EYMM Back to school (time to sew) Blog tour.

I am so fortunate to participate in the EYMM Back to School Tour: Mom’s Edition, and it isn’t what you think. This tour isn’t about what we’ve all made our little darlings for back to school, it’s about what we get to make for us now that they are back in school and we have some time to sew again.  I love all the EYMM (Everything Your Mama Made and More) patterns but I wanted to step away from the norm and try something different and super fun. So I chose the Calla Lily, wrap front high low skirt. It looks so nice in the listing pictures, well you know what… it looks even better in person 🙂

I love skirts, flowy, romantic, whimsical skirts.  Somewhere deep down, I have repressed my inner princess for far too long.  It has manifested in an addiction to Steampunk fashion. One of the things I love about this skirt is that it is so versatile. I can wear it with my chunky boots, a trench coat with a holster, a lacy petticoat, a funky hat and voila I’m ready for Comicon. If I pair it with fun suede ballerina flats and a warm fall sweater I can fit in with every other mom at school drop off.  With the right heels and top it can also make a dressy party outfit.

I have been holding on to this fabric for just the right project for a very long time, like 4 or more years long. It looks like suede, but it is buttery soft and light weight so it breaths and flows nicely. Every serious sewist has that one fabric that, although they love it to death, they never cut. We all have our reasons, but mostly it’s never the right pattern for the vision we had for that fabric when we bought it. This pattern wasn’t even in my online shopping cart yet and I could hear the suede calling me from the sewing room. All the while I was cutting and pinning, I could see the finished garment, that happens very rarely, well for me at least. I didn’t even need to sew it together to see what it looked like. I wrapped it around myself and secured it with clover clips, and poof! gorgeous, flowy skirt.  We were an hour from home and as I looked in the mirror at my half finished skirt, I could hear other fabric calling from the sewing room at home. I knew exactly what I was going to use for an encore.

This pattern is just amazing, from print to finished it took me less than a day, and that’s with kid and husband interruptions, as well as having to stop to cook and clean up. It is easy to follow and doesn’t make you want to tear your hair out. I have had patterns that I have had to set aside because they were simple to read but not to execute. The only issue I ran into with this one was that my fabric wasn’t wide enough for the pattern piece. The solution came from the most unlikely source. My dad was sitting in his chair as I was lining it up on the floor and he said, “can’t you fold the fabric the other way and line it up?” My answer, because he’s never sewn anything and I am SO smart, “No Dad, the stretch only goes one way, it’s always better to have the stretch going around instead of up and down”  he shrugged and went back to his paper. An hour later, I am still trying to decide how to readjust the pattern without compromising the length, and then I see it, in big letters no less, “Direction of stretch does not matter for this particular pattern” Wait, what??? Really?  So I hung my head in shame and apologized to dad for thinking I knew it all. He laughed at me and asked what did he know? He just knew that if it had been plywood, he would have had to turn the pattern the other way, plain and simple.  Go figure. Once we got home, the weekend wasn’t quite over so I spent Labour Day Monday finishing my 2 new skirts, yes 2, because in the end I couldn’t just make one 🙂 And there are other fabrics begging to be this skirt, in different lengths, and with a different drape. I can’t wait for it to be autumn here so I can actually wear these with tights and boots 🙂

As I proof read this post, all I can think is how good the pictures came out, considering I was on my own to take them, and I only had the timer function on my camera. Let me tell you, 10 seconds isn’t very long to get from the button to the wall AND pose. This was harder than I thought because I was trying to get fun fall shots, in 35 degree Celsius heat, with really high humidity. I am amazed that I don’t look like I’m melting. For these few pictures that worked, there were twice as many that didn’t work. Like this one, oops.

I wore the grey skirt to pick up the kids the day I made it, and received 2 requests for it before I even got back to my car. It’s a great skirt, a great pattern and a great sew.  If you are looking for something fast and fun for fall, this is it.

There are many other bloggers who took part in this tour, please feel free to follow the links below and check out what amazing things they have made up.

Don’t miss any of the posts on EYMM’s Back to School Tour: Mom’s Edition! (Note: the links below will not work until their scheduled day, but feel free to click through and check out the rest of their blogs anytime!)

September 7
Sewing by Ti and Sprouting JubeJube and Call Ajaire

September 8
Inspinration and Idlesunshine

September 9
Boutique Birdie and Needles to Say

September 10
Capture, Craft, and Cook and Kelly’s Sewing Creations and Lulu & Celeste

September 11
Adventures with Bubba and Bug and Pretty & Precious and MeMade

September 12
Five Blessings and House of Estrela and Rebel & Malice

September 13
Recap at EYMM

The kids are back in school and parents and caregivers everywhere are excited to catch up after summer break! Use coupon code PARENTSROCK to save 50% off any adult-size patterns for men and women now through 11:59pm PST Tuesday 9/13/2016. This offer may NOT be combined with other offers including bundles.

I wish you all a colourful (not too chilly) autumn, filled with sewing, baking, crafting and, if it’s your thing, Pumpkin Spice everything.

Thanks for checking out my stop on the tour.