Mummykins and Me Madison Blouse/Dress

Recently, I was lucky enough to be selected as a tester for a new pattern from Mummykins and Me. While I had heard of this designer before, it was mostly for her children's patterns, but what I didn't know was that most of her patterns are also available in adult sizes as well! The pattern I tested was the Madison Dress and Blouse (also available in girls sizes) I was originally going to sew up the blouse version with the bow collar, but when I looked in my fabric stash and chose a lovely lightweight floral cotton, I could just see it made into a nice little A-line dress.

I made a XXL, graded out to the 4XL at the hips and hemline. These patterns go up to a very generous 5XL size, which is great for us larger ladies. I didn't use any interfacing in the button placket, to keep the whole garment light and airy, and utilised clear buttons so as not to distract from the floral print.

While this is certainly not my usual style, I really love how it has turned out! The little gathered sleeve heads, and neat little collar, make it very sweet and feminine, which I always love. Like most PDF pattern designers, Mummykins and Me patterns have wonderfully detailed instructions, that seamstresses of any experience level could follow, and as a bonus, for those more advanced seamstresses such as myself, they include a 1 page cheat sheet of brief instructions. I mostly used this so I didn't have to scroll through pages and pages of instructions that I didn't need. The instructions also include options for seam finishing, so you don't need to have an overlocker, or spend time working out the best way to finish all the seams.

If that wasn't enough to tempt you with this pattern, here are a few of the other lovely ladies who tested this versatile pattern!

Valerie from Elegantine made a beautiful silky blouse

Tenille from Tenille's Thread made a great wardrobe basic white blouse (which makes me want to make one too)

Loni from Havin Sew Much Fun made this cute girls blouse

Amy from Anna's Heirloom Boutique also made a delightful girls version with some cute print coordination.

Zoe of Soul fed on thread made this cute incarnation, and if you head over to her post, you can also see the adorable matching doll size one she made!

I can definitely see myself making a blouse version with the neck tie in the future, but I am also thinking of hacking it slightly and making use of those shoulder yokes to create a cute vintage western style shirt. But for now, I am already making my second Mummykins and Me pattern, the Amsterdam Coat!

Dixie