Archives for May 2013

May

Fabric Friday: Southern Fabric Giveaway

It’s another Fabric Friday here at The Cottage Mama and we’ve got a great giveaway today from one of our lovely blog sponsors, Southern Fabric.

Southern Fabric carries a wonderful variety of designer quilting cotton fabric from some of my very favorite designers. If you’ve never visited their shop, you need to head over there and check it out…….but be careful, you’ll want to buy one of everything!

They are having a great Memorial Day sale going on right now. Today is the last day to take advantage, so if you are in the market for some gorgeous new fabric, I suggest you head on over and check out some of the fantastic deals. You can visit Souther Fabric by clicking HERE.

I have had my eye on this line ‘Happy-Go-Lucky‘ by Bonnie and Camille for Moda Fabrics ever since I saw a preview of it. I am really drawn to navy blue right now and I love the mix of brighter colors with some of the deeper blue tones in this line.

Speaking of navy blue…….this print from ‘Cuzco’ by Kate Spain for Moda Fabrics also has my name on it. SO pretty!

On the more juvenile front, I love this print from the ‘Apple Jacks‘ line. My little guy is really into all kinds of vehicles right now and this would be just perfect for him.

There are so many gorgeous fabrics to be found over at Southern Fabric. And today one lucky winner is going to win a $50.00 gift certificate to Southern Fabric to spend on anything you would like.

To stay up to date with new patterns, tutorials, giveaways and more, please sign up for the NEW The Cottage Mama newsletter starting in June.

Subscribe to the NEW The Cottage Mama Newsletter

Giveaway will be open until Monday, June 3, 2013 at Midnight (CST).

You can enter via the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

May

Georgia Vintage Dress: Testers, Part 2

Yesterday I shared the first round of Georgia Vintage Dress testers with you and today I’m back to share with you another great group of testers. All of these dresses were created from the Georgia Vintage Dress pattern by The Cottage Mama which can be found here.

This dress was made by Ellen Balzer (www.ellzabelle.com) who sewed View C of the Georgia Vintage Dress. This is the sleeveless variation that lends a more modern feel to the dress. She selected this gorgeous, bold print that works so beautiful on her little girl.

Here we have Miss Eliza wearing her dress made by her mama, Michelle from Handmade Martini. Michelle and I met when she took a class from me at the Martha Pullen School of Art Fashion. I absolutely adore the fabric pairing and placement on this little dress. She actually just opened her Etsy shop and is selling some adorable new children’s clothes. You can check out her shop here.

Here is a lovely version of the Georgia Vintage Dress by Trisha Parker (www.sweetnsassygirls.com). The colors and patterns used in this dress are some of my favorite and the pink piping and buttons bring the entire look together. Her daughter looks so precious in this look.

I adore this dress on a baby girl……it’s just so sweet! This dress was made by Courtney Davis from Sweeter Than Cupcakes. The soft colors and light pink baby pom-pom trim make this a perfect dress for one of our smaller little ladies.

Both the baby and little girl (pictured above) were created by Cindy Nooner. These dresses just melted my heart. The darling apple applique on the bodice is simply perfect and it’s made from the ‘Apple of My Eye‘ fabric line from Riley Blake Designs. Such sweet perfection.

This beautiful red and white dress was created by Karen Evanoff (www.andthepiecesfit.blogspot.com). She used rick-rack trim in place of the piping and created rick-rack flowers with buttons in the center down the front. These colors are just perfect for summer!

And finally, I’ll leave you with one of our tiniest little testers. This dress was created by Danae from Head over Heels and looks so sweet on this adorable baby girl. The mixing and matching of eyelet fabric and woven cotton and the addition of pearl buttons makes this dress perfect for a tiny little princess!

So I’ll stop there, but will you believe me when I tell you that wasn’t even all the testers? There were just too many to share, but they all did such a fantastic job and I couldn’t be more proud of their creations!

Do you want to create your very own Georgia Vintage Dress? If so, you can find the pattern HERE.

Next week, I’ll be releasing my second pattern in this summer collection and I can’t wait to share with you! And check back tomorrow because we have a really great fabric giveaway coming up from one of our lovely blog sponsors.

Have a great day!

May

Georgia Vintage Dress Pattern: Testers, Part 1

As I announced in my post yesterday, the Georgia Vintage Dress Pattern (Size 6 Month – 10 Years) is now available for sale as a downloadable PDF and you can find it sold here.

One of the most important factors in pattern design is fit. It doesn’t matter what the cover of a pattern looks like, but if the customers that purchase that pattern can recreate what’s on the cover, then the pattern is a fail. In order to ensure a great fit and a well instructed pattern, I enlisted the help of a wonderful group of pattern testers. Some of them are bloggers, some have their own Etsy shops, and some are mom’s and grandma’s that just love to sew.

I went went through many different emails of folks applying for this open call that I made over on The Cottage Mama Facebook page and I was pretty certain that I had put together a good group. What I didn’t know, is that I had put together a truly wonderful group of women. Not only did these women do a fantastic job testing and giving feedback on this pattern, but they are genuinely a kind, supportive and incredibly talented bunch. There are 43 of them total that are divided up testing each of the four patterns releasing over the next several weeks.

I am SO incredibly proud of what they created from the Georgia Vintage Dress pattern that I just can’t wait to show you!

First up, we have our tester, Hayley, from Welcome to the Mouse House. In her version, she added in a fourth fabric and used jumbo rick-rack trim instead of piping on the bib. The colors and fabric she chose are just stunning and her little lady looks so adorable in her dress.

This Georgia Vintage Dress was from Natalie Cooper. Her choice of more subtle fabrics in softer colors with these gorgeous floral buttons give a true vintage feel to this dress.

This dress was by Amy Fournier from Ellie-Jayne Designs and it actually fit both her girls. The first few pictures of Amy’s daughter show the dress with a slightly longer hem (that has since been shortened) and this final pictures is of her other darling little lady. The use of contrasting fabrics really make all the details of this dress pop.

Here we have sweet Lily modeling the dress made by her mom, Julie from Crafts for Lily. She selected these gorgeous soft colors that look perfect on Lily. And her mixing and matching of patterned prints is spot on.

Ayelet from The Graceful Rose tested one of our larger sizes for her daughter using View B, a sleeveless variation. This lends a slightly more modern look to the pattern and the gorgeous Joel Dewberry fabric she used is fantastic!

This gorgeous dress is from Judy Brock who used a beautiful combination of white, yellow and blue for her Georgia Vintage Dress.

So what do you think? Didn’t these testers do such a lovely job? I’ve got a whole other group of photos to show you tomorrow that I think you’ll love as well.

The ladies created these dresses all on their own simply following the pattern instructions. Sometimes I think people feel my patterns can look a little tricky, like there would be no way they could recreate the look on their own. But you can! The instructions are straight-forward and enable confident beginners to create an identical design to the cover and will help you along with your sewing technique. If you’ve never tried a The Cottage Mama Sewing Pattern, I encourage you to give one a try………I’m pretty sure you’re going to like it.

If you would like to purchase the new Georgia Vintage Dress (Size 6 Month – 10 Years), you can find the pattern HERE.

And if you would like to stay up to date with current pattern releases, tutorials, recipes and more, please sign up for the NEW The Cottage Mama newsletter that will be starting next month! Sign up below.

Subscribe to the NEW The Cottage Mama Newsletter

May

Georgia Vintage Dress Pattern from The Cottage Mama: Now Available!

Can I tell you how hard it is to keep a secret from you all? It’s the hardest because I just love, love, love sharing with you. I have been working really hard these last several months getting my next collection of sewing patterns ready to go and today I am thrilled to share my first of four new patterns with you! I will be releasing the four patterns over the next several weeks in PDF form and they will all be available in printed, hardcopy form by the end of June.

This first pattern, the Georgia Vintage Dress, is probably the pattern I am most proud of creating since I started designing sewing patterns. I hope you love it as much as I do!

The Georgia Vintage Dress

SIZE 6 MONTH – 10 YEARS

DESCRIPTION: The Georgia Vintage Dress was inspired by a favorite dress worn by my mother in the late 1950’s. It is a dress with many possibilities and options, yet has timeless classic appeal. View A, the Georgia Vintage Dress, features a piped bib front bodice finished with decorative buttons and sweet pointed collar. The skirt is double layered for extra fullness and has a waist sash that is gathered on the sides for a large bow tied in the back of the dress. Dress closes with buttons on the bodice back. View B is the Georgia Vintage Dress without the bib front. View C, features the Georgia Vintage Dress without the ruffle sleeve and View D, mirrors View A, yet features a single layer skirt. There are so many ways to use this pattern and you will have many opportunities to make it your own.

All design variations have a fully lined bodice and include French seams in the skirt for total comfort for your little one. This is great pattern for confident beginner sewers and offers many ways to get creative with your design!

There are four official variations included in the pattern, but there are so many possibilities! You can mix and match the different pieces to create a truly unique, one-of-a-kind look.

This is my little Matilda modeling the Georgia Vintage Dress, View A in Size 4T. When I photographed her in this dress, she just felt so special and pretty. I could tell by her demeanor. It was a sweet time for us.

View A, B and D all feature a sweet flutter sleeve. And View C is a sleeveless option that is perfect for the older little ladies or those that aren’t a big fan of ruffles.

The front bib detail is trimmed out with piping on the sides and three sweet buttons down the front. You can choose to use any trim you would like in place of the piping or eliminate the trim completely. I can’t wait to show you some of the pattern testers versions with different trim options. The sweet, pointed peter-pan collar really adds to the timeless, classic appeal of this dress.

All design variations feature a large bow that is tied in the back of the dress. It is gathered at the sides and makes this dress as sweet in the back as it is in the front.

The Georgia Vintage Dress Pattern is now available for sale in PDF form. If you aren’t familiar with PDF patterns, they are patterns that you print on your home computer, tape the pieces together to form the full pattern sheet. The beauty of PDF patterns is that they are available for instant download, so no need to wait to get sewing and you can print them out time and time again (no tracing)! Plus they are a little less expensive then the printed version and you avoid paying shipping. The four patterns that are releasing over the next several weeks are also formatted for our international customers to print on A4 paper. Like I said above, the patterns will be available for sale in print at the end of June, so no worries for our printed paper pattern fans!

I have worked for weeks with an amazing group of pattern testers perfecting this pattern and throughout this next week I will be showing you some of their incredible Georgia Vintage Dress creations. I am always in awe of the talent that surrounds us here in the online sewing community and I think you will definitely be inspired by some of their adorable little dresses.

If you would like to purchase a PDF version of the Georgia Vintage Dress Pattern, you can find it HERE.

May

The Cottage Mama’s Sewing Basket: Tube Turners

Today we are back with another fun, little tool from The Cottage Mama’s Sewing Basket. These tube turners may look like a simple tool, but they will change your life. And if you don’t have them in your sewing basket, I’m going to recommend you pick up a set.

What does this tool do? Tube turners are kind of like they sound. They make it easy to turn tubes of fabric right side out. Have you ever been working on a long sash for a dress or straps for a tote bag and found it took forever to turn the fabric right side out? Well, these little tools make such fast work of this. Here’s how…..

Simply place the blue plastic tube down inside your tube of fabric (or sash) that is currently turned wrong side out. Take the wooden dowel and push it up through the finished end of the fabric and up through the blue plastic tube.

Continue pushing the wooden dowel up through the plastic tube until the fabric appears at the top of the plastic tube and is right side out. At that point you can remove the wooden dowel and just continue to pull the fabric out through the top of the plastic tube.

And there you have it…….a quick turn tube turner! Yes, you can most certainly turn tubes and sashes with something like a chopstick, but let me tell you……these are even easier and worth the small investment. You can find Quick Turn Tube Turners in the notions section of your local fabric and sewing store. They generally come in a pack of three with different sizes. I have the Dritz brand, but there may be other brands on the market as well.

There is also another handy-dandy tool used for turning completely open tubes (with no finished end), but we’ll save that one for another installment of The Cottage Mama’s Sewing Basket.

*I was not compensated in any way promoting the products and tools found in The Cottage Mama’s Sewing Basket. These are all tools, notions and things that I love and use.

May

Giraffe Love Top and Leggings

I have been so busy around here I can hardly see straight. I have four new sewing patterns that are under going pattern testing right now getting ready to release next month. It’s very fun and exciting; however, it puts sewing for my own kids on the back burner for the time being…..or so it should.

I have had this giraffe fabric for about a month now. I ordered it for Miss Matilda since giraffes are her favorite animal. She was so thrilled when it arrived and has been wanting an outfit made out of it ever since she saw it. So, as I’ve been busily working on my new patterns, this fabric has been starring at me just begging to be made into something for my little lady.

So a couple days ago, I couldn’t take it anymore……I just had to make this outfit for Matilda. Do you ever get an idea in your head that you just have to do right then and there? Well, that’s where I was……I knew I would be thinking about Matilda’s giraffe outfit forever until it was made. So I took a break from my patterns and whipped up this little outfit for Miss M in an afternoon. And I’m so glad I did…..she loves it!

The top is very simple. It’s just a t-shirt cut off with fabric added to the bottom. I picked up a bunch of shirts on clearance last year for $2.00 each that have just been waiting for me to embellish them. I decided to use some knit and woven cotton for this outfit. My girls are all about comfort these days so I can see myself incorporating more knits into my sewing as they get older.

The skirt on the top was made from a woven quilting cotton, ‘Giraffe Love‘ by Michael Miller fabrics. I made a ruffle around the bottom hem out of orange stretch knit (Heaven and Helsinki by Patty Young for Michael Miller Fabrics) and added woven ribbon trim on top (from Renaissance Ribbons).

The great thing about knit is that it doesn’t fray, so you can skip finishing the edges if you are going for a more casual look. I used the Go-To Leggings Pattern with my own ruffle legging tutorial found here. And I also added a yoga waistband because I thought that would be more comfortable. Again, the knit fabric I used has a good amount of stretch to it and is ‘Heaven and Helsinki‘ by Patty Young for Michael Miller Fabrics.

I’m really loving this outfit. It’s perfect for play, but still cute and unique. And the most important thing is that Matilda loves it!

And I’ll leave you with a picture of my little giraffe lover.

Have a great day!

May

Goat Cheese & Mozzarella Tomato Toast Recipe

I am a savory kind of girl. What about you? When it comes to breakfast, I much prefer something on the salty side rather than the sweet. This easy little breakfast or lunch is perfect for when you want something nice and satisfying to get your day started off right!

Goat Cheese and Mozzarella Tomato Toast

Serves 2

Ingredients:

4 slices multi-grain bread (good quality, grainy bread)

4 vine-ripened tomatoes

1/2 -3/4 cup crumbled goat cheese

3/4 cup shredded mozzarella (more, if you like)

Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Garlic salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Lay out your multi-grain bread on a cook sheet. Try to purchase a good, quality bread in the bakery section of your grocery store…..that makes a big difference. Drizzle your bread with extra virgin olive oil.

Slice four tomatoes. Place tomato slices on top of bread. There should be one full tomato per slice of bread. Season with garlic salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top of tomatoes and then goat cheese. You can use more or less cheese depending on how much you like. Season again with garlic salt and pepper and another little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Place in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes until bread is crunchy and the cheese is melty and bubbly. Once you’ve taken your toast out of the oven, feel free to add any fresh herbs on top.

Serve two slices per person for a hearty breakfast or lunch or one slice per person if you are serving this with eggs for breakfast or a salad for lunch.

Enjoy!

May

Happy Mother’s Day

I wanted to wish you all a very Happy Mother’s Day and leave a special little note for the most amazing woman in my life, my mom.

I hope you all have a beautiful, amazing and fantastic day.

The blessing of children truly is one of the greatest gifts on earth.

Happy Mother’s Day!

May

The Start of Spring…….and $100 Home Depot Gift Card

It’s finally Spring here in Chicago. It felt like winter was going to last forever, but we have finally thawed out and I think the freezing weather is gone for good (or at least until next winter).

I love the beginning of spring, don’t you? I get all these great ideas of things I want to do in the yard, flowers I want to plant, landscaping to be done. I don’t usually get around to all of it, but I always make time for planting flowers on our porch.

Several weeks back I was asked if I would like to try some new Premium Plants from Miracle-Gro that were being sold exclusively in Chicago Home Depot’s. Well, they didn’t have to ask me twice for that one because I was just about ready to go buy my flowers for spring planting anyway.

I always use Miracle-Gro potting mix for my window boxes and pots on the porch because I really do see a difference in the flowers in comparison to the years where I just used the regular stuff. These Miracle-Gro Premium Plants are supposed to have extra nutrients in the soil and be set up for a great growing season. And if I’m really honest, I always seem to do great with my gardening those first few months or so, but then the weather gets really hot and the mosquitos come out and I start to lose steam……so I can use all the help I can get. And since they have a 3-month money back guarantee……I’d say I’m good to go through mid-August.

So guess what I’ll be doing this Mother’s Day weekend? Planting my new flowers on our front porch. I’m excited to see what these plants do this season. I’ll have to give you an update later into the summer. Will they still be going strong? I’m going to guess so, since Miracle-Gro always seems to do the trick, but only time will tell…….

How would you like to go buy yourself some Miracle-Gro Premium Plants (if you’re in Chicago) or something fun for spring?

How about I give you $100 Home Depot Gift Card so you can go buy some of your very own?

All I need you to do is leave me a comment and let me know what is your favorite thing to plant in your garden each year and what region of the country you live.

There will be one winner selected and the giveaway is open until Sunday, May 12, 2013 at midnight (CST).

May

Giant Fabric Match Up Giveaway ~ Win 24 Yards of Fabric!

fabric match up giveaway- win 24 yards of fabric from your favorite bloggers!

I am so excited about today’s giveaway that I can hardly contain myself!

Have you ever wished that one of your favorite sewing blogger’s would go fabric shopping for you?

Or seen a project on a blog and thought, “Oh, I NEED that fabric!” If so, today is your lucky day!

Eighteen sewing bloggers picked out a yard (or two!) of a fabric from their stash and we’re giving them ALL away today to one lucky winner!

To win this amazing stash of fabric loveliness, just match the fabric swatch to the blogger (*hint* – most of us have used the fabric we chose in a recent project, so our recent posts are your fast track to fabric matching success). The first person to correctly match all of the swatches will receive ALL of the fabric shown!

So what do you think? Want to play?

fabric matching giveaway- win 24 yards of fabric from your favorite sewing bloggers!

A- 1.5 yards, Mini Dot in Sunspray by Lotta Jansdotter
B- 1 yard, Paradise Garden in Periwinkle by Amy Butler
C- Florescent Pink & Gray Striped Jersey Knit
D- 1/2 yard Heirloom Tile Flourish in Garnet and 1/2 yard Heirloom Opal in Fuchsia both by Joel Dewberry
E- 1 yard, Houndstooth in black by Michael Miller
F- Pink/Orange Stripe knit
G- 1 yard, Orange and Light Heather Gray Stripe Cotton Jersey Knit
H- 1 yard, Light pink linen
I- 1 yard, Mustard and Ivory Stripe by Girl Charlee
J- 1 yard, Rally Cream/Grass by Dan Stiles
K- 1 yard Riley Blake Ombre Dots in Aqua, 1 yard Target Polka Dot Sheet Fabric, 1 yard Lizzy House Pearl Bracelet in Persimmon and Michael Miller Happy Tones Charm Pack,
L- 1 yard, Remix Triangles B/W by Ann Kelle
M- 1 Yard, Novella Rain Rayon in Aqua by Valori Wells, 1 yard, Lush Running Stitch in Purple by Patty Young, and 1 yard, Porcelain Tile Garden Wall in Olive
N- 1 yard, Mustard cotton sateen
O- 1 yard, Summer Totem in Grapefruit by Anna Maria Horner
P- 1 yard, Black and white chevron
Q- 1 yard, Parenthetical in Berry by Anna Maria Horner
R- 2 yards (1 yard each), ABC 123 by American Jane for Moda
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