Mama Ella and Pink Flamingos

It’s been several months now when I won a box of fabric through Sewing Portfolios from LA Finch Fabrics. Thank you soooo much Candice from Sewing Portfolios and LA Finch Fabric for the wonderful prize box! This appreciation is long overdue! I was so excited to open the box and the fabric is super soft and amazing, but…it wasn’t the cotton, French Terry, swim spandex, etc that I would usually buy. Most of it was the popular double brushed poly that so many people love. It was out of my comfort zone! I was stumped on what to make with it and a little scared too! Over the months that passed, I kept admiring the beautiful colors and prints, keeping different patterns in mind. Well, I finally did it; I cut into this beloved flamingo fabric!

I don’t see it on the site any more but they have a couple of others. And who doesn’t love flamingos, right? Designs with flamingos always draw me in and I don’t even know why, haha!

 

I’ve had the Mama Ella pattern from Made for Mermaids for quite a while, buying it when there was a big sale. I’ve only ever made some of the freebie patterns which I loved. There was no reason to get any others, since a lot of patterns are similar to what I have from different designers. Since this was my first pattern for me from Made for Mermaids, I was nervous about cutting into my gorgeous fabric. The only alteration was to shorten as I usually do for my 5′ 2″ height. The ruffled version is what drew me to the pattern, but I thought it might look too little girlish in the pink fabric. I figured this would be a quick top to sew since it’s basically a fancy tank with several options you can see here. Well, I was wrong, haha! The double brushed poly is super soft, but also slinky and hard to smooth and cut. I’m old fashioned when it comes to cutting, still using pins and scissors for the most part. (The rotary cutter makes my neck and arm hurt). Then as I’m sewing (and not reading ahead), I was pleasantly surprised when the neck and arm finishing ended up to be proper binding rather than bands…until I tried to sew them on. I wasn’t happy with it at all so picked the stitches out and tried again, and again until I got a nice finish, see?

Finally my top is done, ending up longer than I usually wear. I like the design of it and the strappy X back but I’m not really sure the pale pink is a good color for me. There is also some wrinkling going on at my shoulder seams. I’m not sure if it’s too wide or needed to be shortened. Hmmm, something to think about before sewing it again.

 

I’m wearing my new top here with my Real Deal Jeans shorts from Winter Wear Designs. It goes really well with the bright pink topstitching on my jean shorts but the top is so long, you can’t see it. Oh well…I do love it, can you tell?