Introducing: Primavera by Patty Young

I am over the moon excited to introduce my newest quilting cotton fabric collection I've designed for Riley Blake Designs titled, Primavera.

It was late January 2016 and I had been mulling over what the theme of my next fabric line would be for what seemed like days. When it's freezing out (I live in the frigid Midwest), I usually design bright, warm, happy fabrics, so I knew I wanted to do that again, but hadn't quite settled on any concrete ideas yet.

The night of January 28th, I had a bout of insomnia, as usually happens when I have a deadline looming. When I finally fell asleep, I dreamt about grasshoppers. It was such a vivid dream! And confusing as well, because I probably hand't seen a grasshopper in months, or at least since my last trip to Florida, which had been a while ago.

When I woke up, I looked up the significance of grasshoppers in dreams. Wikipedia said: When grasshoppers appear in dreams, these have been interpreted as symbols of "Freedom, independence, spiritual enlightenment, inability to settle down or commit to decision".

That last bit resonated with me and made me chuckle, given my current state of mind. So, I said to myself, "That's it, I'm drawing a grasshopper today!" And that's how this little dude came about.

Believe it or not, this little dude sat on my computer screen for a few more days all by his lonesome because I didn't know how he would fit into a fabric line. Eventually, I created a funky damask and sort of camouflaged him in it. 

I loved it, but still didn't know if Riley Blake would, So, I started drawing some flowers and other complimentary prints to show Riley Blake, still not knowing if my friend, the grasshopper, had a place in the line. By then, my creative juices were flowing beautifully. I was drawing, picking color palettes, and drawing some more. When I finally showed Riley Blake my concept for the line, I did not include my Mad Hopper. I'm not sure why. Maybe I was afraid they would find him odd or scary and kill the whole thing. This was my initial pitch, which Riley Blake accepted immediately.

When I finally had the whole line drawn out, my Mad Hopper found his place and I submitted him along with the rest of the prints, still thinking in the back of my mind that there was a possibility he would not make it. But he did!!

I named the line "Primavera", which means "Spring" in Spanish, as a nod to my Latin heritage, my desire for warmer temperatures, and my friend, the Mad Hopper.

I hope you love it as much as I do! The Primavera fabric has started shipping already, so it will be available very soon (if not now) in most independent fabric stores and online fabric retailers. 

It is available already on Etsy and at Hawthorne Threads.

Here is some inspiration to get your creative juices flowing (see end of post for a coupon code for any of these patterns).

Courtney sewed a Julia skirt and a Penny top for her youngest daughter, Tandy. This was for a pattern cover re-print. She used the Main Print in Teal for the skirt main fabric and the Paisley in Pink for the underskirt. The flower appliqué on the Penny shirt (template included in the Julia pattern) is made with the Paisley print in Green and Pink.

Courtney also made this adorable Dakota top for her oldest daughter, Avery, using the Tile in Tangerine print from Primavera. Learn how she made and attached the tassels in this easy tutorial.

And lastly, I made this modified Vivian Shirt for my daughter, Sydney, using the Plaid and Paisley prints in the Teal colorway. Learn how to modify the Vivian dress into a shirt in this easy tutorial.

More is soon to come, but for now, enjoy these and any other MODKID pattern at 25% off for a limited time! Coupon code PRIMAVERA2017 gets you 25% off PDF Patterns on our Etsy store and anything off our web store, including books, paper patterns and ribbon samplers. Code expires at midnight EST on January 21st, 2017. Happy Shopping!

There’s no place like home!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Less than a week ago (last Sunday, to be exact) my oldest daughter, Sophie (13) told me she wanted to go to this Downtown Trick-or-Treat event on Friday because some of her friends from school were going to be there. And, she would need a costume for it. Prior to that, she had expressed no interest whatsoever in dressing up for Halloween. I asked her what she wanted to be, and she said “Dorothy” without hesitation (I’m guessing they must've discussed this at school). She then added, “But you don’t have to make me a costume. I can just get one at the Halloween store.” On Monday night, after her Ballet class, we headed to the Halloween store up the street. The Junior sizes were way too small for her (she is 5’ 6”) and the women’s sizes were way to “sexy” for her. Seriously, they had plunging necklines, bustier-style tops and micro-mini skirts. That is NOT what she had in mind and I would never allow her to go out of the house wearing something like that... Halloween or not! So, she turned to me and said, “Can you just make me one?”

I had literally 3 days to make something, including finding all the right fabrics and accessories. Luckily, JoAnns had the perfect blue check for the dress and solid white for the shirt. I found some inexpensive shoe covers ($6.99) at Party City that slipped right over her ballet flats, and the blue ribbons for her hair I found in my own stash. But, I still had to figure out how to make the costume.





I used my own Avery pattern (available in both PDF and paper formats) View B for the shirt. Yes, this pattern comes only up to size 10, so I had to grade it up to a 14. Since the dress style is drop-waist, the length of the bodice was actually perfect length for a shirt. I wanted it to close at the back, to make it more authentic, so luckily Courtney had recently shared a tutorial for how to do a back closure on the Avery... perfect! The only other modifications I made to it was to add sleeve cuffs instead of elastic to the bubble sleeves and add a straight neck band instead of the Peter Pan collar to the bodice. Both of those were super easy mods!



The dress was another story. I was running out of time and didn’t have time to research patterns for it. So, I just made a circle skirt based on Sophie’s measurements. I took her hip measurement and found out the radius to cut the inner circle opening. From there, I measured her desired skirt length (19”) and cut. I didn’t have to add hem allowance because I knew I would end up adding a ruffled ribbon trim at the hem. Then I cut a rectangular piece for the bib (with its corresponding lining), a waistband piece and two suspender pieces. I sewed everything together and made two casings in the back waistband where I inserted two pieces of 3/4” elastics cut to half her waist measurement. Done!



For the hair & make up, Sophie and I did a ton of reseacrh on how Dorothy (Judy Garland) did hers.

Hair:

1. Part hair down the middle and brush both sides until it is smooth.
2. Divide each side into 3 equal sections, as if you were doing braids. Except the section closest to the face needs to twist, twist, twist tightly until it reaches behind the ear. At that point, begin braiding the twisted section with the other 2 sections of hair until you reach her shoulders.
3. At the shoulders, wrap a hair tie around the hair to keep the braids from coming undone.
4. Use a curling iron to curl the remainder of her hair below the shoulders. 
5. Cover the hair ties with a light blue ribbon tied into a pretty bow.

Make up:

1. Begin by covering the face with a light colored foundation and powder to achieve that smooth porcelain skin look.
2. Apply pink blush to the cheek bones.
3. Apply dark pink or red lipstick.
4. Apply a bit of eye shadow (Not too much)
5. Apply mascara to open up her eyes more.

Now, all we needed was the prefect TOTO. Luckily, we had our Miniature Schnauzer, Duke, who fit the part and was more than eager to help out with the photoshoot.

Broken Little Red Riding Hood Doll

As my kids get older (Sydney just turned 11 and Sophie is turning 14 soon), I worry about them losing their childhood and not being into some of the fun things we used to enjoy.... Halloween being one of them. Luckily enough, they still seem to be very much into it. It's just a little different now. They still love the process of dressing up, but now they have more say in what they want and it's often really involved. Last year, Sydney and I had a blast dreaming up, creating, and photographing her Wednesday Addams costume. She was very involved in the hair, make-up, and staging of the photos. Sophie was also very involved in her zombie costume last year.

This year, Sydney and I sat down and looked at tons of inspiration photos online before she decided on two ideas... "Broken Doll" and "Little Red Riding Hood". Since she couldn't pick a favorite, I pitched the idea of a costume mash-up, and she loved it. Here was the result...

For the dress, I used the newest MODKID PDF pattern, the Charlotte Dress & Jacket. This is View C, which features long bubble sleeves, a two-tiered skirt, inset pockets and a double-breasted bodice with 6-button placket. I chose dark cotton fabrics, purchased a Jo-Ann Fabrics, to resemble a Vintage Doll dress.

For the Hooded Cape, I used instructions from my upcoming book, Patternless Sewing, out in Spring 2016. This is one of the 24 projects included in the book, and it was perfect for this costume idea! I know this doesn't help you any right now if you are looking to create your own Hooded Cape. But luckily there are plenty of tutorials online that you can use to get a similar effect. I used Fleece for the outer cape and satin for the lining. The cape is fully reversible!

The make up was quite the process! We started out by covering her face with the palest foundation and pressed powder I could find at Ulta. Sydney has an olive skin tone, so we applied this make-up with a heavy hand. We used Revlon Colorstay Base in 110 Ivory and NYX Blotting Powder in BLP01 Light. Make up was applied over lips, eyelids and eyebrows too for full coverage.

Next, I applied blush on her cheeks, again with a heavy hand. I used Ulta Sweet Cheeks Blush, which has a warm tone, but when we do this again this weekend, I will use a pinker shade, as I thought this was a bit too 'warm" for my taste.

Next we whited out her bottom eyelids to try to create the illusion of big doll eyes. Sydney already has really big eyes, but we wanted them to look exaggerated. I used NYX Eye and Eyebrow Pencil in SPE906 White.

Next, I applied eyeshadow in a pinkish/purplish hue to her upper lids. I used Elf Flawless Eyeshadow Party Purple, which I had already, but any pinkish/purplish eye shadow would work for this.

Next, it was time to start drawing! I used Elf Liquid Eyeliner in Black to outline her eye, above the eyelids and below the white eyeliner to create the illusion of a large doll eye. I drew in the bottom lashes using the same liquid eyeliner and I began to draw in some of the "cracks" on her forehead.

I used the liquid eyeliner to draw in more "cracks" on her cheek, then came back in to add highlights with the white eyeliner. This gives the cracks a bit of a 3D effect. We applied mascara to her upper  eyelashes and this made her eyes look even bigger. You could also use fake eyelashes, but since her natural lashes are pretty long and full already, I felt the mascara was enough. We used ULTA Voluptuous Volume Mascara in Black.

Lastly, we used Revlon ColorStay Ultimate in 095 Royal Raisin to draw in the doll lips. I love this lipstick because it does not smear, so even if she drinks something or accidentally rubs her lips, it stays put and does not fade at all! These lips need to be much narrower than the actual human lips and "button shaped" as you see below.

Here is Sydney applying some finishing touches herself. She gets a bit freaked out when I get near her eye with my eyeliner, so she prefers to apply it herself.

We put her hair into low pigtails, put on her costume, grabbed her bread basket, and off we went to the forest...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Introducing: VIVID Knits! by Patty Young for Riley Blake

After I posted a quick picture on Instagram of an open box of knit fabrics, with the words: "Exciting mail day! Sample yardage of my new knits for @rileyblakedesigns has finally arrived!", and it was met with a lot of question marks, it was obvious to me that lots of you out there had no idea I was designing for Riley Blake now.

So, I am here now to make the official announcement! To make a long story short... I met Jina and Cindy of Riley Blake Designs at Common Threads last year. Common Threads is a creative retreat of sorts, sponsored by Tacony Corporation (Baby Lock Machines). The three of us got to talking during a version of speed dating for the creative types, and continued our conversation later that evening back at the hotel. Out of that fateful meeting, a wonderful partnership was born. And 5 months ago, during Baby Lock Tech, a little announcement was made on Instagram...

I am thrilled to be a part of such a wonderful team! So here it is at last... I present to you,VIVID: a collection of Knits exclusively designed for Riley Blake.

Aren't they yummy? They are all up on their website right now if you'd like to take a closer look. And, as if these weren't cool enough all on their own, I am also releasing a line of Canvas prints (more on that soon, I promise!)

I literally just got these in, so I haven't had too much time to sew up a lot of goodies, but I am excited to share with you a couple of projects we've made so far.

The two photos below are of our brand new Rachel PDF pattern, which is currently part of the BundleUp collection only. You can purchase this pattern as part of the BundleUp until Feb. 2nd. It will be released as a stand-alone pattern on our Etsy store on Feb. 16.

Here is the short-sleeve, neck-binding version in size 10 sewn in Leilani Teal with Fireworks Granite:

And here is the long-sleeve, mock-turtleneck version in size 3T, sewn in Fireworks Grape:

Above photo courtesy of Courtney Davis at www.sweeterthancupcakes.com

And last but not least, I wanted to show you how well my new Fireworks print coordinates with some other existing Riley Blake knits.  Here is a super secret new book project featuring my Fireworks Marigold paired up with Riley Blake's 1/2-inch Stripe.

That's it, folks! :) I would love to know what you think of my new knits! Please leave me your thoughts below. I always enjoy reading your comments.

Give Patty Young / Modkid Designs This Christmas

Patty gave us a great gift round up with her Black Friday post. I'm back to round out your shopping list with a few more items that don't require sewing! Let's take the opportunity to spread a little Modkid cheer!!

Nuvango offers several of Patty Young's designs for your techie friends. Tough cases and ultra-thin skins for iPhones (any model... even the super old 3Gs!) protect and personalize precious cargo with a wrap-around design. Add a free matching wallpaper, too!

You can even personalize a laptop or game console.

How about outfitting a reader you might be giving as a gift?!?

For the non-techie, Nuvango also offers greeting cards, stretched canvases, and framed art prints.

Do you have a crafter or scrapbooker on your list? These paper collections featuring Sanctuary, Rendezvous, and Just My Type from Momenta are just the thing to keep them entertained.

Zazzle.com also offers a selection of unique gifts from coffee mugs to skateboard decks.

You can also find the perfect wrapping for a gift or two!!

Finally, from child to adult a little color play is always a good idea. (Playful Designs)

Hope you've seen a few ideas for loved ones on your list this year! From all of us at Modkid, we hope this season is merry and bright!

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales at MODKID

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving Day, surrounded by loved ones, good food and fun games.  We had Jon's family over for Turkey Day and, after a super scrumptious meal, we ended up playing several rounds of Apples To Apples with the kids.

Now that your bellies are full and your hearts are happy, it's time to stock up on gifts for the Holidays! MODKID is running a fantastic sale at the moment, so you shouldn't miss out. Coupon code BLKFRIDAY2014 gets you 35% off your entire purchase on either our Etsy Store or on our Website. It is valid now until Midnight E.S.T. on Monday, Dec. 1st.

Let's see what sort of deals you can find...

On our Etsy store, we have just released 3 new LITE PDF patterns... something for everyone on your list! The Metro Clutch is perfect for the fashionista, the Travel Art Folio is perfect for the budding artist, and the Pleated Skirt can be made for girls, tweens, teens or women.

LITE PDF patterns retail for $6.95 each. but with the coupon code they are only $4.52!

We also have 32 other PDF titles ranging from women's clothing, to girls', tween's and accessories. Our regular PDF patterns are $8.99 $5.84 (what a steal!)

On our website you can score yourself...

My new coloring book, Playful Designs, for only $6.95 $4.92. I will even autograph it and personalize it for you!

No sewing aficionado should be caught without a set of designer pins. Each logo-embossed collector's pin tin, comes filled to the brim with 100 extra-strong, nickel-plated steel pins of assorted colors. Pins are 2.25" long with a .7mm thick shaft. Will bend but not break. Stock up for the holidays... these are perfect for stocking-stuffers, teacher gifts or your quilt guild gift exchange!

Designer Pin Tins retail for $6.95 each. but with the coupon code they are only $4.52!

How about a woven fabric scrap bag?  These oversized bags are filled to the brim with sizable studio scraps from Patty Young's woven fabric collections. You will receive an assortment of bits and pieces from all her collections inside a clear bag that measures approximately 6"w x 12"h x 4"d... perfect for appliqué projects, covering buttons or small crafts.

Scrap Bags retail for $10 each. but with the coupon code they are only $6.50!

These jacquard ribbon samplers are so adorable and perfect for gift-giving! They each include 2-yard cuts of assorted styles. Check out all of our other styles! (scroll to the bottom of the linked page to find 6 different ribbon samplers)

Ribbon Samplers retail for $14.95 each. but with the coupon code they are only $9.72!

And if it's paper sewing patterns you are looking for, we have 56 styles to choose from! We have patterns for children's clothing, tween/teens, women's clothing, doll clothing, accessories, purse, totes, quilts... you name it, we got it!

You can snag our full-size patterns for only  $12.95 $8.42 (children's and dolls) and $14.95 $9.72 (women's).

These 6 micro-minis retail for only $4.95 each, which is already a steal but with the coupon code, they are only $3.22! Hurry and get them at this incredible price before the sale is over!!

I hope this post has given you some ideas on what to get for your friends and loved ones during our annual BLACK FRIDAY and CYBER MONDAY Sale. Again, in case you missed it, coupon code BLKFRIDAY2014 gets you 35% off your entire purchase on either our Etsy Store or on our Website. It is valid now until Midnight E.S.T. on Monday, Dec. 1st.

Happy Shopping!