Mohawk Hooded Scarf

Hello!  

Motherhood has kept me quite busy here.  Our school year thus far has consisted of: ear infections, nagging coughs that don't allow any sleep, and a black eye that my older son got at baseball practice.

The irony of it all was that we cancelled his football registration because the coaches/parents seemed "too aggressive".   (I totally sound like one of those parents don't I.)  At his second winter baseball practice he was accidentally hit in the eye socket with a baseball.  It was awful!  My son had thought his eye popped out and was yelling that he was blind.  We ended up staying over night in the hospital for observation because he had concussion symptoms.  Thankfully, he is fine now and enjoys the attention at school.  He makes sure to say, "Hi" to every person walking down the school hall and then waits for them to respond with, "What happened?"  The story never gets too old for him to re-tell over and over again.  

I am thankful that these are only minor issues in the big picture =)

Despite the sport injury we are still a sport loving family.  During this time of the year we go to quite a few football games.  As the football season progresses it can get cold out there sitting on the bleachers, so to keep my little shooga boog warm I modified the Hooded Scarf pattern to become a...

Mohawk hooded scarf.  

His rocker sign is the I love you sign.  Too cute!  I'm not going to correct him =)

Here's how to modify the pattern... 

1)  Use the template for the basic hooded scarf and cut out your pieces.

2)  Decide how wide you want your mohawk to be and add 1" to the width for the seam allowance.  Next, measure the length from front to back of the hood (curve and all).  My measurement was approximately 22" because I extended the front of the hood by about 1" so that his older brother can wear the scoodie too.  For the scoodie, I cut a piece of fax fur to measure 4" x  22".

3)  Pin the fur side to the right side of the hood.  If the faux fur is on a woven fabric or doesn't have much stretch, you should stay stitch the hood fabric first (assuming the hood fabric is a knit).  This will prevent the hood fabric from stretching as you sew.

4)  Stitch the fur to the hood.

  

I trimmed the excess fur after I stitched the other side of the hood to the fur.

5)  Repeat with other side of hood.  Stitch other hood to un-stitched side of faux fur. 

6)  Assemble lining the same way.

7)  Follow instructions in the pattern for assembling the rest of the scoodie.

The Hooded Scarf pattern is available at:

Jamie Christina.com

Pretty Ditty

Phat Fabric

Here's a link to more shops that carry the pattern.

Rock on!

Jamie

Sunny Day pattern shoot

I made a slide show of the Sunny Day pattern shoot via Image Shack. Thanks to the hospitality of Kaj and Crystal, who were so generous to let us use their home for a set, this shoot will always be memorable to me. Their intimate  home supplied an abundant of backdrops for the models. I most enjoyed the beauty of their backyard English Garden, which set the stage for the wonder Pierre tried to create. On top of that, the home's close proximity to the the beach added the coastal air and summer carefree sun which the Sunny Day Dress reminds me most of.

Crystal is an interior designer and it is obvious by the charm and originality of her home that she is very talented at her profession.  I wish she had a blog because her work is harmonious.  For example, she made a pillow and stitched a branch with a felted flower to the pillow.  She lined the inside of her cabinets with a beautiful vintage inspired wallpaper and trimmed it with black rick rack.  The backyard is an English garden that could easily provoke the thoughts of fairies and talking animals in a little girls imagination.  AND Crystal loves Anthropologie!  If she ever starts a blog I'll be sure to let you all know.

The models are friends of my sister. They were perfect for the pattern.  Francis modeled the dress and Christalle modeled the skirt.  Francis works at an organic hair salon and is a mom to a 4 year old little girl.  Christalle studied fashion design, so I tried to pick her brain as much as I could without loosing focus on the shoot.  Stacie (seen reading a book in the above slide show) modeled a piece for another pattern that I'm working on.  More to come on that.  Taryn Goedart was the make-up artist whom herself could have easily been one of the models.  She has the sweetest face sprinkled with freckles.  I love freckles.  As most of you already know, Pierre Olivier was the photographer for the shoot.  He always knows how to capture the mood and look I want to be portrayed in a shoot.  He is getting quite busy and popular in his photography career.  I always enjoy reading about his other shoots on his blog.  My sister was my right hand woman.  She styled, organized, and did anything and everything I needed.   She's the best!

The shoot is always one of the highlights for me in putting a pattern together. I find great enjoyment from the collaboration that these shoots create. Everyone is able to share their craft with mine, and have a blast while doing so!  It's rather poetic watching it come together in a shoot.

Cheers,

Jamie        

The Sunny Day Dress and Skirt Cover is...

Cover #1!!!

Oooh...I know a bunch of you thought it was #3. Ah...but it's not.  I too was torn between cover #1 and #3.  Cover #3 captured the feeling of a sunny day, plus Frances (the model) looked so happy and natural riding a bike with the dress on.  However, I felt cover #1 showed the dress the best.  Who knows, maybe I'll print #3 for the reprint.  Or, I may use it for the web.  It really was a difficult choice, which is a good predicament to be in.  I liked the 2nd cover, because if you noticed, it showed off the lining option for the dress.  For Cover #2 I used a nylon netting for the skirt lining which added fullness to the dress. I'll write more about the pattern in a bit, but first let's announce some winners.  If you chose correctly you were entered twice for the giveaway.

And the winners are...

Maddy Maze Stutdios (said... I'm going for #1. I really think that's it)

Belinda (said... Option 2 is my guess!)

Sapo Verde (said... I think you chose option #1 for the cover. It really features the dress nicely.)

Congratulations winners!  I will contact you for your shipping info.  

About the Dress

The dress is based off of my Pretty Ditty Apron pattern.  The top is a halter top with neck straps that tie behind the neck. However, you could sew a couple of buttons to the back of the waistband and criss cross the neck straps to the back and button them down.  That too would look good!  The skirt is gathered and the back of the waistband is gathered with elastic.  The dress is backless and the bodice covers beyond the side seams, which makes the dress comfortable to wear.  You can also wear it with a tank or form fitting t-shirt just as you would with an apron.  Very versatile!

 About the pattern

Something new that I constructed with this pattern print job is that the instructions and illustrations are in a booklet form. The booklet also includes a page for adding notes such as modifications and such.

Other highlights

~ There are plenty of detailed illustrations for the visual learners.

~ A Glossary

~ Options such as: 

adding waist ties

adding trim to the waistband

lining the entire dress

AND

a pretty darn cute skirt option.    

Of course after the pattern was made, I discovered that by cutting off most of the skirt I could make a top too out of the pattern.

I added the running stitches to the waistband before I added the waist ties.  Here's the back...

You can see what the pattern looks like with a tank under it.

  The sizing chart located on the back of the pattern helps direct you by simply finding your size on the chart and following that column down to locate the fabric requirements. 

The pattern is now available in my shops - Jamie Christina, Phat Fabric, and Pretty Ditty.  Also, be sure to check out my list of shops that carry my patterns (link).  

I will share more pics from the shoot and write about all who were involved with the shoot soon.  It was a lot of fun and I am so thankful to everyone that participated with this project.

Happy creating!

Jamie

The Sunny Day Dress & Skirt pattern plus giveaways

The giveaway is now closed.  I will announce the winners tomorrow.  Thank you all for entering.  It was very interesting =)
The Sunny Day Dress and Skirt booklet pattern is at the printer.  Yippee!  While I'm in waiting mode for the booklet I figured we'd celebrate with a giveaway...or 3.  Below are 3 possible covers for the booklet. Since the pattern is already at the printer, we all know that I have already chosen the cover, but just for fun which cover do you think I chose?

Cover #1

Cover #2

Cover #3

How to enter

Leave a comment guessing which of the 3 options above is the Sunny Day Dress and Skirt pattern cover. All comments will get one entry, however, if you guess correctly you will receive 2 entries.  Be sure to leave your email address with your guess, or contact me via email if you are one of the winners.

Who can enter

Any and everyone - including international friends.

When 

The giveaway begins now and ends Wednesday the the 21st of July. 

The winners will be chosen via a random number generator.

Here's the back of the pattern...

When the pattern booklet arrives, I'll write more about the pattern and photo shoot.

Good luck!

Jamie

Boo!

Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt

It's me.  Jamie.  The apron/pattern/mom/Anthro loving/occasional blogger. Remember?

Well that was quite a break!  Originally I had intended the break for working on my new patterns, but I'm sure I would have taken a break even if I wasn't working on the patterns.  Between swim classes, youth sports, and beach visits, this has become quite a busy summer. Not to mention how messy this place can get with so much going on.  I don't know what it is about the 3rd child, but ever since that little shooga booga arrived 4 years ago I can't seem to catch up with things.  

Take the laundry for example.  Never a problem 5 years ago, but now... well, now I just tell the kids to check the couch for their swim trunks.  And if they can't find a matching sock, which is almost always the case, I'll settle for matching colors.  No one notices anyways... right?

*** Pattern News ***

I am finished with one pattern and will be sending it of to the printers this week. I'm anxious to share some pics in the upcoming days.  I've leaked a few on my flickr page.  The talented Pierre Olivier photographed the goods.  You can check them out here.   

More to come!

Jamie