Hey guys!

I just wanted to pop in and share a quick fun project Ava and I did a while back. After we rainbow swirl tie dyed a piece of fabric  for a guest post over on  CraftyChica.com, I wanted to see if it was possible to tie dye THREAD! Yes you read that correctly thread…DIY RAINBOW THREAD!Here’s what you’ll need:

• A spool of white 100% cotton thread. I used this one by Gutermann.
• Tie dye. We used the left over dye from our rainbow swirl tie dye.
• Saran wrap

To achieve a rainbow effect when you’re actually sewing with the thread it’s very important to put vertical lines of the dye on the thread. You COULD do horizontal but because of the way the thread is wrapped around the spool and fed into the machine, it would be ombre as opposed to rainbow. That would actually be a really fun effect for something you would need to sew long lines for, though. Maybe the quilting on a quilt!After the entire spool is filled with your “lines” of dye then you would treat it like any other tie dye project and  cover the entire thing  with saran wrap. We let ours “marinate” over night. The longer the better.  We then unwrapped the saran wrap and gave the spool a very gentle rinse and let it dry outside in the sun.Once it was dry, I loaded on my machine and gave it a test run on a white piece of fabric. To both of our delight, IT WORKED!So fun right?! Perfect for the top stitching on a fun little project!

Thanks for stopping by!

Xx Meagan and Ava

Happy Friday!! I’m so excited to share this fun outfit I made for Ava. I’ve been so into gingham lately, especially black and white gingham. I’ve seen so many cute gingham skirt and white tee outfit pairings around the inter webs , see here, here, and here, I wanted to create my own version to see what I could come up with. That’s the beauty of being able to create and make clothes. The options are literally endless.

For the skirt, I started out with the Oliver + S Sailboat skirt pattern. It’s so fun and versatile. It was the perfect shape for what I was trying to achieve, and I love the four button detail. I used a black and white gingham cotton fabric. For the top, I decided to use the Meg Nielsen Mini Briar Tee pattern, one of my all time favs. To add a fun detail I left part of the neck ribbing unattached to create a ripped/distressed tee feel. For the fabric I used a simple white jersey knit.

To complete the look we used some of Ava’s favorite accessories of the moment. A metallic and fur Zara backpack, some colorful Steve Madden sandals, and one my old hats that she loves to wear. We had so much fun creating this look. I hope you enjoy. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out to me either through email or insta.  Until next time!

Xx Meagan and Ava

Hey!! I just wanted to pop in and let you you all know I have a short and sweet guest post over on the Oliver and S blog today on how I altered the Lunchbox Tee pattern to add a ruffled sleeve. Go check it out! ❤️ 

https://oliverands.com/community/blog/2017/05/how-to-add-ruffled-sleeves-to-a-t-shirt.html
Xx Meagan and Ava

Statement sleeves have been a huge trend this season. Thus far I’ve been watching from the sidelines, taking it all in, seeing how it would all play out. Sometimes I see trends come and go so fast that it’s not even worth taking the time to make something inspired by them. Not this time though, I couldn’t shake my interest. I decided to give it a go.There’s so many options out there when it comes to statement sleeves. There’s any where from large ruffles to bell sleeves. There’s avant-garde and there’s subtle. I decided to try out the latter, though I do have an itch to try an exaggerated version too!I opted for a luscious jewel tone crushed velvet for the top. I’ve been dying to use this fabric for something and what better than a fun statement sleeve tee. It has a soft hand and great stretch. It’s substantial yet not to thick, and I love the drape.Pattern wise I started off with my trusty Oliver + S Lunchbox tee, you can see some other versions I’ve made here and here. I pretty much followed the pattern exactly except for the sleeves. I drafted a new pattern for the sleeves to accommodate the gathered look I was going for.I’m so happy with the end result. It’s a comfortable wearable top that Ava can wear for any of the many activities she has going on right now. It has the play-proof seal of approval from Ava. 😉 Which we all know is the most important. How many of you have ever tried to get their child to wear something they thought was uncomfortable? Spoiler alert: it doesn’t go over well no matter how cute or long it took you to make it!To complete her look we paired her top with some skinny jeans, fun mesh socks, gingham bow adorned ballerina flats and some really fun lightweight minimalist earrings.I’m going to try and make this more of a regular thing. I haven’t blogged personally in a while but I have been contributing posts for CraftyChica.com and also sharing my makes on instagram. Follow me at @avaslookbook to keep up with us and see the stuff that doesn’t make it up on the blog.

Jeans: Crazy 8 | Shoes: Zara | Socks: Asos | Earrings: Nordstrom BP similar here

Talk to you soon!

Xx Meagan and Ava

I’m over on CraftyChica.com sharing a Frida Kahlo costume DIY. Head on over there and check it out!!

WWW.CRAFTYCHICA.COM

Xx Meagan

Long time no talk! Good news, I have a new tutorial up on www.CraftyChica.com. Find out how I marble dyed fabric to make this Hide and Seek Tunic.

Click here for all the details!

Ava’s birthday has come and gone and now I have a six-year-old. As I type this I still cannot believe I’m the mother of a 6-year-old! It’s absolutely crazy how fast time flies by. It really is true what “they” say about the days being long and the years being short. I wouldn’t trade one minute of it for the world.I wanted to share a little bit about the outfit I made Ava for her birthday this year, a polka dot Blake dress and a blush faux fur vest. I wanted her birthday outfit to be  comfy, yet fancy (of course) and I’ve being really into muted tones lately so I thought it’d be really fun to see how I could incorporate that into her look.To start off, I knew I wanted to use the Blake dress pattern. For the fabric, I opted for a rose quartz colored organic french terry. I loved the feel and drape but alone it just didn’t seem wow enough for what I was going for. So, I grabbed some black polka dot mesh from Blackbird Fabrics and decided to use it as an overlay on top of the french terry. I LOVE the way the two pair together. The mesh unexpectedly gave the dress a really nice dimension. I cut the pattern in a straight size 5 and I didn’t stray at all from the pattern instructions. As expected, Mingo and Grace never disappoints.I didn’t originally make this vest to go with Ava’s birthday dress. In fact I made it a few months ago as seen in this instagram post

Ava looking the part while shopping at @vintagebymisty today. Doesn't she fit right in with the faux fur vest I made her? ✨😊😎

A photo posted by Meagan Mora (@avaslookbook) on Dec 19, 2015 at 3:13pm PST

and she didn’t wear it on her actual birthday. Her party was at Peter Piper Pizza this year and an over sized fur vest just might have looked a touch overdressed for the occasion. Ha! But, when I was getting her outfit ready for our little birthday outfit photo session, I couldn’t help but try it on her to see how it would look. Aaaand I loved it! I designed this vest myself so I was pretty excited with how cute it looked on with her dress.All in all Ava’s birthday was a raging success. She had an amazing time, and looked super cute doing so. I already love the age six thus far and I can’t wait to witness all the growing and accomplishing she’ll do this year! I’m perpetually proud of this babe.Xx Meagan and Ava

It’s that time again! I’m back over on CraftyChica.com to share a fun tutorial on how to DIY heart resin buttons. I used them to make a cute Valentine’s day outfit for Ava. Hop on over there and check it out! 

As promised I’m back to share the next two garments I made using Meg Nielsen’s collection of children’s sewing patterns. It’s no secret that I love mixing prints and textures. So for this look, I opted for a black stretch velvet for the Mini Briar and a marble print neoprene for the Mini Virginia leggings.

I love the luxurious look and feel of velvet. And while it is fun to pack on all the details, I thought it’d be nice to just let the texture and sleek black color of the fabric have all the glory. So I decided to go with version 4, a long sleeve high low sweater. This also opened up the opportunity for me to do something cool on the bottom.

I’m a big fan of all things marble, so when I saw this black marble print neoprene from Mood Fabrics I knew I needed it in my life. I’ve sewn with Mood’s printed neoprene before, it’s good stuff. I made a Twisted Tank a few months back with the crackle print and I love the way it came out.

It's Friday I'm in love 🍬✨

A photo posted by Meagan Mora (@avaslookbook) on Aug 14, 2015 at 2:39pm PDT

As for the Mini Virginia Leggings pattern, it was a delight. I really enjoyed making them. Since Ava is on the tall, skinny side I cut a size 5 width with a size 6 length. This worked out great because I have a pet peeve for loose fitting leggings. That’s always my dilema when buying ready to wear pants for her, they’re either too baggy and perfect length or too short and perfect fit. Another excellent excuse to make clothes for your kids, custom fit!

All in all I really recommend these patterns. The cuts are great fitting, the directions are thorough , and it really doesn’t take very long to make either of these. For more info on Meg’s line of children’s Patterns, take a look at my post on the lengthened Mini Briar. I have one more outfit up my sleeve using Megan Nielsen’s patterns, so be on the look out for that coming soon. Until next time!

xx Meagan and Ava

Happy New Year! May your 2016 be filled with love, happiness, and prosperity! I’m so excited to show you guys my newest make.

I have a weakness for simple knit tee dresses. I love that for one, they’re comfortable for Ava. She can easily put them on and take them off herself. Because getting a tired cranky 5-year-old dressed in the morning isn’t always the easiest task, amiright?! Two, they’re usually pretty easy to construct. And three, the simple silhouette allows the versatility of using either large statement prints or simple solid fabrics. So I’m always looking out for new or fun ways to make them. One day I received an email from the amazing Megan Nielsen of Megannielsen.com asking if I would like to review her new line of patterns for kids ages 2-12. I was ecstatic!

Megan Nielsen has a wide variety of women’s sewing patterns to choose from. Her newest venture into the children’s pattern market is so exciting because she does women’s wear so well. There are three patterns in the collection, the Mini Tania Culottes, the Mini Briar Sweater and Tee, and the Mini Virginia Leggings. I’m such a sucker for mommy and me outfits, so it’s great that these are mini versions of her women’s patterns.

If you’ve had the pleasure of making any of the looks in Meg’s newest collection you’ll know that there aren’t any dresses in it. I just really wanted to see what the Mini Briar would look like as a dress. The pattern is very well designed. The fit was perfect and the instructions were really clear. The high low hem was especially appealing to me! There are actually 4 views to choose from, short sleeve crop, long sleeve crop, short sleeve tee, and long sleeve tee. All I did to achieve the lengthened look was to add around 7″ of length to the middle of the front and back pattern pieces of the long sleeve tee view. Super simple! Now you can make 5 different garments with just one pattern.

I promise you wont be disappointed in any of the patterns in this collection. I highly recommend! Stay tuned to see my versions of the Mini Tania Culottes and Mini Virginia leggings which i’ll be sharing soon. Until then, happy creating!

xx Meagan and Ava