Prefontaine Shorts for Women are here!

Today's the day! Prefontaine Shorts for Women by Made with Moxie are finally released to the world. I'm totally psyched but going to keep this short and sweet since I'm writing the in the middle of the night while we work to take down the Parcel #3 sale. It's been a long, but awesome two weeks. Thank you to everyone who bought Parcel #3. Thank you.


An extra special thanks to Abby of Sew Charleston for the cover shot.
The Prefontaine Shorts for Women run sizes 0 through 24. A 33" wide hip up to a 55" wide hip. Where is your wide hip? It's your hip measurement around the widest part (you know, with your butt.) They only use 1 to 1.25 yards of fabric and can be made with light to mid weight wovens and knits. Quilting cottons, stretch twill, jersey knits, performance knits, heck, terry cloth, velour, velvet, silks....you've got a lot of options here. Just skip the burlap, okay?


Contigo by Alexander Henry quilt weight with the shortest inseam
I made this pattern with many design and fit options for you. Back patch pockets, pack welt pockets, front pockets or none, encased waistband, exposed elastic waistband, two different inseams (but really unlimited ones you'd prefer.) This pattern tells you the finished garment width so you get to decide how your shorts are going to fit. Stick with the suggested size for a just right fit. Go up one for flowy, roomy shorts. Go down a size and use a stretch for form flattering shorts. It's all your call.


Neon stretch twill from Joanns with the longest inseam
What's that? You hate shorts? You don't wear shorts? ME, TOO! Shorts are the bane of my existence. If there is something I hate more than wearing shorts it's shopping for shorts. That's why I made this pattern. Not convinced? Check out the variety of shorts made by the talented bloggers on the Parcel #3 Inspiration Tour. There is something for everyone.


Give them a whirl. It's going to get hot this summer. Really freaking hot. Make yourself some shorts to love.

Poppy Tunic

I've been told I was born in the wrong decade. I absolutely adore vintage clothing and household items. When my Nana Jane passed away and all the objects of value had been taken or auctioned my siblings and I were allowed to go into her home and take what we'd like as a momento. As I wandered her bedroom I encountered drawers of dress scarves with bold patterns. Jewelry boxes filled with bakelite bangles in every color imaginable. Perfectly stacked boxes of beaded evening handbags.

"I'm going to need some trash bags" I told my father.


This is one of the magazines I found in her house that day, along with many others including Esquire's Party Book and a first edition Betty Crocker Cookbook which is my most treasured vintage cookbook (and I use it all the time). I love early American sports wear. I love that there was no fear of wearing bright colors and huge bold patterns. It makes my heart sing.


Naturally, when I saw this fabric at Joanns it had to come home with me. My Nana had a set of dishes with poppies on them in these very colors that I was very fond of as a child and it turns out had an even better story to go with them. Sadly, I neglected to take them after she passed. Never the less, this Alexander Henry Keely fabric was not neglected.


Seemed like an appropriate fabric for my Poppy Tunic. Despite most everyone else making their Poppy Tunics in a solid with a patterned panel, I went big. Pattern on pattern on pattern. The panel is (I believe) a Denise Schmidt piece I had and the striped bias tape a gift as part of a trade I did with Ms. Cassie. (I forget what I swapped you for, Cass. Do I owe you something? heh, heh...) As you can see, I'm quite in love with my Poppy Tunic. Dress, beach cover up, house dress, jeans tunic. This one will be worn to shreads for certain.

I decided to add an elastic gather under the bust to accentuate my hourglass shape. Also of note, I measured a size XL in this pattern, but cut out the XXL. I made the Waterfall Blouse pattern by Make It Perfect last week and used the XL but it turned out too snug in my upperbust/underarm. No worries. My mother has a fabulous Waterfall Blouse now in block printed Indian fabric. Luckily I had enough to make a second in an XXL for myself. Fast forward to my cutting out the Poppy Tunic and I went XXL again and I think next time I will make the XL. Long story short: the Poppy is roomier than the Waterfall. However, I do love the pattern. Both of them, really.


My ever faithful assistant begged me to take her picture too. It delights her to make faces and tell me when she's ready for me to take her picture. Which is what she thinks I'm doing when she takes my pictures. Okay, that does pretty much sum it up.


The Poppy Tunic is part of Parcel #3 and while you can always buy it through Make It Perfect, buying the Parcel gets you four, if not five more patterns and lets you support children's education too. It's feel good pattern buying and I'm your enabler. Treat yo'self!

Jorna Tank

I've only got four more weeks of my summer left. I start school up again July 8. Only this is the real deal. Fulltime. Yikes! There goes my daylight sewing hours. Needless to say, I've been trying to take as much advantage of what I have left. Imagine my surprise when I found that despite running the Pattern Parcel #3 sale mostly myself (Danny does all the IT work) I have had time to sew not one, but two of the patterns in the Parcel! This is a first, folks. Not only have I finished and photographed two of them, but I've got a Bombshell on my cutting table. Wait, no! I've sewn three. I totally forgot my own pattern. D'oh.
This is the Jorna Tank Dress. Pretty short dress, huh? The pattern comes with a tank option with a flared, almost peplum hem option. I honestly would have made the dress, but I did not have enough fabric. So I modified the pattern to be a hip length straight tank to use as fabric possible. Elastic cord stitched into a six inch casing I made by stitching down the seam allowances added a little ruching detail.

I'm in love with how my Jorna Tank feels on. And I normally and not very happy with knit garments I sew, so this is a major win. The facings in this pattern add great stability. This pattern goes together quickly and easily. Don't you just love patterns that go together without a struggle or cursing AND fit so well? Thank you, Jenna Brand!


I'm super excited about wearing my Jorna Tank too because I get to show off my gun show! Danny and I are in a little family competition to see who can lose 15% of their weight first. While I'm not out to change who I am, we can all stand to be more healthy. We've been working out every day. Yes. Every. Single. Day. We bike and elliptical and I've been lifting and rowing on the BowFlex. Hence, my new biceps and triceps. I'm already down nine pounds!

At this rate, I'm going to need more Jorna Tanks!

Don't miss Parcel #3

There are only four days left to get a copy of Pattern Parcel #3, dear readers. It's quite a nice collection, if I may say so myself, but don't take my word for it. Check it out:

Pattern Parcel #3 includes:
Poppy Tunic by Make it Perfect
Water Bottle Tote by Radiant Home Studio
Jorna Tank Dress by Jenna Brand
Staple Dress by April Rhodes
Bombshell Swimsuit by Closet Case Files

Choose a price of $28 or more (which, hi, that's still 50% the retail price of the first 5 patterns) you'll get the Bonus Pattern which is my newest pattern, Prefontaine Shorts for Women.


We also asked each of the designers to fill out a Proust Questionnaire for us and got some great answers!

Already got your copy and need some Parcel Inspiration?

I'll be back later this week to show you what I've made with Parcel patterns, too.

Jungle Ave. Skyline Skirt

A few months ago it was super exciting when Art Gallery fabrics announced they would be doing Limited Edition fabric lines designed by talented and diverse designers. Each line is planned to have eight prints and be versatile enough for apparel, accessory, quilting and home decor sewing. This I especially love. It rubs me the wrong way when someone says that you're not supposed to make clothing from quilting cotton. "Supposed to?" The fabric police and I do not get along.


This month the Limited Edition line, Jungle Ave. by Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness, is hitting fabric shops everywhere. When Sara asked me to make something, anything, with her new fabric I jumped at the opportunity. Actually I shouted YES, then did a little dance, but then calmly replied in the affirmative to Sara in email. Not only do I love to help indie designers out, but the Jungle Ave. is so awesome to me. I love the colors and the city edge to it all. Plus, Sara is known for making dresses out of quilting fabric so I knew her fabrics would be perfect for clothing.

Choosing prints and a project was hard. I really adore most all of the prints in the Jungle Ave. line. Plus, the fact that I could sew anything with it left me with a bit of Blank Canvas Syndrome. You know, where you stare at the empty white canvas forever, not sure what to do or where to start, but afraid to mar the perfect and unblemished surface? I'm not the only one who does that, right?


In any case, these are the situations where I often come up with a grand idea and then half way through think, what the hell was I thinking. Since Sara's fabric line was inspired by her love of Chicago I decided to recreate Chicago's skyline. I originally was going to sew up a new bag, but then I thought I just did Jungle Ave. injustice by not making a piece of clothing. And the Skyline Skirt was born.

To make your own skyline applique, print google search for a silhouette of your favorite city's skyline. Print it out the finished size you'd like it to be and trace it onto freezer paper. Or print it directly onto freezer paper, which I did. People, computer printer sized freezer paper is freaking awesome, in my opinion.


Cut out your skyline, fuse it to the right side of your fabric, then trim the fabric so that there is a 1/4 allowance around the skyline edge. Trim external corners and clip diagonals into internal corners. Finger press the fabric around your skyline and use a clear colored glue stick (test your fabric first) to tack down fabric allowances. I've got to tell you, this worked brilliantly. I expected this to not go smoothly, or get burnt fingers from using the iron. Not at all. I sat down at the table for 15 - 20 minutes tops to finger press and tack down my edges with the glue stick to the wrong side of my skyline. Either I'm getting better at my hack ideas or the hacker gods were smiling upon me, but super easy. Peel your freezer paper off and top stitch your skyline applique to your base. Done.


I used the tutorial to draft my own reversible skirt with a yoga waistband. It's super comfortable and perfect for hot summer days. I live in skirts and tshirts all summer long. (This coming from the girl who designed a shorts pattern. I know!) The reverse side of the Skyline Skirt has patch pockets too.


I've got to tell you the hand of this fabric is really nice. I'm totally a texture girl. I've sent things to the Goodwill because they were itchy, or pilled, or just, well, creepy feeling. Jungle Ave. is smooooooooth. It's made from tightly twisted threads of cotton. Think of really fabulous high thread count sheets. Then kind that stay so cool and you want to slide in between on a hot summer night. It's like that. No joke. When I wear my Skyline Skirt I find myself running my hands over my thighs all day. (Oh man, I'm going to get more pervy google search results now. )

Want to see more? Check out the prints from Jungle Ave. right here. You check out the other Limited Editions planned for this summer too. Thank you, Sara! I love it.





Don't forget that Perfect Pattern Parcel #3 is on sale now through June 13. Fabulous summer patterns by indie designers!