Thanks for joining our blog tour of awesome designers! We are a having great time posting about the creations they made. (By “we,” I mean “I.” But sometimes it sounds less like me in my pajamas sitting at my computer in the studio late at night if I say “we.” So thanks for joining our party! Next stop–April!
You know when you meet someone and you just like each other right away? That is how I felt about lovely, petite April Rhodes. It was just her birthday and I found out she is only 28! But with young kiddos in tow, and a hip brick & morter/online shop in Columbus, Ohio called Sew to Speak (which she owns with her cool mom, Anita), she seems to have all the time in the world to move into her next venture–designing patterns. She just designed her first sewing pattern called the Staple Dress. And it sincerely rocks. It is a go-to dress–an everyday dress. You are going to make this dress in every fabric (and most especially voile) and wear it all the time. It is super flattering and comfortable.
I watched April go through the capitulations of designing her pattern (which, let me just say, is no easy task) and she was nervous and hesitant. I watched her pull up hard on her boot strings and get ‘er done. And she did it so well. This little birdie will fly high. Kindness and warmth will keep her up. She is just so lovely. People often say to me, “it’s not personal, it’s business.” I hate that sentence. Mainly because I don’t believe it is true. This community and these connections are personal and important and the bedrock of my business is kindness. I choose industry partners based on nothing more than kindness and intuition. April is one of those people. Now go order her Staple Dress pattern here. And go enter to win a Layer Cake of the entire range of COLLAGE fabric on her wonderful blog post here!
Anyway, here is what she made with COLLAGE. She used Scatter in Bauhaus Red to make this fab dress for me. And I am in love with it. Thank you, April!
All gorgeous and amazing photos of the COLLAGE stuff are courtesy of Jill McNamara. |
And what up with my friend Jess looking like a real model in that dress? She looks amazing! Thanks for schlepping down to the photo shoot, Jess!
Look at the thoughtful little label April sewed into the neckline using the selvage. She explains how to do it in her post here:
Oh Carrie. Thank you so much for your kindness and support durning the process of writing and producing my first pattern.
You have been so inspiring to me and your fabric seriously rocks!!
You’re flying high and it’s beautiful to watch! You deserve all the happiness in the world!!! Can’t wait to hug ya in Portland!
🙂
Cute dress and fabric.
That April is the BEST! 🙂
What an amazingly creative idea to use the selvedge for a tag!
A very gracious dress.