Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Welcome to the Twig + Tale Blog Tour

Welcome to the Twig + Tale Blog Tour! Where Imagination Runs Wild!



Hello! Welcome to my stop on the Welcome to the Twig + Tale Blog Tour!
When I was approached and asked if I was interested in being a part of this amazing blog tour I jumped at the chance!  Formerly known as Big Little, Twig + Tale is a favorite pattern design company of mine!  Everything about Twig + Tale's aesthetic speaks to my soul!

Twig + Tale is a place where imagination runs wild and is for everyone who shares a love of creativity and an adventurous spirit - beginner sewers especially!  It's a celebration of the innocence of childhood and the wonder of nature.  It's about comfy clothes and warm things like hugs and capes and coats.  It's about handmade, love, and imaginary play - featuring classic, simple patterns that inspire us all to tell a story.

When I found out that Art Gallery was sponsoring the tour I literally jumped for joy!  Art Gallery has the very best fabrics on the market bar none! With the cutest prints and the luxurious feel of their 100% Premium Cotton, you really can "Feel The Difference"! Thank you Art Gallery for the amazing fabric!


I love making beautiful, fancy dresses and outfits but I also really love making items that my children can just be messy, silly, natural kids in! I find it inspiring that Twig + Tale puts an emphasis on upcycling and developing items that are fun and kid friendly while keeping classic lines and shapes!


For this tour I decided to make some of my favorite items and include both of my children!  Imaginary play is such a huge part of childhood so I thought back on my favorite fairy tales, folk tales, and fables and the story of Little Red Riding Hood jumped out at me!  Not only are Twig + Tale's patterns perfect for my children to recreate the story in our own style, but my son is currently obsessed with the big bad wolf!


For my daughter, I made the aptly named Little Red Riding Hood Cape by Twig + Tale.  I used a vibrant red wool (that I got for basically nothing when a certain fabric chain store went out of business) and lined it with Art Gallery's Capped Biome mushroom print from their Forest Floor collection.  Isn't that a perfect combination for a fun, natural, earthy little red?


To continue my Little Red's outfit I made the Pixie Shorts out of a wonderful goldenrod corduroy that picks up the golden brown tones from the Capped Biome print.  These shorts are so precious.  Paired with tights like I did here, it is perfect for fall!









The shirt is made from Art Gallery's Specktacular in Gold from The Essentials 11 collection, designed by Pat Bravo.  The gold specks were the perfect compliment to the goldenrod corduroy and the Capped Biome print!






My daughter was most excited to have me make her a doll for her to play with! This was my first attempt at the adorable Briar Doll and at hand embroidery!  Making dolls can be tricky and I found the instructions to be very helpful! I think it turned out cute even though there are mistakes.  The most important thing is that my daughter loves her!  Isn't she sweet? I used an Art Gallery cream solid and had enough of my Art Gallery fabric prints to use for her little shorts and the lining of her wrap top.  My daughter loves that she matches!



I posted earlier that my son is obsessed with The Big Bad Wolf.  I am not kidding!  To him, the wolf from all of the fairy tales/folk tales is the same!  While he mainly plays being The Big Bad Wolf from The Three Little Pigs story, huffing and puffing and blowing things down, he also loves chasing his sister as Little Red to blow her down and eat her!  By eat I mean give kisses!  Oh how the sweet mind of a three year old works!



I searched high and low to find the perfect fur for my sweet boy for this Wild Thing's Hooded Scarf and finally found it at a local store!  It's so soft and the variations give it that gorgeous arctic wolf vibe!  This was my first foray sewing with fake fur and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to manage!  I increased my seam allowance to 1/2" to make it easier for me as it was very thick and I think it turned out fabulous!  The tricky part is figuring out how to brush the pile so that the long fur strands don't all get caught in the seam! To fix a good majority when this happened to me, I just pulled the fur out of the seam with my handy little seam ripper!  It worked like a charm and was super easy and fast to get the look I wanted!  Another tip is to NOT pink or trim the seam at the very bottom of the tail! If you do, when you pull the fur out instead of having nice long, natural fur looking ends it will look like you cut the bottom of the tail off! 


My sweet fickle boy isn't showing it here but he loves the scarf so much he would sleep with it on if I let him!

I found this Menagerie in Onyx print from Art Gallery's Indian Summer collection to be the perfect choice for my lining! The sweet woodland creature's faces are such a fun addition! I imagine it to be all of the wolf's friends from the forest! I loved it so much I decided to use it not only for lining my really amazing wolf Wild Thing Hooded Scarf, but also the Pathfinder Vest!  Check out that lining placement of the fox in the center back of the vest!  That was a happy accident! 


Twig + Tale and Art Gallery are a match made in heaven!  With mindful, classic patterns and superior quality fabrics, the results will always be something to be cherished!






Click Here to Download Free Wild Things Dragon Add-on Link to the first blog tour annoucenment page: http://www.twigandtale.com/blogs/twig-and-tale-blog/blog-tour-announcement
What would a Blog Tour be without a giveaway!
Art Gallery Fabrics is kindly sponsoring 2 yards of Art Gallery fabric of your choice. To make the prize extra sweet, we are also adding a collection of 5 Twig + Tale patterns of your choice.
International entries are very welcome. Our bloggers come from every corner of the world to celebrate the global nature of Twig +Tale too.
Enter using the rafflecopter below.
(The winning entry will be checked to ensure all criteria are met).
a Rafflecopter giveaway