Hello, lovely readers and guests from Little Kiwi's Closet! I'm really excited to be starting off the Bow Back Beauty blog tour with you, today!! I was really, really excited to be asked to sew up this little beauty from a new-to-me designer, Little Kiwi's Closet.
Before we begin, let me go over the details of the pdf sewing pattern, the Bow Back Beauty:
-The Bow Back Beauty comes in sizes NB to 12 years.
-There are two different bodice styles- waist and hip.
-There are two different back options- Bow and plain.
-There are four sleeve options- sleeveless, short, short with cuff and long.
-There are six different skirt options- peplum with skirt (at waist or hip), dress below knees, dress with hi-lo skirt, double peplum and skirt+peplum.
-Fabric requirement chart (in metric and imperial), pattern layout, and size chart (in metric and imperial) are all included in the pattern. There are also printing instructions if you only want to print certain elements of the pattern (ie, if you are doing a peplum, there is no need to waste paper and ink printing out the whole pattern.)
-Instructions to sew a onesie with snaps are also included in the pattern.
I sewed a size six, natural waist, sleeveless peplum with bow back. It's called the Bow Back Beauty, after all- why wouldn't you do that big, gorgeous bow in the back?!?! ;-)
While the weather here in NC has been a bit mercurial, lately (one day it's 90 degrees, the next it's 60 degrees), summer is fast approaching. So, I thought it would be fun to sew a cute, comfy outfit that is perfect for the hot, humid dog days of summer- sleeveless and shorts it is!
The Bow Back Beauty pattern has a great fit and I felt that it ran true-to-size. The waist sits right where it should and the peplum is enough of a "skirt" for my girly-girl to run, play and still have fun!
The instructions for the Bow Back Beauty are really well-written. I would rate this pattern a very confident beginner/intermediate pattern. Since the whole thing is done in knit fabric, you really have to be comfortable sewing with the stretchy material and using a serger to get the best end result.
There is a lot of "set-up" in the pattern- ie, instructions on how to cut out a circle skirt, layout, etc. However, this is all very valuable information. So, I would suggest going ahead and reading it all in detail to make sure your dress is a success! Once you get the main part of the pattern, though, it goes by pretty quickly and efficiently.
There are lots of pictures and diagrams included in the Bow Back Beauty pattern. While the pictures are very helpful, I do wish that they were slightly bigger in size. I'm a visual learner, so I like to study the pictures to make sure I'm doing things correctly.
I love that the Bow Back Beauty pattern includes instructions for multiple ways to do the same thing. Case in point- the bindings. Personally, I like to cut a piece of cotton lycra and do a band, stretched to fit the opening. However, the instructions also include how to do a folded over type binding (refer to the pattern, for more details). I used my preferred binding for the neck and arm openings. I used the Bow Back Beauty instructions for a folded over binding for the bow binding. I like to change things up a bit and try new techniques.
There are lots of options for this pattern. The Bow Back Beauty could definitely be a year-round pattern- long sleeves for the winter and short/sleeveless for the summer. With the large size range, the Bow Back Beauty will not only last you year-round, but it will also last for years to come!
Now, let's talk about the back. Specifically, the bow....! Look at that gorgeous bow back detail! I love it! It's sweet and feminine while totally being playful and fun (and easy to move and groove in)! Seriously, the back has it on the Bow Back Beauty!!
Love it! Best of all, so does Lil' Miss! I definitely see more of the Little Kiwi's Closet Bow Back Beauty in our future!! Thank you, Lydia, for allowing me to be apart of your blog tour! I had sew much fun!!
Enter to win your very own copy of the Little Kiwi's Closet Bow Back Beauty here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
**All knit material came from the wonderful Purpleseamstress Fabrics. Mel is helpful, knowledgeable and speedy in her deliveries. I couldn't ask for more better customer service!
***The shorts shown with the Bow Back Beauty are the LilyGiggle Petunia Petal Pants pdf sewing pattern in short length. The Petunia Petal Pants are my go-to leggings pattern and one of the very first successful things I sewed in knit.
2 comments:
Beautiful print! That last pose is too much, what a cutie!
She definitely know how to work it, that's for sure!! :-)
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