Hey! Catherine here for my first post! I’m here to show you how you can easily mash 2 of my favorite romper patterns, the Vacation Romper and Hip Hop Romper, to get a whole new look.

 

 
I loved the bottom of the Hip Hop Romper, but knew my 2 year old would be untying that halter all day! I looked at the Vacation Romper and thought the binding was a great solution for us. These two patterns came together perfectly giving me the functional and trendy look I was aiming for.

To start, I printed and assembled the whole front piece and the arm and neck binding pieces of the Hip Hop Romper and the top of the Vacation Romper in the size I needed.

I laid the top of the Vacation Romper over the Hip Hop Romper, matching up the center seam and bottom of the neckline and drew a line across the Hip Hop Romper marking where I would cut off the top of the Hip Hop piece, removed it, then taped the top of the Vacation Romper in its place.

 
From there I cut 2 identical pieces out of my fabric as well as arm and neck binding pieces from the Vacation Romper and 2 elastic leg band pieces according to the measurements in the Hip Hop Romper pattern. I followed the tutorial from the Hip Hop Romper to sew the side seams, inseam and leg elastics and then the Vacation Romper tutorial for attaching the neck and underarm binding. 

Voila! It’s done! I can’t wait to see your mash ups, don’t forget to post in the Ellie and Mac Facebook Group!

We all have an activity or a hobby we enjoy doing, whether to relax or just have fun, or maybe improve ourselves. Unfortunately, we all have responsibilities and duties as well, and more often than not, they tend to come in the way and prevent us from doing the stuff we love.

Finding more time for these hobbies of ours is a difficult task indeed. And when the mentioned hobby is sewing, a craft which requires a fair amount of time from anyone practicing it, that task is even more difficult.

If only there was a way, a method, a trick that will help us find enough time for sewing. Well actually, that kind of thing exists. More than one in fact. And we're here to show them to you, right now. So, let's not waste any more time and start listing them one by one.

Tip #1: Keep everything prepared and ready to sew

Sometimes, you have about half an hour of free time and you wish you could use that time for sewing, but the machine set up and fabric preparation on its own would take you longer than that, so you just give up and surf the internet instead, even though you really wanted to sew. 

If you want to avoid this and be able to have short but productive sewing sessions during the day, you should have everything ready and on standby at all times. The change that will make the biggest difference, according to Hellosewing, is to claim a spot for your sewing machine so you can use the little chunks of free time during the day.

Just find yourself a corner in one room, set your machine up there, prepare your sewing patterns and designs, and leave it be. When you find a couple of minutes of free time, get in there and sew. When the time's up, don't pack things up, just wait for the next window to appear.

Tip #2: Organize your time

If you do your chores in random order, you're most likely wasting a lot of time on mundane things like walking from one place to the other, deciding what to do first, or just forgetting something and remembering it when it's almost too late, forcing you to work at max speed in order to catch up.

But if you create a schedule for each day and stick to it, you'll be able to find yourself some free time more easily. Organize your tasks in a way that allows you to complete everything in one area before moving on to the other area. This will eliminate all unnecessary walking and save up some time.


Tip #3: Break projects down in bite-sized chunks

Splitting your sewing project into smaller pieces will allow you to work in an inductive or a deductive manner. In other words, you'll be able to split your tasks into two main groups, one consisting of very simple and quick to finish tasks, and the other consisting of more complex and time-consuming ones.

You can then choose to first complete the easier work first and be done with it quickly, or deal with the more demanding job first and then wrap things up with the simple things that remained. Obviously, since we're talking about sewing here, you can't exactly do things in any order, but you can still organize them so that they can help you save some time.

Tip #4: Have your friend help you out

Two pairs of heads and two pairs of hands complete tasks twice as fast, that much is clear as day. If you know in advance that you'll have a free afternoon or an entire day, ask your friend who also sews if they want to help you with your project. They can bring their sewing machine over and then you'll be finished in no time. Explain your ideas to them and then split the work between yourselves so that each does the tasks they're most skilled at. This will guarantee high efficiency and fast progress.

If they say yes, don't forget to return the favor afterwards and lend them a hand with a project of their own when they ask you for your help.

Tip #5: Focus and avoid distractions

Annoying telephone marketing, surveys, television, snacks, internet surfing and similar all waste your free time considerably. Try to avoid them if possible so that you can dedicate more time to sewing, or your chores that keep you away from sewing and have to be dealt with first and foremost.

Wearing headphones and listening to music can be very helpful when you don't want to be interrupted so do try that out.

Now you know that it's possible for you to find yourself some free time for sewing. But what's more important, is the fact that you know how to do just that. From here on out you won't have to wait for days or weeks until you can finally start sewing.

Hello my friends!

I am so excited to share with you today five quick projects to spruce up your sewing space using Ellie and Mac cut files, all created using my Cricut Maker. 

These are brief tutorials, but please let us know (by commenting on this post or in our facebook group) if you have questions or would like more in depth tutorials! Now - for the projects!

Hi everybody! It’s Heather Fletcher from @Fletchersewing. I’m going to show you how easy it is to add inseam pockets to the Be Active shorts pattern. 

First, find a pocket pattern piece that you like. I’m using this one from the women’s Zip It Hoodie pattern. Make sure that the wearer’s hand will fit into the pocket nicely. If you don’t have a pocket pattern piece, you can draft your own by drawing around the wearer’s hand and leaving a little bit of room and a flat edge to attach the pocket to the side of the shorts. Don’t forget to add 1/4” seam allowance if you are making your own.