Hacking WWD Staple Skirt

I love the finishing of the Winter Wear Designs Staple Skirt for kids. It's got all the bells and whistles of a proper woven zippered skirt. Everything in the instructions is wonderful and I have always gotten great results using it. 

See how pretty the finishing of the zipper is! 

The only thing is, whether it is the A line option or the pencil skirt version, my girl only wears those on special occasions because it limits her movement and she is, after all, still a toddler! 

We own one pass me down retail wear skirt that had an A-line shape till where the hips are then it ended off with a pleated flounce. Kind of like a tennis skirt or a drop waist pleated flounce skirt. And she loved that skirt. It was made with denim and has plenty of movement and was also very very cute! Unfortunately she was outgrowing the skirt and it's becoming too mini for my liking. Hence, I had always wanted to hack the staple skirt into a similar one and I finally did it! With the help of Apostrophe Pattern's latest pattern generator: Gathered Skirt generator!  

Since I have made Staple Skirt a couple of times before, I knew roughly where I would like the flounce of the skirt to start - for reference, I used the lengthen/shorten lines and simply cut the skirt pieces there. 

I kept the pockets etc so after following the instructions, you will get a shortened skirt with the pockets sticking out. Then, I measured the diameter of the bottom of this shortened skirt and entered into the generator following the instructions. I selected the length of the skirt to be 13 cm, and hem to be 2cm. 

The great thing about the generator is, you can suggest a pleat length and if the math don't work out, it will automatically change to the closest length that will work. Yay! (e.g. when i selected 5cm, it was okay, but when I selected 6cm, it automatically switched to 6.1cm) 

Another great thing about it is, for projector users, it comes with markings so that you can actually mark it on your fabric and fold accordingly - very beginner friendly. 

After pleating and attaching, my girl's pleated skirt was all done! Isn't it adorable?

The fabric i used was a stretch twill in bright yellow and I used a cute strawberry snap button for a pop of color and also cos jean buttons are still difficult for her to put on herself. 

And here is the skirt worn! (the top is rtw, i think that slogan is cheeky =p Also, rtw in this home are all hand me downs from friends cos I have not bought any clothes for my kids from retail shop in a really long time!)

Look at the great range of movement this skirt has. No wonder she loves skirts like this.

Thank you for visiting! Hope to see you again soon! 💗

Winter Wear Designs Ma Cherie Top and Stargazer Shorts

Hello again for the Hello Summer Kids Blog tour for Winter Wear Designs. This is Day 3 and I'm here again with 2 kids pattern sews from Winter Wear Designs, this time for my little girl 💓

I've always wanted to make a cute hanbok inspired top for my little girl and the only pattern I had was for knits. But I finally found one that isn't for knits! 

Ma Cherie is a super cute V neck tunic top that has pleated skirts. I made my girl's version with a solid color Kona Cotton from 2quilters and Kobayashi Colorful Dots in double gauze from Nekoneko. 

Doesn't she look adorable? I think this one is a keeper! In fact, I may hack this to be longer so she can wear it as a cute maxi! But since this is a tunic, I needed to match it with a super cute pair of shorts too. And the Stargazer bubble shorts is perfect! 

And as with all her new shorts, the first thing she checked was whether there was any pockets. 

I'm pleased to say that she is pretty happy with her new bubble shorts with the roomy roomy pockets. I made it just slightly bigger so that she can wear this longer and I think she will wear this pretty often too! 

The fabric is stretch twill. Here's the flatlay!

You can get the patterns here: http://bit.ly/WWDMaCherie 

and here: http://bit.ly/WWDStargazerShorts

Make sure to stick with us all week long for sewing inspiration, pattern hacks, and tutorials about how to get the most out of your summer sewing!!!

Monday:

Suzanne of Winter Wear Designs

Tuesday:

Hwee Ke Lim of KeKe Sews

Suzanne of Winter Wear Designs

Wednesday:

Laurie of The Bear And The Pea Atelier

Hwee Ke Lim of KeKe Sews

Thursday:

Kristen Guest Posting at WWD

Rachel of Violets & Jewles

Friday:

Laurie of The Bear and the Pea Atelier

Donnisha guest posting at WWD

Hacking WWD Perfect Panel Tee into a tank

Hello to everyone from ard the world! I'm Hwee Ke from Singapore and I'm one of the guest bloggers for the Hello Summer kids blog tour for Winter Wear Designs! 

For those who haven't heard of my home, Singapore is a really hot place to live. So it's no wonder my kids like sleeveless tanks and wear summer outfits all year round. 

I had this idea to color block a batman comic strips knit fabric i have to make a perfect panel tee for my boy. But he wanted a tank top so I thought this was a great opportunity to try hacking the tee into a tank top. 

The wrap around of the perfect panel tee is unique and would look really good as a tank top. 

He looks really comfortable in his new tank!

The hack is really easy to do too. Since he likes the armscye depth in his tank, I didn't need to adjust the armscye up or down. Instead, I skipped the cutting of sleeves from the fabric, then after serging the shoulder seams and side seams, I brought it to the cutting mat and cut a new curve about 2cm from the shoulder edge down to the same original point under the armpit. (You can estimate the amount to cut off by comparing it with a tank pattern u already have or if u are like me, just wing it!)

I measured the new armscye length and cut a ribbing knit strip about 80% of that length and that was the arm band! 

It's such a simple hack but one tt looks so good too. Now we can make even more perfect panel tanks with all the small remnants i have in my stash - a perfect summer wardrobe staple! 

Get the Perfect Panel Tee here! 

Make sure to stick with us all week long for sewing inspiration, pattern hacks, and tutorials about how to get the most out of your summer sewing!!!

Monday:

Suzanne of Winter Wear Designs

Tuesday:

Hwee Ke Lim of KeKe Sews

Suzanne of Winter Wear Designs

Hwee Ke Lim of KeKe Sews

Wednesday:

Laurie of The Bear And The Pea Atelier

Thursday:

Kristen Guest Posting at WWD

Rachel of Violets & Jewles

Friday:

Laurie of The Bear and the Pea Atelier

Donnisha guest posting at WWD

Winter Wear Designs Collared Shirt for kids

I made so many of this Collared Shirt by Winter Wear Designs but have yet to blog about any! 

The collared shirt pattern is my go to pattern for this boy whenever I need something a little more formal for his various dress up days at school and also on special occasions. 

I like how there are several options and I can choose between broad shoulders and slim shoulders. I can also use the pattern for my girl (there's a skirted version!) but she doesn't like button ups as much as I only made 1 dress for her so far - I'm hoping that when she grows older, she will like button ups! 

The curved hem is so cute isn't it? And it helps to keep the shirt tucked in when you want it tucked! Cos it is long enough to not come out when he waves his hands around. 

This shirt is made with double gauze fabric. I have also tried cotton woven twill, quilting cotton and they all turned out great! 

Summer days, Summer Sewing~

Where I live, we get summer pretty much all year round! So while most of my northern hemisphere friends are sewing up for cold weather, I still need to ensure I have a decent summer wardrobe! 

Since it is the school holidays, this is the best time for me to sew up on summer staples: shorts, tees, that kinda thing. It also means I have time to sew for family too! 

Here's a top I made for my mum that I paired with shorts meant for me! 

Despite our height differences, (I'm a little taller) we wear pretty much the same size clothes so I can model the clothes for her (she's shy!) This top is Winter Wear Design's Traveller Tee and it's a raglan top that you can make with a woven panel. COOOOL! 

I had a piece of textured Japanese Dobby fabric that I bought some time back that I realised was too small for most woven top patterns (always buy more than 1 yard!!) and I was just feeling sad about it when I realised I can use it with Traveller Tee! And because it has texture, I thought pairing it with a navy stretch crepe knit would be lovely and I like to think that it really is cute! 

In fact, I have half a mind to not gift it hehe (actually no, I will gift it then I will go back to that shop and buy the same fabric to make another to twin with her! yay!)

The shorts that I am wearing with this is the Endless Summer Shorts. This one I made is with a cotton sateen twill that gets really soft and comfy with every wash. I like how the shorts look on me though now that I am older, I think I would extend the inseam just a tad more cos I prefer more coverage these days hehe. (As I am typing this, I do realise just how old I sound lol!)

Front view:

Back view:

Both Traveller Tee and Endless Summer Shorts are great staple patterns to have in your pattern stash and you can really get a lot of sews out of them! 

They are on sale for a very limited time ($3 each!) now for WWD 12 Days of Christmas so don't miss out! 

Pattern Showcase: Toteally Awesome Tote Bag by Winter Wear Designs

Me again for Winter Wear Design's 12 day of Christmas Blog tour! Did you know that Winter Wear Designs have bag patterns too? 

There's the Collect-all Drawstring Bag, the hipster bag, the about town clutch and my favorite bag pattern of hers: The Toteally Awesome Tote Bag. (There's still more free patterns to discover if u click ard the site!)

Many of these patterns are freebies from her very popular 12 days of Christmas giveaways and codes can be found in her fb group under the announcement! 

Why did I say it's my favorite bag pattern? Cos ever since I made mine, I haven't stopped using it.

Here's me with the bag:

and here i am again!

And again...

I could go on since it is relatively easy to find pics of me with this bag but u get my point! 

The pattern comes with 2 sizes of bags. The bag I showed is the bigger version.

Look at all the pockets! It's perfect for everything. 

When I go to work with this bag (I'm a teacher), I fill the pockets with markers, and my comp mouse, cables for the projector, pens, glasses and water bottle then the main compartment has my laptop (I padded this bag really well so it's safe to put a laptop in here!) and worksheets. 

I love it so much that now that it is school holidays at my part of the world, I emptied it out and use it when I go out with kids, so now these pockets are filled with their water bottles, change of clothes, diapers, wipes, snacks, packet milk while the main section contains books, toys etc. So roomy! 

When I go out shopping sans kids (seldom these days but I do!) I bring out the bag mostly empty so that I can fill it up with SHOPPING! WOO HOO. Save the environment yes! 

It's really just a perfect tote bag for working folks/ busy mothers/ shopaholics etc etc 😂

In fact, my non-sewing friend saw me with this bag and was so convinced of its usefulness and versatility (and also that it was an easy sew), that she came over to my place and we spent 2 lovely afternoons, very leisurely sewing her very own tote bag while we chat away about life and kids. 

I think the bag pattern must have been really good cos she is now hooked on sewing and she wants a sewing machine for herself! 

Here's her bag next to mine:

I just LOVE that pink. In fact, I love it so much... 

Here's MY Pink bag. 

This time in the small size without the inner pockets. So cute. It may be 'small', but it is still a good size! I'm using it as a yoga bag for my yoga mat towel and a waterbottle. There's even space for a spare set of clothes and towel (not shown in pic) if i intend to shower at the yoga studio. 

 

Never made a bag before? No worries, this is a simple project. With no special notions needed, no zippers, no buttons/closures etc... 

I did the pocket version in 1 afternoon, my friend, who never sewn before, did hers in 2 afternoons, and that includes cutting and us chatting. The smaller bag without pockets was done in 2 hrs including cutting with a projector*. So it's definitely a do-able project and did I mention free? 

Big bag vs small bag ❤

Get it here and get sewing! 

*regarding projector sewing: if u are like me and love projector sewing, u should totally download the free inkscape software. The side panels and bottom panels are rectangles while the front and back panel already has A0 files that u can use directly with your projector. What i did was i drew a digital rectangles of the correct sizes of side and bottom panels using inkscape then project that file directly to my fabric to cut out the side panels. This saved me loads of time since i only needed to do it once. Projector cutting all the pattern pieces for the small bag without pockets only took me 10-15mins! 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas~~

Over at our house, Christmas is usually a quiet affair and with young toddlers in the house the past few years, the Christmas tree has not been out of storage for a really long time. But 2020 has been a crazy year and the kids are both just so excited about Christmas and decorating and gifts that we decided to finally take the tree out of storage this year! So I'm going to be posing for photos next to the tree! Hehe

Hello from Singapore! A warm welcome everyone who's here for the Winter Wear designs blog tour! I'm Hwee Ke and I'm here to show you WWD's latest free holiday pattern (Don't you just LOVE Suzanne Winters for being so so generous? 💋💋💋)

 So... On the 7th day of Christmas, WWD gave to us... All Wrapped Up (a beautiful scarf pattern)! 💖💖💖

There's 2 versions - a pocket scarf version and a sleeved version. I made the sleeved version and I just love it so much, don't you?

After you downloaded the pattern, you would notice that recommended fabric for the scarf is actually structured knits. In fact it doesn't actually require any stretch (only the sleeves need a good stretch) Well... I had this beautiful, stretchy, drapey, shiny lurex knit that is so soft to touch inside and shiny (So holiday appropriate!) outside that I just HAD to use this knit for my sleeved scarf. 

I'm 5"6' tall so I'm using the regular size but cos my knit is so so slinky, I took 4 inches off the width (you may wish to remove more width if this look isn't what u are going for! But if you are using the recommended fabric then no length removal is necessary. Tip: Check first by wrapping it ard yourself b4 sewing to test the length! ) 

I think it works really well as a wrap scarf and the sleeves help keep the wrap on me! The shiny lurex also gave it just that extra bit of holiday cheer! Also, with the knit I used being so slinky, I knew I could wear this sleeved wrap differently so after playing ard with it, here's another look:

For this look, I pull the wrap all the way past my shoulders so that the entire sleeved portion of the scarf can be seen, then I allowed the wrap to drape down my back so it forms a deep cowl. I think I am gg to wear this wrap like that quite often! Loving that cowl! 

Here's another look:

For this look, I simply wrapped the scarf ard me without wearing the sleeves, then I tied the sleeves at the back of the wrap with a knot. 

And the last look I came up with is this one:

I think you can probably guess how to put this look together 😂 All I did was rearranged the wrap ard my neck, tie the sleeves part and tucked them in. 

Are you excited to try it out? I'm excited to find out from all of you the other ways I can wear this versatile little wrap! 

Download the pattern here and remember to check the FB group for the code to get it for free! 

Thank you for coming and Merry Christmas everyone! 

Blog Tour: WWD 12 Days of Christmas: Free Split Hem Tee and Leggings

It's that time of the year again! The well-loved and long awaited Winter Wear Design's 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways and I am so happy to be her WWD blogging "elf" 😆😆😆

Today's blog tour post is all about the Split Hem Tee for Kids and 12 Days Girl's leggings. Sounds familiar? That's because these were freebies from 2019 and 2018 respectively! This year, we are getting projector updates on both files! 💙💚💛💜💗

Projector users REJOICE! 

When I got the projector file, I was so excited, I got to work on a coordinating outfit straight away and this was done in no time at all! And of course, in the tradition of WWD blog tours, I have included a few little hacks of my own I hope you will enjoy reading about!

Perhaps, the first hack you will notice is the short sleeves on the split hem tee. I cut it short because we live in tropical Singapore and it's hot all year round but I wanted a lot of use of out of this tee hence the cap sleeves. There's not much to this - I just use her current short sleeves as a reference then hem the sleeves with pretty lace elastic. To tie in the look, I hemmed the leggings with the same lace elastic too! 

Guess what she spotted? 

POCKETS!! Yes! That's right! I used the side panel as a guide to cut a shorter piece of the same width to use as a side pocket! And again, the tie in the whole look, I hemmed the top of the pocket with the same lace elastic! 

I think she likes her pockets alot! I constantly find hidden "treasures" in those pockets before I do laundry. I guess she's just really happy that her leggings actually have pockets! 

The split hem tee is really a great pattern to pair with the leggings. I like how the back is nice and long and covers the bum for a lovely modest look while the front is also long enough without being too long that it hinders movement. 

Here's more photos of her in at home enjoying some quiet play time in her new coordinating split-hem + leggings combo. This is definitely a winning combo. And the patterns are both free! Head on over to the Winter Wear FB group to get the free download code and make your own versions today~ 

Winter Wear Design Radiant Rouched Top

So excited to share this beautiful beautiful pattern that i had finished testing from Winter Wear Designs not too long ago. 

I have this thing for gathers and asymmetrical necklines and interesting details and this pattern ticks all the boxes and makes my heart sing when i see the finished product I made. 

This Radiant Rouched Top I made uses stretch crepe fabric from Spotlight and the drape is just perfect for the top. I made mine asymmetrical with mutton chop long sleeves. 

The pattern also comes with a high neckline, normal sleeves/mutton chop sleeves in cap, 3/4 length and long length. 

This green top is made with milk silk, and left unhemmed cos i got lazy and also cos milk silk doesn't fray. (Ok ok I'm lazy 🤣🤣🤣 but u got to admit it does look good unhemmed!)

If you like what I made, you can buy urself a copy here!