Hey Ya’ll!! It’s Phoenix week at Petite Stitchery & Co! Phoenix is the perfect pattern for summer and we’re here to show you how to make it even better! Starting today, we’ll be showing you some hacks, mashes and add-ons that will make Phoenix your new go to pattern! Ready? Let’s get to it!
Here’s our schedule for this week!
- Faux Placket Hack
- Tie Strap Hack
- Phoenix and LAB Lounger Mash
- Ruffled Binding and Bloomers Hack
- Phoenix and Harper Mash
- Phoenix and Sorrel Culottes Mash
Faux Placket Hack
First up is Super Mod Amy. You may have seen Amy’s cute lil baby around the PSCo group, and today she’s even cuter with this Phoenix Faux Placket Hack that Amy is gonna show us how to do! Take it away Amy!
Who doesn’t love the look of a cute little placket with some fun buttons? It’s simply adorable. This is a simple faux placket, and can easily dress up a solid or plain looking Phoenix top! Neutral on babies is popular right now, so I chose a variegated sand color French terry.
First things first: cut all your pieces for your Phoenix, and zip the sides together with your serger or sewing machine. You will also need two buttons, and a chunk of fabric for your faux placket, a strip of interfacing or flannel, and two buttons.
Measure how wide your button is. Mine was ¾, so I need a 1” minimum finished placket. I cut a 2 ¾ placket, allowing room for seam allowance and stitching down. You will determine your length of your placket by simply laying your buttons (2-3-4-however many) and x stitch mark, if you desire a fun stitch.
Here is how I determined my length-I just simply laid it down on my front piece.
Remember the binding on the neckline needs to be attached with ⅜ seam allowance, so be sure to take that into consideration. Your placket should go all the way to the top of your bodice piece.
Assembling your placket:
Fold your placket piece wrong sides together. Lay a strip of interfacing or flannel down on top. Stitch down your open side and the bottom. This will create a tube. Clip your corner and flip your tube right side.
I checked my layout again to make sure I left enough room for my “x” stitch and for buttons.
Here’s the fancy version, which I encourage you all to try to finish your placket. This is not attached to my top yet.
Sew your x, if you desire, on the bottom of your placket. I did it freehand, laugh with me 😉
I happen to have a button stitch on my machine, and lined up where I wanted my bottom button first, and attached my buttons. You can always choose to sew your buttons on by hand, before or after, just take into consideration your foot width.
Once the buttons are on, you can use a zipper foot or narrow zipper foot ( what I have) to attach your placket to your front of your Phoenix bodice! Be sure it aligns at the top, and is centered. Straight stitch down one side, across bottom, and up other.
If you are wanting a slightly less intimidating way, once you’ve flipped your tube right side, stitch your decorative x. Then attach your placket to your Phoenix by going down, across bottom, and up the other side. Sew your buttons on by hand with needle and thread.
Once your placket is attached, trim the excess from the top ( mine was a bit long,) and attach your bindings as usual, per the pattern.
Here is my faux placket! Can’t wait to see yours!
~Amy
(P.S. She is sure wiggly! I did a fun Carole Baskin inspo for Phoenix bottoms! Ha!)
Tie Strap Hack
Today Super Mod Calli takes us through a super cute tie strap hack.
Take it away, Calli!
Hey friends! I love a good inspo pic and after seeing a tie dye tank with tie straps I went searching for more and knew I had to make my own version!! This hack is pretty simple but does require a little bit of math. The Phoenix I made is a size 4, so the numbers I am using will most likely be different for you.
I started by finding out the strap length for the scoop neck version in the chart. There is another chart in the instructions stating, in inches, the start and stop spots to be sewn to the bodice. This is important because the straps are not attached to the bodice at a 1:1 ratio.
Ok so here are my two straps cut out. Since we want these to be longer to tie I added 5” per side for a total of 10 extra inches. *If I was to do this again I’d add 14“-20” extra*. My straps per the chart were 13.5“, and as you can see mine is cut at 23.5”.
I have some pins placed in the folded strap. These are the marks to tell me where the straps attach to the bodice. How do we get there though? Fold your strap in half. Now original strap length is 13.5 divide by 2 is 6.75 and my tweezers are pointing at that!
Now since the strap would be sewn together normally I removed the seam allowance-ish of ⅜”. Which is where the pin is. Now per that chart in the instructions (page 15) it says to mark a spot 2.5” down. I have a pin on both sides!
These are the two end points that will be attached to the bodice. Like this!
I added elastic to my binding at a 1:1 ratio and finished per the pattern instructions! Once the binding was finished I tied it up and gave it to my daughter. Success!
Hope you love it as much as I do!
XOXO,
~Calli
Phoenix & LAB Lounger MASH!
It’s Wednesday which means Super Mod Marina is up with our next Phoenix Hack!
Hey friends! It’s Phoenix Feature week, and I’m thrilled to bring you a fun pattern mash! Now, this particular mash has been discussed basically as long as Phoenix was mentioned, and I decided to just go ahead and do it (in kid size, because that totally counts as making a muslin for myself)!
Without further ado, I present The Phoenix LAB: the romper you didn’t know you absolutely needed!
Now, for this mash you need your Phoenix pattern and the LAB Lounger pattern. Cut out a full LAB pattern piece and a cropped Phoenix pattern piece in your choice of neckline. With the Phoenix on top, line up the cut on fold line and the underarm curve of both pieces. Extend the underarm curve out slightly to match the side seam, and trim away excess paper. Now you’re ready to cut out one large piece each for the front and back of your Phoenix LAB!
Next, you’re basically going to treat the top of your lounger like the Phoenix, and bottom like the LAB. Cut out your LAB pockets and pants cuffs, and your Phoenix neck and arm bands. Construct each piece as described in the pattern, and Voila! You’re done! Start to finish, including figuring out where to mash, this took me just under an hour! I plan on making these for basically everyone, and I hope you’ll try it out, too!
~Marina
Ruffled Binding and Bloomers Hack
Today Super Mod Amy is back with more cuteness! Take it away, Amy!
It’s time for another adorable hack! Ruffles! I love me a beautiful ruffle, and below is a simple, laid out method to do both with very little effort on the gathering/spacing!
Let’s start with the bloomers!
Here I have assembled the main part of the bloomers, have my bands ready to go….. and I grabbed the ruffle off the Juliet leotard! There are many patterns that have ruffles, so just pick one in your size range! For 12mo bummies, I chose 9-12 Juliet ruffles and cut 2. On your sewing machine choose the longest stitch length and run a stitch down to gather. Here’s the Easy Part!!!! Just gather it all the way! Tight as you want!! Make sure your ruffles are equal, and mark the middle with a pin.
Leg cuffs need to go on next, so we are going to flip our ruffle RST against the hip of the leg opening, aligning center with the hip seam. I simply stuck pins also at the ends so you can see where my ruffle is, then set the band over the top. We will be attaching it all at once.
Now let’s attach those bands; ruffle is sandwiched between leg opening and band. Do take ⅜ seam allowance, it will ensure you snag that ruffle.
Now sew on the waistband per the tutorial.
Ah-ha, there’s our ruffled bloomers! A little flair at the hips 😍
NOW, Let’s tackle that top! I’ve made it quite simple, have no fear!
Start with a finished Phoenix top.
We need to make a ruffle across the chest, up one strap, across back, and down the other strap. Check my super cool drawing. Let’s measure that.
My measurement came to about 16 ¼”
DOUBLE IT.
32 ½” by how ever wide you want- I simply laid some fabric over and decided ¾” over the straps on both sides sounded fabulous.
Here is how I gauged that. It depends how THICK your finished strap is and what size you’re doing.
So I cut a big strip at 32 ½” long by 1 ½” wide. Set your machine to the longest stitch length.
You will need TWO gathering stitches. One on either side of the strap. This is so you can see where to sew your finished strap. Think of it like a road. Our strap goes down the middle, so a line on left and a line on right should work just fine.
Like so. Grab both your tails and gather it to the original measurement plus ¼” ( for closing it)
Wheeeeeee!
I measured back to my 16 ¼ and added ¼” for 16 ½”. Time for fun! Find the center front of your bodice binding. Center the ruffle between your road markers (the gathers) and just start pinning it on to your binding.
The open ends meet when you reach the back in the middle. I simply zip that shut before going on with my serger, but in hindsight would use my sewing machine to close those.
Time to Attach!
I set a straight stitch at mid range (3.5) and just started stitching between my running lines, first a little to the right …… and then …a little to the left. So two lines.
Now rip those running lines out and SMILE!
Thanks for joining me! I hope to see your ruffle hacks soon!
~Amy
Phoenix and Harper Mash
It’s Friday, which means Super Mod Calli is back, this time with a fun mash!! Have at it, Calli!
Hey all you Cool Cats and Kittens, I am back for round 2! In this edition I will show you how to mash the Phoenix and Harper. It is sew simple 😉.
I love the look of the Phoenix but summer days can get HOT. By mashing the flowy Harper and the Phoenix top I get the best of both worlds AND I don’t have to wear a bra!
You will just need your Phoenix and Harper Patterns.
For my top I decided to do the high neck with a shelf bra. Cut your shelf bra exactly per the pattern. For the top I lined the fold line up vertically and the armscyes up horizontally.
Since the Phoenix is a more fitted pattern they don’t line up width wise perfectly. Then cut out the Harper bottom and grade the side up to the Phoenix armscye!
Follow the rest of the instructions to complete your beautiful tank!
I’m out, yo! Peace!
~Calli
Phoenix and Sorrel Culottes Mash
Today Super Mod Cassie is up with an easy and adorable Phoenix Mash!
My dress loving daughter has fallen in love with Rompers this summer. And as a Mom, I’ve fallen in love with her not flashing her undies all the time, so rompers are a definite win! Today, I decided to mash Phoenix with the Sorrel Culottes for an adorable summer romper. And even better, it’s crazy easy!
Step 1! Grab your Phoenix and Sorrel patterns. You will cut the culottes like normal, and for Phoenix, you will cut like normal, choosing any neck options you want. The only difference will be that you need to cut your Phoenix a little shorter, at the Sorrel bodice length.
Step 2! Sew up your Phoenix and Sorrel as per their pattern tutorials. Just don’t hem your Phoenix top.
Step 3! Pin or clip quarter points on your Phoenix and Sorrel, then with Right Sides Together (RST), slip your culottes inside your Phoenix and match quarter points.
Step 4! Sew them together. They should match at a 1:1, you should not have to stretch either pieces.
Step 5! Ta Da! You’re done! Now go wrangle up a model to pose for you!
Go romp about in your adorable new romper!!
-Cassie
That’s it, folks, that wraps up Phoenix week! We hope you’ve enjoyed the hacks and mashes we came up with–we can’t wait to see yours!! Please share all your Phoenix makes in our Facebook group, so we, too, can bask in their awesomeness.
Until next time! Happy sewing!!