Long time no see

Hi all,

It’s been a long time since my last post. I have been quite busy with my big plan of immigrating to Canada. That was tons of work – from sitting in IELTS exam, accessing diplomas and preparing all kinds of documents. I spent over 6 months to finish all the Canadian authorities required and finally submitted my application in April 9. Although I do not know what lies await for me in Canada, but I truly hope that it is better than what I am having now in Vietnam. Lots of Vietnamese people are moving out of the country to run away from environment pollution, extreme corruption and low quality of life and I am no exception. You may say there is no guarantee that life in a faraway country could be better or worse, but it’s always worth trying.

Now my plan has reached the waiting-for-PR period which can take at least 4 months, I am not as busy anymore. Because I can’t stand being idle, I’m back to my favorite activity of sewing and designing! I even dream of opening a tailor shop in the future when I arrive in Canada – well, there is a long way to go, but no-one taxes your dream, right?

Although I did not have time to write blog, I did try to improve my skill in designing whenever I want to escape from the stress of work and other pressure in life. I have a good friend who is a professional pattern designer in a big company in my country, and he taught me a lot in pattern making – some are secrets that professionals seldom share with other people – during our coffee talks during weekends. He also introduced me to computer-aided designing programs used by large companies and their advantages over Adobe Illustrator which most of indie designers are using.

Now besides Adobe Illustrator, I am learning to use a professional pattern drafting software called Lectra Modaris, which is a very famous computer-aided designing program used by professionals all around the world. I bet this can help me a lot in the future. Of course, this means I can share with you more professionally looking patterns. I think that making separate pattern for each size is quite time-consuming and can be inconvenient if you want to download patterns for many sizes, so I will try to come up with nested patterns. You can download just one file, print out and cut whichever size you need, or even cut between sizes if your body is not all one size. I will have a blogpost about blending sizes to your personal shape.

My little boy is now over one and half years old, and I found myself highly interested in sewing cute clothing for him. Of course, I became enthusiastic about designing for babies and kids also – they are so adorable! Don’t be surprised if you see patterns for little babies and kids in the near future! And if you are a mother, let’s expect cute designs for your darlings!

You are going to see a lot of changes in my designs, and I hope you like it!

Love XXX

Tine the Little Sewist 

Round neck short sleeve fit and flare dress pattern

(Scroll down to the end of the post for download links)

I am posting a pattern for a very popular dress that can be seen everywhere – a round neck short sleeve fit and flare dress. It is so basic and still so stylish and feminine that I’m sure any woman would have at least one in her wardrobe.

The flared skirt can be a gathered skirt or a pleated skirt. In the image below, this Carolina Herrera dress has a gathered skirt, and the technical drawing shows the pleated skirt. Each will give you a nice dress – the gathered one is more casual (and requires less attention to sew) than the pleated one.

If you are sewing with fairly thick and bodied fabric, I recommend you to use the pleats – they will not bulk up your waist. If you use thin and flowy fabric, any choice is fine.

This pattern is a regular fitting one, with added eases as shown in the table below:

Ease around bust	9.00 cm	3.54 in
Ease around waist	12.00 cm	4.72 in
Ease around hips	10.50 cm	4.09 in
Ease around full hips	7.00 cm	2.76 in
Ease around overarm	12.00 cm	4.72 in
Ease around wrist	12.00 cm	4.72 in

The pattern is created in pdf format using A4 paper. I can also create the pattern in other paper sizes (A0 to A4, Letter, Tabloid), so please inform me if you need them.

Print the patterns on A4 paper at actual size/no scaling/100%. Not sure how to print and cut the patterns? Check the guide here.

Do you want to add side seam pockets to the pattern for additional convenience? Just go ahead because it is too easy, just follow the quick instruction here.

Again, happy sewing! I look forward to seeing your masterpiece!

XOXO

Tiên the Little Sewist

Cutting instruction:

After taping down all the pages following the instruction, the overall layout of the pattern pieces is much like this (the arrangement of pattern pieces will vary a bit with sizes because I want to utilize all space to result in least number of pages):

The cutting instruction is for the garment with facings. If you choose to sew it with bias binding, skip the front facing and back facing pieces. If you choose to sew with bodice lining, skip the facing pieces and cut a set of front and back pieces in lining fabric.

A. Front Skirt - 1pcs

B. Back Skirt - 2pcs

C. Sleeve - 2pcs

D. Front - 1pcs

E. Back - 2pcs

F. Front Facing – 1pcs + Fusible Interfacing – 1pcs

G. Back Facing – 2pcs + Fusible Interfacing – 2pcs

Download links for the dress:

Check for your size in the Size Chart before downloading. Not finding your size? Comment your height, bust – waist – hip measurements in the comment box below and I will send you the custom-made pattern for you as soon as I can!

Petite XS	Regular XS
Petite S	Regular S
Petite M	Regular M
Petite L	Regular L
Petite XL	Regular XL
Petite XXL	Regular XXL

Super easy A line mini dress pattern

Hi there,

It’s been a week since my last post, because I have been on summer vacation. We had a great time enjoying seafood and bathing in the sun. I got so tanned that when we came home, my neighbor could barely recognize me, ha ha.

And inspired by the vacation, I am sharing today this super easy A line minidress. It will only take you an hour or more to have a wonderful piece of clothing to wear to a summer vacation, or anywhere that you would want to be comfortable.

This pattern is a regular fitting one, with added eases as shown in the table below:

Ease around bust	9.00 cm	3.54 in
Ease around waist	12.00 cm	4.72 in
Ease around hips	10.50 cm	4.09 in
Ease around full hips	7.00 cm	2.76 in
Ease around overarm	12.00 cm	4.72 in
Ease around wrist	12.00 cm	4.72 in

The pattern is created in pdf format using A4 paper. I can also create the pattern in other paper sizes (A0 to A4, Letter, Tabloid), so please inform me if you need them.

Print the patterns on A4 paper at actual size/no scaling/100%. Not sure how to print and cut the patterns? Check the guide here.

Do you want to add side seam pockets to the pattern for additional convenience? Just go ahead because it is too easy, just follow the quick instruction here.

Again, happy sewing! I look forward to seeing your masterpiece!

XOXO

Tiên the Little Sewist

Cutting instruction:

After taping down all the pages following the instruction, the overall layout of the pattern pieces is much like this (the arrangement of pattern pieces will vary a bit with sizes because I want to utilize all space to result in least number of pages):

The cutting instruction is for the garment with facings. If you choose to sew it with bias binding, skip the front facing and back facing pieces. If you choose to sew with full lining, skip the facing pieces and cut a set of front and back pieces in lining fabric.

A. Front - 1pcs

B. Back - 2pcs

C. Front Facing – 1pcs + Fusible Interfacing – 1pcs

D. Back Facing – 2pcs + Fusible Interfacing – 2pcs

Download links for the dress:

Check for your size in the Size Chart before downloading. Not finding your size? Comment your height, bust – waist – hip measurements in the comment box below and I will send you the custom-made pattern for you as soon as I can!

Petite XS	Regular XS
Petite S	Regular S
Petite M	Regular M
Petite L	Regular L
Petite XL	Regular XL
Petite XXL	Regular XXL

Modest work dress

(Scroll down to the end of the post for download links)

The pattern today is a design similar to the dress worn by Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. It is another dress suitable for work settings. It has all front darts moved to the neckline and made into pleats. The darts at the waist are also made into pleats.

This pattern is a regular fitting one, with added eases as shown in the table below:

Ease around bust	9.00 cm	3.54 in
Ease around waist	12.00 cm	4.72 in
Ease around hips	10.50 cm	4.09 in
Ease around full hips	7.00 cm	2.76 in
Ease around overarm	12.00 cm	4.72 in
Ease around wrist	12.00 cm	4.72 in

The pattern is created in pdf format using A4 paper. I can also create the pattern in other paper sizes (A0 to A4, Letter, Tabloid), so please inform me if you need them.

Print the patterns on A4 paper at actual size/no scaling/100%. Not sure how to print and cut the patterns? Check the guide here.

Do you want to add side seam pockets to the pattern for additional convenience? Just go ahead because it is too easy, just follow the quick instruction here.

Again, happy sewing! I look forward to seeing your masterpiece!

XOXO

Tiên the Little Sewist

Cutting instruction:

After taping down all the pages following the instruction, the overall layout of the pattern pieces is much like this (the arrangement of pattern pieces will vary a bit with sizes because I want to utilize all space to result in least number of pages):

The cutting instruction is for the garment with facings. If you choose to sew it with bias binding, skip the front facing and back facing pieces. If you choose to sew with bodice lining, skip the facing pieces and cut a set of front and back pieces in lining fabric.

A. Front Skirt - 1pcs

B. Back Skirt - 2pcs

C. Sleeve - 2pcs

D. Front - 1pcs

E. Back - 2pcs

F. Front Facing – 1pcs + Fusible Interfacing – 1pcs

G. Back Facing – 2pcs + Fusible Interfacing – 2pcs

Download links for the dress:

Check for your size in the Size Chart before downloading. Not finding your size? Comment your height, bust – waist – hip measurements in the comment box below and I will send you the custom-made pattern for you as soon as I can!

Petite XS	Regular XS
Petite S	Regular S
Petite M	Regular M
Petite L	Regular L
Petite XL	Regular XL
Petite XXL	Regular XXL

The dress pattern I share in this post has a straight skirt. If you prefer a pencil design, narrow down the side seams, starting from the fullest part of the hip (marked with notches) down to hemline. It is a really quick modification, mark a point at the hemline at the desired width of skirt hemline and draw a straight line from the hip notch to the marked point. Then redraw the seam allowance and cut the pieces. It is similar to the demonstration below – the red lines are new side lines, the blue lines are new seam allowance lines.