Cowl Neck Bimaa Sweater

Last spring I saw the most adorable cowl neck shirt on Sarah's blog EmmylouBeeDoo. I'm a sucker for a cowl neck, and a cowl neck on a little girl? Who could resist that?!? I told Sarah that I was definitely making one this fall, and in September, I did.

I love this shirt! It is the most adorable thing ever! This one is for my three and a half year old, and I'm currently in the process of cutting fabric to make one for my oldest, too. You would not believe the number of compliments my daughter has received when she wears this shirt.

The Bimaa Sweater PDF pattern comes in six nested sizes − 12 months all the way up to a size 6 − with three different options: cowl neck, shawl collar, and hoodie. I was amazed at how easily this shirt went together. Knits can be so tricky, but this shirt was a breeze. The banded waistband and cuffs are quickly becoming a favorite of mine... much easier than hemming. I found the pattern to be true to size (note that this shirt is designed to have a slim fit).

The fabric came from JoAnn's. I have a really hard time finding knits that I like at JoAnn's, and honestly I wasn't a big fan of this one when my daughter first picked it out, but it turned into such a sweet little shirt.

This pattern is available in Sarah's Etsy shop, LouBeeClothing. It really is an amazing pattern. (I just want to add that I was not compensated for this post. I paid for the pattern myself, and I'm so glad I did :)

The Skipper Top

If you follow me on Instagram (username gwennypenny2), you may have seen a sneak peek of this project last week. I purchased the Skipper Top pattern from Sew Much Ado and made matching shirts for the girls.

This pattern goes together so quickly. I definitely want to make more of these shirts. There are different options for the sleeves, neckline, and waist. I went with bands on all three. It was so easy to do. And I found the pattern to be true to size. I made the 3T and the 6 for my three and six year olds.

I absolutely love the feel of this knit fabric. I bought it while we were on vacation in Maine last month. It's from Riley Blake's Knit Basics line. It's one of the softest knits I've ever felt. The photos don't do it justice. It's a beautiful lavender and navy blue.

My girls live in knits, and they tend not to wear things that I sew for them unless they're made from knits. They love these shirts!

The pattern goes all the way up to a size 10, so I'll be able to use it for many years to come. I highly recommend the Skipper Top!

StraightGrain Bubble Dress

I don't even know where to start. I haven't posted anything in over two months! Not that I haven't been busy making things... I have, and I hope to show you over the next few weeks. We had a wonderful Christmas, a great start to the new year, and just got hit with 19 inches of snow and no power for 48 hours courtesy of Nemo. My oldest lost two teeth and my youngest turned three. That sums up our last couple of months in a nutshell.

Speaking of my youngest turning three... when I asked what she wanted for her birthday, she told me that she wanted me to make her a dress and a bag. And she was very specific about the dress... she wanted a "bubble dress". I had shown her a picture of this particular dress back in August, and she remembered it! I couldn't believe it! This adorable bubble dress is a free pattern and tutorial (Yes, you read that right... free!) from An of StraightGrain. It is fully lined, and it went together so unbelievably easily.

After lots of fabric deliberations, she chose a pink cotton gauze covered in little bears. (It's from Kokka, and I bought it here.) The pattern is available in sizes 2, 4, 6, and 8. My daughter just moved into a 3T, but I decided to make a size 4 because the size 2 pattern looked a little small when I held it up on her. I'm so glad that I went with the 4 because it's a near perfect fit with a little room to grow.

The tutorial calls for an elastic/button closure at the back of the neck, but I ended up going with a little hook and eye clasp.

The bodice is split down the back almost all the way to the skirt. Shes been wearing the dress with a long sleeve shirt and leggings underneath.

I used my "ultimate ruffler" foot on my machine for the first time. I'm so glad I made that purchase last spring. It made this project go together so smoothly.

The secret to getting the "bubble" at the bottom of the skirt is that the exterior skirt is larger than the lining skirt. So genius. It looks so cute!

I don't love sewing garments. I'd much rather sew other things. So I had some anxiety when the dress request was put forth, but this pattern/tutorial resulted in one of the smoothest sewing projects I've ever made (read that as very few visits from the seam ripper).

So... I give this bubble dress pattern from StraightGrain very high marks. It's adorable, my daughter loves it, and it's a relatively quick and easy sew that looks like a million bucks. You can't go wrong with that.

As usual, my oldest now wants one, too, so you'll probably see another one of these around here in the near future. I mentioned that my little one also asked me to make her a bag... More on that soon :)

Point of View: Gifts

Welcome to this month's Point of View reveal! We are a week early this month due to the Thanksgiving holiday next week. The theme for November is "gifts". Check out the cute projects the members of Point of View have come up with this month...

Michelle from A Little Tipsy
Leanne from Organize and Decorate Everything
Amy from Ameroonie Designs
Gwen from Gwenny Penny (Click HERE to find the tutorial for my Adjustable Fleece Hat)
Debra from Housewife Eclectic (Our guest this month... Thanks for joining us, Debra!)

Caitlin from Cait Create (Our other guest this month... Thanks for joining us, Caitlin!)
Jonie from Just Between Friends

As always, you can check out each of the tutorials by visiting each of the blogs listed above.

My project this month is this fun Adjustable Fleece Hat with a patchwork embellishment...

These are fun to make and a relatively quick sew. They would make great gifts for the kids on your gift list this holiday season.

Click HERE for the how-to.

Now it's your turn. Do you have a gift project that you would like to share? We would like to invite you to join the Point of View Gifts Link Party over at Organize and Decorate Everything. Any project that can be considered a gift idea is welcome at the link party. It doesn't have to be a new project... If you have something in your archives, link it up! We want to see any and all gift ideas. And remember, by linking up you have the chance to be featured by one of the members of Point of View next week! Hope to see you there!

Adjustable Fleece Hat Tutorial

When my four year old was about a year and a half old, my mother bought her an adjustable winter hat with a cord stop on the back to tighten or loosen the fit. She wore that hat all the time and was very sad when she outgrew it. For a couple of years I have been wanting to figure out a way to recreate that hat, and this month's Point of View theme, "gifts", finally gave me the motivation to sit down and get it done. The hat turned out to be very much like the original, but I added my own twist to dress it up :) Here is my project for the November Point of View reveal...

My girls love them. They have been wearing them around the house for the last three days :)

These are fun to put together, and they are a relatively quick sew, too. The basic hat is super simple, then you just add a strip of patchwork, some elastic, and voila! My oldest likes that it can be adjusted to accommodate whatever hairstyle she has chosen that day.

These would make a great Christmas gift for your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, friends. They are a great scrapbuster, too!

Here's how to make your own...

Materials:

• fleece (about 1/3 yd)
• scraps of cotton (must be at least 2.5" wide)
• thick elastic cord (6")
• cord stop
• fabric pen
• scissors
• coordinating thread

Instructions:

Step 1: Choose which size hat you are making and print out the corresponding template at 100% (no scaling, do not "fit to page"). The small template makes a hat that will fit a head that is about 18-20" around. The large template will fit a head that is about 21-23"+ around.



Step 2: For a small hat you will need a piece of fleece that is 9.5 x 24". For a large hat you will need a piece of fleece that is 11 x 26". Fleece stretches from selvage to selvage, but not in the other direction. It is important to make sure that you cut your fleece so that it stretches along the longer measurement. Also, fleece does have a "wrong" side. To find out which is which, slightly stretch one of the long edges of your piece of fleece. The fleece will curl toward the "wrong" side. Start with your fleece wrong side up. Lay your template on the left edge of your fleece, aligning it with the bottom edge (position 1)...

Use a fabric pen to trace from the bottom left corner of the template up and around to the bottom of the curve on the right side...

Move your template over to the right (position 2) so that the bottom of the curve on the left side of the template lines up with where you just left off tracing. You don't need the dashed line portion of the template for this trace...

Use your fabric pen to trace from the bottom of the curve on the left side of the template up and around to the bottom of the curve on the right side...

Move your template over to the right (position 3) so that the bottom of the curve on the left side of the template lines up with where you just left off tracing. Again, you don't need the dashed line portion of the template for this trace...

Use your fabric pen to trace from the bottom of the curve on the left side of the template up and around to the bottom of the curve on the right side...

This time, flip your template over before moving it to the right (position 4). Line it up so that the bottom of the curve on the left side of the template lines up with where you just left off tracing. Use your fabric pen to trace from the bottom of the curve on the left side of the template all the way up and around to the bottom right corner of the template. This time you are tracing the dashed line portion of the template...

Your template tracing should look like this...

Cut out your hat along the lines you just traced...

Step 3: Time to start sewing your hat together. Fold your hat in half right sides together...

Pin along the open right side all the way up to the point. Pin along the curve on the left side up to the point...

Using a 3/8" seam allowance, sew along the right side all the way up to the point. Then sew along the curve on the left side up to the point...

The right side should look like this...

Don't use a full 3/8" seam allowance at the bottom of the curve on the left side. Taper it off a bit, like this...

Open your hat up...

Fold your hat in half the other way, matching up your raw edges and the points you just sewed together. Pin together...

Using a 3/8" seam allowance, sew from the bottom of the curve on the left side up and around to the bottom of the curve on the right side...

Again, don't use a full 3/8" seam allowance at the bottom of the curves. Taper it off a bit, like this...

Step 4: On to hemming. Leaving your hat wrong side out, turn the bottom edge of the hat up 1" to 1.25". Pin in place. You won't need to worry about finishing the edge since fleece doesn't fray.

Sew all the way around, about 1/8"-1/4" down from the raw edge...

Turn it right side out. Your basic hat is done!

Step 5: Let's move on to the patchwork band. I took a bunch of cotton scraps and cut them all to 2.5" wide. On the purple hat, I cut all of the 2.5" wide pieces to different lengths. On the pink hat, I cut all of the 2.5" wide scraps to the same length. It depends on your preference. Once you have all of your scraps cut to size, piece them together using a 1/4" seam allowance. Press the seams open. For a small hat, you want a strip that is 2.5" wide by 18.5" long. For a large hat, you want a strip that is 2.5" wide by 21.5" long.

Lay your strip down wrong side up. Take the two short ends of your strip and press them 1/2" toward the wrong side...

Take the bottom long edge of your strip and press it up to the center of the strip...

Take the top long edge of your strip and press it to the center of the strip...

Your band is ready to be attached to your hat!

Step 6: Next you need to pin the patchwork band to your fleece hat. Turn your hat so that the long center seam at the back of the hat is facing you. You want to make sure that the ends of the band are an equal distance from this seam when you pin it on. You will need about 1.25" to 1.5" from the seam to each end of the band. It may take you a couple of tries to get it pinned on so that this measurement is equal on both sides...

You also want to make sure that the bottom of the band is 3/4" from the bottom of the hat. Measure every couple of inches as you are pinning it on to make sure that you are maintaining that 3/4"...

Sew around the top and bottom of the band about 1/8" from the edges. DO NOT sew vertically along the ends of the band!

Step 7: Now for the adjustable part of this hat. Take one end of your 6" elastic cord and insert it about 3/4" into one end of the band...

Sew back and forth over the end of the band a few times in two places: 1/8" from the end of the band and 1/2" from the end of the band. Insert the other end of the elastic about 3/4" into the other end of the band and repeat the stitching...

Pinch the cord between your fingers...

Insert the cord into the cord stop...

Done! Now enjoy watching their little faces light up when they get their hands on a cool new winter hat :)

Now it's your turn... Check out this month's Point of View collage and link up your past or present gift projects at the Point of View Gifts Link Party!




I'm linking up...