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HI DARLINGS! One of my favorite things to do in my home is to host guests, I love having friends and family visit so when they do I want to make sure they are comfortable. I partnered with WALMART this summer to help get our guest room in order. WALMART HOME always has really great prices on decor, bedding and so much more to make your home a stylish and comfortable place everyone wants to visit. I found the prettiest BEDDING for our guest, it is full of color and even some sparkle. I really love the PILLOWS too! I love displaying towels for our guests so I picked up these great BASKETS. I can always find great towels in a ton of colors in with WALMART HOME long with bathroom accessories and small touches to make the room feel welcoming like this beautiful CERAMIC SET and CANDLE. I love how easy it is shop WALMART online or in store. Fast shipping and in store pick ups make shopping for what you need a breeze.

HI DARLINGS! Today’s post is all about my DIY trousers using Simplicity #9381 with a sew-along. These pants are so freaking awesome and so comfy to wear. I designed this pattern with comfort in mind and wanted trousers that I could wear with sneakers, and I would still look great. I just filmed the sew-along for these DIY trousers so that you can watch it now on my YOUTUBE CHANNEL. I also uploaded the sew-along for #9379, my knit dress; I posted it HERE. I wanted to start filming more sew-along this month, but with so much going on since the opening of Melanated Fabrics in Atlanta, my time has been seriously limited. It has been a big undertaking, but we are so proud of it and have received great feedback from customers. In addition, we just restocked the store with new fall fabrics, many of which will be great for these DIY trousers. Table of Contents DIY TROUSERS FABRIC CHOICE USING PRINTS FOR TROUSERS PATTERN REVIEW OF SIMPLICITY #9380 STYLING OPTIONS FOR YOUR DIY TROUSERS DIY TROUSERS FABRIC CHOICE One of the things I love about a great pants pattern is that you can make them out of so many fabrics and get completely different looks. For example, I made these DIY trousers in blue suiting that I had in my stash for a long time, but I can just as easily make them from rayon or light-weight denim. We have a ton of new suiting coming to MELANATED FABRICS this week so stay tuned for that. USING PRINTS FOR TROUSERS As I made these DIY trousers, I wondered why I don’t make more pants from print fabrics. I always love pants in funky prints when I see them, but for some reason, I always reach for solid fabrics instead. I think I am going to try to be more adventurous next time and try using one of our rayon prints or plaid fabrics. PATTERN REVIEW OF SIMPLICITY #9380 Ok, so I am not going to review my own pattern, but I will share a few things. If you are not following my sew-along, these are still pretty simple to make. The fly front is pretty straight forward and if you have done one before, you should have no problems. I always suggest that you sew the inseam first and baste your side seams so that you can fit them and make any adjustments before serging or attaching the waistband. STYLING OPTIONS FOR YOUR DIY TROUSERS I wore m DIY trousers with this adorable sweater knit top from Target, my Gucci sunglasses, and my leopard print heels but you can style these many different ways, here are few options: Booties, cami and denim jacket Sneakers, tee, and a leather jacket Sweater, sneakers and trench jacket Button up shirt, heels and blazer for a classic look

HI DARLINGS! as promised here is the second pattern for fall. This double breasted jacket and pleated pants are amazing. They are great together and also as separates for some mix and matching of your wardrobe, both being staples pieces we should all have. The pant pattern has an option for a knee length pair of shorts that you can wear with tights and boots! Patterns will start shipping to stores soon and I will have sew-along videos for these too.

HI DARLINGS! I a so excited about my new fall patterns. I am relaxing three this season including one mens pattern that I know for sure I will be making myself too. NORRIS will be sharing a blog post soon so make sure to check his blog out too. I will post the second women’s pattern tomorrow but today let’s start with my dress with two views. I love both views but I think the navy with the long sleeves and fitted bottom is definitely my first pick. I used a RIB KNIT from MELANATED FABRICS that is perfect for this dress. You can make it from any KNIT SOLID or PRINT. The sew-along will be up soon on my YOUTUBE CHANNEL so make sure to be subscribed. My new fall patterns will start shooing to stores by the end of the month.

HI DARLINGS! Not too much time today as we are gearing up for the grand opening of our brick and mortar Melanated Fabrics store and creative center! There is so much to do and I am so excited. We sold out of spots for our grand opening weekend in 24 hours but we will be open to anyone who wants to visit the following Monday July 26th. I have not had a lot of time to sew but I did manage to make this really easy VOGUE 9101 dress using one of the DOUBLE BRUSHED KNIT PRINTS in MELANATED FABRICS, click HERE to see our many options. This fabric is one of our favorite knits. THE FABRIC THE LOOK

HI DARLINGS! I had been dying to post these pics but with the schedule, it’s been tough to blog. I love my SIMPLICITY #9329 dress pattern, it’s a cute dress with great sleeves, two lengths, and an open back for some added sexiness, lol. You could make the ties wider and lower them so they could cover your bra if you wanted to modify it. I made this using linen from my stash that I have had for a long time waiting for the perfect dress. The linen works great because it holds the shape of sleeves really well. There are some great WOVEN SOLIDS and WOVEN PRINTS on MELANATED FABRICS that would be great! The SEW-ALONG is at the end of the post or you can watch it on my YOUTUBE channel. THE LOOK SEW WITH ME

HI DARLINGS! Damn, it has been a minute since I have posted but what can I say, things have been busy! We have started working on the new brick and mortar for Melanated Fabrics in Atlanta and the creative center so it has been a crazy few months. I have had very little time to sew but I was missing it so much that I thought why not make something fast and easy that I don’t have to fuss with. I pulled out my favorite robe pattern which I made and posted HERE. I used some mid weight crepe from my stash that I had been trying to figure out what I wanted to make with it for some time now. It was perfect! and I had enough for my TNT cami pattern by True Bias. These are both easy and fast projects to sew up when you need to kick your sewjo back in gear. I rocked some jeans I picked up at Target, lol THE LOOK

HI DARLINGS! I am so smitten with this striped dress I made using McCalls #8037, which I made and posted before HERE. I wanted to make it again but I wanted it to be less dressy so I made the shorter version. I took it up 4″ because I am not that tall so I needed to shorten it so it was mid-calf on me. The dress is fun and easy to sew and although I like this deep neckline on me you can certainly modify it to close up the center front a bit. I used a striped fabric from MELANATED FABRICS which is a dream to sew! It has great stretch, It is not super thin, and feels wonderful. It’s our STRIPE PERLA KNIT which we have in stock, we also have it in a few solid colors too. THE LOOK

HI DARLINGS! I am feeling very pretty in my avocado monochromatic look today. Everyone is sewing up this SHOULDER PAD tee by JUST PATTERNS and I see why, I love it and have already made it twice, lol. I am planning on a third with a few changes. The skirt is actually the bottom portion of THIS dress that I posted last week. It’s the VOGUE #1672 DRESS that I made in a MELANATED FABRICS Olivia Zebra Print. I loved the skirt portion so much when I tried it during the fitting process that I knew I would be making it again but just as a skirt. I also added pockets because duh, pockets are awesome. THE FABRIC The fabrics are the RILEY KNIT in AVOCADO and the CRINKLE COTTON in PISTACHIO. We have both of these fabrics in several colors and you can search the site with “Riley” for the knit or “Crinkle” for the cotton. THE LOOK

HI DARLINGS! Okay so about a month ago I finally started my journey into shoemaking. It had been a long time coming since almost 8 years ago I bought a pdf book on making shoes but it was very outdated and just made it all seem too complicated. I forgot all about it until last year when I bought I Can Make Shoes book and signed up for her SHOEMAKING COURSE (if you use code MIMIG you get 10% off the course) I still didn’t get started because the list of supplies was long, lol and I didn’t feel like sourcing it all BUT the creator, Amanda, was kind enough to send me the basic tool kit to get started and I went off to buy leathers and other supplies I needed. Within a week I was making my first pair. I made a pair of sneakers prior to this which you can see HERE but this is a different process altogether. I learned so much and felt so equipped to make my next pair which I did and post on my IG. This pair is very special to me because I never imagined I could make my own shoes! The first pair above is far from perfect but they are amazing to me and really comfortable. I am for sure obsessed and making shoes like crazy! This is how I styled my first pair of DIY shoes. THE LOOK

HI DARLINGS! If you missed it Brittnay and I did a Sew-in 30 live on the Melanated Fabrics IG page and we had a blast. I picked an easy pattern that I have made before because I knew I would not have much time that week to finish it. I made my TNT wrap dress using NEW LOOK #6581 and used our most luxurious modal rayon sweater knit, it is divine. I also have a sew-along to this wrap dress which I posted below. THE FABRIC This modal rayon knit is beautiful and will elevate the most basic garment into something wonderful, it also feels pretty amazing on the body. You can find out SWEATER KNITS HERE. THE LOOK

HI DARLINGS! I think I have made these pants from my SIMPLICITY #9114 pattern at least 6 times, lol. It is a great pattern that works for both curvy and non-curvy women and it has so many possibilities. This time I added width to the leg by creating a straight line down from the hem to hem and added a cuff. I plan to make a few more of these in our CRINKLE COTTON, it really is the perfect pant and considering how difficult it can be to fit a good pant pattern this one doesn’t require much. When you find a good TNT pattern it’s like finding gold. FABRIC OPTIONS Our LYOCELL TWILL is pretty much the perfect fabric for this pant for a softer look. The CRINKLE COTTON has a stiffer feel which would be great if you want a more casual pants. We also have some beautiful PRINTS in stock for a more flowing trouser. I used some of our suiting fabric for the plaid pants but we sold out rather quickly. We have some other options HERE, HERE and HERE. THE LOOK