Love Notions ambassadors did a secret sewist fabric exchange again this year, and I can’t tell you how much I love the fabric I got! Am I late in sharing this, yes. Did life get crazy right before Thanksgiving, and I’m just not coming up for air, also yes…between sickness and a death in the family my sewing took a step out of the spotlight and I’m sure you know, it is hard to be doing 100 things at once. Bear with me as I get caught up.
Secret Sewist is a holiday tradition among the ambassadors of Love Notions. We each got notes from our secret sewist and let me tell you, it made my day!!
“Hi Anjori, I’m a huge fan of your makes – especially your amazing hacks and upcycles! Your creativity really shines through them and I’m always so inspired! I picked the FabScrap shop for you because it reminds me of your unconventional and intelligent use of any material you set your eyes on. I would love to see what “fab scraps” you rescue and turn into gorgeous garments! Oh and last but not the least – the Lehenga you made for your sister’s wedding is the most stunning sew ever – I’m simply speechless! Everyone should go check it out on your insta -Chloe
The fabric
So we are going to talk about the fabric first, because that’s what I got first. We each got to fill out a questionnaire about a couple places where we like to shop for fabric and what we like to wear. My secret sewist picked Fab Scrap as the shop of choice, excellent already! Then she picked out a colorful velvety piece that was definitely a statement type fabric, along with a plum/maroon linen. The linen was out of stock by time I got to ordering, but I was able to get a similar color but in velour.
These fabrics arrived and Lilli was there when I opened them up and immediately claimed the colorful fabric and begged me to make her a dress out of it. Of course, how could I say no? I mean, look at her face!
The pattern
Pattern planing was a bit interesting. I wanted to get the most of the fabric and have separate pieces – more versatile. I landed on another hacked Olympia – like I did here; and an Aria shirt, this time with sleeves (hopefully), I made a sleeveless Aria when I tested for it earlier this year.
Of Lilli, I decided to make the Everyday Play Dress that works with woven fabrics as well.
If you decide to purchase any of these patterns, use code BEE10 for an extra 10% off.
The modifications
Laying out the pattern pieces was like playing tetris, which led to a couple modifications.
The Olympia skirt is not as full as the original, I slashed and overlapped the bottom hem to get a less full skirt… whiiich led me into trouble. More on that later.
The Aria, I cut the sleeves less wide and at a 3/4 sleeve length to save fabric real estate. The inner yoke piece is from a different fabric, and the button placket and collar are from the colorful fabric. Checkout my fabric tetris!
Okay, so remember I ran into trouble with the skirt? Well it turns out I slashed and overlapped to high. I should have done it right below hip level, buuut I didn’t .. and when I went to try it on, I was missing like 3 inches! 😱 😭
So I did what any normal person would, panic and hide from the problem, hoping it would resolve itself.
Everything will be fiiiiine, that’s what I kept telling myself, but not really believe it.
That’s not how it works, does it? Okay, so I came up with a plan to add a panel to the back, hoping it didn’t look too bad. It doesn’t look terrible .. 🤷🏻♀️By the way, this would not have been a problem if I used the recommended fabric, knits! Or paid attention when I was hacking up the pattern. Lesson learned!
I made other modifications to the zipper and buttons for the skirt, but I decided it is too much of a hack job to go into details there. I’ll leave it at I tried to make a adjustable elastic waistband with zippers.
Now if you have ever sewn with velour (I had not) you’ll need a walking foot. Read more about using the walking foot here.
thank you
My daughter and I thank you Chloe for picking such amazing fabrics, and thank Tami and Tessa for the gift! You can check out my last secret sewist make here. And check out all the other fabric picks on Love Notions 2022 Secret Sewist exchange.
Some links contained in this post may be affiliate links, which means I get a small commission if you purchase through these links and helps keep this site running. I was provided with the pattern to test it out, but all opinions are my own
Links and Patterns
Links and patterns mentioned in this post are listed below for your convenience.
- Olympia Dress
- Aria shirt
- Everyday Play Dress
- Burgundy velour fabric – Fab Scrap
- Chloe – No Idle Hands on Instagram
- Love Notions 2022 Secret Sewist exchange