Fresh Stitch Patterns | The Adventures of Captain X and the Gingerbear Princess

Hurrah! Another pattern has been released by Fresh Stitch Patterns. I jumped at the chance to test these patterns as they are so well designed, user friendly and provide classic staples for your little ones wardrobe in sizes 12 months to 8 years.

The Banksia Play Dress comes with multiple options for bodice, straps and skirt, meaning you could sew this dress several times over and never have it look exactly the same making it great value for money.

For this version I chose the flutter strap, bib bodice and banded skirt and used some Disney Princess fabric from spotlight as a base to draw colours from. I used a decorative blanket stitch on my machine to outline the bodice.

As I have reviewed here previously, Fresh Stitch patterns are one of the easiest PDF patterns to tape together and follow. Kylie puts a huge amount of effort before releasing the pattern to ensure it is just right and actively uses testers recommendations and suggestions. The pattern tutorial is easy to follow and encourages beautiful finishing which can really lift your home sewn item into something special. A confident beginner could tackle this without worrying, the instructions are so clear.

Though this dress is a great summer dress and works well in cotton weights it is also well suited to layering and being made in a light-weight denim/chambray or corduroy, add some tights, a long sleeve top and a cardy and you are well set for the cooler months. In spite of it being Spring here we have had some pretty windy days hence the wind swept look in the photos.

The Princess was rather taken with her dress when we went to feed the ducks and pukeko and spent quite a bit of time twirling her princesses, all the while singing and dancing. I know this dress will be in heavy rotation at Kindy in the coming months, I have some Wonder Woman fabric to make up another soon I just need to find the right co-ordinating fabric.

The pattern can be found here and here on sale at $1.50 for a limited time (today only) no coupon required. If you are looking for a dress with options you can’t go wrong with this one at that price.

I was so excited to have the opportunity to test patterns for a new company Fresh Stitch Patterns.

The first pattern I tested was the Playgroup Dress, the moment I saw the sample I was besotted. Modern yet classic, it spoke to me as the perfect little dress for… well … playgroup (or Kindy as we call it in our house).

For the playgroup test I used a chambray and a fine pin wale cord, both of which were a perfect weight to sew with.

This is a size 18 month bodice with a size 2 length, as will all PDF patterns it is really important to check your child’s chest measurement against the pattern information (which Kylie kindly supplies in both inches and centimetres). The pattern comes in sizes 12 months to 10 years so will definitely make a repeat appearance through the years.

The bodice is fully lined giving it a neat finish and the bottom band encloses the hem.
There is a reasonable amount of ease in the bodice of this dress which makes it great for layering.

The patterns have clear step by step instructions with photographs and are laid out in an easy to follow manner. Taping the pattern pieces together is really easy with a grid layout behind the pieces, corner matching points AND a page layout guide. All your bases are covered so you won’t have any problems if you are like me, who finds taping pattern pieces a real chore if there is a lack of matching points.

The second dress I tested was the Wattle Brush Dress, a cute bubble dress that comes in sizes 12 months to 8 years. Once again the step by step photographs make sewing this dress a breeze in fact testing this dress from printing to finish only took an hour and a half. The pattern uses the simplest method for creating the bubble effect so the only gathering that needs to be done is at the waist.

Being fully lined your finish becomes impeccable and Kylie includes two methods of attaching the bodice to the skirt so you to choose between a quicker finish or a more refined one (for the record my hour and a half for this dress included the more refined finishing). This is definitely something I noticed about Fresh Stitch Patterns, your garment can’t help but look amazing because all the beautiful finishes are part of the design. These patterns will really help a beginner take their sewing to the next level.

I really encourage you to try these patterns, and for the next 24 hours the first three patterns are available here with the coupon found on the Fresh Stitch Patterns Facebook page for just $1.50 each. How can you not try them at that price, I know you will love them.