megan nielsen design diary

button up refashion swap!

Meg — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:19:43 +0000

You guys i have such a fun project to share with you today!

Two of my favourite crafty ladies, Miranda and Melissa came up with the fun idea a little while ago of doing a button up shirt refashion swap. The basic idea being that a group of bloggers get together, take a boring button up shirt, and remake it into something super cute for another lady. I was super excited when I was allocated Lizzie to create something for – she’s adorably pregnant, and with my line of maternity patterns and my other blog DIY Maternity, I obviously have a real passion for designing things for baby bumps – it was kind of a match made in heaven! I was also really excited to find out that Mim would be making something for me (spoiler alert, i’ve already seen the top and it’s freaking awesome, can’t wait to share it with you!) – we’ve worked together before on a tutorial for DIY Maternity (back when she was preggers) and she is a really talented seamstress. Honestly this whole thing was so fun – i just wish it hadn’t all fallen over my move, but such is life!!

Want to see what I made??

I honestly cannot wait to see how it looks on Lizzie! It took all of my self control to refrain from adding a peter pan collar hehehe. I wanted to make something comfortable and practical but still a bit tailored – and obviously i wanted something that would suit Liz. I included a lot of my favourite maternity details – and the great news is there is a tutorial at the end of this post so you can make one of your own!

There are some really amazing ladies involved in this!!

Jennifer of Grainline Studio
Krista of Lazy Saturdays
Liz of Cotton & Curls
Megan of Megan Nielsen Designs (that’s me!)
Melissa of I Still Love You
Miranda of One Little Minute
Miriam of MadMim
Kate of See Kate Sew
Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch
Suzannah of Adventures in Dressmaking

Today we are all sharing tutorials for how to make the item we made for another lady – and then next we’ll be having a “blog hop” to share the tops that were made for us! So don’t forget to follow the links above to see the tutorials for all the other tops that were made! Then next week i’ll share with you the top that Mim made for me. So fun right?

Here is the blog hop schedule for next week:

Monday, May 21st: Lizzie of Cotton & Curls, Krista of Lazy Saturdays
Tuesday, May 22nd: Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch, Kate of See Kate Sew
Wednesday, May 23rd: Suzannah of Adventures in Dressmaking, Miranda of One Little
Minute
Thursday, May 24th:Miriam of MadMim, Melissa of I Still Love You
Friday, May 25th: Megan of Megan Nielsen Design, Jennifer of Grainline Studio

Okie dokie – that was a mouthful!! Ready to see how i made Lizzies maternity top? Instructions below!

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Read the rest of button up refashion swap! (738 words)

landed

Meg — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:26:11 +0000

Thanks so much to everyone who wished us safe travels on our way home! We arrived in Perth on Sunday afternoon after almost 2 full days of travel – i feel like it might take us a week to recover, all those flights with the little ones was pretty intense hehe. but i feel very grateful that my mom came along to help, i don’t think we could have done it without her!

So now we’re just settling in, trying to recover from the intense jetlag, and waiting for chris to arrive next week.

The kids are certainly enjoying my parents back yard… I have to say, it sure is nice to be home :)

( photos via my instagram )

move details

Meg — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:09:45 +0000

Hey all, as you probably remember from last week – my family and I are moving to Australia this coming month – so i thought it might be helpful to let you all know a few more details before my big trip. I really don’t want anyone to feel left out of the loop, so if you’re worried about anything please ask!

My online store will be closed for about a month from May 7th to early June, while we move, settle in and get all things Megan Nielsen set up in Perth.

So if you’d like to order a pattern before I leave, then the last date to order before my move will be May 7th.

Don’t worry though, there are are a number of really great stores that stock my patterns and you will be able to order through any of them at any time, even throughout my absence. Here is the full list

I’m still going to be contactable by email over the move month, but please note that my response time may be slower, and could be up to a week (perhaps longer) over that time. For all matters relating to my store and orders the email address is store@megannielsen.com – for anything else (blog, general hi, hug etc hehe) my personal email is meg@megannielsen.com

See you in Perth! XOXO

dear Virginia

Meg — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:57:00 +0000

It’s weird to me to think that this is my last post from the Virginian countryside. I’ve really enjoyed exploring all the back roads near our small town with Chris and the kids. It’s just so unbelievably gorgeous here… i’m really going to miss my dear Virginia! Anyone remember my first post from when I moved to Virginia? Funnily enough, it was wearing a Darling Ranges dress too – seems kind of full circle i guess!

Chris told me I looked “fancy” today. hehehe. It must be the combo of my awesome new jewelery from Merl & Kristin (i love having talented friends) - and umm the hair up? Ugh i dunno about the hair people. Seriously. Today I remembered why i hardly ever wear my hair up, i truly hate the way it looks on me. I was invisioning my bun to look more like my friend Emily’s always does, but alas, i am not Em.

Ooooo and before i forget – this is the second dress i made for the Darling Ranges sew along! Funnily enough, even though this is an exact version of the first Darling Ranges dress i released in 2010 – it still feels like a new dress to me, since i never had one till now. Silly hey? Whatever, i’m enjoying it!!

And who knows what the hell this pose is, but it made me laugh, so here you go hehehe :) XOXO

Dress: Megan Nielsen, Darling Ranges dress AW2010, (get the sewing pattern)
Shoes: Anita wedge in tan c/o Wanted
Necklace: Merl Kinzie // Clydes Rebirth (i am so obsessed with Merl’s jewelery, i think i will soon go broke heheehe)
Bracelets: Kristin Hassan (here) and Melissa Esplin (gift)
Watch: Timex

as seen on: One Pearl Button

Meg — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:30:18 +0000

I really Love Alli’s version of the Darling Ranges dress! Her blog is one of my very favourites and I feel like the chambray and buttons she chose are very similar to something I would have chosen for myself. I don’t know about you, but I always feel like chambray is a neutral – kind of goes with everything you know?

Thanks Alli for sharing your creation!! See more photos of Alli’s dress on her blog

photo credit:: One Pearl Button

little pieces

Meg — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:18:54 +0000

Well you guys, I finally took the plunge and got an iPhone. And about 2.3 seconds later i was addicted to Instagram.

It’s been so fun so far sharing a few behind the scenes things, and little pieces of my everyday life -and seeing what everyone else is up to :) Are you on Instagram? Let’s connect! @megan_nielsen (just like my twitter, cos i’m just that uncreative hehe)

hello darling

Meg — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:57:13 +0000

I’m so excited! We’re done with our Darling Ranges sewalong!! I made two dress – the standard Darling Ranges (which i’ll share later this week) and this one, which has a few alterations.

This version is sleeveless, with belt loops instead of ties and has back darts to create a more fitted style. I have to say, I think the darts at the back turned out really nicely!

If you didn’t get a chance to sew along with us, never fear, you can still find all the posts here – you can just give it a go at another time! Also, don’t forget – you only have till the end of this week to use the SEWALONG coupon code for 15% off the Darling Ranges pattern

So tell me, how did you fair?? Are you all done? Still going?

Dress: Megan Nielsen, Darling Ranges dress w/o sleeves
Belt: vintage Coach
Shoes: Dolce Vita (yes i did buy these boots in two colours, sue me hehe)
Necklace: Merl Kinzie // Clydes Rebirth

Darling Ranges dress sewalong: closures

Meg — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 11:34:58 +0000

You guys!! This is our last step!! After we finish up all these buttonholes and buttons then we’re done and dusted! That deserves a whoooop whooop or something :)

Ready to get started? I’ve got a few tricks and tips to show you!

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Read the rest of Darling Ranges dress sewalong: closures (632 words)

Darling Ranges dress sewalong: ties & beltloops

Meg — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:38:15 +0000

We are so close to being finished with our dresses!! Today we’ll be working on the ties – but since i’ve noticed some people are leaving off the ties in favour of belting their dresses – i thought, lets also throw in a beltloop tutorial! Yay!

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Read the rest of Darling Ranges dress sewalong: ties & beltloops (311 words)

as seen on: Paunnet

Meg — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:27:15 +0000

Anna went ahead and made a really gorgeous sleeveless version of the Darling Ranges. I love how this dress just looks so different without the sleeves! Remember, if you want to make a sleeveless version of this dress you can follow the directions in this tutorial.

The fabric she used is really so pretty! Click through to her blog to see close ups and more details of her project. Needless to say, her blog is really one of my absolute favourites :)