People often ask me about the name, Sew Creative. I get two questions frequently.

1. Oh! That’s such a cute/clever name! How did you come up with it?

2. Oh! You must sew a lot! I wish I had time to sew/ had time to learn to sew/ knew how to sew. How do you find time to sew so much with two kids, work and a blog?

The answer to both questions go hand in hand. Before I started Sew Creative I had an Etsy shop called Lilikoi Lane. In the store I sold appliqued shirts for kids. In our old house (pre-Turtle) I converted one of the bedrooms into a sewing studio. I was constantly coming up with new designs for my appliques and when I would show them to people they would often reply “I love that! It’s so creative.” In my head I turned that into Sew Creative, and I loved the saying so much that I had it turned into a vinyl wall applique that was on the wall of my sewing studio. Around that time I started a tumblr page called She Is Sew Creative- Those and That Which Inspire Me.

Fast forward a few years, Turtle was 6 months old, I was on maternity leave and I decided that the idea of the website that had been floating around in my head for years needed to be brought to life. That was when the blog, Sew Creative was born.

When I started Sew Creative the plan was to do a lot of sewing projects on the blog and possibly sell them in my Etsy store… then the reality of blogging while working full time and being a wife and mom set in and I realized “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” 

I shut down my Etsy store and the sewing projects became a bit less frequent than I had originally planned.

That being said, I ADORE fabric (some might call me a fabric addict), I’m inspired by beautiful projects and I love the sound of the whir of my sewing machine. So when sewing opportunities knock… I jump on them!

When Stitch Craft Create contacted me and asked me if I wanted to participate in a blog hop for Alice Caroline’s new book, Sew Pretty For Little Girls (AKA Little Lady Liberty for those in the UK), the answer was obvious… Ummm yes!

The book is GORGEOUS! The Liberty fabric in the book had me drooling, it’s truly eye candy. When I had my Etsy store I collected massive amounts of kids fabric, but I’m sorely missing vintage style floral fabrics in my collection. 

As I flipped through the book I had a very strong desire to climb inside the book and stay there for awhile. The book made me want to be friends with Alice Caroline, to take a vacation at her house, watch her sew, drool over her fabric collection (note that I say over… not on 😉 ) and try to pick up some of her incredible sewing skills!

I imagined the beautiful quilts like this one from the book that would be in the guest bedroom. 

I imagined Alice telling me that I could flip through her Liberty fabrics to make my very own Rosie Floor Cushion like the one above. 

As I flipped threw the pages and was inspired by page after page, I also tried to decide which pattern I wanted to sew for this post. It was a tough decision (I’ll definitely be making more projects from the book) but I finally decided to make the Hannah T-Shirt Dress (pictured above) as an ode to my Lilikoi Lane days. 

The dress was easy to make and only took me an hour, start to finish. I let Bean select the fabric that she wanted for her dress from my collection and she decided on Pet Deer by Michael Miller. It’s a fabric that we’ve both loved for a long time, and that I have several yards of, but that I’d never made her anything from.

I decided to make the dress my own by changing the shape of the applique on the shirt and by adding some ribbon around the waist. 

 Bean loves her finished dress. She is a bit animal crazy (note the snail in her hand, I kept having to beg her to concentrate on photos because she wanted to go snail hunting!) and letting her pick out her own fabric that is personal to her, with the deer, makes the dress all the more special. 

Want to make a Hannah Dress for Your Sew Pretty Little Girl? You’re in luck! You can win one! We’re giving away an ebook version to one of our lucky readers!

Enter using the rafflecopter entries below and comment telling me which of Alice Caroline’s fabric designs you would love to use to make a project from Sew Pretty For Little Girls. 

Make sure you check out all the other posts from bloggers participating in the Liberty Lady Blog Hop:

Mon 2nd – Alice Caroline

Wed 4th – Crafting Not Cleaning

Thu 5th – Sew4Home

Fri 6th – Bloom

Sat 7th – A Spoonful of Sugar

Sun 8th – Fabricworm

Mon 9th – Pieced Brain

Tue 10th – Pretty Nostalgic

Wed 11th – Olivia Jane Handcrafted

Thu 12th – One Shabby Chick

Fri 13th – Sew Creative

Sat 14th – The Last Piece

Mon 16th – Victoria Findlay Wolfe Quilts

Tue 17th – Sew Crafty Jess

Wed 18th – Stitchery Dickory Dock

Fri 20th – Molly Flanders

Sat 21st – Fabric & Flowers

Sun 22nd – A Bright Corner

Mon 23rd – Follow the White Bunny

Tue 24th  – Straight Grain

Wed 25th  – Sew Justine Sew

Thu 26th  – Tracey Jay Quilts

Fri 27th  – Feather’s Flights

Sat 28th  – Monkey Do

Sun 29th  – Miss Print

Mon 30th  – This Blog Is Not For You

Tue 31st  – Sew Scrumptious

Want to win a gift certificate for fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop! Make sure to check out our other giveaway!

 

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