The “Favorite Things” Blog Tour has started over at Raspberry Creek Fabrics, and I am thrilled to be a part of it this year! This year, the Blog Tour accompanies a big, fun announcement from RCF! Historically, they run a selection of super fun CLUB Prints for a limited time, and those prints go into retirement when next year’s line is released. I didn’t discover Raspberry Creek Fabrics early enough to get in on some of my favorite prints that I’ve seen others use, so this has always been such a bummer to me. Along with the Blog Tour, though, they’ve announced that their previous CLUB lines will soon be available to purchase, no matter when the release date. You can read all about that HERE! They’ve also announced a number of new substrates to be included as options for those lines to be printed on! I was SO excited to hear this, and quickly dove down a deep hole of old CLUB lines trying to decide what print I wanted to work with, now that I had access to them all! It was a HARD choice to decide which to work with first!
Coffee is often a contender for the number one love of my life, only being knocked out of place from time to time by my husband and my daughter when they are on their best behavior! These cute cozy coffee cups from the Christmas 2019 CLUB line had always been a favorite of mine, but I’d missed out on them before they retired. I was so excited to have the chance to sew with this fun print! I chose to have it printed on the new organic cotton spandex jersey, and I’ve been so impressed with this fabric. Unlike the usual cotton jersey, the fabric itself is a natural beige color rather than stark white. I found it to be softer than the standard cotton jersey, and I really love the natural color!
Admittedly, the featured colors in this fabric are a little Christmassy – it was part of the Christmas line, after all. Christmas season is one of my favorite times of the year (which makes this fabric even more perfect for the Favorite Things Blog Tour)! Everyone you pass seems jolly, we spend a little more time focusing on the people we love, and everything from the street lights to store fronts gets dressed up to celebrate! I decided to lean full into the holiday spirit this fabric was giving me, and get a head start on some matching gear for us to wear in December. It may have been 90F outside when we took these photos, but we’re going for full Christmas in July!!
I really wanted to focus on the theme of Favorites, so I pulled out some of my most loved and trusted kids patterns to begin with. I don’t know how many times now I have sewn these two patterns, but they are simple sews which really show off fun prints and have served my little girl and I so well so far! I thought ahead, and made matching outfits not just for my daughter and myself, but also for my baby boy who is due next month and will be here to match with us in plenty of time for Christmas! For him, I sewed the B+T Big Butt Pants – this pattern is so cute, and features plenty of room for a big old diaper booty, whether you use cloth or disposable! They also fit for so long – I remember making my little girl some in the 3-6 month size that she was able to wear until almost a year! My boy will be 4 months at Christmas time, so I sewed up a size 3-6 months for him to wear!
If you’ve been following me for any amount of time, you’ve probably seen this next pattern here before! The B+T Lounge Sweatshirt is an absolute favorite of mine for my daughter. It is cute, slouchy, and oversized in a way that suits her so well. We love it in the autumn and spring paired with little bummies, and in the cooler months it looks perfect with a pair of leggings. She is currently wearing a size 3T and thinking about moving into a 4T in RTW, but I find that B+T runs a little large. She has 3 or 4 versions of this sweatshirt in the 2-3T size that still fit with plenty of room, so I stuck with that size for this one and I anticipate it will still fit her well come Christmas!
For myself, I tried a new pattern from a favorite pattern company – the Fibre Mood Alice Pullover! This will admittedly fit a little bit better after the baby bump is gone, but in the meantime it is still comfy to pull on over leggings and just tuck up above the belly! I love that this pattern is essentially reversible – it has the higher, almost boatneck neckline on one side, and the V-shape along the other. I can’t decide which I like more! (You can see me turning it around below, so that we could get pictures of both versions. My girl thought this was hilarious!) I sewed a size Medium for myself in this pattern, based on current measurements and the knowledge that I may have a waist of some sort again come Christmas time!
Last on the list of favorite things – I used my handy Fiskars Rotary Cutter to cut out all of the patterns you see here! For the first couple of years that I was learning to sew, I traced all of my patterns, pinned the patterns to the fabric, and cut meticulously with my fabric scissors. You can only imagine that when I discovered the rotary cutter, it was a GAME CHANGER. My process now takes less time and does not require me to be quite so precious with the set-up. I have a giant cutting board that I lay out on the floor of my sewing room, and I can throw my pattern down on top of my fabric, strategically place a pattern weight or two, and get going! While this tool is a regular in my sewing line-up these days, I’m always reminded how much time it saves and how much easier it makes my prep process!
Raspberry Creek Fabrics is hosting a fun week full of giveaways of the promo team’s favorite items – including the Fiskars Rotary Cutter! – over in their Facebook Group! Be sure to head that way and follow along! You can also catch the rest of the promo team in their blog tour stops throughout the week by clicking on theany of the links below:
Day One: 7/5/21 Made By Kates, Kainara Stitches, I Sew Best After Midnight
Day Two: 7/6/21 Sew Mary Mac, Tessa Does for Love Notions, Sew Love You
Day Three: 7/7/21 All My Spare Time, Pins and Pinot, Crafty Professor
Day Four: 7/8/21 Sew Hard of Hearing, Replicate then Deviate, Sew Sophie Lynn
Day Five: 7/9/21 Genwin Design Co., Shwin Designs, That’s Sew Kari
I had so much fun choosing a favorite print and making some of my favorite patterns for this post! We are way ahead on our matching Christmas gear this year, and I’ve got just enough left over to make my husband a tee in time for the holidays, as well! I hope you’ve enjoyed the post, and are ready to sew up some new favorites of your own now!
Tiny Pants: handmade by me
Pattern: Brindille & Twig – Big Butt Pants
Fabric: Raspberry Creek Fabrics – Cozy Christmas Coffee Cups (Organic Cotton Jersey Spandex)
Tiny Sweatshirt: handmade by me
Pattern: Brindille & Twig – Lounge Sweatshirt
Fabric: Raspberry Creek Fabrics – Cozy Christmas Coffee Cups (Organic Cotton Jersey Spandex)
Sweatshirt: handmade by me
Pattern: Fibre Mood – Alice Pullover
Fabric: Raspberry Creek Fabrics – Cozy Christmas Coffee Cups (Organic Cotton Jersey Spandex)
Thanks for reading my thoughts on this make! The fabric used for this post was generously provided to me by the team at Raspberry Creek Fabrics in exchange for my participation in the Favorite Things Blog Toud; each of the three patterns I used in this post were purchased / downloaded by me! The words and opinions expressed throughout this post are my own, as always. Links provided throughout this post may be affiliate links – if you choose to purchase any products through these links, I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you. This simply helps me justify the costs of my sewing habit and the time it takes to share it with you!!
- XX Elizabeth
