ten Designs Volume One eBook, download your sleeve pattern and enjoy!  And if you don't have the eBook, yet, now's your chance to get it at a special discounted price!  

Happy Holidays and Happy Sewing!

Free Sleeve Pattern for 5 & 10 Designs Volume One eBook

Exciting news from Five and Ten Designs!  We are now offering a free sleeve pattern to accompany the book!  The sleeve pattern includes three options: long, 3/4, and short sleeve length in all the sizes offered in the book (12 months to 10 years).  With the holidays right around the corner, this will give so many options for all those pretty party dresses.

Here's just a little sneak peek at the party dress I made for my little girl.

I'll be sharing a full view on Friday with another big Five and Ten Designs announcement (here's a hint..if you don't have the book, yet, you might want to wait 'till then).

Already own the Five and Ten Designs Volume One eBook?  Great!  Download the free sleeve pattern here, and have fun creating your new looks!

See you Friday!

More Imported Fabrics, Trims, and Patterns from L'Oiseau

While Friday, was all about what I made for my boy, today, it's my little girl who was lucky enough to received two complete outfits made with delights from L'Oiseau.  L'Oiseau is a Canadian online shop which was opened because of a love of creating beautiful and whimsical clothes.  To make those clothes, you need unique and wonderful products, which is exactly what you'll find there.  An added bonus is that everything at L'Oiseau is top quality, so you can shop with confidence.

When browsing through the Ottobre magazine (Autumn 2013 issue) I received from L'Oiseau, I immediately knew I had to make this adorable outfit:

L'Oiseau has an amazing selection of imported European fabrics in beautiful prints.  With so many gorgeous fabrics to choose from, I finally decided on the Dutch Blooms European Jersey Knit.  How could I not when I saw this posted on L'Oiseau's Facebook page?

"This is hands down the most lovely, silky, richly coloured, beautifully draping, all round gorgeous jersey knit I have ever felt...and I have felt a lot of jersey. Everything that came in this past week is...stunning. Can you imagine how comfy and lovely a Christmas dress would be?"

And I thought it was pretty neat that it's also available in corduroy, so, I ordered both.  And I absolutely agree with the comments above…this fabric is GORGEOUS!  The quality of these knits are unlike any I've ever seen.  They are soft, have just the right amount of stretch, and are the perfect weight.  And the fine wale corduroy is just is beautiful.  It's so velvety smooth, and I love the authentic Dutch design.

One note about the blazer: although the pattern recommended a sweatshirt knit, I used the corduroy.  Making no change to the pattern whatsoever, it fit perfectly.  Since it's outerwear, the pattern allowed for the right amount of ease to make it fit great for wovens, too.

Dutch Rose Corduroy

To coordinate with the florals, I went with some fun, vibrant dots.

Dutch Blooms European Jersey Knit, Mini Dots Green, 

Dots Raspberry, Mini Dots Pink

For the second outfit, I decided to make some super easy, fun leggings (appropriately called 'Uncomplicated Leggings') and since I loved how my boy's Beagle Boy Hoodie turned out, made one for Anja as well.  I also adapted the little purse seen in the photo below, but omitting the petals.  You can find a free pattern for it here.  After having made four garments from Ottobre magazine, I have to say I wholeheartedly recommend them.  The fit is fantastic, the designs superb, and the instructions are well-written and concise.  They are not for the beginner, though, in my opinion, since there are no diagrams to help guide you through the sewing process.

In addition to the garments, I had a lot of fun making the matching accessories, adding some cute trims from L'Oiseau.  The are so many ways you can use these to personalize anything you make (or even buy), but I chose to make the couple little purses and hair clips.

 Iron On Appliqué Little Hearts

 Farbenmix Ribbons Chirpy Bundle

If you value exceptional quality, unique design, and top notch customer service, make sure to head over to L'Oiseau and check out their extensive selection!  They are AMAZING!  And head over to their Facebook page to find their newsletter.  There's some very important information about a major Black Friday deal on shipping!

*Although some of the fabrics and notions used to make the garments for this post were provided free of charge, all my enthusiastic opinions are my own.* 

Winchester Lambourne Giveaway Winner

Thank you to everyone who entered to win a ten clipart pack from Winchester Lambourne.  The randomly selected winner is…

Congratulations, Alyssa!  Enjoy your clipart!

L'oiseau - High Quality Imported Fabric, Trim, and Patterns

I cannot be more excited to introduce you to the sponsor of today's post.  If you've ever wondered where you can get high-quality, imported European fabrics, trims, and patterns you need not look any further then L'Oiseau.

 L'Oiseau opened after years of research by a dedicated mom who is passionate about making bright, fun clothing for her children, but had difficulty accessing the beautiful stretchy knits, soft cottons, and whimsical prints from overseas.  Taking this challenge upon herself, Michelle has made these amazing products affordable and accessible to Canadians and crafty-minded sewists around the world who, like me, are desperate for those stunning fabrics to drape their children in!  Thank you, Michelle!!

At  L'Oiseau  you will find European products from which you can make one-of-a kind garments and accessories that will have people stopping you in the streets to ask where you bought them: gorgeous fabrics from the Netherlands, unique Farbenmix ribbons, patches and patterns from Germany, and incredible Ottobre design magazines from Finland.  And that's just to name a few.  Most of the products are OEKO-TEX certified, so you can have confidence in where your products came from and how they were made.

When my package from L'Oiseau arrived, I was in total amazement at the exceptional quality.  To be completely honest, I've never had the opportunity to even touch such luxurious fabrics and notions…EVER!  Let's start with one of the many über cute iron-on appliqués available at L'Oiseau.  The one I selected was perfect for my boy who is currently obsessed with all things outer space: the Otto Space Robot.

In just minutes, given the helpful detailed instructions, I was able to transform an ordinary previously made t-shirt into something charming and distinctive.  Needless to say, he LOVES it!

  

Next up, what I've been wanting to get my hands on for a long, long time: an Ottobre magazine and some beautiful organic interlock knit.  Each quarter, a new issue of Ottobre magazine is released containing 40 full sized patterns for children ranging from sizes 6 months to 14 years for both boys and girls.  That works out to only about .41 cents a pattern!  And the designs have unique details making them different than many of the typical patterns you see everyday.  To see more details, check out the extensive selection at L'Oiseau. 

Browsing through my Autumn 2013 issue, I noticed this cool hoodie.  I loved the patches and the interesting cross-over hood.

Then, for my fabric selection, I headed over to L'Oiseau's impressive selection of 100% organic fabrics and knowing this hoodie was for my boy, these adorable little elephants caught my eye.  The colour combination is perfect for fall and there are so many options for coordinating.  I simply can't get over the lovely the texture and superb quality of this fabric!  It has the perfect amount of stretch and thickness.

Here's the finished product for my boy...  

 

And the fun has only begun!  On Monday, I plan to show you two complete outfits I'm working on for my girl.  Think super soft Dutch fine wale corduroy, silky imported jersey knits, whimsical ribbons and velvety velour patches!  Can you tell how excited I am to share this amazing new shop with you?!  If you want to keep connected with all the new stock and happenings, 'like' L'Oiseau on Facebook.

Have a great weekend, Everyone!

*Although some of the fabrics and notions used to make the garments for this post were provided free of charge, all my enthusiastic opinions are my own.*