Winners!

Congratulations to Lindsay, Paula, and Sarah!  

You three are the winners of the giveaway!  I'll be emailing you shortly to get your shipping info.  Thank you to everyone who entered!  Have a lovely weekend! 

-Sparrow

Giveaway! 100 FaceBook fans (and growing!)

Seriously, I love you guys.  Everyone who has supported me, and shown me love.  Anyone who has bought a pattern, or a custom order, or just drooled over my creations.  Whether you've commented or just been there in the background; all of you.  Yes, you.  I love you!

I am so blessed in my life.  To have this amazing opportunity to do something I love.  It's a lot of hard work, but all of you make it worth it.  And I have so many things to be thankful for right now.  I want to give back to you all.  So I'm giving away three prizes!  Yes, THREE!  There's no obligation to "like" my pages, or follow me (but if you haven't it's a great way to stay in touch!), but you will have to visit my FaceBook page for each one.  (Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to get past that on Rafflecopter!)   Leaving a comment would be nice. :)

And yes, you can enter all three! <3

First up, one for the boys!  Because I keep promising you boy stuff, but it keeps getting buried in all the fun ruffles!  (Hint, this is also a little peek at some of the patterns I'll be offering my new Shortcake collection, coming soon!)  This adorable little reversible jacket and pants, made in the most AHMAZING new fabrics from Cotton + Steel, is sure to set up any little boy in style, in a roomy 6-12 month size.  The jacket features a nifty bug print on one side, and a more subdued neutral on the reverse.  The ties make it cute and functional!  The pants feature back pockets, a comfy elastic waist, plenty of diaper room, and mini piping on the front seam.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Next up, the girls!  I wanted to do something sweet, and simple, and perfect for summer.  What better then the ever popular Hummingbird dress?!  In lemon yellow seersucker, with vintage ric rac, this is the perfect summer dress!  Size 18 mo, with retro length skirt, and a big bow on the back, because... why not?  I also had to make a headband to go with it.  I just couldn't not!  So cute!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
And finally, since part of this giveaway is to celebrate Bunny's birthday, you know I just had to include a bunny.  Remember Violet?  Well, she's decided that she's ready to go to a new home!  (word of caution, Violet is a "shelf bunny" and is not safe for small children, due to the small button on her dress.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway will close on Friday, March 27th at midnight EST, so get your entries in and go tell all your friends!   This giveaway is now closed!  

 And thank you for all the support you've shown me!  I can't wait to see what the future holds!

<3
Sparrow

Open for business!

For those of you who follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you're already up on this news.  But I'm so glad to announce that I am officially a fully registered and compliant business! Yay! I thought I'd take a minute and share with you all the details of what this means, and how I'm planning on operating my business.  So here's a little list of things you might be interested to know.

So what is Pumpkin & Bunny all about?

Pumpkin & Bunny is a children's boutique specializing in sizes Newborn - 4t.  The clothes I make focus on quality, comfort, and style, in that order.  Ready to wear clothes are made to be thrown away; they wear out after one wash, or get holes before you've even had a chance to take them off the hanger.  The clothes I make are made to be passed down from child to child, generation to generation.   I focus on using the best materials and the best techniques to ensure that everything I make will last.  I also choose patterns and designs that will grow with children in those early days when they seem to gain inches overnight, but that will still be comfortable enough for every day play.  Pumpkin & Bunny is heirloom quality, with everyday style.  I test every pattern I make for fit and comfort on my own kids, and I sew everything with the same love and attention to detail.

What is "compliancy" and why does it matter?

One of the things that has taken the longest for me to get ready is to become "compliant."  In 2009, the CPSC passed new, stricter laws concerning the manufacture and sale of children's items.  There's a lot of legalese involved, but what you need to know is that any metal or plastic products I use must be tested for lead and bpa phthalates.  I also have to adhere to guidelines for safety, such as small parts, drawstrings, etc.  What does this really mean for you?  It means peace of mind in knowing that everything you purchase from me is safe for your kids, and a lot of paperwork for me.

So, when can I buy some awesome stuff from you?

Well, now that my papers are all in order, I am finally legal to sell!  But it will be awhile before I am ready to set up a proper website.  For now you can follow my Facebook page to see what I'm working on, and I'm open for custom orders!  I will be adding some sample pictures to show off the patterns that are available along with pricing and sizes for each pattern.  They will be organized into collections, to make it easy for you to browse around.  It will take me some time to get everything I have to offer up, but it's exciting stuff!  The first collection I'll be releasing is called "Shortcake" and if focuses on simple classics for the littlest ones.  And yes, there will be BOY stuff too! Exciting!  Take a peek around, and if you see something you like, feel free to message me for more info! 

And a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me through this journey, and for everyone who has continued to encourage me to follow my heart and my dreams.  It's been a long road to get to this point, and the journey is just beginning!

<3

-Sparrow

Looking Forward

I've been keeping this under wraps for awhile, but today I'm finally ready to share.  Most of you know that I have a passion for making baby and children's items, and for a long time I've wanted to turn that into a business.  It's taken me awhile to decide exactly how I wanted to do that, and what direction my business would take.  But I'm very happy to announce that I've taken the first step on this path, and as of today Pumpkin & Bunny is officially registered a business!  

It will be awhile before I am ready to open any kind of permanent online shop.  What I'd like to do this year is offer a few showcases through my FaceBook page.  These will be limited, exclusive events, so be sure to like my page for updates.  I'm excited to share my one of a kind creations with you, and I'll have more details about the kinds of items I'll be offering in the near future.  

cute picture for emphasis :)

I'm not sure what kind of timeline I'm looking at here until I'm ready to sell, as there are still quite a few things to work out.  I will be fully certified and compliant with all CPSC requirements for selling children's items, and meeting all of those requirements is quite a journey.  But I hope you will appreciate the extra time and effort, since I'm dedicated to providing the best quality and safety as possible.  

Until then, I hope you'll all join with me in celebrating the first step of this journey! 

-Sparrow

Pattern Hacking Part Two: Reversible Baby Coat

After my unplanned blogging hiatus for the holidays, I'm finally back with part two on my series about pattern hacking, and I'm really excited about this one!  As discussed in part one, I'm using my favorite basic pattern, the Piece of Cake pattern by Anna Maria Horner.  For this part I turned this simple dress pattern into a scrumptious reversible coat!

This is possibly one of my favorite things I've sewn for Bunny since the first Piece of Cake outfit I made her!  And it's a great example of how much your fabric choices effect your result.  And just how easy it is to make anything reversible.  I love reversible options because it means all your seams are inclosed.  No fancy seam finishes needed!  

For my coat I chose and luxurious textured minky for the outer and an interlock knit for the lining.  This knit print is by Valorie Wells, and it's so soft and lovely and reminds me of beaches and warm things!  Even though I've choosen some materials that have some stretch, this would also work perfectly fine in heavier weight wovens.  Corduroy, wool suitings, and twill would give weight to the outer, while you could use soft quilt cottons or silky voiles for the interior.  I'm also using double faced satin ribbon for a tie closure at the front.  You could also do a smaller loop of ribbon and a button.

Now I'm no expert on sewing with minky, but if you do decide to use it there's a few things I learned with this project.  First, there is no way to avoid a mess.  By the end of the day you and your entire sewing space will look like you sprouted some kind of fuzzy fungus.  It's unavoidable.  Using a rotary cutter and mat instead of scissors will help you be more precise with your cutting.  I also found it handy to keep a large plastic trash bag on hand to slide all my scrap pieces into once done cutting, and a small hand vac for whatever I couldn't simply scrape off.

To start I decided to add a collar to my coat.  I used the measurement from the elastic cutting guide on the pattern to determine how long to make my collar.  I chose the twelve month size, so my elastic would be 15 inches.  I subtracted a half inch to account for the seam where you'd sew the elastic together, divided that number in half and drew a rectangle as long as my measurement (which was 7 1/4 inches) and 3 inches wide.  Then I curved the outside edge until it was the shape I wanted.

I also cut the inside edge to be slightly curved so it would lay around the neck better.  In retrospect I should have made this curve much deeper, but it works okay like this.

I cut two back pieces (one outer, one lining), four sleeves (two outer, two main), four front pieces (two outer, two main, and two collar pieces (both outer).  To make the front pieces I simply cut the body piece of the pattern NOT on the fold.  (Don't forget to reverse one side if you're cutting through a single layer!)  You can see here that I cut the main fabric sleeve two inches longer then the lining sleeve, so that I could make a wide cuff at the hem.

Next, I sewed the sleeve and side seams for both the outer and lining fabrics, as per the original instructions.  I used a ball point needle and long zig zag stitch on the knit, but switched to a regular point needle and straight stitch for the minky.  

To attach the collar I sewed two rows of basting stitch along the lining neckline, and gathered until it was the same length as the inside edge of your collar.  

Then I sewed just the collar lining to the lining neckline, right sides together.

Since my outer fabric is very thick I decided it would be better to pleat it instead of gathering.  I started in the center and just continued outward, pinching and folding the fabric until it fit the correct length.  I didn't try to be too precise since my fabrics were very forgiving.

More pinning and sewing!  Minky can be pretty slippery.  My machine handles it pretty well, so I didn't use my walking foot.  I did use a lot of pins.

To add the ribbon ties I cut my ribbon to two 22 inch lengths, and sealed the ends with a lighter.

Then I basted them to lining, just underneath the collar on each side of the front.

Next I turned the outer shell inside out, and the lining right side out, and crammed the two together like this.

I started pinning the edges together by matching up the collar seams first. I found it easiest to pin along both fronts going down from the collar, then around the collar, and then across the bottom, being sure to line up my side seams across the bottom.  I also added some pins along the neckline seam to help keep the layers from getting skewed since my fabrics were pretty heavy.

I sewed all along the edge, completely encasing both layers.  I had to go pretty slowly to make sure everything stayed lined up properly.

Next I opened a hole in the side seam with my seam ripper and turned the whole thing right side out through this hole.  Whenever I make anything reversible I always do it like this, instead of leaving an unstitched area on the hem like most patterns call for.  I think it gives a much nicer finish, and it's a lot easier to stitch the lining seam closed again then it is to stitch the edge closed.

Almost done!  Just the sleeve hems to finish!

I folded the outer sleeve hem up a half an inch and stitched it down.

Then I folded the rest of the outer sleeve up over the lining sleeve, to make a wide cuff. 

I opted to hand stitch the cuffs down for a nice clean finish.

Then I just had to hand stitch the lining closed again, and it was all done and ready for cuteness!  All in all, this project only took me a few hours from start to finish, and the result is pretty fantastic if you ask me! 

As you can see here, Bunny is getting so big!  She's crawling all over the place, and takes any opportunity she can to try and walk.  She's so curious and adventurous.  I can't believe she's going to be a whole year old in just two months time!

Stay tuned for part three!
-Sparrow

Pattern Hacking Part One: Piece of Cake Pillowcase Dress

I've said before just how much I love a good basic pattern.  I like the challenge that comes with pattern hacking, and being able to put my own spin on these great designs, so I thought I'd do a little blog series and see just how many variations I can get out of one pattern.  One pattern I've found myself turning to frequently is the Piece of Cake peasant dress by Anna Maria Horner.  In fact, it's probably my most favorite thing I've sewn for Bunny, and it's no surprise I keep returning to make it again and again.  So for this series it seems only natural to use it.  Although I'll be focusing on altering this specific pattern, I hope to give you some tips and techniques for pattern hacking that can be applied to any pattern.  We're going to start with the most basic hack I've done from this pattern.  You can download the pattern for free from the link above if you'd like to follow along.  Lets get started!

This hack is probably the easiest kind of alteration to make.  In essence, all you have to do is leave off the sleeves! Simple, right?  But this wouldn't be much a tutorial if I didn't give you the details, so here we go.

 For this tutorial I'm going to be using the 12 month size.  You will only need the front/back body piece, so don't worry about the sleeve options.  Whenever you're doing a pattern hack it's a good idea to trace off a new pattern piece.  I always trace my patterns onto freezer paper rather than cutting them out from the printer paper.  It saves ink and paper, and you can iron the freezer paper straight to your fabric for easy cutting.  I was able to squeak by with a half yard of fabric by cutting about an inch off the length of the dress.  This worked out okay because I did a smaller hem rather than the blind hem called for by the original pattern.  For anything larger you'll need at least 3/4 of a yard of fabric.  I'm also using 7/8 inch double face satin ribbon, 1 1/2 inch wide bias tape, and some pretty lace trim.  The color of your bias tape doesn't matter, since it won't show.

I really need to recover my ironing board.

 Cut out two body pieces.  To fit both body pieces onto a single half yard, I folded the fabric in half (selvedge to selvedge, the way it comes on the bolt) and then in half again.  If your fabric is a little slippery you can fold it in half, iron the centerline, unfold it and fold the selvedges in to the center.  (Think of it like folding a really big piece of bias tape.)

 Cut a piece of bias tape a little bit longer then your neckline and iron it open.

With right sides together, line up the top of the bias tape with the neckline and stitch along the top fold line.  You'll need to stretch the tape a bit around the curves.  Do this for both front and back pieces.

 Press the seam allowance up, and trim the end of the bias tape so it's flush with the arm seam.

 Press all four arm seams in by 1/4 inch, and over another 1/4 inch.  Include the edge of your bias tape in this seam.

If the edge of your bias tape sticks out a bit you can trim the corner off like this. 

Stitch the arm seam. 

Seriously.  Ick.  Sorry!

Fold the bias tape over to the inside and pin in place.  You'll need to stretch it out as you sew a bit to get a smooth curve.

 Stitch the bias tape down to finish your neckline on both front and back pieces.

 Next we need to do the side seams.  Since this fabric is on the thin side I opted for french seams.  You can do yours however you like.

 Hem! I folded my hem up by 1/4 inch and another 1/2 inch.  (One of my bad sewing habits is that I generally just eyeball my hem.  Don't be like me.  Measure your hems; they'll be much nicer!)  I also topstitched lace over the hemline to add some interest.

If you did french seams, it's a good idea to trim a little bit out of the hemline where the seams are, so it'll lay nicely.  Otherwise you end up with those lumps and uneven stitches at the side seams.

 Now all that's left is to add the tie!  I'm using ribbon, but you could also make a fabric sash.  To measure my ribbon I looked up the elastic cutting guide for the original pattern, and then added 14 inches.  This makes my bow a little on the small side, but Bunny loves to chew on ribbon so I wanted it to be out of the way.  For a bigger bow I'd add at least another 10 inches.  Be sure to heat seal the ends of your ribbon with a lighter or candle, so they don't fray!

 Put a safety pin on the end of your ribbon or sash, and thread it through the casings made by the bias tape.  Since Bunny is so little and ribbons can be a choking hazard, I topstitched the ribbon into the casing at just one edge once I'd gotten it situated how I wanted.

 And that's it! Super cute and super fast!  I especially love the one I made here with some AMH voile I've been hoarding.  This is probably the fastest thing I've ever sewn, including playing around with new trims.  You could probably make one in under 30 minutes if you skip the fancy stuff. 

I love that I can throw one of these over a ready to wear outfit for an instant handmade upgrade.  So what do you think?  I'd love to see how creative you can get with this pattern hack!  Share your pictures with me on my FaceBook page or on Instagram (@thepumpkinandbunny), or just leave a comment!

-Sparrow

P.S. Here's a sneak peek at the fabrics I'll be using for the next hack!

Pumpkin Patch Link Up Winners!

Since there were only two entries into my Pumpkin Patch link up, I've decided to award both of them with a lovely little surprise.  :)

First up, Rachel Mills made two adorable pumpkins, including a funky rainbow one!  Love it!

And Bunpeal on Ravelry made two classicly orange pumpkins which you can see here on her Ravelry project page. 

Thanks for linking up, both of you!  Now for your prizes... you can either pick any pattern on Ravelry (single pattern only, please, no ebooks or collections) and I will gift it to you, or you can choose to have a little surprise something dropped in the mail to you.  Contact me via email (pumpkinandbunny@gmail.com) and let me know your choice!  Be sure to include either your Ravelry id or your mailing address, depending on which prize you'd like.  :D

And to everyone who stopped out on Saturday to see us at Pumpkin Fest, a big thank you!  It was a great day, but exhausting.  I learned so much doing it, and I've got tons of ideas for how to improve in the future!  

Happy crafting!

-Sparrow