Tester: Love Notions' La Bella Donna in Women's and Girl's sizes! Pic Heavy Post!

Have I mentioned how much I love Love Notions? I'm sure I have, about a zillion times. I'm now at the stage where I don't feel compelled to try every single designer out there, because I have about eight hands-down favorites that, between them, fit my design aesthetic to a T. I'm fortunate enough to test for most of them on a continuing basis, which I am super grateful for.

Love Notions is one of them. I trust Tami Bunch Meyer to have a comprehensive pattern, with simple chic designs that sew up easily and accurately. They fit well, and have cool features like no-trim pages and layers so I can print just my size (or sizes if I'm grading between multiple sizes), thus saving ink and a lot of squinting.

Here are the Ladies and Girls La Bella Donna tops that released last week.

I do think my posing is improving!

The Ladies version goes from a 30" to a 47" high bust. There isn't too much ease at the chest, which is a big plus for me, considering this is a dolman sleeve style.

 Miki in coordinating LBD and Leggin's! Both from Love Notions. The leggings are a free pattern.

The Girls version goes from 2T to 16. I made a 2T for Miki, and slimmed the chest one half inch in the black and stripe version, since the black is a very stretchy, loose rayon.

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Tester Review: Poppy Peplum Pants by Filles a Maman!

I'm so ashamed that this blog post is a week late. Mel Henry of Filles a Maman is a wizard in my opinion, with super cool designs that every fashion forward little girl would love to wear. Poppy Peplum Pants are, as you can see, no exception.

The idea for these pants was put forth by another extremely chic lady, M. Malice, who won a contest run on Facebook for what Mel should design next. I've been following Ms. Malice around the FB and Instagram world, and boy does she have great taste!

The pants sew up in hardly any time at all, with an unusual faux fly technique that is impressive and easy to construct. I sewed up two pants while testing, each took a day. I didn't have any issues at any point with the fit. The first I used a Rapunzel-inspired fabric from the custom fabric group I admin, that features the iconic Suns from the movie as well as the unmistakable Lanterns from the famous scene.

The second pair I sewed from stretch velvet, which I really wanted for Miki's Fall wardrobe. A nice pair of thick pants can help transition so many summer outfits to cooler weather. Since she's not really growing as fast as she used to, I need to get creative now.

Both fabrics work great for this pattern. I really recommend this pattern for a staple. You can easily leave the peplum off for a smart pair of tights. I think I'll sew a black pair for her next!

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Tester: Piper Tunic from Wardrobe by Me - an Amazing, New-to-me Designer!

Last week, I had the privilege to test a new pattern by Christina Albeck, designer of Wardrobe By Me patterns, the Piper Boho Tunic.

Christina has been a pattern maker for many fashion brands in Denmark, for over 20 years. I can attest to the fact that her patterns are industry standard, and very, very good. With measurements in both metric and imperial, she caters to all her audiences. She also gives finished garment measurements, which is something many indie designers don't. That's a pet peeve of mine, can you tell?

I made two versions of the pattern, one long sleeved, and one short. Both were a light voile I bought in India for a song. I sewed up a size 16, which is the largest available. It fit nicely, I must say.

The neckline is faced, with the shoulder seams staggered so that there's no added bulk anywhere.

With good sewing practices like understitching and pressing in the instructions, and nice deep hems that won't flip while you wear the top, the finished top looks and feels like top quality.

The blue top is for my Mother in Law, who is an amazing, warm, wonderful lady. She's also almost exactly my size, so I'm glad to be sharing the sewn love!

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Tester - The Itch to Stitch Carey Top!

Kennis Wong, of Itch to Stitch designs, is a phenomenal pattern designer. I've followed her for a while now, and have three or four of her patterns. The Jacqueline Hoodie is one that I plan to sew up soon, for this Fall. Her Idyllwild top has taken the pdf pattern world by storm, since it's a gorgeous basic tee or dress, and used to be only a dollar. I planned the Emily Culottes for this summer, but since I'm in the process of losing a significant amount of weight, I wanted to stick to elastic waistbands.

I applied over and over to test Kennis' designs, and lo and behold, I got in! Here's the super fun Carey Top, a lovely dolman-sleeve design that flatterns all body shapes. The incredibly clever drawstrings give you the freedom to ruche the sleeve along the outer arm as much or as little as you want, going from a three-quarter sleeve length to a short sleeve length. You could even use elastic!

The pattern goes from size 00 to 20. with comprehensive body and finished garment sizes given right in the listing, in imperial and in metric. No more buying the pattern only to find it won't fit you! I love when designers are thoughtful and bring their A game like Kennis does, every time.

There's a little guide in the listing and in the pattern, to help you choose your size. As you know, ready to wear sizes are inflated and usually don't fit as nicely as when you choose your size and tailor your clothing, so this will help beginners tremendously.

I used a cotton lycra gauze, and a contrasting dark navy-black solid knit for my top. It was a tough time, binding this gauze, but I think I did really well! I love this top, and V couldn't believe I made it. He kept insisting I bought it somewhere!

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