PATTERN RELEASE: Judy Fancy Pants!

We are SOOOO excited to announce the release of the Judy Fancy pants!

These pants are sure to be your everyday go to pants! Perfect for lounging at home or bringing kids to school, beach, and even the office! As you will see by the tester pics below these pants are so versatile!

You can kep these pants simple or dress them up with great details like a drawstring waist option,, double topstitching, and faux piping. 

As with all Sisboom patterns these include extensive fitting information so you can get the look you want! These pants include options for darts, elastic or drawstring waist, pockets or not, faux piping pockets or plain, different rise lengths, and each size has multiple inseam cutting length options as well so even if you are shorter than the "average" you won't lose any of the flare these pants offer! 

Carla, the Scientific Seamstress/pattern maker in her Judy Fancy Pants!

In chambray and faux piping these pants are ready for a playdates, running errands and the beach!

Paired with the Sisboom Devon top below.

The gorgeous Cathy Also made a Devon to pair with her Judy's and got fancy with the pockets!

We love Autumn's orange linen pair!

Crystal  is office ready in her black Judy pants!

The lovely Jenny in her Sisboom fabric pair of Judy's

We love the ribbon and mini pom pom details Jenny added! 

Brianne's pair of linen Judy's look so comfy for everyday wear no matter where she is going!

Our lovely tester Holly is due this week and found the Judy;s to fit nicely under the baby! (She also made a Devon top to go with them)

Angela made herself a lounge pair:

Here is another pair I made, I used Lucky Girl Sisboom fabric and made a matching Sisboom Devon pattern top to go with them!

The daughter of the lovely Judy (after whom this pattern is named)

Kari in her attitude pair: 

And the lovely Keri showing us her flannel pair

AND her linen pair! Ready for date night in these!

I LOVE the bold fabric choice Lisa used for her Judy's! How classy don't they look!

Mindy in her chambray ones as lovely as ever:

and Shauna got creative and monogrammed on her pair!

Sheri made herself a few lounge pairs - and I must say I don't blame her! I hate when my Judy's are all in the wash!

Tomi made her teen daughter a pair of Judy's

and Tomi also made herself a pair in suiting fabric!

and Tom made his daughter a pair in knit fabric! 

I also made a pair in a knit, sweatshirt fleece to be exact and man are the comfy!!!!

As you can see by the plethora of pictures the Judy Fancy Pants will most certainly become your go to with their amazing versatility! 

Pick up your copy of the pattern today!

Our final picture is again from Judy and offering a sneak peek of the next pattern coming up soon! The girls version of the Judy Fancy Pant, the Katie!

Grey is no longer Glum! A Colour Blocked Angie!

I LOVE  sewing for myself! I can get a look I want and it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg/I don't have to order online and hope it fits! I want to encourage EVERYONE to sew something for themselves this month! Whether it is a purse or a dress or a shirt,whatever you want, take some time to create something you love, for you! (and we have PLENTY of pattern options in SHOP if you are looking for a pattern!)

I am SOOOOO excited about this dress!!!! I, of course, HAD to make a new dress for the the Shades of Me sewing series. I love the versatility of the Angie and knew just what I wanted to do with it!

I conveniently had JUST (and I mean literally JUST) enough of the grey floral and chambray left in my stash. I picked the white eyelet on the top to tie in with the white in the floral. 

With the Sisboom Angie pattern and just chopped the top to colour block it and then added added the band on the bottom of the skirt. If you are adding a bottom band subtract the band width you want from the length of your skirt piece. I made my band 6 inches. I also lined the bodice using THIS tutorial!

So there you go, grey is no longer glum!

For the colour blocking it is much easier than you think, just chop the pattern how you want the colour blocking to be and don't forget to add in some seam allowance when you cut the fabric!

I love the simplicity of the Angie pattern, it is easy to modify and so easy for on and off as there are no zippers or buttons to fuss with, just some elastic in the back.  Plus the pattern has pockets - and who doesn't just LOVE pockets!

Now who else is going to sew for themselves this month?  

Ps. There is also a a giveaway for the Shades of Me Sewing Series and we area part of it! 

I LOVE to Read Sewing Challenge! (and yes we will have prizes!)

GRAB the button (I suggest highlight and then ctrl-v)

<div align="center">
<a href="http://scientificseamstress.blogspot.coom" title="The Scientific Seamstress"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aL-I3GtgqfA/UvBaxeeuCOI/AAAAAAAABhg/sLpHJnuCDC8/s1600/button+teeny.jpg" alt="The Scientific Seamstress" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

We will have 2 winners, chosen by random.org (we just know already that picking between all the awesomeness you each do is impossible!) One winner will be from the link up below and one winner will be from the facebook album in the LAB group. If you link your blog post below you can still add a picture on Facebook. One picture/blog post link entry per outfit please and thanks! Challenge runs until February 28th, 2014. 

We are SOOOO very excited to Have our very first link party up for this challenge and cannot wait to see all the wonderfully inspired outfits you create! Happy sewing!!!!

Winter Weather Inspiration

Hello Readers!!!
It's Cathy here and I just want to say that it is winter! I am sure for many of you, I don't need to remind you of this. I know many people enjoy the crisp cold air and many outdoor sports and activities that the winter offers. Me not so much anymore but with chattering teeth on a cold afternoon, I did bring my daughters to the movie theater to see Disney's Frozen. We all thoroughly enjoyed the entire movie and I even bought the sound track. I am so looking forward to it coming out in DVD and I even heard a rumor that it is coming to Broadway!!! Yaaaa!

And here we come to the reason for today's blog post. I was speaking with Carla and Jeanine about how much fun it would be to make a "Frozen" inspired dress. We all immediately agreed that the Simply Sweet with its many variations, great fit and style would be the perfect pattern to use.

Carla provided a few modifications to the pattern itself which we are going to make available to you (please see below). Both Jeanine and I used them to make a casual dress and an Elsa-inspired dress. Perfect for layering, playtime and dress-up!!! Would you like to see them? 

I put a blue short sleeve tee underneath but you could really layer it with a peasant top, long sleeve shirt or simply wear a cardigan sweater over top. (In an upcoming blog post, I am going to show you how I did the appliques for the dress.)

Here is the back. I added a removable "cape" too:

and a close-up of both the front and back:

Before I set you free with the modifications below, let me show you how I did the "cape" part. I ordered a yard of sheer fabric (mine had a little sparkle to it). I trimmed the edges ....

and curved the two bottom corners. I was very technical and used an upside down American Girl doll table...lol. You can use any rounded surface such as a plate. This gives the bottom of the cape a rounded appearance. I simply traced and cut:

Next, I set my machine up to gather along the top edge. I pulled out the bobbin thread, set my machine to the longest stitch (5) and loosened the tension (1). I actually make my top thread a different color than my bobbin thread so I don't accidentally pull on the wrong one. I stitched about 3/8" from the raw edge along the top of the cape and pulled on the bobbin thread to gather the cape.

Next I cut a piece of fabric the length of the top of the back bodice, which was about 5 or 6". I used matching fabric. This will become the binding piece for the cape:

 For the width, I made mine about 4" wide but I would recommend making it about 5" wide so that when you fold it, it comes out to be about 1 1/4" wide. 

First, I folded the short ends in so that the piece is about 1" shorter than the width of the back bodice. Press and keep those ends fold in. Next I folded the piece in half lengthwise, wrong sides together, and pressed it. Then I unfolded it. Next, I folded both raw edges in to the center and pressed it again. Then I refolded it in the center. This is also how I make seam binding. Here is a picture of it folded:

I inserted the gathered top of the cape between the folded binding piece and pinned it:

Then I simply stitched from one end to the other which captures the gathered cape and closes the ends.

 Here is the binding attached:

 Next, I used my snap tool to add three snaps to the cape....

 Here they are done. I used them to align the snaps on the back bodice (fashion fabric):

 Make sure you add the matching snaps about 2 to 2.5" below the top raw edge. This will leave you room to assemble the bodice. Here is where I attached mine:

 Final picture! Here is the back bodice before I did the side seams. I wanted to see how long the cape would be. It does touch the floor. You could definitely trim the length once you try it on. 

I am happy to say that the little girl whom I sent this to was thrilled with the dress. Mom told me she had it on and off six times today and insisted on wearing it out shopping! So funny!! Glad she liked it. If you have questions, feel free to ask. :)

*********************************

SO HERE ARE THE MODIFICATIONS:

There were only a few modifications for this look. Here are the directions done by Carla:

The construction for the dress remains the same despite the changes.

*******************

  
Here is Jeanine's version of the dress!

Hi all! I decided to take the modifications and make everyday style tops for my girlies :) My kids haven't seen Frozen, and are not really all that into dressing up yet. But I LOVE a sweetheart neckline! So here are what the mods look like in an everyday top, and I think you will agree, this tutorial has a LOT of potential!

This first one I made for my oldest and followed the new tutorial directions:

 My very active oldest would not turn to the camera at all or put her book down. 

For the cheeks I rounded the dip a little for a more sweetheart look and I did the Simply Sweets flutter sleeves: 

(shown with the narrow leg easy fits)

 We Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial for how to change up the Simply Sweet!!!

Coming up in February we will be having a bit of fun with books and sewing combined! (Two things we love!)

We hope you will join in on the fun!