A Summer of Sewing with Minerva

 First can we acknowledge that summer just flew by?  It feels like only a few days ago I was shutting the lights off in the library on the last day of June and here we are, three weeks into August already.  I have one week left of summer before I head back into the school for what I truly hope will be a better year than last year.  

Instead of dwelling on that though, I thought I'd focus on happier things.  Like sewing.  I've done loads of sewing for summer this year!  (My sewing room shows it too.  OOOH boy!  It's a complete disaster zone down there.  I really, really have to clean it up one of these days.  But I digress!  Back to happy thoughts!  ha ha!)

As I've mentioned before in previous posts, I am part of the Minerva Brand Ambassador Team.  I have been a customer of theirs for a long time.  With their selection and customer service they are definitely a go to for me so I'm honoured to be part of their ambassador team and so very grateful for the fabric they send me to work with.  Over my time being an ambassador for them I've had the opportunity to use some absolutely beautiful fabrics and these last few months have been no exception.  So I thought I'd do a quick run down of my summer of sewing with fabric provided by Minerva!  (By the way, I have more in depth individual posts complete with links to the fabrics on each project over on the Minerva site under my profile that you can find by clicking here)

So let's get down to it shall we?  First up, from back in May, was my Sonia Estep Designs Mandy dress.  This was my second time using a SED pattern - the first was the Danielle Cardi which I made for my daughter for Christmas then made three more of for myself during the winter.  I was a little nervous making a more fitted garment from a pretty new to me designer, but forged ahead knowing a knit would be pretty forgiving.  Minerva provided a beautiful Art Gallery jersey print for this project and it was both amazing to sew with and to wear.  It's so soft and luxurious and I love how the only pop of colour is the pixelated butterflies on the pale lilac background!

My next project a few weeks later was a Sew Over It Sylvia Robe in a beautiful, crisp floral cotton lawn.  I liked that there was lots of colours I could pull from to pair with tops.  (In this photo I've paired it with a viscose Ashton Top - fabric is also from Minerva that I bought during a sale and of course my well worn Lander Shorts)

For my next project I used a stretch viscose in a floral linen look print.  I have worn this dress over and over since I snipped the final threads from my sewing machine.  I love absolutely everything about it.  For this one, I used the Helen's Closet Ashton top and added some gathered tiers and waist ties.  It's cool and swishy for the hottest of days and I literally live in it.  

Since one can simply not have enough "throw on and go" t-shirt dresses (or at least I think you can't anyway) my next project was from a favourite tried and true pattern.  This is the Sew Over It Heather dress of course and I believe this makes my fifth version of it.  Let me see... I have a quilted one that was my first, a t-shirt one I did, then my third one was a ponte one - you can see that one under my Minerva profile if you scroll back a ways - oh, and yes.  There was one in between that I still need to fix pockets on and hem that I wasn't sure I liked the fabric on so I abandoned it... I should dig that one out and finish it for winter!  And then yes.  Number five is this one!  I love it's sweet dragonfly and floral print!

Ooooh!  I really like this next project, although I haven't actually really worn it yet.  I'm planning on getting oodles of use out of it when I head back to work thought.  It's in a great border print chambray.  I'd never worked with a border print before so was a bit hesitant, but I love how it turned out!  I can't wait to wear this Itch to Stitch Recoleta Dress* in a touch cooler weather!

This next project was made using a new to me fabric and new to me pattern designer.  The fabric is an Art Gallery poplin and the pattern is the Paddington Top from the Peppermint Magazine, designed by French Navy Patterns.  I've never used a Peppermint Magazine free pattern before.  I know they're very popular - you can't swing a cat on social media without bumping into a photo of the wildly popular wide strap maxi dress they have, but I had never got around to trying one of their patterns out.  I was so impressed with the pattern and instructions for this top and the fabric, being Art Gallery, is absolutely top notch!  

My last project of my sewing for summer with Minerva is one that I have been wanting to make since last summer's Instagram "Caftans and Cocktails" challenge that I never got around to partaking in.  Partly because I couldn't find Charlie Caftan worthy fabric and partly because I was too intimidated by the centre front panel from reading too many blog posts that told me how terribly hard it was to do. (For anyone out there feeling overwhelmed and intimidated here's my take on it now that I've made the pattern. Don't let it put you off.  Mine may not be 100% perfect, but I'm here to reassure you that it's not as awful as everyone makes it out to be.  My only words of advice are to take it slowly, mark your sewing lines clearly and I found using pins to be helpful.  You can do it!!)  This bright orangey coral tropical rayon challis pretty much screams "swan about it a caftan" doesn't it?  I liked how it turned out so much I've got another one in the works as a very last minute summer sew - providing I get around to it that is! LOL)

So that's been my summer sewing with Minerva!  I'll be back soon (well, I'll try anyways - I always have the best of intentions to get my blog posts done and then I seem to not have enough hours in my day for all the things I want to get done).  I've got some more summer sewing I'm hoping to show you though before we're fully back in the swing of all things fall.   

The Reynolds Top

Here we are the middle of summer and it's finally a rainy day - we've had such a hot dry summer here in the prairies, so it's very welcome.  It also means that I have some time to sit down and write a blog post that I had actually intended to write at the beginning of July instead of August.  However, since I've left it so long, I now have another project to add in here. Procrastination at it's finest.  Ha ha!

One month ago today, I turned 50 years old.  Leading up to my birthday, I decided that a 50th birthday was an occasion that definitely was deserving of a special new dress, even if my plans for my birthday included nothing more than sticking around home for the day other than a short hike at our favourite spot to take our dog Jasper for an off leash walk.  

When Helen's Closet released the Reynolds Dress and Top pattern I snapped it up the minute it was released, printed it off and assembled the PDF the same day.  I had my fabric cut out by the next day. And my dress was sewn and hanging up waiting well in advance of my birthday.  It took quite a lot of restraint to not wear it before hand, but what is the point of a special birthday dress if you're not going to wait until your birthday to wear it?

I love this pattern so much!!  It's quick and easy to sew which is my favourite thing these days!  It's a simple design so it lets your fabric really shine as the star of the show.  As with all of the Helen's Closet patterns the instructions are well thought out and include all sorts of helpful tips throughout.  The attention to small details is there as well with mitred corners on the side slits of the dress and the option of doing flat felled seams.  I sewed up a straight size 18 D with absolutely no changes to the pattern at all.

I knew exactly what fabric I was going to use on it too, without any hesitation.  In fact, I had my fabric picked out of my stash from the minute Helen had said on the patreon podcast that she would be releasing it soon. I had my eye on this large scale floral linen at Fabricland for over a year!  When it came out, I fell in love with it, but it was just too expensive to justify buying.  Every time I saw it in the store I was tempted to buy it, but even when it was discounted it still wasn't justifiable.  Then earlier this spring I was wandering through the clearance section of the store just having a browse about and suddenly I spied the bolt of fabric marked down to 70%!  Hello!  That's a completely justifiable purchase in my books!  I couldn't believe my luck.  I bought it and tucked it away in my stash waiting for the perfect pattern to come along. 

I was thrilled with how my dress turned out!  The Reynolds is great to showcase the large scale print, and it's so comfortable to wear.   I wore it, as planned, all day.  I even swanned about Tourond Creek in my hikers and dress when we took Jasper for his walk that day.  It was quite a look, I'm sure.  Ha ha!

I kept thinking that a Reynolds Top would be a great addition to my wardrobe too.  I have a couple pairs of cropped Itch to Stitch Samara Pants* that I made a few summers ago.  One pair I pair with a modified Crystal Cove Cami as a faux jumpsuit, but the other pair I really have nothing to go with so they continually just sit in on the hanger unworn.  I had bought some linen last summer with the intention of making a Ashton top out of it, but never got around to it, and thought that it might work out nicely as a Reynolds, so I sewed it up on Monday morning in about an hour and a half.  (Had I not had to change serger thread, ran out of bobbin thread and broken a needle it would have been even quicker).  

The only difference from the pattern was that I lengthened it because I'm not one for wearing cropped tops at all.  Otherwise, like the dress, I made no modifications.  I'm really happy with how it turned out too.  Don't mind the wrinkles.  I ironed it, then sat down for a bit in it before taking the photos and well, it's linen.  You've just got to embrace the fact it wrinkles if you so much as look at it.  

While I'd made my top originally thinking solely of having something to wear with my purple and blue Samaras, I was pretty excited to realize that it would go with my other pair as well.  It's nice to have a different look for them than just my faux jumpsuit one! Win! Win!

Now I'm wondering how many Reynolds are too many Reynolds?  I have some more fabric that would be perfectly suited to a top and I've got some cotton that I'm thinking might be cute in a shorter version of the dress... decisions, decisions...