5Berries Testing

I'm so ashamed! One of the shops I test the most for happens to be the one I blog the least about, for no good reason. Anna, the designer for 5Berries and Dress Patterns 4 Girls has created some really cute designs, including the Eva peasant dress I blogged about here and the Gatsby dress that I haven't shared pictures of yet. The Juliet dress (pictured above) is her newest pattern. It's hard to tell with my crazy prints (which look good together in natural light but not with my camera flash), but this dress has a poofier upper sleeve and a slimmer lower sleeve, reminiscent of Juliet (from the famous play).

A lot of her dresses do tend to be variations of the peasant dress, but she offers some cute details and her sloper for this style is my favorite. There is just the right amount of flare in the A-line and the neckline is lower in the front than it is in the back. I've used her basic peasant dress with some length added to make nightgowns for Danielle the past two summers. The dress shown below was a test that turned out a little short, so that ended up as a nightgown as well, just one that has a cute flutter sleeve detail :)

Besides dresses, she also has some patterns for rompers, skirts, pants, etc. I tested the Emily capris back in April (I think?) and the bow detail is really darling. Make sure you secure the bow in the loop though, or you will lose one and never get around to making a new one and then the pants won't do much good, mkay?  Sigh, these pants went with everything my pink-loving daughter owns.

 

Anna was a tailor who made custom women's clothes before moving to the United States, so some of her methods in her earlier patterns didn't make sense to me (like hand basting where to hem).  When I emailed her to ask about some of her construction "oddities", she asked for more feedback like that! I'm impressed with her commitment to make her patterns the best they can be, and easy for anyone to understand.

If you haven't tried a 5Berries (or Dress Patterns 4 Girls) pattern yet, you really should! They are easy enough for a beginner, while still having some unique styles (isn't this Ava dress pattern darling?) Oh, and she's started making some patterns with knits too. Bonus!

New Summer PJs

If I can get caught up on pictures, I have a lot of projects to share with you.  I have been sewing up a storm!  I'll start with sharing Danielle's 6 new nightgowns today.

She likes them :)

I like to make her nightgowns for her summer pjs, because it's quicker than a top & shorts and I can make them a little long so they'll last all summer as she grows.  I normally use a pattern I draft (using indietutes' tutorial), but decided to use a "real" pattern this time.  This should make it easier to sew similar items for my nieces since they are a size larger than my daughter.

I made the 5 pjs shown here plus some Abby Cadabby ones

I used the "Amelia" pattern by 5 Berries Sewing Patterns.  I plan to post a detailed pattern review on Pattern Review soon.  The short of it is that I thought the instructions were really strange (hand-stitching the ends of the elastic together...huh?), but I really loved the results, thought the pattern was drafted well and has a really nice shape.  On top of that, 5 Berries gave away a pattern for FREE to their Facebook fans a couple months ago.  That's pretty cool.

Tinkerbell!

The pattern is actually for a dress with a sash, but I used the short sleeve markings and added a little length, leaving the sash and the elastic for the sleeves off in order to make a nightgown suitable for summer.

The use of stash fabrics in addition to some character prints means these are very affordable pjs indeed.  I am really happy with how they turned out and plan to use the Amelia pattern pieces for future nightgowns/peasant tops/pillowcase dresses/etc.