sewpony: issie top

Issie top #1

August 15, 2018

Today I am sharing one of the Issie tops I made for myself with the recently released Issie pattern for women. When the pattern was released last week I hadn't had a chance to have some of the tops I made photographed since I was working full time during the day and the weather was wet and grey at night. I finished this top on the weekend. It is made from grey sparkly French terry I found at Spotlight. Unfortunately, the sparkles are hard to see in these photos, but I appreciate the subtle bling.

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issie top tour - day 9

November 10, 2017

Today is the final day of the Issie top tour! You can purchase the pattern HERE. For the next 12 hours only you can receive a 10% discount on the Issie top pattern by using code: SSIERELEASE10. Today four fabulous ladies are sharing their creations today! Jenya from While she was sleeping, Emily from Enjoyful Makes, Katrien from Kaatjenaaisels and Qwinta from Made by Larth!

Jenya from While she was sleeping is my long time Aussie blogging buddy and she has helped me with testing and promotion of all of my patterns! I am so grateful for that. Jenya is a lovely Russian born lady who lives a few hours away from me. She loves to sew for her two sweet daughters and also for herself. She made the sweetest Issie top and dress for her younger daughter. Head over to While she was sleeping to see both beauties!

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ISSIE TOP TOUR - DAY 8

November 08, 2017

It is the second last day of the Issie top tour today...I hope you have enjoyed seeing all the wonderful tops and dresses! You can purchase the Issie top pattern HERE. Use code: ISSIERELEASE10 to receive 10% off your order (expires this Friday). Today I have Marieke, Emi and Debora along sharing their beautiful Issies!

Marieke is from Netherlands and sews wonderful things for her family. She blogs at Creative Catoo and has an IG account called: Fabricandthemachine. Marieke was the third place winner in my Dressed in sewpony sewing contest with this beautiful Tic tac toe dress. Look at this stunning Issie top she has made in gold and black. Head over to Marieke's blog to see more!!

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issie top tour - day 7

November 06, 2017

Just three days left of the Issie top tour! Remember you can still purchase the pattern with a discount of 10% by using code ISSIERELEASE10. You can purchase the Issie top pattern in English, Dutch and French and can find it HERE! Today I am pleased to have Jill, Jenny and Susanne along to share their Issies!

No doubt you already know the uber talented Jill from Kneesocks and Goldilocks (IG). Jill is a lovely lady who lives in Canada with her husband and four children. She works as a fertility specialist and sews in her down time! Mostly for her sweet little daughter June who makes everything shine! She is just cutest!! Jill and I paired up in the creation of the Juliette dress and top and she was a pleasure to work with on this project. Jill sews late at night but seems to be able to squeeze another hour out of each day with the level of her sewing productivity!

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issie top tour - day 6

November 03, 2017

Today is Day 6 of the Issie top pattern tour! Remember, until the end of the tour you can receive 10% off the purchase price of the Issie top by using code: ISSIERELEASE10. Don't forget you can also now purchase the pattern in Dutch and now also French!! I love that sewing and blogging has allowed me to 'meet' people from all around the world. If I ever have a few weeks to spare travelling Europe, I would have many people I would love to meet in person!! Today are four lovely ladies living in Denmark, Portugal, Germany and Jerusalem! Trine, Marta, Annika and Maarika have made some sensational Issie tops they are sharing today! They are all so different and also brilliant!

First up is Maarika from Liivi & Liivi! I met Maarika when she helped me with testing the Dear Prudence dress a couple of years ago. Since then, I have been very lucky that she has sewn all of my pattern since! I love her style and she sews amazing things for all members of her family including herself and her husband. Her daughters are both adorable and her youngest looks so sweet in her new Issie top! If you don't already follow Maarika, you must! She will inspire you to sew!!!

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issie top tour - day 5

November 01, 2017

Today is Day 5 of the Issie top pattern . Remember, until the end of the tour you can receive 10% off the purchase price of the Issie top by using code: ISSIERELEASE10. Don't forget you can also now purchase the pattern in Dutch and now also French!! Thank you so much Ariane for the French translation!! Today three more lovely ladies are sharing their Issie tops! Today I am very happy to introduce Lindsy, Eva and Dagbjort along to show you what they've sewn up with the pattern.

Lindsy is a new to me blogger/ IGer who I was lucky to have in the Issie top testing group. She is from Belgium and blogs at Stannel. She sews for all of her family including herself and her husgnad. Her daughter is so spunky and Lindsy made some gorgeous Issie tops! Doesn't her daughter look stunning in this blue Issie top? She also made her an awesome sparkly one that she will be sharing soon. Thanks for your help Lindsy!

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ISSIE TOP TOUR - DAY 4

October 30, 2017

Hello! I hope you have enjoyed the Issie top pattern tour so far. Today is the beginning of a new week with many more talented ladies sharing their makes. Remember, until the end of the tour you can receive 10% off the purchase price of the Issie top by using code: ISSIERELEASE10. Don't forget you can also now purchase the pattern in Dutch and now also French!! Thank you so much Ariane for the French translation!! Today three more lovely ladies are sharing their Issie tops! Today I am excited to introduce you to four wonderful sewers who are sharing their makes. Today I am very happy to introduce Mijke and Fabienne - two super talented sewers and lovely ladies!

Mijke lives in the Netherlands with her husband and two children - Rose and Hugo. She began the lovely Instagram account, Ridders en rozen just a few months ago and she sews the loveliest things. Mijke designed the Rose collar that features in the Issie top pattern and I have gotten to know her better over the past couple of months. Mijke is a beautiful person inside and out and I am thrilled to share her two Issie tops here. She made one for Rose and one for herself!!! Aren't they amazing?! Make sure to check out her account as she share another modified Issie top she made for herself yesterday! Head over to Mijke's account to see more photos!

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issie top tour - day 3

October 27, 2017

Hello! Happy Friday and I hope you will enjoy the third day of the Issie top pattern tour!! Until the end of the tour you can receive 10% off the purchase price of the Issie top by using code: ISSIERELEASE10. Don't forget you can also now purchase the pattern in Dutch! Today three more lovely ladies are sharing their Issie tops! Today I am excited to introduce you to four wonderful sewers who are sharing their makes. Today the Issie top tour takes us to Belgium, Switzerland and France!! I love that I can connect with women all over the world through my ~~obsession~~ passion for sewing.

Firstly is Isa from Beletoile. Isa is a lovely Belgian lady who lives in Belgium and loves to sew for her two daughters. She has sewn up a couple of my patterns now and always does a wonderful job. She takes beautiful flatlay photos of the outfits she sews for her daughters on Instagram and always manages to style things so beautifully! Look a this wonderful Issie top she made (above) that she cleverly sewed in ombre tones of teale and mint. This little outfit is for her baby daughter Nova.

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ISSIE PATTERN TOUR - DAY two

October 25, 2017

Today is the second day of the Issie top pattern tour!! Until the end of the tour you can receive 10% off the purchase price of the Issie top by using code: ISSIERELEASE10. Don't forget you can also now purchase the pattern in Dutch! Today three more lovely ladies are sharing their Issie tops! And it seems today is Belgium day as all of these ladies hale from this little country!

First up is Linde from VINK. I first discovered Linde a few years ago now through an image of a gorgeous collar I saw on flickr. I contacted Linde to see if she would mind if I made a tutorial for the collar that I copied from her! It was on this christmas dress I made Isabella. Fast forward around four years and I still love Linde's sewing and fortunately she has nieces whom she loves to sew for as well as her spunky (older 13 y/o) daughter, so I was lucky to have Linde test the Issie top in one of the smaller sizes.

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issie top tour - day one

October 23, 2017

Today is the first day of the Issie top pattern tour!! Over the next three weeks, 30 talented seamstresses will be sewing up my pattern and I am honoured! Until the end of the tour you can receive 10% off the purchase price of the Issie top by using code: ISSIERELEASE10. And guess what? Now you can also purchase the pattern in Dutch! Not useful if you speak English, but very useful if you speak Dutch! Thank you so much to Anke from Amore for the translation!!! Today three lovely ladies are sharing their Issie tops!

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Issie....dress!

October 19, 2017

I am sharing my third blog post for the week (unheard of!) to share another make with the Issie top pattern. Guess what? You can easily transform the Issie top in to an Issie dress! The existing pattern features the option of a top with straight side seams and waistband as well as a top with slightly flared side seams. This dress here was made by extending the side seam angle and adding around 30cm of length to the top hemline. The pattern instructions contains a table to instruct you by how much you need to lengthen your top to make a dress. And doesn't it work well as a dress? Isabella adores stretchy clothes so I hope she will get lots of wear out of this dress now that the weather is warming up.

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Issie top with Rose collar

October 18, 2017

Today I am haring an Issie top I made over the weekend with the new addition of the Rose collar! I really love this design by Mijke from Riddersenrozen. It makes the top look really elegant! When Mijke first showed me the design about ten days ago, I thought it was too close to my planned release date to include it in the pattern, and I hoped to release in a couple of weeks as a free add on. But when I sewed one up, I knew it had to make it to the pattern!! Isn't it pretty? It's also really easy to make and really only adds another five minutes to the contruction of the top. We named the collar after Mijke's lovely daughter, Rose.

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ISSIE TOP RELEASE, A SURPRISE AND TWO DISCOUNTS!

October 17, 2017

Today I am super excited to announce that the Issie top pattern is now available HERE! This pattern has been so much fun to create, test and sew. The top offers many options and is very adaptable. Today I am also letting you know about two discounts you can enjoy...You can receive 10% off the purchase price until the November 11 (10pm Melbourne time). Yes, this is a long discount as it will apply thoughout the Issie tour also. Use coupon code: ISSIERELEASE10 (apply at checkout). Read on to find out about the other lovely discount and a surprise addition to the Issie top pattern!

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issie top for emily

October 12, 2017

This week my lovely testers are sewing up the Issie top. It's a very exciting part of the process, seeing my designs being sewn up by talented sewists from around the world! Things are going well and the pattern will ready for release next Tuesday 17th October. I changed the sizing on the pattern which meant that an extra size has been added. So the Issie top will be sized from 12 months - 12 years! Yay. I needed to sew up a couple of samples to test the new sizing so I whipped up this grey Issie top today for Emily from fabrics I had in my stash. I love that woven fabrics can be used for the ruffles on this top, which means my scrap bags can be put to good use!

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issie top - apply to test (closed)...

October 07, 2017

Today I am sharing the original design of the Little Betty (now the Issie top), that I first designed over three years ago! As you may have read in my previous post, I wanted to update the pattern to include more sizes and options. This top includes the double ruffled and pieced top with deep cuffs and waistband. I love how this one turned out and who can say now to a creamy pink jersey print??? This lovely combed jersey was designed by Jenny Rosen for Birch fabrics, which I purchased at my local Spotlight. I love that Spotlight now carry a great range of designer fabrics like Birch, Cloud 9, Denyse Schmidt. I paired it with some teale/blue cotton rib.