13th Avenue Co.

GreenStyle Creations North Shore SwimSuit

**Disclosure: This blog and the posts on it may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation when you make a purchase using my links at no additional cost to you. This allows me to help my little family, and I appreciate your support in doing so!**

Testing the Pattern

GS ISYM marked swim pic

I am so excited to share this new pattern with you! I had the great opportunity to test the North Shore Swimsuit pattern for GreenStyle Creations, one of my very favorite PDF pattern companies. This is the third pattern I’ve tested for them, and this was just as amazing as the first couple of times I tested. I had a little bit of apprehension testing a swim suit because I knew I would have to take pictures in it. But I’m here to tell you, this pattern is amazing and the end result was a suit that fit my body like a glove.

I feel like when you make your own clothes, swimsuits are the holy grail of sewing. I made a swimsuit in college, but still felt a little overwhelmed by the thought. Luckily, earlier this year, I had the opportunity to test a girls swim pattern. (see that post here ). When this test came up, I was more confident that I could create a wearable swim suit.

So without futher ado- here’s a little review on the North Shore Swim suit pattern:

There are so many options in this ONE pattern. The one piece features cutouts, a high or low leg option for the bottoms, and so many combinations on the top. i.e halter, pullover, cross strap, S hook. And for the neckline, you can choose from Deep V, Deep V with Full cup coverage, full coverage, and a tie front. The bikini bottoms come with even more options for the bottoms.
Per usual with GS patterns, the pattern file comes with step by step instructions that put even the newest beginner at ease. There are diagrams that show the steps, and it is easy to follow.
You can find the perfect fit for your body type. I used a SM top and graded to LG on the bottom to accommodate my baby-bearing hips. It fits me so well. I am excited to test it out on the first swimming trip with my kids!
I used my sewing machine for the entire process. I didn’t need my serger or any other machinery to make the suit look professional. (This is not to say that if I had a coverstitch machine, that I would not use that 😉 ).

Check out the side and back views:

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GOOO get this pattern now! Summer is right around the corner.

If you have sewing questions, send me a message! I’m always happy to help.

Happy sewing, friends.

❤ Kayliegh

Solidarity

A couple weeks ago, we were having an uncharacteristically hot day, so I took my kiddos on a picnic to the park. As we were sitting and eating, we saw a woman with two little kids on bikes, pushing a stroller. The little girl was struggling to pedal the bike, and kept stopping, while the older brother was way ahead. I could sympathize with the dilemma that Mom was facing. Not only the dilemma of which child to go to first, but also one that goes a little deeper. The one where you do hard things so that you make sure your kids are being raised right. The one where, if you spend too much time with your kids, you need to cut the cord, but if you don’t spend enough time with them, you are neglectful and selfish. Surely both situations are setting the kids up for failure, which they will have to deal with later in life with a therapist.

The ending to the story? The little girl ended up walking, leaving her mom to carry her bike and push the stroller. If you think moms aren’t super heroes, guess again.

Fast forward to today, when we were running errands in town. There was a woman walking out of the store we had just arrived at, holding the hands of two little boys, one of which was crying big crocodile tears. She was empty handed, so I’m thinking it was a situation of, “if you’re going to act like that, we are not getting anything. Put it down and let’s go.” Yeah, been there.

It’s in these situations where I wish I had the courage to walk up to the woman and say, “you know what? You are amazing. Your kids are cute and I’m sure they are awesome too, and you are a good mom. Way to go. Keep up the good work! ” While I work up my courage with real people, I wanted to reach out through the world wide inter web and offer some encouragement. Because the truth is, being a mom is so.dang.hard. These little beings, whom you love more than life itself: are trying to figure life out along with you. With different personalities, that can be chaos and drama waiting to happen, until you can find a way to be in harmony with each other.

This may be cliche, but I like the way this following message is like a high five to my fellow moms:

To the mom who tried to venture out to the park with 3 little kids and ended up carrying a bike: you are freaking Wonder Woman. Your kids won’t remember the struggle, they’ll remember your effort.

To the mom who stuck to her guns, put the toy back and marched the kid out of the store: You just taught your son a valuable lesson that his mom follows through. She does what she says she’s going to do. When he’s a teenager and has much heavier things weighing on his heart, he’ll know that he can count on you.

To the mom at Taco Bell with the new baby, tugging and pulling at ill-fitting clothes: You are beautiful. I know you don’t feel it right now, but you are. Your body just made a human. The time will come when you’ll be able to lose the weight and fit into your clothes better. But for now, enjoy the baby snuggles and don’t apologize for holding your baby more often then the “experts” say you should.

To the Mom who is going to bed tonight feeling like you yelled at your kids one too many times today: Tomorrow is a new day. Take a deep breath, and go look at your babies while they sleep. You’ll be reminded of the gifts they are and it will give you the resolve to do better tomorrow. And also, kids are the most forgiving humans on the planet. Forgive yourself, and do better tomorrow.

To the Mom who feels like she is on her own, even when the husband is in the next room: plain and simple, you’re NOT alone. There are women out there who feel the same. And more than that, there is a God in Heaven who sees you and knows where your heart is. He won’t leave you. Ever. Put one foot in front of the other, and keep loving forward. You were given these children for a reason, because God knew you were the best one to understand and guide them. Hold on to that and keep going.

To the woman who is struggling to have children of her own: My heart aches for you. I know the longing that fills your heart and the emptiness inside your arms. You have an important purpose in this world. Whether it takes a couple more years for you to experience the rich blessing of motherhood, or it doesn’t happen for you in this life, please know that you are loved and needed. It takes a village to raise a child, and you are an important part in someone’s village.

We have to keep moving forward and trusting that our purpose as moms– WOMEN– is divine. We don’t have to do it alone. We should be building each other up and empowering each other. The world is so full of garbage, but it is also full of light. You just have to look for it. And if you don’t see it, start by being the light yourself. We got this, ladies!

❤ Kayliegh

GreenStyle Super G Articulated Knee Hack

Hello all! Today I’m going to be showing you how to add an articulated knee panel to the GreenStyle Super G tights. This will require a little bit of pattern alterations so we can add darts to the panel. If you don’t already have the Super G Pattern, you can purchase it here. Prepare your pattern as needed, and let’s dive in!

Step 1: Take your main pant pattern piece. It has the front and back on it, with a strip in the middle. For this hack, we will use View A, so the middle strip will remain intact. I cut down the middle of this strip, separating the front and back pieces.

Step 2: Measure from the top of your inseam (where your seams intersect in the crotch) to the top of where you want the knee panel to start. I want it to go from above my knee, to below my knee, so I am starting the panel 10.5″ down from the top of my inseam. Mark this spot on your pattern, as well as where the bottom of the panel will be. I am using the 21″inseam line for the bottom of the panel.

Step 3: Cut along your top and bottom lines. You will now have a front top, knee panel, and front bottom piece. Trace over the panel you’ve created. I like using parchment paper for easy tracing, and it is easier to manipulate for our later steps. Step 4: I measured down 1″ from the top on each side, and up 1″ from the bottom on each side. This is where I want my darts to be. Step 5: I want my darts to be 1″ wide, so I marked the middle point and the bottom/top of the dart on the pattern. I then measured 2″ in, and did a small angled line down at the end of the line (this is so I can open the darts without ripping the paper). **Next time, I will angle my darts rather than having them straight on. I would highly suggest doing this to achieve a good articulation.**Step 6: I cut along the 2″ line and the smaller line. I then taped the bottom of the dart to another paper, and marked where my 1″ dart needed to end. I spread the parchment paper open, and taped it at that point. It is going to look kind of funky, but you’ll have a chance to square everything up. Step 7: Repeat for remaining 3 darts. When you have them secured, you can straighten them up. I found the middle point of the dart and drew a line to it, and then drew the outside lines of the dart.

Step 8: I squared up the rest of the pattern using a ruler. One side will be straight and one will be slightly curved, like the original pattern piece.

Step 9: Add seam allowance to all of the sides. I added 3/8″.

Step 10: You will want to add seam allowance to your original pieces as well– the side seam on the back, and everywhere you are going to attach the panel on the front (side, bottom of top piece, top of bottom piece).

You can now cut your fabric. Tip: With the knee panel, cut double the fabric and sew the darts in both layers.

Dart tips:

Don’t backstitch the end of your dart to secure. Leave a longer thread tail at the beginning, and when your done sewing, tie a couple of knots by hand in the end. This helps so that the point of your dart doesn’t stick out.
When you’re done stitching your dart and securing the end thread, cut open the back and press open. This helps the dart to lay flat.
Use a sewing machine to sew darts- not a serger!

If you’re bummed about having to omit the pocket for this hack, check out Sarah’s tutorial for adding a pocket to the top of the Super G’s.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this hack!

Happy sewing , friends!

❤ Kayliegh

GreenStyle Pacific Pullover

Testing The Pattern

GreenStyle has done it again! I had the great opportunity to be in the testing group for the Pacific Pullover- a pullover packed with options.

The pullover features armscye (that’s the arm hole) princess lines and has a hood, collar or neckband option. You can turn it into a quarter zip pullover by adding a zipper in center front.

I love the versatility of this pattern! You can use it for casual wear:

(Stripe Fabric is double brushed poly from Raspberry Creek Fabrics. Coral is cotton jersey from GirlCharlee.)

Or you can use it for athletic wear:

(Fabric is amazing! From The Fabric Fairy)

The pattern is on sale through Sunday night, midnight central time. (That’s April 8th!) Get it here.

RUN! Don’t walk. Even if the zipper intimidates you, try the no-zipper option first and work your way up.

Check out a few more of my prototype pics:

(Check out those kangaroo pockets! Fabric is supplex from Zenith and Quasar Fabrics)

I’d love to see what you do with this pattern- be sure to send me some pictures of your own version!

Until next time, friends. Happy sewing.

❤ Kayliegh

Sew A Little Seam Mairin Swimsuit

Testing the Pattern

Hello friends! I am excited to share something I’ve been working on with you. I had the awesome opportunity to test another pattern a couple of weeks ago, and it just released this week. It’s called the Mairin Swimsuit by Kelly at Sew A Little Seam.

When I started my advanced sewing class in college, I remember going over the syllabus and seeing a swimsuit as a final project. I was so intimidated! I never dreamed I’d be able to make a wearable swimsuit. Alas, the project came and went, and it actually turned out pretty well. Of course, now after having three kids, that suit no longer fits me. But it definitely helped me realize it was possible.

It has been a while since my college days, so when this testing call came, I knew it was something I wanted to try. But I was a little intimidated again. After going through the testing and having made a couple swimsuits now, I can honestly say it is not only possible to sew swimsuits, but it is also quite fun.

The pattern Kelly created has so. many. options. You will never need another girls swim pattern. For my cute 2 year old, I did the bikini with peplum and neckband ruffle and narrow crossover straps. The bottoms are the high-waisted boy short option. I love how the fit and style turned out.

The pattern instructions set you up for success. I was nervous at first to do the narrow strap option, because binding can be tricky, and doing it with slippery swim fabric had me questioning my skills. But I followed the pattern instructions closely, and my bindings turned out gorgeous every time.

You may think you need special equipment to sew this, but honestly, you can do the whole thing on a sewing machine. I usually favor the serger when making clothes, but I used my regular machine for this.

A few techniques you’ll need for this:

Double needle for stitching the edges
Placing elastic as you sew- there are no casings or anything, so you’ll sew the elastic directly on it
Using a stretch stitch- you can use a zig zag, or a long straight stretch with wooly nylon thread in the bobbin if your machine doesn’t have a good stretch stitch option
Lining with swim liner- pattern has full and partial-lining options

I got my fabric and swim lining from Joann’s, as well as the swim elastic and stretch thread for my bobbin. However, there are some seriously cute swim fabric options at various places on line, one of which being my FAVE Raspberry Creek Fabrics. (I expect she’ll have more swim coming as summer gets a little closer.)

I’ll stop there, but I could go on and on about this pattern. Go and grab it today! Sew A Little Seam (this is my affiliate link)

If you try this pattern out, send me pictures of what you make! I’d love to see your creations!

❤ Kayliegh

***As always, if you have questions, send me a message through my contact page.

Monday Makes

St. Patty’s Peplums

I was looking through my girls’ clothes a while back and realized that neither one of them have much green in their drawers, if any at all. When I saw this gingham print from Raspberry Creek Fabrics, I decided that they needed some new shirts for St. Patrick’s Day. Can’t let them get pinched! This is from RCF’s club line, which means that is was designed and printed in house. Talk about quality fabric for an affordable price. If you love knit fabric, seriously, don’t go anywhere else. They’ve got some adorable apparel woven fabrics as well.

I used one of my favorite girls patterns- the Gloria by Peekaboo Pattern Shop. You can make a dress or peplum. I love using the circle skirt add-on, because my girls love twirly dresses.

I decided to do the peplum style this time because I only had one yard of fabric. I was able to get a size 6 and a 3T out of it, and there are still some scraps that I’m going to use to put something together for my little boy. Can’t have him getting pinched either!

This was a quick and easy sew! Check out the pattern today! Here is my (affiliate) link (which means I may get a small commission from a sell made when using my link, by way of disclaimers and such): Peekaboo Pattern Shop.

Look at those happy faces and the glorious sunshine!

Happy sewing, friends!

❤ Kayliegh

GreenStyle Creations SuperG Tights

Testing the Pattern

I am thrilled to be able to show off my latest project. First, the story behind the project: My baby just turned one, so I figured it was time to get my butt in gear and get the baby weight off. Can you believe after my third baby, I didn’t just lose the weight?!

I was looking for some new workout clothes, because my others are now a size or two too small. And about that same time, there was a testing call in one of my favorite pattern groups for a new exercise pant pattern. My DIY self won, and rather than buying new pants, I applied to test. I was picked to be a tester the next day, and got to work with the talented patternmaker along with some other amazing women, and we sewed and tweaked and sewed some more until Voila! The pattern was perfected.

So let me introduce the GreenStyle Creations Super G Tights. The “G” in the name is for the gusset in these tights. That’s what made the difference for me with these tights and my other workout leggings I have. The gusset allows you to move without restriction. They are so incredibly comfortable- just ask me how many times I’ve worn them to bed! The high waistband on the tights also helps them to stay put. Ain’t nobody want their butt to fall out during a squat!

And then there’s the pocket. Who doesn’t love pockets!? It’s kind of hidden, which makes it that much cooler. You can fit your ipod (does anyone still use those) in it so you’ll have your hands free to workout.

There’s also an option to omit the pocket and do just a simple tight.

These were a quick sew. The pocket version takes a little more time, but they are so worth it. I’m planning a few more pairs in the near future!

Go grab some performance knit today, get the pattern here, and get to sewing.

**my gray fabric is performance knit from Joann.

**my navy fabric is amazing heavy supplex from Zenith and Quasar

As always, I’d love to help with any questions you might have. Send me a message on my contact page!

❤ Kayliegh

What I wish I Could Tell You

I was looking through some old pictures of you today. A time when there was so much life in your face and light in your eyes. I miss that light. I miss your laugh. I miss the way you made me feel like I was important and loved. It was your mission in life to make sure I knew that I had value. That’s the kind of person you were. And I know that person is there somewhere still– maybe buried deep, but still there just the same.

I have been so hurt and so angry. I have wanted to grab you by the shoulders and shake you and scream at you until you understood what you were doing to me, and the rest of the people who love you. And then I realized that you probably already know that. And it is killing you inside but you’re trapped. I’m sure it’s easier to push me away then to face what is actually going on in your life. You don’t want to be the one who needs help. Again.

I wish I could call you up and talk about nothing for hours like we used to. I wish my phone would beep with a text from you, just asking how my day is going and how I’m feeling. I wish I could meet you for lunch. But what I wish for the most? Is that I could look you in the eye, and tell you how loved you are. How important your role in my life is. How important your role in YOUR life is. You are beautiful and talented and smart. You are funny and feisty and a force to be reckoned with. You are strong and brave. You have the power to change your life.

I wish I could tell you straight up that you don’t have to do this anymore; there is a way out. I’m here for you. I have always been here for you. No matter what has happened in the past and what will happen in the future, I am here. So fight like hell. Remember who you are and who loves you. You are worthy of love and of having a good life. You DO have a choice. I’ll be waiting for you. When you choose to move on, I’ll be here waiting, ready to stand by you. I’ve never left.

Opinions Are Like Armpits

Opinions are like armpits.. everybody has them. Cliche? Sure. But, for the sake of this metaphor, let’s beat it to death. Sometimes armpits smell nice and clean and deodorized, which means that the person whose armpits they are, took care to spend time grooming them. Sometimes armpits are dirty and untamed, which causes the person to get into some hot water (shower).

The world we live in is a funny place. If you think about the times your grandparents grew up in, those seem so much simpler. They didn’t have such public platforms to voice their opinions. Does that mean they didn’t have opinions? Absolutely not. In fact, my grandparents generation is full of them. But they didn’t have opinions shoved down their throats everywhere they turned.

Now-a-days, we are left wading through some pretty murky waters. Up is down, down is up. It’s hard to know what it truth and what is, well.. NOT.

I believe that opinions can be a good thing. After all, we all come from different backgrounds, have different life experiences and this have the ability to teach those around us something they didn’t know before. But we need to be more aware of HOW we are expressing those opinions, and what our purpose is behind it.

I may catch some flack for this, but if your purpose for expressing your opinion is to be right, and you don’t care about the other person’s feelings.. I’m sorry, but you are an ass. Is being right so important to you that you are willing to ruin relationships over it? I’ve seen this happen in friendships and families alike.

Now, I’m not saying that you can’t be passionate about something. We need people who are willing to stand up for what’s right in this world. But maybe before we open our mouths, we should be asking ourselves: am I well-informed on this topic? What source am I getting my information from?

Because we are different people with different life experiences, we are not going to agree on everything. But if I were to go to someone I disagreed with and said, “you’re wrong”, how would that come across? I don’t think most people like being told they are wrong.

In college I was introduced to an intriguing concept, called meeting of the minds. Miriam-webster dictionary defines this: “an understanding or agreement between two people or groups. ” Learning this simple concept instilled in me a drive to 1. Learn facts before I spoke, and 2. That it is possible to disagree in a civil way, but it doesn’t harm anyone to hear out the other person’s side.

I’m not always perfect at this. I find that I can jump to conclusions quickly when it is something that I am very passionate about.

Monday Makes

Make Your Own Joggers

These joggers were such a fun sew! I was inspired by an ad I saw on one of those Chinese sites, and figured I could probably make my own.

I used GreenStyleCreations pattern– the Brassie Joggers.

I love how you can dress up or down in joggers.

Here is my finished result:

And I was probably the MOST excited about my waistband with elastic and drawstring. I’ve only used grommets a couple of times before and now I’m pretty sure I’ll be using them for everything possible. I am really happy with the finished product!

This pattern is great for beginners. The tutorial that comes with the pattern makes it almost fool-proof. As always, if you try this pattern, or have any sewing or fit questions for that matter, contact me or comment below!

Until next time, happy sewing!

❤ Kayliegh