The Lottie Skirt - with big pockets and an elastic back (A tutorial)

Happy, happy Friday everyone. I hope you have all had a great week and hopefully  you have been able to take advantage of my LUCKY 7 week and get some patterns on sale. If not, my patterns will stay reduced to $7 through the weekend and be back to regular price next week.

I hope you have also had a great time seeing all the sneak pictures of the Luna dress. Good gravy, I love this pattern. I am going to spend the weekend finishing up some last minute things with the pattern and have it live and in the shop come Monday! Just as Jimmy Buffett says...Come Monday, it will be alright! Speaking of things being alright, how about if I told you there were two amazing giveaways going on for the Luna AND some Art Gallery fabric??!! Check out both of these blogs and enter the giveaways for your chance to win!!

• Baby Hobbes Design: Luna Luna! You had me at Hello!!

• Oh Luna I love You So!

Earlier this week I promised you a tutorial on how to add big pockets to your Lottie skirts and also make it with an elastic waistband (just in the back so the front still has that polished flat look).

 I had hoped to blog before Friday, but we all know how life is. This seems to be wild time of year for me as I am trying to tie up all of the loose ends with BG before the holidays begin. So, needless to say...here it is Friday morning and I am just now getting back to you with the Lottie tutorial!

This tutorial will show you how to make some changes to the Lottie skirt pattern. Since the pattern is very detailed, I won't go into many details here but instead will reference the pattern. 

First things first, let's start with the waistband. Since there will be no closure in the back, cut 2 of the front waistbands. There are patterns pieces, or dimensions for those that would rather in the back of the pattern (starting on page 45). I am making a size 5, so I am cutting 2 pieces of fabric that are 5.5 x 11.75.

Once cut, place the 2 pieces right sides together and sew along the sides as shown below with the dotted lines. Take the waistband over to the ironing board and press those 2 seams out. 

Now, fold the waistband over on itself with right sides facing. Run a stitch along the top of the waistband (the folded edge) as shown below. This is exactly like you do on page 10 of the pattern, with the only exception being that this waistband is tubular since it is joined on both side. And because the Ninja Turtles think it is cool. Totally tubular. 

Once stitched, flip the waistband right sides out and then head over to the ironing board and press the top seam that you just stitched flat. While at the ironing board, go ahead and flip up a 3/8" hem along the bottom of one side of the waistband as shown below. This will be the lining side and will help us to enclose the skirt seam later on. 

Once that hem is pressed, set your waistband to the side. Now on to the skirt panel. I have only done this particular skirt with the elastic back with the gathered skirt. Personally I cannot ever seem to get my pleats to look right when I use an elastic waist, so I don't even go there. But, you can certainly try it out if you like! For this tutorial purpose, we will be focusing on the gathered skirt. On the pattern page 6 you will find the cutting chart for the gathered skirt of the Lottie. For this look, you want to cut 2 front skirt panels. Again, I am doing a size 5, so I will cut 2 panels that are 14 3/8" x 23 1/2". Once cut, place right sides together and sew up along the side seams as shown below in the black dotted lines. Finish those seams and then press. Alternatively you can also do these with french seams and then the entire skirt will have beautiful finished, hidden seams. :) Sometimes the insides of a garment make me just as happy as the outside!

Once your side seams are sewn, go ahead and hem the bottom of the skirt. I find it easier to go ahead and hem it now. Follow the directions to hem just as you would in the pattern starting on page 41.

For the pocket, there is no right or wrong here. Louisa wanted a skirt with a big pocket. She saw on in a catalog this summer (possibly Mini Boden???) and has been talking about it ever since. So, Momma wanted to deliver! Place your skirt panel on a flat surface where one of the side seams is facing up. This is where you will need your best eye-balling skills. Again, no right or wrong here, but let me tell you what I do. I like to make a large, rectangular pocket that sits off-center of the side seam. This basically just means I want more pocket to the front of the skirt than I do to the back. Below in turquoise I sketched how I eye-balled the pocket. Remember that you will have a 3/8" seam at the top of the skirt. For this skirt, I ended up making a sketch that had a width (W) of 8 by a height (H) of 8. 

Now, for some math. I mean, it wouldn't be a BG tutorial without math now would it? :) So the pocket sketch you made will be for the finished measurements of the pockets. But, you need to know how to cut them. So, I have some formulas for you. 

For the width (W), you want to do: W + 1. Easy enough, right:

For the height (H), you want: H + 2.5.

So, in my example for a finished pocket with W of 6 and H of 8, I will cut TWO pockets that are 7" by 10.5". 

W: 6 + 1 = 7

H: 8 + 2.5 = 10.5

Once your math is done and your pockets are cut, finish the 2 sides and the bottom of the pockets however you please. Then, head to the iron and press to the wrong sides a .5" hem along the bottom and sides as shown below in black. For the top, press down a 1" hem (turquoise line below) and then another 1" (darker turquoise) for a finished hem. 

Once pressed, top-stitch along the top hem as shown below in black.

Now for the fun part...placing the pockets! If you are lucky, your skirt panel is still laid out flat on a flat surface. If you are me, your kids are home from school for the day and have taken over your sewing room while you are working...

With your skirt panel on a flat surface with one of the side seams facing up, place the pocket on the panel how you would like it. Again, this is not rocket science at all but I like to place mine off-center so more of the pocket is towards the front. There is no sense in having a great, big awesome pocket if her hands cannot reach it, right?? Once you are happy with placement, pin in place and then repeat with the other pocket. Make sure both pockets are symmetric!

Once they are pinned, head over to your machine and stitch the pockets in place as shown below in black. I like to do a triangle stitch at the top of each pocket to reinforce that seam since it will see a lot of wear and tear with hands going in and out of the pocket.

Once your pockets are sewn in place, run a gathering stitch across the top of the skirt. On page 28 of the pattern, I show how to do this and this tutorial is similar, but you will only have 2 stitches, one across the top front and one across the top back.

Continuing on via the pattern, match up your skirt side seams with the waistband side seams and pull your gathers in to match the waistband. Pin in place and take to the machine and stitch the skirt to the  raw edge of the waistband. Remember how we pressed up the hem of one side of the waistband earlier? Make sure that is not included in this stitch! Once you have your skirt stitched to the waistband, finish that seam. It will be enclosed but finishing helps to reduce the bulk.

Now, take to the iron and press the seam up towards the waistband as shown below by the yellow arrow. This is always a fun step to me. There is just something about seeing a gathered fabric pressed against a non-gathered spot. Oh it makes me happy!

Staying at the ironing board, flip your skirt over and then press the other side of the waistband (the side you pressed a hem earlier) over to cover the skirt seam. Press all the way around the skirt as shown below. See how awesome it looks when it covers the seam?

Now, take your skirt to the machine and top-stitch around the top of the entire waistband as shown below. This will help create the casing for our elastic. You see this machine? This is Louisa's sewing machine. My faithful Brother that lasted me 5 years longer than it should went caput on me and so thankfully I had Lou's to get me through some garments. Phew!

Now, you can either use Wonder-Tape or pins, but you want to secure the waistband over the skirt seam in the front. ONLY THE FRONT for right now. Since it is only the front, I usually will just use pins. Then, take to your machine and top-stitch along the skirt seam on the front ONLY as shown below. This helps to enclose that skirt seam.

This is what it will look like on the inside of the front of the skirt after you have sewn it down. 

Now, for the elastic. More math, but again...I have a formula for you! To determine the amount of elastic you will need, use this formula:

(waist measurement / 2) - 3

For my example, Louisa's waist was 22. So, I cut a piece of elastic that was 8" long since (22/2)-3 is 8. (I will add I found it to fit just a bit snug on Louisa...so next time I may only subtract 2, but then again I was using an elastic that was very tight...just a little side note.)

For the size of elastic to use, I recommend using the widest you can for the casing. In my case, I used a 1.5" wide elastic. I probably would have been fine with just 1" since it was a bit difficult to pull through, but it was all I had on hand so I made it work!

Now, with your piece of elastic, you want to feed it into the waistband back as shown below. 

Pull it around to one of the side seams. Pin in place with aabout 1/4' of the elastic to the front of the side seam. This is shown below with the elastic in green. In the photo below, the skirt front is to the right.

Now, to secure the elastic, stitch in the ditch (meaning run a stitch on the side seam of the waistband). This is shown below from the RIGHT side of the skirt in black. I am sorry I realized just now that it may be confusing with the front of the skirt on the right in the photo above and below it is to the left, but hopefully you catch my drift with the green area posing as the elastic.

Once that side is secured, do the same with the other side of the elastic and the opposite waistband side seam. Once your elastic is secured in both places, you want to sew the back of the skirt along the skirt seam. I find this is easiest to do on the machine while pulling the elastic taught and sewing along the seam.

Guess what ladies? You now have an adorable Lottie with big-ole pockets and an elastic-back waistband! I cannot wait to see your pictures! Make sure to upload them in the brownie-goose lovers group on Facebook!

And don't forget, go enter those two giveaways and have a fantastic weekend. Get some rest for the LUNA release on Monday!!

Xoxo - Amy

Riley Blake Blog Tour: Featuring Lulabelle by Dodi Lee Poulsen

This summer I was in Southern California celebrating the 10 year anniversary with my best bud, supporter, cheerleader, encourager and overall level-headed copilot in our life journey. I was sitting by the pool sipping on a pool drink (while Byron was sitting in a conference learning about otolaryngology and allergy and immunology hoopla, see what I mean about being level-headed?) when I got an email asking to be part of a blog tour. Hook, line and sinker to the girl with the pineapple in her drink! I clicked a link to view the fabric line, but must admit I already knew I was a total yes from the start. I mean, how often can you say no to fabric? Especially when it comes from Riley Blake and dons the name Lulabelle? Well, I cannot admit how long it took me to decide which fabrics I wanted to use. I went back and forth for quite some time and then realized that honestly, I couldn't go wrong with any of them!

I finally decided on Main in cream, Bowtie in navy, Scallops in navy and Petal in mint. Can you tell I have a navy obsession? But honestly, I have to admit I was the most excited about the lavenders in this fabric line. I feel that purples, lilacs, lavenders, etc. are overlooked in the world of fabrics. I feel I am always searching for them, but coming up empty-handed. So, when I saw that Dodi incorporated them with navy and mint, well...I almost ordered another umbrella drink. ;)

Fast forward a few months when the sweet FedEx lady dropped off my fabric. Is there a better feeling than getting fabric in the mail? For girls like us, not really! So I immediately opened the package and fell in love. And then realized what I had immediately planned for the fabric wouldn't do it justice so it was back the drawing board for me while the fabrics went to the wash.

Ladies...let me tell you something. These fabrics came out of the laundry so very soft. And I must confess, I actually forgot about them in the dryer and didn't remove them immediately like I try to do with all fabric. So, they sat in the dryer for probably a few hours and I cannot even begin to tell you my delight in taking them out. Y'all, the wrinkles were an all-time minimum. I was so impressed. So, I headed to my sewing room with super soft, buttery fabric that I didn't need to spend hours pressing! That in itself had me loving Lulabelle and Riley Blake even more!! 

And I created. And I fell in love. 

And guess what? So did Louisa. Which all you moms of older girls out there know is something that doesn't always happen! She actually asked if we could do a photo shoot. And even though it was raining for the 3rd day in a row, I didn't skip a beat. I told her to grab her rain boots and let's go! And we did. You see, she fell in love with this Lottie skirt made from the Scallops in navy as much as I did.

She's really into skirts these days, and while she has a closet of Lotties - she said she likes this one the most. I think it has to do with these big, huge pockets I added in the Petal in mint on the sides. I was tickled pink at how well the colors went together!

And wait a second...is that an elastic back? Why it sure is. And she said she loved that too because it was easy to get on and off. PS - she looks so much like my grandmother (the one that taught me a LOT about sewing) in the picture above that I can't help but tear up a little!

So, just because I love my geese...I will be posting a tutorial this week on how to make your Lottie skirts with huge pockets and an elastic back. Lucy the labrador enjoys the skirt too. She's thinking how easy it would be to hide a chipmunk in those pockets!

I cannot get over my love for this skirt. I think I may have to get more of that fabric. It could be my sewing skirt. Think of all the goodies I could fit in those pockets!

And while I am gushing about my love of the skirt and navy and scallops and mint colors...let me also tell you about my love for this dress. Oh my word. I only thought I couldn't top the skirt.

Louisa adores this dress. And that makes me happier than a bird with a french fry. Speaking of birds, do you see the sweet birds and houses on the Main in cream? The details on this print really are fantastic and Dodi did a great job of using the details as an opportunity to introduce all of these beautiful colors that tie this fabric line in together so well!

The bodice of this dress is a combination of 3 different brownie-goose patterns. Do you ever have those days when you want the sleeves from one dress, the neck from another and the fit from a different one too? I do...all the time. So, for this dress I used the Lennon bodice, the Cricket neckline and the sleeve from my newest, the Luna (I cannot wait to publish this one!!). I snapped some pictures to do a mini-tutorial below on how you can do the same thing! And Louisa has been crushing over the bubble skirts on all of the beautiful Violette Field Thread Genevieve dresses I've shown her lately. So, I thought this dainty print was perfect for a bubble skirt!

I did the back like a Lazy Susan because I had 3 buttons that matched the mint of the skirt in my stash that were screaming to be paired with the navy and lavender of the bodice fabric! I think they paired great!

This picture was right when she said, "Mommy I really love this dress. It makes me feel so girly!" She also said something along the lines that she was glad it wasn't mustard and had a print to it. Haha, she knows my love of yellows and solids. So, I am so grateful for this fabric line to get me out of my solids slump!! Thanks Dodi!!

Now, most photo shoots with Louisa are pretty painful. However, thankfully she was feeling all "girly" and fun in this one because it got humorous. First of all, I let her chew gum. She's pretty proud of her bubble-blowing skills. She told me she had to because her bubble gum coordinated with her bubble skirt. ;)

Well, that was the last "serious fun" photo. What happened next made for some really fun pictures. My photo shoot assistant (my 4 year old Nash) is almost always "behind the scenes" at all shoots. He usually is photo-shopped out of pictures because he likes to get in the way and be just like Louisa. Well, this time he actually was behind the scenes...and in true little boy fashion he decided to toot. And then it all went downhill from there...as you can see.

At least she looked girly and pretty in her Lulabelle dress. Because this girl got the giggles over some broken wind. And that was a wrap. ;)

So, thank you, thank you, thank you Dodi Lee Poulson for thinking of me for this tour. This was really the most fun (obviously) and I had a great time playing with the fabrics of your new line. They are beautiful, so soft and a dream to sew. Not to mention they come out of the dryer beautifully!

Now, for those of you waiting to get your hands on some Lulabelle for yourself, check out this giveaway!

Don’t miss out on the great give-away that Dodi is offering this week. Simply go to www.sashgals.com and leave a comment to win Lulabelle Fat Quarters and/or check out Lulabelle on Instagram @sashgal to win 5, ½ yard pieces of Lulabelle. (Rules for the Instagram contest will be posted there.)  Contests will end at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday the 14^th with Riley Blake doing a wrap up for the tour! Winners will be chosen after the close of the tours. Best of luck!

Don't miss your chance to have your own Lulabelle to make some pretties!

And now, for those of you interested in meshing some patterns to get your own look. For the dress featured above, I started with the Lennon dress bodice, as shown below in gray. I use tracing paper here so that you can place it over a pattern and be able to trace over lines.

Then, I placed the Cricket dress below my tracing paper, making sure to match the fold lines and traced along the neckline, as shown below in orange. 

Next, I pulled out my Luna pattern (you can get yours soon, I promise!) and lined up the shoulder seams and bottom of the armscye and then traced as shown below in blue. There is no fold line on the Luna due to the nature of princess seams and a yoke, so this was the best option.

Finally, I traced along the Cricket neckline, along the Cricket shoulder to the Luna armscye, down along the armscye and down the sides and bottom of the Lennon. And voila. You see, with some tracing paper and some patience, you too can create your own mash up!

Thanks for stopping by ladies, and I hope you get some inspiration for Lulabelle. The next stop is at Tiny Seamstress. Make sure to stop by her blog tomorrow!!

xoxo - Amy

Happy Birthday Brownie-Goose!!

7 years ago I quit my day job. I had an almost 2 year old little girl that was not meshing well with daycare and a husband whos residency schedule was out of control. I am one of the few fortunate people that adore my career. I was a pediatric nurse and I loved every minute (well, maybe not every minute...hello walk in shots during flu season) of it. But, I took off my scrubs, put on my big girl panties and ventured out into the world of unemployment. 

Did I mention my husband was a resident? Right... so, that unemployment wasn't going to last long. The few pennies Byron earned were all accounted for. So, something had to give. I needed something I could do to make a few extra dollars while I had Louisa at home with me.

Enter Brownie-Goose. Honestly, a life-saver. It wasn't easy, and there were many days I wished I could put my scrubs back on and go back to the world of clocking in and out. But I held on through some rough times and here I am still, living to talk about it.

I never would have imagined that 7 years later I would still be riding the roller coaster also known as BG. But I am so very grateful, thankful, appreciative and LUCKY that I am. I could not and would not be here without all of the amazing customers, dubbed the geese, that back me every day. I heart you all. I really, really do.

So, I am celebrating this week! Here's to 7 LUCKY years of another career that I love. And I want to share that celebration with all of you. I have a really, really fun week planned.

• For starters, all patterns are marked down to $7.00 in the shop. This will continue until midnight EST on Sunday.  Wahooooo!

• And who likes giveaways? Well, the amazing girls behind the Brownie-Goose Online Showcase are also celebrating a birthday this week with a fantastic giveaway. You do NOT want to miss this. So, check out their page for all of the details!

• Next up, tomorrow I am LUCKY to be on the Lulabelle Blog Tour for Riley Blake Designs. I sewed up 2 outfits for Louisa that I cannot wait to show you! One is a dress that I mashed the bodice of 3 different BG patterns and will show you how you can do the same! The other is a version of the Lottie skirt that I will have a tutorial post on Wednesday. Oh I cannot hardly wait!

• And the best part...quite possibly, I sure hope to have my newest....LUNA in the shop for you. My testers have just finished knocking it out of the parks with this one, so now it is up to me to get it all polished and ready for you! Oh I cannot even begin with how much I adore this dress. 

 

Clearly, this little one does too. :)

So, as always...THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for being the best geese out there. I wouldn't be so lucky without you all. You are the best and I appreciate you having my back. ;)

Xoxo - amy

The Tilly - and upsize and all kinds of additions

I hear you. I promise I do. You so politely ask for upsizes and tutorials and modifications. Over and over again. I promise I hear you.

I also promise that I don't ignore you! But the truth of the matter is that the upsizes and additions require as much work as a new pattern does for me, and we all know I am not quick with those. Oops. Slow and steady winds the race, right?

Well, hopefully this post will make you happy when I reveal that a long-standing BG favorite, the Tilly, just got a major overhaul. So mush so that in some of the views if it wasn't for her tell-tale square neck, you may not recognize her.

Because when you look at her open back like this...(can we all please have a moment to wonder HOW IN THE WORLD my Louisa is not this little anymore?)

You may not believe this is the same pattern.

Or what about this one?

Yep...all Tillys. Promise. Because you see, I love a good renovation. And that is just exactly what happened to one of BG's faves. The Tilly went from having 4 sizes and one back option to 8 sizes, 4 back options, 2 sleeves and 2 lengths. Wow.

For sizing, Tilly now offers: 6-12 months, 12-18 months, 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8, 10 and 12. The pattern now also includes a detailed sizing chart (that can be seen here). I decided to keep the smaller sizes split since this is one of those patterns that you can adjust sizing by pulling the back in more or less, allowing adjustments to be made over time so that Tilly grows with your child as well. Because as we saw above, they grow. And it happens in the blink of an eye!

As for the beautiful back of the Tilly, here is what she now offers:

• View A - your traditional Tilly with an open back. This is the original, but with the option of curving the back like the Bay dress.
• View B - a flap-back top/dress for those who still want the option of it being an open back for the breeze, but without skin showing to provide for more coverage for modesty and also school dress codes. :) You can choose to curve the back of this one as well.
• View C -  quite possibly the most requested ever. Like ever. A completely closed back Tilly with a placket cut into the skirt to allow for more ease on and off. 

And for the sleeves. You have all shown me how beautiful the Tilly is with a flutter sleeve. And who doesn't love a flutter? Seriously. So, the new Tilly has a drafted flutter sleeve with a tutorial in the back for a Super Flutter, something I like to do to give a flutter a whole lot of bang. And lately I have been crushing on a cap sleeve, so I added a drafted cap sleeve to the pattern as well. So, make her sleeveless, fluttered or capped...you be the designer. :)

Oh and another very popular request...Tilly now offers a top length AND a dress length. Again, you all showed me how beautiful Tilly was as a dress. And I almost forgot...the seams are enclosed and there are instructions for functional buttons. See, I listen I promise!!

So, thank you ladies for asking and being patient and showing me all the beautiful ways a Tilly could be. And now...the Tilly just got a little dangerous. Who's going to be my math whiz and count the combinations? I am still working on my coffee. ;)

Now, you may be asking how this new Tilly will work in the shop. Y'all, I tried to make it just an upsize like I have with other patterns in the past but to be honest, there was no way. So, the new Tilly pattern will debut in my shop ON MY BIRTHDAY (9/4/2015) as a new pattern. I know that money doesn't grow on trees, and that many of you would rather poke my eyeballs than to pay for a pattern you already have. I get that. So, in an effort to meet everyone in the middle and hopefully not get tar and feathered...Tilly will be at a reduced price for 3 days. So, on 9/7/2015 the Tilly will go back to regular price (To clarify, Tilly will be listed for $3 Friday to Sunday). And guess what ladies...I am also celebrating my birthday this weekend with a coupon code. So, that reduced price will be an additional 25% off with the code HAPPYBDAY. Seriously. So, head to my Etsy shop, grab her early and grab her quick. And blow my mind with your awesome combinations. I know you can do it! :)

XOXO - Amy

PS - and in case you missed that...use the code HAPPYBDAY until midnight EST on Monday 9/7/2015 for 25% off your total order in the Etsy shop. Happy sewing ladies!