Twinkle Toes and Company

{Please note that some of these links are affiliate links.  If you purchase something I have recommended, sewn etc. through those links I will receive a small percentage of compensation.  It helps me support my sewing "therapy" and the ability to review and test more patterns.} Beautiful.  Stunning.  Gorgeous. These simple yet very meaningful words were uttered from my husbands mouth when he first saw me in my Runway Dress and then he asked if he needed to put his tux on so he could take me out to dinner.  My 16 year-old daughter asked me who I was planning on going to Prom with.  After I finished laughing, I offered to be her date for Prom.  HA! I've had this green Cotton Lycra and Embroidered Mesh for a looooong time.  My dress form  Anastasia got to "wear" the embroidered mesh for the entire time I've had the mesh.  (My kids think it's funny to "dress" her in my fabric).    My husband thought it would...

{Please note that some of these links are affiliate links.  If you purchase something I have recommended, sewn etc. through those links I will receive a small percentage of compensation.  It helps me support my sewing "therapy" and the ability to review and test more patterns.} Sometimes pattern testing pushes me outside my comfort zone. Who am I kidding?!?  It pushes me out of my comfort zone on a very regular basis!  Typically I don't wear clothes that are as form fitting as the Sunny Day Top & Dress.   That probably seems a tad funny because truthfully it's not that form fitting.   However, I'm a loose fitting hoodie and leggings type of a gal.   I LOVE how the Sunny Day...Dress in this occasion...fits me!   The fit is fantastic.   I added my typical 3" because the pattern is drafted for 5'5".  I added 1" to the top bodice and 2" to the bottom front; then to the back piece I added a st...

{Please note that some of these links are affiliate links.  If you purchase something I have recommended, sewn etc. through those links I will receive a small percentage of compensation.  It helps me support my sewing "therapy" and the ability to review and test more patterns. T-shirts can be hard to come by for tall men.  Add in large shoulders or a big chest paired with a thinner waist and the fit goes out the window.   I've sewn quite a few Henley's or Raglan's for my guys, but until the Zesty Pickles Tee I hadn't actually sewn any patterns specifically for T-shirts.   The fit of the Zesty Pickles Tee is fantastic!  The Music Man has large shoulders and a large chest and then he tapers down into a sports cut size waist.  I was able to grade the pattern so that the Zesty Pickles Tee fit him really nicely.  It has a loose fit, but it isn't as loose as most shirts he buys ready to wear, nor is it as short; he's 5'1...

{Please note that some of these links are affiliate links.  If you purchase something I have recommended, sewn etc. through those links I will receive a small percentage of compensation.  It helps me support my sewing "therapy" and the ability to review and test more patterns.} Sewing for teen boys is really hit or miss.   I always thought it would be my girls who would be the hard ones to sew for.  They have always been the pickier ones as far as clothing options are concerned. Then my oldest son hit his teen years.  And he discovered girls which lead to the discovery of mirrors and a sudden desire to look dashing and debonair.  The days of clothing him in bowties on Sunday morning quickly flew out the window.  While I appreciate his new found love for styling his hair and smelling good, I'm a tad sad I can't clothe him in cuter boy clothes anymore. It's difficult to find good patterns for older boys who aren't quite big enough to ...

{Please note that some of these links are affiliate links.  If you purchase something I have recommended, sewn etc. through those links I will receive a small percentage of compensation.  It helps me support my sewing "therapy" and the ability to review and test more patterns.} I wear skirts and dresses a lot, mostly because it's hard to hide the parts of my body that I dislike the most with pants.   The Knotty Pants have helped me step out of my firmly planted comfort zone. When I signed up for this test I didn't know what the pants entailed.  I just knew they were pants.  Thankfully I trust Halla designs though and knew they would be fantastic! I wasn't disappointed whatsoever.  In fact I'm so enamored with them that I've made FOUR pairs! For a girl that loves dresses, that's a lot of pants! These pants are stretch denim from Zenith and Quasar.  I sized up in these because the stretch wasn't quite enough for my nor...

{Please note that some of these links are affiliate links.  If you purchase something I have recommended, sewn etc. through those links I will receive a small percentage of compensation.  It helps me support my sewing "therapy" and the ability to review and test more patterns.}   This last fall I had the opportunity to do a pretest  for the Perfect Play Henley.  Just the pretest version has become my younger three kids favorite shirt.  *NOTE*: this is the pretest version.   They love that they can "match" and yet not look identical at the same time.  I love that I can add some extra details and make it "girly" for my very girly daughter and "cool" for the high schooler who typically wouldn't be caught dead in mom-made clothes.  He actually wears this top regularly.  When he first wore it to school he kept getting asked what store he got it at because it was so "cool"!  I *may* have been a tad bit tickled that he was ...

We live in Washington State. When most people think of Washington State, they think rainy and chilly. That's not the reality we live in though, we're on the other side of the state.   You know, where sunny, dry weather is the standard. While my kids have winter coats because we do get good gusts of wind through here that makes it cold, we just don't get the terribly cold weather.  In fact, I don't own a winter coat.  So, I (and most of my household) prefers to wear sweatshirts and hoodies during the winter rather than their coats.   They provide just enough warmth to keep me/us from being cold when I'm outside. So, I almost feel like an expert on judging hoodies/jackets.   Don't get me wrong though.   I'm only semi-pro, and that's because I've sewn 8 of them in the past three to four weeks! The Go To Jacket s by Patterns for Pirates fits the bill of being comfortable, warm enough to keep us from getting a chill...