Halloween Retrospective

This is the first year since my two daughters were born that they are not wearing a mama-made costume. I've been dreading this day. Halloween is a favorite holiday around the Young household and I've always truly enjoyed not only the designing and sewing of costumes, but the photoshoot and editing that comes with it. I've been lucky that up until now, my girls have gotten as much into it as I have, indulging me with all my crazy over-the-top ideas. So, since I'm feeling a bit nostalgic, I thought I'd share some of my favorite creations through the years... (I'll include links to patterns for those that used them).

2009

Sophie was a witch. I used the Penny pattern (or what would eventually become the Penny pattern, as it had not been released yet), lengthened to the floor and roughly cut the bottom hem into peaks. All other accessories were purchased.

Sydney was a fairy. I used what eventually because the Bubble Dress from Sewing MODKID Style and added a faux corseted panel in the front (the ribbons were just sewn onto the fabric in a criss-cross fashion). Wings and other accessories were purchased.

2014

Sydney was Wednesday Addams. I used the Avery pattern for her dress and I modified it as shown at the bottom of this post. I made a Potty Girl from my Playdate collection and a matching dress, free printable pattern found here. Sydney and I went to two local cemeteries to shoot these pictures. One of them had graves as old as the 1700's. See more photos and details here.

Sophie was a zombie. I used the Melanie Misses pattern to make her dress. Lots of details including the fabrics are found here. We shot these pictures just down the street from our house in front of an abandoned barn.

We even did a little movie to celebrate the occasion...

2015

Sophie was the most perfect "Dorothy" from Wizard of Oz along with her own "Toto" (er... our Miniature Schnauzer, Duke). I used the Avery pattern for the blouse and the pinafore dress was self-drafted. But if you want to learn all the details, look here.

Sydney was a "Broken Little Red Riding Hood Doll" (her own costume mash-up idea after not being able to decide between "Broken Doll" and "Little Red Riding Hood").  I used the Charlotte pattern for her dress. The Hooded Cape tutorial can be found in my newest book, Patternless Sewing Mod Style. If you're interested in learning how we did the make-up (including full product details), check out this post.

2016

Sydney was "Eleven" from the Netflix series "Stranger Things". I used the Elle pattern for the dress. We used tempera paints to paint in the green and yellow stripes on plain white crew socks because we could not find the right color combination anywhere! All other accessories were purchased. Read all the details here.

Sophie did not want to dress up in 2016, so I got in the game and dressed up as Joyce Byers to go along with the Stranger Things theme. Sydney and I attended a costume contest at a local Record Store and we won! :)

I hope these have provided some inspiration for upcoming costumes. I am still hopeful that at least one of them will ask me to make something for them between now and then... I have been known to pull all-nighters before for a great costume!

Malibu Cross-Back Dress

(Quick links: Etsy / Craftsy)

It all started out with Sophie asking me to make her a simple dress for her end-of-year orchestra concert. This girl never asks me for this sort of stuff, so I had to jump on it. She had some pretty specific requests: it had to be a knit dress (because they are more comfy), sleeveless (because Summer is coming) and not too dressy (because she's just not the frilly type).  Our Hailey pattern was perfect for this, but she quickly reminded me that she wore that dress at last year's concert (ooops!). So, I set forth to design something new and exciting for her. I'd had this idea in my head for a cross-back dress for a while. The problem is that I had less than a day to complete this... oh, yes, did I forget to mention that? So, there was little to no time for error.

I made a quick & dirty prototype and that was what she ended up wearing to the concert. It wasn't perfect by any means... the back opening was too low for her comfort level, so she ended up wearing it with a sweater, and the high-low skirt curve wasn't very noticeable (it looked more like a straight mini skirt), so I knew I needed to go back to the drawing board and re-draft a couple of things. Oh, and did I mention that I had to make one for little sister Sydney too? Yup.

After I shared these pictures on social media, the comments started pouring in... Will this be a pattern? Please make a pattern for this dress! I want one in my size! and so on and so forth.

I went back to the drawing board... re-drafted the back bodice completely, made the high-low skirt curve more dramatic, added 2 more skirt lengths/styles, sewed up a couple more prototypes and, after I felt the shape and fit were perfect, I graded the final pattern from sizes 2T to 12.

Here is the final outcome:

The Malibu Cross-Back Dress pattern comes with three different skirt lengths/styles (click photo to enlarge):

It can be sewn with knits (which was my original intent) or with wovens! I was determined to make this pattern work for all types of fabrics. Check it out below, sewn in my Just My Type quilting cotton fabrics:

After pattern instructions and diagrams were complete, it was off to the testers, and boy did they have fun with this pattern! Here are a few of their pictures... I am in love!

Two of my testers loved it so much that they made multiple dresses! WOW! Every tester reported that they sewed this pattern in just about an hour and everyone was surprised at how easy and quickly it went together and how little fabric it uses for such a WOW effect. It's always a good day at MODKID when we get such positive feedback from our testers! :)

Of course, rigorous pattern testing always brings new challenges. We quickly found out that the maxi skirts sewn in wovens needed to be cut wider so that the girls didn't have to shorten their strides when walking. Done. We also discovered that the dress could be bound with fold-over elastic, double-fold bias tape or home-made binding, and that each method yielded a different look. We seriously could not be more thankful to our awesome pattern testers, who are always so helpful!

Check out tester Courtney Davis' pattern review here.

The MALIBU Cross-Back Dress can be purchased on Etsy or Craftsy.

To see the full inspiration gallery, click here.

Back to School goodies!

My girls' first day of school was yesterday and with it came a new milestone for our family. My oldest, Sophie (or Sophia, as she likes to be called now... sniff, sniff), started Junior High! I can't believe my baby (don't tell her I called her that) is a BIG GIRL now.

To commemorate the grand event, I shot these pictures before they left for school yesterday. The girls wore the newest MODKID knit patterns, The BREEANN Top and the MELANIE Dress (available now in our Etsy shop), which were actually named after their BFFs.

When I posted these pics on Facebook, I got tons of questions about how I did those giant numbers the girls are holding. I just made them up real quick in Illustrator and cut them onto card stock on my Silhouette Cameo machine. Since a few of you requested I made these available, I have these now live on my Silhouette store:

But, now onto the patterns...

A few weeks ago I sneaked peeked our BACK TO SCHOOL collection on Facebook, and both pattern designs were met with lots of "oooh's and ahhh's" and "when can we get these?".

Well, your wait is finally over!! We have just released the BREEANN and MELANIE patterns. And here's a little bit of info about each...

MELANIE

This adorable and comfy dress is designed to be sewn with knits, and features a sweet A-line silhouette and some oversized side pockets for all her treasures. Our pattern includes three sleeve length options so it can take your girl from the warm Summer months through the chilly Winter days.

  
BREEANN

For the tween/teen crowd, we've designed this hip hooded top that features two sleeve variations -- fitted and flutter. We paired that with an oversized kangaroo pocket and a yoga waistband, for the perfect top.

See lots more photos of both patterns in the shop listings.
Again, both patterns are available NOW in our Etsy shop.

Katie Skirt Downloadable PDF Pattern

I guess we can say we are addicted to these PDF patterns now. heehee. This is our third one since I returned from Quilt Market in November. However, it's our first garment pattern in downloadable format, so we're pretty excited about this!



Our Katie Skirt Downloadable PDF pattern is now available through Craftsy, You Can Make This and Fat Quarter Shop and it is $9.95 no matter where you purchase it from (choose your favorite site!). A little bit about this pattern:

Katie is a super full, twirly skirt with a flirty flounce and adorable circle pockets for girls sizes 2T to 10. An elasticized waistband means it is just as easy to sew as it is to wear. Even the youngest of girls can easily pull on and take off this sweet skirt. What a wonderful addition to her boutique wardrobe!

This pattern comes as a 39-page downloadable PDF document. You won't need to print all pages... choose the size skirt you are making and print only those pages (a page guide is located on page 2). Print it at 100% (no scaling) right to your desktop printer. No need to enlarge the pattern... it has been tiled so all you have to do is print, cut, tape and sew! Step-by-step sewing instructions, detailed diagrams and tons of photos are also included in true MODKID fashion.

How about some inspiration images??

One of my pattern testers, the amazing Bridgett Wright, made this version out of Heaven & Helsinki. Isn't her daughter adorable? I love this picture so much!



Here is my birthday girl (yes, it's Sophie's 11th birthday today!!) sporting a more tween-sized version of the skirt. This is the size 10, but luckily she can still wear it... with some leggings and boots, of course.



And finally, a couple of super fun pictures I captured of my girl, Sydney, in her new favorite twirly skirt...





In case you didn't catch it before, this pattern is available through:

Craftsy
You Can Make This
Fat Quarter Shop

Let me know if you make this adorable skirt for the Holidays! I would LOVE to see a picture!!

Sophie's Hogwarts Party

My baby turned double digits this weekend. She was thrilled to be officially a "tween". I was filled with nostalgia and mixed emotions over how fast she's growing. I tried to fight the tears by keeping myself occupied with turning our house into Hogwarts for Sophie's 10'th Birthday Celebration.

Earlier that day (before the party started) she opened the family's presents, a.k.a. The Purple Tower, because she was just way too excited to wait till the party that evening.



Of course, she was way more pumped about some presents than others. ;)



Then it was time for the celebration to begin. Here's a wide view of our main area...



Let's take a closer look, shall we?

We had lots of candles and miscellaneous jars filled with curious objects...



A very gothic-looking platform held various test tubes filled with Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans (in reality they were regular jellybeans with funny names).



Gummy worms of every color made their appearance and some very spooky 2-ft. gummy snakes slithered their way in and out of the test tubes...



Favor boxes held pencils, lip glosses and some Harry-Potter themed gifts...



On our kitchen island there were potions and mysterious fluids. Don't worry, we didn't give the kids any alcohol... these were just for ambience! ;)



Although you wouldn't know it from this picture...



The first activity of the evening was the Sorting Hat Ceremony (see the end of this post for sources). The kids were utterly amazed that the hat actually talked!



Each girl was sorted into the four Houses...









Then we moved into the kitchen where the girls got to use their magic wands to turn clear liquids into surprise new colors. Each color meant something different. Green meant you could switch houses, which made the Slitherin girls very happy! haha



The Dining Hall was decorated in black and purple (Sophie's favorite colors) with candles and star-shaped confetti...



After dinner they decorated their own cupcakes in some Hogwarts colors...



Then it was time to open presents (again). I am always amazed at how much the kids enjoy this activity!





Awwww... hugs all around!







This little group of mischiefs was ready to watch a Harry Potter movie marathon....



And... this is what the adults did while the kids were in the basement, a.k.a. The Dungeon, watching Harry Potter movies, in case you were wondering.



Sources:

• Test Tubes, favor boxes and bottle labels: Martha Stewart's Halloween Collection (bought the day after Halloween for 75% off)
• Platform for test tubes: the styrofoam that held our flat screen TV inside its box, spray-painted black with holes cut into the top for the test tubes.
• Jelly Beans, gummy worms and gummy snakes: we purchased these from our local Chocolatier, which happens to be right around the corner from MODKID HQ (lucky me, eh?)
  
• Favor Box fillers, purple dinnerware and colored icing: Party City
• Sorting Hat: purchased on Amazon with a small walkie-talkie inside of it so Jon could sort the kids into their "houses" from another room. To let him know when each girl was ready to be sorted, Jon's brother Sean would text him.
• Color-changing drinks: squeeze 3-5 drops of food coloring onto the bottom of each cup and let it dry overnight. Before the game begins, fill each cup halfway with ice so the kids don't see the color drops. Give each kid a wand (drink stirrer) then fill the cups with a clear liquid (water, Sprite or 7-up). Tell them to use their wand to magically change their drink color.
• Wands: cocktail stirrers from Party City (on the clearance rack -- 16 stirrers for 50-cents!)