#beanpop

np np !

physical appearance headcanon

i think a lot of people have this sort of homogeneous view of dryads: slim, earthen women with branches for arms and leaves for hair, and that’s not necessarily wrong it’s just kind of an incomplete picture. some of the most notorious dryads in history were oaken- tall, sturdily built, unwavering beings.

overall there’s a wide range of appearances. they can be anywhere from as small and sprightly as a sapling to as massive as a towering redwood. some are stout and covered in dark patches of rough bark like scales, some are pale and covered in markings like scars, some have foliage that covers near every inch of them year-round, while some are bald and bare.

cooking headcanon

dryads can sustain themselves pretty much entirely from clean water, sunlight, and nutrients from the soil, but where’s the fun in that? in more humanoid form they’re still not heavy eaters and can gain more nutrition from raw foods than cooked. some dryads will preserve the excess fruits or sap of their mother tree in vessels stored in their branches or the hollows between their roots and use them to barter with other creatures.

soft spot headcanon

many dryads wind up with a soft spot for birds and other similar small animals, since they often mistakenly take up residence along their limbs. though some of them (woodpeckers) are more of a nuisance than anything, dryads have been known to strike up symbiotic relationships with the occasional bird, allowing them to nest in their branches in exchange for song and the removal of pests. plus the downy young ones are just too cute.

  I’m a big fan of Kristi, over at George and Ginger Pattern Company. Every time I test for her, it feels like magic. These patterns tested a little while ago, but she held onto them because she wanted to release them at the perfect time. Her timing is always spot on, as I feel like this is the perfect set to transition your wardrobe and sewing from summer to fall. Plus, it’s packed FULL of options. And who doesn’t love options? Let’s get into the full deets! Of course, if you’re impatient and want to grab the pattern now, you can find the bundle here: Rave & Riot Pattern Bundle

If some of my pictures look familiar, it’s because I shared them in a post about some strike offs I sewed up for RP Custom prints. I wasn’t able to share the pattern at the time. So there’s that. 🙂

Meet the Rave & Riot set!

These patterns are simply incredible! By themselves or together, the patterns are packed full of great options and unique features. There are 4 different skirt styles, 3 waistbands. The skirt can be made with suspenders or without. The top has 4 different necklines, 3 sleeve lengths and can be made cropped or full length. I’m not even sure how many different combinations there are between the two, but I’m confident you could wear this set many different ways and have a wardrobe full of them!

The Riot Skirt

This skirt came out right before I sewed up my strikes for RP Custom fabrics and it felt like fate. I won’t go into full details about the strike offs here, because it’s been done ad nauseum already. (you can read it all here and just see all the pics from the round here.), but basically I wanted to use the Chucky fabric to create a chucky style outfit for my kids.  I originally thought “overalls”, but I had panels to show off…so that wouldn’t work. I found a kids’ romper pattern that I could hack and use to create suspender shorts for my son, but couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to hack one for myself. Queue the testing call for the suspender skirt. It must have been sewing fate. 

I made 3 of the skirts all together. I was almost positive we would need to make adjustments because of the amount of options and sizes offered. So I used a fabric that I liked but didn’t LOVE. (a good idea if you’re testing). It turned out, I didn’t need to worry, as Kristi had worked her design magic again and there were only a couple little tweaks to be made. Seriously, I don’t know how she does it! I’m not a big fan of this photo, but think it does go to show that the skirt can be made in virtually any fabric, so there’s that. This one (above) was made in French terry. It was a bit bulky, as it’s the pleated style, but it ended up being super warm. This, paired with some knee high socks, boots and a long sleeve tee underneath, would be perfect for fall/winter!

 After the first skirt, I started on the strike off version. I had been assigned the pleated skirt, but wanted to make another version to try out the options. I opted to do the straight pencil skirt option, then at the last moment I added a flounce, to coordinate better with my son’s outfit. Generally speaking, you can’t share a pattern until it’s released, but Kristi was generous enough to let me share these pics for my strike offs. 🙂 (shoutout to her. Thank you, Kristi!) This fabric is a cotton lycra from RP Custom Fabrics

The construction of the skirt is moderately easy. I would say that a beginner could do most versions. If you are a beginner, and choose the striped waistband or the pleated skirt (both of my options. haha), I would use a muslin first. The only complicated part of the process is sewing those stripes. There is a bit of measuring, flipping and folding involved. I’m fine with all that. The part that gave me fits was trying to space them out evenly. I’m a seam allowance renegade & rarely ever use the recommended one…or even the same one throughout the pattern, so it’s tough for me to be able to try and figure out where things will fall when they are being stitched and turned. Since it was a test, I was particular about following the correct seam allowance and measuring things exactly…that’s definitely what I would recommend here. (No veering off the instructions!)  There were a couple moments when I had to lean heavily on Kristi’s instructions, but as always, they walked me through the steps thoroughly and succinctly. The version below is in a techno scuba from Walmart, and while I don’t usually recommend cheaper fabrics, this fabric had enough structure to pull it off. I’m in love with the sheen of it!

  The Rave Shirt

  Y’all…I LOVE this shirt! Now, don’t get me wrong. I have been feeling a lot top/shirt-heavy in my pattern stash lately. Thankfully, this one has so many options I can’t even feel guilty about having it! There is a scoop, square (mine) and angled neckline. There is a crop length cut line, or you can opt to go full length. (you could probably hack a dress fairly easily as well, but using the skirt from the riot pattern.) Then, of course, there are 3 different sleeve lengths. I found myself wanting to wear this shirt for days. Thank goodness I made a few!

  I was assigned a square neck with crop length. I made the first one in a super thin knit I got from a destash page. I know that most people aren’t a fan of V necks. I LOVE V necks. I just knew that I would love the square neck, too, as it’s essentially a 4 point V neck. (haha) Even in the thin, shifty poly blend knit, the instructions were so clear, it came out perfectly. If anything, the fabric made the shirt a bit loose, as you can see from the other versions that it wasn’t the wrong size. I wore the testing shirt for a full day before making the skirt. I even took a few selfies in it…then realized I couldn’t share them anywhere yet. 🙂 Good thing you guys don’t mind looking at my selfie, right? haha. Sorry!

  My second version was this one for the strike offs. I just adore the neckline. I love them all, really, and can’t wait to make the others. Especially the angled one! My third and final version, I made using one of my hoarded, loved fabrics. This stained glass rose print was one that Beanpop ran before I started sewing strike offs for them. I won a free yard from them in a contest and picked this. I have been hoarding it ever since, only using tiny bits for bands and such. I finally decided that since I loved it so much, I really should be wearing it! So here it is, in all it’s glory. Yet another shirt that I don’t want to ever take off. 🙂

Again, as far as the pattern goes, there isn’t much to report, except the good points. I think there were a couple people who had a bit of an issue at first with the points on the square and curved necklines, but after hammering out the instructions, they were super easy for everyone to construct. I even used the technique again recently when I decided to band a handkerchief hem (it was a rectangle, so I used the same technique, just inverted the points).

I’m so thrilled to have been able to try these patterns out and to share them with you! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to let me know!

You can find the bundle here: Riot and Rave pattern bundle

The Rave shirt by itself is here: Rave shirt pattern

and the Riot skirt here: https://georgeandgingerpatterns.com/products/the-riot-skirt-set-womens-sizes-pdf-sewing-pattern

Kristi just had another amazing giveaway in her facebook group where she gave away a LAPTOP, because she reached 19,000 members, so please, by all means, join her facebook group if you haven’t yet! The George and Ginger Pattern Co Facebook Group

  As always, thanks so much for reading!

Until next time,

Sewing and Swimming,

  April simpson hunt

  I’ve included all the beautiful tester pics below, so you can see how much incredible talent surrounds me. These women are all amazing! I am constantly inspired!

Hey everyone! Hope you’re having a fantastic day!

One of the fabric designers I work with (Beanpop) is having a sale to benefit the victims of Hurricane Harvey. I think this is a great cause and I would love to see it go well. 50% of each sale is being donated.

I have a love of pretty fabric and a first hand knowledge of just how catastrophic hurricanes can be, having lived in Florida for…

  Hey everyone! Hope this post finds you well.

I recently achieved something I’ve only ever dreamed of….I managed to sew up one of my fabric strike offs FOR a pattern test! If you do pattern testing and strike off sewing(or know about them), you know that finding a balance is key, but seldom do the two end up overlapping perfectly. I’ve always run into scheduling issues before. This time, Katie (Wilson, of Duck Butt Designs) was gracious enough to allow me to share little sneaks of the Duck Butt Designs project throughout the week, so that I could share my pretties from the ladies over at Beanpop, too! I’m pretty darn excited about it all, too!

    For starters, I’ll say that this was my first test for DBD (Duck Butt Designs). I have loved their patterns for quite some time now, but have never seen the tester calls. This time, I believe it must have been fated, as I’m quite honestly never around on Facebook any more. But not only was I online, the post actually came up right in my feed! Does Facebook know me or what? lol.

Duck Butt Designs (or DBD, as they’re affectionately called within the online sewing community”) is best known for their unique children’s pieces, but they also have wardrobe pieces for the entire family. Many of the options, including the basics, have some form of color blocking or other unique feature that makes the pattern super fun. I downloaded their free Panel Pocket Tee from the Facebook Group about a year ago and have used it faithfully since. It’s the perfect size for child/infant panels…in fact, that’s kinda why Katie designed it! 🙂

Panel Pocket Tee by DBD

When I first made my plans to sew up this round for Beanpop, I had hoped to use the PPT. Duck Butt Designs has pants, shorts and tee options, as well as pullovers, unders, pockets and more. There is a pattern for just about everything. My favorite thing about the pattern is: they usually come with some fun extra. For example, the colorblocked tees usually have a printable coloring sheet to help you map out fabric choices in advance. It makes the patterns fun to sew for me and helps the kids feel as though they have a hand in the process as well, which they looooove!

Testing, testing….

  I’m so glad I signed up to test this top! We had a blast (as you can tell from our photos) and it was fun chatting with the other testers while we worked. It was about as laid back of a test as I’ve seen. The pattern has been released and  you can find the Back To school top and hoodie here. (click the name to be taken to the listing. Be sure to use code: FIRSTDAY to get 20% off until this sunday!)

Aquila, my youngest, was the one doing the pattern test (officially), but Kalel was the one with the strike off fabric (he’s the zombie lover) so we went ahead and made him one, too. *Their sizes were 12 months and 4T, if it makes a difference to any of you. 🙂

The hoodie features :

a color blocked front

an optional color blocked back

The bottom front piece is made of 2 seperate pieces of fabric, which work together to form a big pocket

Lined, Tulip style hood or band for the neck.

Bands or hemming instructions for arms and waist.

3 different sleeve lengths (or use bands to make it sleeveless)

Sizes 3 months -11/12

A0 size printing available

      I made 2 muslins to begin with. Then once I was sure there wouldn’t be any more additions or changes to the pattern, I went on to use my pretty custom fabrics. *I have found through trial and error that this is the best way.* Almost every time I’ve tried to skip the muslin stage, it’s ended up backfiring on me. So, without a doubt, even if you know the designer and they always nail it, use a muslin. You never know what kind of issues will pop up. And as fate would have it, they always pop up for me when I use exensive fabric. 🙂 Not that I don’t love ALL my fabric. It’s just that some fabric is a little more special and I prefer to save it for projects that will be worn. lol. This hoodie actually only went through 2 versions! Bonus points for the Katie, because my muslins were totally usuable, so that’s another plus! Can never have too many hoodies!

    My favorite thing about testing and photographing both kids? The outtakes were hysterical. I’ll post a few at the end. They’re always my favorite. 🙂

  Testing felt like it flew by. Everything fit perfectly and I love all the options! I feel like we will definitely be making many more of these, as a top and as a hoodie! I’m so glad we got the chance to test for Katie and DBD! Be sure to grab the pattern here, on the Duck Butt Designs website. You can use the code FIRSTDAY for 20% until Sunday, 08/13/217.

You can find out more about DBD and join in the sewing fun in the Duck Butt Designs Facebook Group

Fabric addiction is real…

  When the ladies at Beanpop Fabrics announced that we could apply to sew up things for this round, I was incredibly excited…even before we got to see the actual prints! This round was geared towards the Halloween holidays. There are some fun glitter cats, tarot cards, magic potion labels, sugar animals, and a vintage horror movie poster print fabric. I love that they did spooky…but in a fun way. There wasn’t anything overwhelmingly shocking or scary. and the tarot and potion prints are incredible! I’m basically just in love with the whole round! I’ve assembled a collage (below) of some of the strike off seamstresses’ work. Aren’t they all so talented?  You can find more of their work (and more pretty fabric) in the Beanpop Fabric Facebook Group. There is also a Beanpop Fabric Facebook Buy and Sell Group, where you can find some of the older prints that aren’t in production any more. The current pre-order for the fabrics I’m showing here is available on the main Beanpop website, under the Round 14 section.

credit (from left to right, row by row): Amy Kushner, Alexis Schank, Nikki Luke, Melissa Mitchell, Savannah Layland, Brianna Karle, April Simpson-Hunt (me) and Becky Dunlap.

I quickly put my bid in on a number of prints. This was probably the first time I can confidently say that I would have been happy with anything I received. When I saw the zombies panel and fat half set, I knew that it would be perfect for my 4 year old, who loves all things spooky. (his favorite movie is Chucky) Most of the sets or prints came in cotton lycra, which is a great base and is pretty much the norm for strike offs. Beanpop has an incredible selection of bases, including stretch woven, 240-260 GSM cotton lycra and french terry, which is what the zombies fabric came on.

  This was my first time working with french terry and ermahgawd…it’s AWESOME! I would venture a guess to say that all french terry may not be awesome. But Beanpop seems to turn everything they touch into gold, so I’m not surprised that this base is lush, thick and a dream to sew up. My son loved the texture so much, he refused to take the pants off for 3 days! (this is my boy who refuses to wear jeans because they “feel funny”). As a result of both of these things, I a lot of Beanpop FT in my future. 🙂

The prints themselves were incredibly crisp and clear. For some reason, I always expect the panel to have visual interest than the coordinate. I’m not sure exactly why I feel this way. I suppose I’ll have to get over it, though, as this zombies coordinate was my favorite part! (although it would be tough to pick an all out favorite). The panel features zombies, headstones and flames. It looks scary, yet somehow accomplishes it in a fun way, that doesn’t look out of place on a Pre-K kid. The coordinate features axes, chainsaws, headstones and skulls in a floating, random pattern. Behind those images, though, is a dark and light grey scratched background, which is almost like a very thin, uneven plaid(possibly?). It’s very subtle, yet adds dimension and texture. Then, there are little pops of red, yellow and green floating throughout the coordinate in little brains, hearts, skulls and more. I love all the attention to detail. It makes the print so much fun and so interesting to look at! I’m currently trying to find a way to make myself something to wear with the tiny scraps I have left. I believe I’ll be ordering more soon!

This was one of those instances where I struggled with my point and shoot camera.(FujiFilm FinePix 3280) It seems like no matter how hard I try or how well I learn my settings, I still have issues with focus or light. I really wanted to do these prints justice! I hope you are able to see how clear the prints are, as well as the colors. I have a friend, Laura Akins Asup, who is a great photographer and does most of our professional shots. She was nice enough to agree to do some photos for us, so she took the ones shown from the store, that you can see above.(you know, the only REALLY professional looking ones. lol) I love them, but the store’s lighting caused my own mint green ponte de roma coordinate (from Stylish Fabrics) to look more blue than green.  This is why there are so many photos here! sorry! I wanted to show off everything to the best of my ability. I’m incredibly proud of this project and so in love with everything I’m sharing!

The Halloween round is open at Beanpop from now until August 22, so be sure to grab them all quickly!

https://beanpopfabrics.net/collections/round-14-preorder

Also, be sure to sign up via the website, since user accounts are required for purchases. Use code “WAHM10” to get 10% off all orders of 8 yards or more!

    Thanks so much for reading!

Until next time, Sewing and Swimming,

    April Simpson-Hunt

  *now, as promised….here are some of the “outtakes” from the 2 days spent trying to get photos. haha. Enjoy! 🙂

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A good friend of mine has a fabric and cloth diaper company (www.beanpop.net) and I help her with branding needs and the occasional fabric pattern design. I designed the logo on the label as well as this pattern. She made me a special order bandana in this super soft fabric with nifty matching snaps!