Last year, I was lucky enough to earn a spot on the Promo Team for Raspberry Creek Fabrics. It's been an absolute fantastic year and I'm sad to see the year end.
Raspberry Creek Fabrics has always been a fantastic place to grab custom prints at a reasonable price. While they carry other fabric selections, their in-house printed CLUB line is what I love about them. And now they're about to get even better!!! (I'll come back to that... keep reading!)
For our stop on the "Favorite Things" Blog Tour, we needed to pick 3 things -- Favorite Fabric, Favorite Pattern and Favorite Sewing Notion. I can honestly say, it was harder than I imagined to pick my favorite. I decided to start by choosing my favorite base hoping that would steer me in some sort of direction. My favorite base is SWIM -- I love that it's near instant gratification. I can sew the girls a suit in way less time than I can make a dress. I don't have to stop after each step to iron which saves time! Plus, the suits get worn over and over -- we go to the pool daily because it's too hot not to! Finally, the girls love getting to "order" custom suits and I love that they actually fit (unlike store ones).
As I was deciding on which swim print, Tami made a game-changing announcement -- RCF will be able to print current prints, old prints, custom prints on a whole list of substrates! WHAT?!! (This will all be ready by the end of this month! We got a little sneak of the possibilities for this tour.) Okay, that just opened up my swim possibilities wide open! I thought about choosing a print I sewed earlier in the year, but figured I'd enlist my oldest daughter. She immediately loved the
Sage Green Mustard and White Painted Daisy Print (normally Double Brushed Poly). This print is a double win because daisies are my favorite flower! Then we grabbed coordinating
mustard stripes (another favorite of mine!) and
micro dots (normally these coordinates were on cotton spandex and French Terry). These prints are so good paired together, but in the past, they probably have never been sewn up together because they came on completely different bases. I cannot wait to make more custom combos!
I started sewing swimwear in 2018 and my very
first swim pattern I sewed was
Laguna by Little Lizard King. And it's definitely my most sewn swim pattern so it was a no-brainer for my favorite pattern. My girls love the many options that allow them to make their own choices! I also love that it's a great base pattern, making it easy to hack. The girls now look at the swimwear in the store to give me ideas.
My oldest loves the halter option, bikini length top and bikini rise bottoms and I don't dare add a ruffle anywhere. HA!! For the halter options, I personally omit the elastic in the ties because it makes for much thinner straps.
These striped bottoms have my whole heart! I think it's my favorite piece of both bikinis. She's obsessed with this suit -- in fact, she hasn't worn any of her others since I finished it. That's a total win!
My youngest has been into ruffles lately so she always requests the ruffled vintage bottoms. She originally requested the exposed ruffle on the bikini top but as I got to that step, she decided against it. (Personally, I think she just wanted to snuggle and it's hard to snuggle when I'm at my machine). She also prefers more coverage on top so I sewed up the high neckline and then used the binding finish here.
She doesn't like halters so I love that it has the option for fixed straps. If you peep the tie in her hair, I sewed up a matching hair tie for each girl to surprise them and they LOVED it.
If you've not sewn Raspberry Creek Swim, you need to try it! It's 50+ UPF Protection, 225 GSM and at least 60% 4 way stretch. Fabric content is 82% Polyester 18% Spandex and is 58/60" wide! I've been sewing RCF swim for a couple years now and our suits look just as good the second season around!
Last but not least, my favorite notion (and one of my most used) is my seam ripper! I am a perfectionist so I seam rip A LOT -- even on these two suits. This seam ripper is
Cindy's Seam Ripper from Riley Blake Designs. They sent it to me for Christmas along with some yummy minty chocolates. The shape makes it so much more comfortable to hold -- you can hold it up or down, hook it on your finger, use the outer finger rests, etc. It also can't roll off your desk onto the floor which means I haven't lost it yet. (Seriously, all my others are lost in a day). It is SHARP!! There is nothing more frustrating than a dull seam ripper and some seem to dull after a few uses. I've used this religiously for 7 months and it's just as sharp today. Plus, the little cap not only protects your seam ripper when in use, it acts as a stitch eraser! It's seriously SO good!!
And that's a wrap on our favorite things!! This has been fun and my girls have seriously enjoyed all the Raspberry Creek Fabrics makes over the last year and they are worn over and over!
For more Raspberry Creek inspiration, check out the other stops on the tour!
Made By Kates, Kainara Stitches, I Sew Best After Midnight
Sew Mary Mac, Tessa Does for Love Notions, Sew Love You
All My Spare Time, Pins and Pinot, Crafty Professor
Sew Hard of Hearing, Replicate then Deviate, Sew Sophie Lynn
Genwin Design Co., Shwin Designs, That's Sew Kari