Every time I test a new pattern, I am amazed by what lovely creations my testers make.  I am very happy to be sharing with you today the tester photos from my Tanja Boyshort pattern.

Iris Bralette, Style D
​Tanja Boyshort, Style A

Iris Bralette: This bralette combines four different fabrics all in shades of light pink, and all from the same source: Spandex World.  The cradle is milliskin, the cups are matte glissenette, the back band is powernet, and the lining is a stretch mesh.

Tanja Boyshort: This is a super soft rayon/spandex print from Girl Charlee.  

Iris Bralette: Lace is from Cindy Lace Show on Etsy, pink piping elastic along the neckline and  underarm edge is from Sew Sassy, pink 1/2" strap elastic and plush picot elastic are from Tailor Made Shoppe.

Tanja Boyshort: 3/8" plain picot elastic is from saleandbargain on Ebay.

Iris Bralette: I wanted to play with having sheer cups (and back extension) with lace overlays.  The only difficult part is finding all the fabrics in matching colors.   I took a chance and ordered the fabrics from the same source, and luckily they match decently well.  The lace is more of a lavender than pink, but I think it still goes well with the other fabrics.

Tanja Boyshort: Along with the floating gusset, my other pet peeve about most boyshorts is that the leg openings are usually finished with a plain folded back hem.  I feel like this gets stretched out during the day and then too much of my bum cheek hangs out the back.  I prefer to feel secure, so I created an option for the boyshort that has an elastic finish on the leg.

Hello, sewing friends!  Yesterday I learned there was a problem with using PayPal on my website.  So if you tried to make a purchase and it didn't go through, I apologize.  It has been fixed now, and hopefully will keep working.

Just a reminder that through the month of April, 50% of the proceeds from the Tanja Boyshort will be donated to my local food pantry, the Harker Heights Food Care Center.  This is a difficult time we are living in, and I want to do my part and help those in need.

And now, here is another featured set of the week:

Hello, sewing friends!  These are certainly strange times we are living in.  I've spent the last few weeks holed up in my house, like so many people, feeling a bit isolated.  It's at times like this that I am so thankful to have hobbies to keep my mind and hands busy.  I hope you have been able to find some comfort with your sewing, just like I have.

I have tried to carry on with my life as normally as I can, and that means I have continued designing patterns.  I am happy to share with you today my latest creation, the Tanja Boyshort.

Now, on with the details of the pattern...

I enjoy wearing boyshorts under summer dresses, but my main pet peeve is the floating gusset.  In RTW boyshorts, the gussets are usually just tacked down in a few spots and flop around the inside of the short.  I find this a bit annoying and uncomfortable.  My goal with this pattern was to create a boyshort style with an enclosed gusset, and also to offer a variety of finishing options.

Waist and leg openings can be finished with lace...

Fabric bands...

Picot elastic...

Or a covered elastic waist and folded up hem.

Waist: 26-50” / 66-127cm
Hip: 35-60” / 89-152cm

Self fabric: Stretch knits with at least 40% stretch.
Suggestions: Cotton/spandex jersey, rayon/spandex jersey, bamboo/spandex jersey, stretch mesh, stretch lace.

Style B: for the waist and leg bands use a knit with excellent recovery and at least 5% spandex and 50% stretch, such as cotton/spandex jersey or nylon/spandex jersey.

​Gusset Lining: cotton jersey. 

Style A: 3/8” elastic, such as picot or piping. Fold over elastic (FOE) can also be used.
Style C: stretch lace trim, up to 2 1/2”/6cm wide.
Style D: 1/4-3/8”/6-9mm wide plain soft elastic. 

For more information, see the listing in my pattern store.

Until next time, stay safe and healthy, and happy sewing.

Hello, my sewing friends.  Things are a bit scary out there, aren't they?  So many events shutting down, schools closing, and the first prospective case of COVID-19 has been reported in my county.  My close sewing friends and I all fall into the high-risk categories, so I'm feeling a bit nervous.  

I don't know about you, but at times like this my hobbies become even more important to me as a way of dealing with stress and keeping my mind occupied.  I've been spending a lot of time out in my garden planting vegetables, and at my sewing machine with some quilting and easy sewing projects.  I hope you are finding the same sort of comfort in your crafting projects too.  On that note, I decided to have a pattern sale in the hopes that this weekend we can all stay in and do a bit of mindless sewing with some easy projects. 

Now until March 20, 2020 all patterns are 20% off when you use coupon code STAYHOMEANDSEW.  This coupon works both in my pattern store on this website and my Etsy store. 

Stay calm and sew on.  And wash your hands :) Be safe, my friends, I'll be praying for all of us.

Is this set looking familiar?  After yesterday's post about creating the strappy pattern hack for the Elodie Briefs, I decided to make this my set of the week.  This also uses the same lace fabric as last week's set, aqua lace.

When I design a pattern, I try to offer four style variations.  Sometimes I'll have ideas for more variations, but, for a number of reasons, I can't include them all in the pattern.  When I was working on the Elodie Briefs I had more ideas for lace overlays, which will be used for a new pattern in the future, and I also had an idea for a strappy option that uses elastic along the sides instead of the side panels.  The pattern was already long enough, so I decided to offer the instructions here as a pattern hack.  I hope you enjoy.

In case you missed it, here is Part 1 of the Elodie Briefs tester roundup. Now we continue to Part 2 of the Elodie Briefs tester roundup.