June 2014

This has been quite a month. We've got a lot of announcements, so hang on — !

First off, we've got a new pattern, releasing TODAY: Lee & Pearl Pattern #1007: Bush Hat or "Boonie" for 18" Dolls. The Boonie is a casual fabric sun hat that looks just as great in pretty cottons and fun trim bands as it does in more traditional khaki or camo prints with eyelets and twill tape "branch loops."

This hat pattern comes with a few special features: separately drafted lining pattern pieces for a perfect, smooth fit and directions to make your own twisted single- or bi-colored cord out of embroidery floss.

First worn by Australian soldiers during the First and Second World Wars, the Boonie became popular with American soldiers during the Vietnam War, and remains popular with the troops today. And with good reason – soft enough to roll up and stick in a pocket, but wide enough to protect the entire head from the sun, the Boonie is just about the most perfect casual hat. We hope you love this ultra-flexible hat as much as we do!

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Our Boonie Hat pattern isn't the only new thing in our Etsy shop today. When our first edition Snow Queen / Ice Princess Fabric Kit sold out within 24 hours, we knew we were going to have to find more fabric! We combed the Los Angeles Fabric District and visited fabric wholesalers and we are happy to announce a second — still VERY LIMITED EDITION — run of three perfect fabrics to make an "Elsa from Frozen" gown using our April 2014 newsletter Tweak the Pattern adaptation of our popular Pattern #1055: Skating Dresses for 18" Dolls. 

These kits contains enough of the three NEW fabrics to make THREE FULL ICE PRINCESS GOWNS (or more: one customer who bought the first edition kit told us she was able to cut twice as many with a careful layout!)

But we didn't stop with Ice Princess gown fabrics. Inspired by Summer (and this month's Tweak the Pattern Feature), we also put together two Limited Edition swimsuit fabric and coordinating fold over elastic kits.

We're calling the first one Miami Beach Bonfire for the neon-bright solids and vividly patterned prints that evoke a hot, Latin-tinged party on the beach.

The second kit, Cab to Coney Island, is a retro-meets-modern collection of stripes, checks, polka dots and the cutest little doll-scaled floral — all carefully coordinated in tomato red, butter yellow, crisp white and just enough black to pull it all together.

Each swimsuit kit contains four fat quarters (18" x 29-30") of high quality spandex-blend swimwear fabric and four 4-yard pieces (16 yards total) of coordinated fold over elastic - enough to make up to SIXTEEN SWIMSUITS for 18" dolls.

Like those swimsuits? We're going to get to them in a moment...

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"Lee" had a milestone birthday in June — and celebrated with a day of truly pampered shopping at the Tyson's Corner American Girl store. The beautiful Rebecca came home to join Samantha, Aurora (#25) and Fred in the East Coast workroom. "Pearl" can't wait for her July visit to find out what's in the rest of those lovely boxes!

Someone should take that mimosa away from Samantha; she's had enough!

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And now, here's what you're all waiting for: our monthly Tweak the Pattern!

We love it when people take our patterns beyond the outfit on the cover. In fact, we often do that ourselves. In each of our newsletters, we offer an idea we've had for using bits and pieces of one of our patterns to create new items and outfits. Some of these Tweak the Pattern features will involve actual new pattern pieces, while others will be suggestions for using unexpected materials or trims. If you have any ideas you'd like to see explored in future newsletters, we'd love to hear about them! Please let us know at info@leeandpearl.com.

We'll admit it, we'd never used fold over elastic before! After looking at all the beautiful doll swimsuits our friends make, we decided to give it a try — and now, we're COMPLETELY HOOKED. We just love the stuff! So we re-did our Pattern #1051: Ballet Basics Leotard and Unitard for 18" Dolls as a fold over elastic-edged swimsuit, slightly lowering the neckline in the back and eliminating the center back seam and velcro for an easy on-and-off fit.

And of course, because this is a Lee & Pearl pattern, we've also included photo-illustrated, step-by-step directions to make construction as easy as possible! Cute — and easy, too! Which is great, because we all have things we'd rather be doing in the Summer, no?

Click here to download the FREE Fold Over Elastic Swimsuit Tweak-the-Pattern package.

Note: Our download management system may ask for your email address. If you're already on our mailing list, use the same address that you signed up with.

To get the front piece for this tweak, you must purchase Pattern #1051: Ballet Basics separately from our Etsy store.

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And stay tuned: in the next few days we'll be announcing our NEXT pattern, #1058: Retro Ruffled Swimsuit and High Waisted Bikini...

Cute, huh?