Fresh Stitch Patterns - Banksia Play Dress pattern release

Following on from the grand opening of Fresh Stitch Patterns - Kylie the designer has released yet another beautiful dress design - and this one has some serious options!! There are three different strap options, dress or tunic, border hem or plain hem and various necklines depending on if you add the 'U' shaped notch or add buttons - all in all if you were to add up the total number of combinations possible it would equal A LOT of dresses!!

For the first dress I tried out, I let Little B pick the fabric.... She had a (very supervised - because I'm a bit protective of my fabric!!) rummage through my fabric boxes and decided on the Monster fabric! So we ended up with a Halloween theme - nothing like being prepared early!! Little B loved this dress and enjoyed having a dance around the garden in it!

I really like the detail the little bib adds - on this dress we left it solid and added three tiny buttons, and with the little tie straps I think it looks so cute!

I love how you can position your coordinating fabric in so many different ways with this dress - with the Halloween one we had three fabrics and I played around for ages with how I wanted them placed - each giving a very different look. I'm happy with how it turned out :)

I kept the second dress a little more simple - I used just two fabrics - this is Riley Blake Hollywood Sparkle - LOVE!!!!!!! Although with the shimmery spots and chevrons on the fabric it did make this dress very hard to photograph in the sunshine!!

It has the plain elasticated straps on this one (you can also add a flutter to these straps) and I used the 'U' shape notch on the bib, with no buttons this time. And I went for a plain hem instead of bordered.

As always Kylie has produced a great, easy to follow pattern with lots of pictures for those of us who are more visual, and different cutting options for people who prefer pattern pieces or measurement tables.

I just love how many options there are with this dress - you can be as creative as you like, or keep it more simple - either way ends up with a beautiful result!

Get your copy here at the bargain sale price (for a short time only - usual price is $7.95), and check out the other beautiful patterns while you're there!!

E+M Patterns Dress No.13 pattern release

Once again I have been very lucky to get to test for Allison at E+M Patterns, and once again she has produced a beautiful and practical little dress!

You would not believe how beautifully neat this dress is on the inside, I would say it's professionally finished, but it's actually better - it's couture! You certainly wouldn't get this attention to detail in your average high street clothing!

There are options for one or two ties and one or two buttons for the neck closure - both equally cute (I tried all of the options!)

The dress looks great on - lovely on its own for warm days, and also works wonderfully with some layering when it's a bit chillier!

As always Allisons instructions are great, and you might even learn some new techniques you haven't tried before!

The upper part of the dress is lined, but this can easily be extended all the way to the hemline to make a reversible dress as one of the other testers did.

The pattern will be on sale at $4 (usually $8) until Monday - So get in quick and grab yourself a bargain!

The pattern is available here and for some more inspiration from the other testers creations, look here

I highly recommend this pattern, as well as all the others from E+M Patterns!