Mel Thorley (Handmade by Ditsy Tulip) and I share a love of pretty florals and beautiful fabric so we came up with this challenge so we can start dreaming of a beautiful seasonal wardrobe for Spring and Summer! Our sewalong is called #alittlelawnparty (thanks to Jo from the Unfinished Seamstress for the idea!), as we thought there is nothing nicer than a picnic or tea party on a Summer’s day, and we can use our favourite cotton lawns to sew our projects. Cotton lawn or similar fabric is ideal because it is lightweight and breathable for hot days, and comes in lots of pretty prints!
The sponsors/prizes are as follows…
- Sew Box – a £40 fabric voucher
- Nina Lee patterns – a PDF or print pattern of your choice
- Abakhan fabrics – a Liberty of London fat quarter bundle
- Friday pattern company – a PDF pattern of your choice
- Sew me sunshine – a £25 voucher
- Sewalicious – a £30 voucher
- Dragonfly fabrics – a £20 voucher
- Helen’s closet – a Suki kimono PDF pattern
- Alice Caroline – a Liberty of London fat quarter bundle
- Grainline studio – a $25 voucher
- Minerva Crafts – a £100 fabric hamper
- Sew over it – a PDF pattern of your choice
- Crafty Sew and So – a PDF pattern from the My Handmade Wardrobe collection
Discount Codes
Sew Me Sunshine are offering 10% off cotton lawns with the code ALITTLELAWNPARTY
Crafty Sew and So are offering 20% off floral fabrics with the code LAWNPARTY20.
We wanted to keep it quite simple so as many people can join in as possible, but these are a few guidelines:
- Share the graphics for the challenge from 15th March on your social media, you can save either of the images in this post to use or repost a screenshot
- Make your “spring themed” garment
- Photograph your make and share it on IG and any other social media using #alittlelawnparty (feel free to share your work in progress images too)
- Tag me and Mel in your Instagram posts so we can see your work!
We have some lovely sewists on board as well who will be making projects along with us!
We hope you will join in with us! Mel has also posted about the challenge here and has posted a great Youtube video on her channel with details of a beautiful project she has made for the challenge, so please have a look.
To start things off, I thought I would post a few projects I have made in cotton lawn or voile.
This is my Liberty Painted Portrait Dress which I made last year, the details are in this blog post. I loved making the pretty patchwork bib which didn’t need much fabric at all. Alice Caroline sells fat quarter bundles which are ideal for projects like this.
I made two Helmi Tunic Dresses (pattern by Named Clothing) last year as well, this one is made in Art Gallery voile which I lined in a mint polycotton from Raystitch. It’s a very versatile pattern which can be made as a shirt or dress with a button placket in the centre. It was a bit more of a challenge than previous projects as there is a button stand to make which requires some accurate sewing and cutting, but I love the result. 
I wore it on a hot summer’s day for a family trip to Whitstable. The fabric is very light and floaty so it was comfortable to wear.
My second Helmi is made from a vibrant Liberty tana lawn called ‘Oxford A’. I love the tree print which is in turquoise, teal and purple. I adjusted the shoulder slightly so it fits better than the mint Helmi I made. 
I often wear this at work as it is bright but the shirtdress design makes it a bit more formal.
These are a couple of the spring prints (the pink ones above) that I’d like to use during the challenge. I’m looking forward to seeing your projects!
Absolutely love the sound of this challenge! Pretty much my whole spring lineup is Liberty’s or voiles – can’t wait to participate!
Author
That’s great! Thanks for joining us and can’t wait to see those lovely projects ?
Is the challenge International? Would love to join too! Love from India! ?
Author
Hi Kabi, you’re welcome to join in on Instagram, pdf prizes are international but not fabric
I’m new to sewing, and started this year. I’ve made 6 garments so far so I’ll be joining as a novice ?I love spring and my birthday is May 12 so this ties in perfectly
Author
That’s great, so glad you are taking part! If you’ve made six garments you’ll be absolutely fine 🙂
This sounds exciting, however im new to sewing. I’ve only attempted one item so far. I wont even know where to start!
Author
You can start with something really simple! I’m going to post some pattern suggestions next week and will include some ideas for beginners ?
Sounds good ?
Oh I think I will join too! I have a lovely liberty lawn to make a dress from and I just ordered the Lisa Comfort ‘All the Roses’ in the mint colour to make a blouse so this would also be a good choice! Sry exciting!!! ?
Challenges like this keep me motivated. I hope I am not too late to the party!
Author
Not at all, we’re just getting started!
Author
Not at all, please do join in!
I know it’s a bit late in the day but am I still okay to join in?!
Author
Of course, we’d love you to join in!
Author
Hi Hannah, it’s not too late, we’d love you to join in!