Feeling so Fly (Fly Girl Racing Suit from Winter Wear Designs)

As I said earlier in the season, this is definitely the summer of swim here.  My daughter started the season with absolutely no desire whatsoever to wear a one piece suit, but here we are with the brand new Fly Girl Racing Suit from Winter Wear Designs...another win for the one piece!  She loves this suit!

Okay so let's do some quick pattern deets before we go into what we love about this pattern:

- Large size range:  starts at 1 and goes to 14
- Good project for advanced to intermediate sewists depending on style choic
- Two style options: racer back or strappy back
- Fully lined option for both suits
- Can be made as a swim suit or a leotard
- Layered printing so you just print what you need
- Very clear, concise tutorial with illustrations and photos
- BONUS:  Dolly size pattern for Dolly and Me suits.

We opted for the strappy version because my daughter fell in love with a store bought suit that had the straps, but she's in a size 7 with an 8 length so pretty much every one piece outfit on the shelf is a bust.  She was so bummed (we got to hear how bummed for the better part of an afternoon), and then, the Fly Girl came along.  I was so excited when Suzanne sent me the invite to test this pattern.  It's wondermous!

Being that swim fabric is slippery, it typically takes me a little longer to sew them up.  For this one, I think I took about 2 hours from start to finish.  It might have been a teeny bit longer.  There were a few moments when I was lost in the latest episode of The Flash, and I had some lost time where I don't know how 5 minutes turned into 45 minutes.  It's still a pretty quick sew considering that it's a swim suit.

As I said, we opted for the strappy version.  I would definitely agree with Suzanne's rating of intermediate for this version.  You'll want some experience with swim before fiddling with the straps and such.  I'm pretty much a hot mess when it comes to straps and binding on swim so I was a little skerred about them.   They weren't as awful as I was picturing, but, again, I would definitely recommend some swim fabric experience.  Now, the racing back doesn't require straps, and there's minimal or no binding for that one depending on what neck style you choose so it's a great project for an advanced sewist who's wanting to get into something new with swimwear.

For this suit, I blended a size 7 with an 8 length.  Suzanne provides instructions on how to blend with both a smaller girth and longer height or bigger girth and smaller height, and it's a pretty simple process to do.  The fit was spot on for the modifications we did.  Definitely measure your little before picking the size you think she needs.  My daughter seems to grow inches overnight, and I always have to double check her measurements.

We wore this suit to Thunder Fountain in Oklahoma City, and she was running in and out of the water with no creepage issues at all.  Everything stayed right where it was supposed to, and she wasn't tugging at the suit the entire time to cover up her bits.  My nugget still goes to this suit as her first choice when we are packing up to hit the splash pad or pool.  All in all, this was a major win!

So, the Fly Girl Racing Suit released yesterday, and it's currently on sale for $6.  This price won't last for long, though, so don't miss out on snagging it while it's still on release price!  For those of us on Facebook, Suzanne also has a FB group where we can get help on patterns if we hit a speed bump, get inspiration.  Just head on over to Winter Wear Designs Fun, and join us there!!  Now, go grab yourself a copy of the Fly Girl Racing Suit and sew up some love.  Don't forget to share it with us in the FB group!!  Thanks so much for reading along!

Blessings and Happy Sewing,
Kim

You're the one that I love...(Gina's Knot Your Everday Tee from Snuggle My Baby Patterns)

Every so often, a pattern comes up and poof…a magical idea forms in my head.  That's what the Gina’sKnot Your Everyday Tee did for me.  When Jen from Snuggle My Baby Patterns asked for testers, I jumped in with both feet, and I was so tickled when she added me to the test group!  This shirt is so easy to sew up, and it turned out so perfect for what I had in mind…

Okay, first things first…pattern deets:

- Size range starts at 2T and goes up to 16.  My daughter is topping out on most patterns so I love that Jen’s patterns go a little higher.

- Four sleeve options: cap, short, ¾, and long.  This makes this pattern really versatile and completely perfect for year round wear.

- Two hemlines:  straight or rounded back.  My daughter likes both styles so I could easily make eight different shirts with one pattern.

- Perfect for those panels that you see in a lot of the custom knit groups.  One of the testers used them, and it was like this pattern was made for panels.

- Layered pattern pieces so you can print just the size(s) you want or need.

- Full color photos with each step of the pattern for visual comparison.

So we’ve been on an oldies kick in the house lately, and the opening song for Grease came up on YouTube and PING!  I suddenly had such a great idea for a theme for my outfit.  What’s more iconic than the Pink Ladies and T Birds?  SO, I went about doing some research.  Clearly, it meant watching Grease and Grease 2 to make sure I got the look right. HA!

For my top, I went with both light pink and black cotton lycra.  I also freezer paper stenciled Pink Ladies on the back.  The top is separated into a yoke and bottom portion so it’s perfect for color blocking, but I didn’t choose to do that for my make because it didn’t go with my idea.  It is so ridiculously cute with color blocking, though!  I also added an inch to the length because my daughter has a ridiculously long torso, and we have to do some wangling when buying ready to wear to make sure they come down long enough for her tastes.

The pattern is rated intermediate, and I would agree with that.  Between the separate pieces for the top and the bottom and the binding on the tie at that bottom, I would definitely suggest some familiarity with knits.  That doesn’t mean that an adventurous beginner couldn’t also make this top, though.  Jen is going to be doing a video on how to do the binding at the bottom and will post that on the blog to better show how to enclose the ties and finish the keyhole edges.

We took to an area known as the Plaza District and hit up an ice cream parlor called Roxy’s Ice Cream Social for our photo shoot.  I liked the whole soda shop hangout from Grease and decided to go with that instead of the bowling alley that Grease 2 centers around.  We were there for a good hour or so, and my girl had no issues at all with moving around and jumping on things she kept seeing.  The size 7 was perfect on the fit with the exception of that tiny adjustment on the length.  The cap sleeves were perfect because it was about 98 degrees out when we were taking pictures.  I kept praying for a little bit of cloud coverage, and I got it…right as we hopped in the car to get some lunch.  Thanks, Oklahoma.

So, this pattern just released (5 July), and it's on sale right now at a special release price of $5.  This price is only good for a week so you don't want to miss out on this one!  If you aren't quite familiar with knits, you can always hop on the Snuggle My Baby FB group, and someone is always around that can help answer questions...or you can get in touch with Jen because she's pretty amazing at helping people walk through her patterns.  

The Gina's Not Your Everday Tee really is so versatile and perfect for every season!  Now go grab yourself a copy and sew up some love..and share your photos with us so that we can get some inspiration from you!   Thanks for reading along!!

Blessings and Happy Sewing,

Kim