Friday, February 24, 2017

Free pattern release: Reagan Raglan



Bella Sunshine Designs* is celebrating its two year anniversary and they have organized one hell of a party! The first part of the celebrations is two free patterns, one for kids* and one for women*. I was part of the women testing team and I sewed two dresses for myself. One winter dress and a summer dress, the pattern has two sleeves lengths included so it works whole year round.



As you could expect from the name, the new Reagan Raglan has a raglan sleeve. The pattern has a V-neck, three lengths (shirt, tunic and dress) and two sleeve lengths. The child patterns has the same options. Although Bella Sunshine does not have boy patterns, this raglan pattern is uni sex for sure. Sewing raglan sleeves is super easy, V-necks need some practice. The pattern has excellent instructions on how to sew a V-neck, so it is beginner accessible for sure.



For my winter dress I used a super soft knit that I bought during the fall at Textielstad. I did not have enough fabric to sew matching stripes, but I do not really mind. The dress is super comfy and suitable to wear on my day job as well. The yellow fabric from the summer dress is from Art Gallery and I bought it at the Stoffenmadam. By choosing a contrasting sleeve color you can nicely accentuate the raglan lines.



The other part of the party decorations is a 40% discount on all patterns in the shop*! Over the last year I have sewed up several Bella Sunshine patterns, so if you are interested in my versions here you can find the women patterns: The Paradise Island dress and the Maggie dress.Motst of my Bella Sunshine sews where for my daughters, here you can find the Charlotte, Lala, Sansa and Felicity. The celebrations will last a week untill March 5. You can download the Reagan Raglans* for free with the codes that you can find in the Bella Sunshine Pattern group.



Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian). If you buy anything through my affiliate links (*), I get a small commission (the price stays the same for you), I am very grateful for everything that feeds my fabric addiction.

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Sewing weekend edition 2: two toddler dresses



Do you remember that I went on a sewing weekend a year ago (how could you ever forget about it, I bring it up almost every month)? Well, last weekend we had our second edition! We had two new girls, Evi and Ivy (obviously selected on the criteria of a three letter name with a "v"in it) and Dominique had to pass this one weekend due to delivering her son two days before our weekend started. The rest of the group was the same and we had a blast!


You know that I like to play with scraps and a few weeks before the weekend, I suggested that we would all take our scraps with us to trade. I had several scraps that I just did not want to use anymore (either really over the print or they were used in too many garments already) but that I could not bring myself to throw away either. Most girls took something and it was all stashed in a corner of the sewing room which created an instant fabric store! There was no explicit trading, you could just take what you wanted, and I used that corner a lot (of course the whole idea was created for my own self interest).



My personal sewing goal for the weekend was to only work with scraps. I had planned to do it with my own scraps (the ones that were not to be donated) in case nobody else took anything, but it turned out that there was more than enough to work with. On the first evening and second day I worked with patterns that I took with me, that work well with scraps. On the third day I just free wheeled without a real pattern. During that game I created two dresses for my youngest out of scraps of others only. Those are the dresses that I will be showing you today. Here you see a picture of all my sews of the entire weekend together. I will show the rest of my sews the coming weeks in small dosages.



I made this blue laced dress with Marie Paule's fabrics. When I took them out of the pile, I had no idea's who's they were. Also, I did not know that the lace and blue underlay fabric had been bought together to make this Elsa dress. They were not in the same pile anymore when I found them. The skirt part was actually a summer dress. I used a bodice pattern piece from one of the other sewists, lengthened a bit and redrew it to fit the lace perfectly. I cut a skirt part of the dress (just cut down the lowest part so that I did not have to hem) and gathered it. I put in an invisible zipper and was done. Back home, it turned out that I had been a bit too optimistic about the stretchability of the lace and the dress did not fit. It simply was  too tight . Problems are there to be solved, so I ripped one side of the zipper, took a piece of ribbing and widened the back. It looked better without the ribbing (the lace originally perfectly met in the middle over the blind zipper), but we do not have much use for a dress that can not be worn. Now it fits pretty perfectly and it was already worn to daycare.



The other dress that I made was with a super pretty leftover of when Davina sewed this coat, some stretch jeans from the trousers Sofie once made and a generic light blue jersey scrap. I used the same bodice piece as with the previous dress but cut a bit roomier (good instinct) and guessed how deep I had to cut the front for my daughter's head to go through. I drew an A line skirt and some pockets. This dress was okay without any adjustments.




Like last year we received a stuffed goodie bag. Marie-Paule had gone out of her way again and it was filled with all kind of beautiful stuff. You can see a picture of Davina's bag and Marie Paule's bag in this post. My bag was pretty similar except for the fabrics. Therefore, I only made a picture off all the fabrics that I gathered during the weekend. Some from the goodie bag, some from the bingo evening and some from the scrap "store". I had planned not to take anything with me. I had to immediately use it or leave it, but some of those beauties just begged me to be taken home. During the bingo evening I also won a pattern by Rosie and me. You will get a closer look of all of these once they are used.



We actually had one goodie bag more than we had people on the weekend, so we are giving away one! You can get a chance to win it by filling in the rafflecopter. Most of our members have blogs and I collected all of them in here. You might be following a few of them already, but there might be some new interesting ones for you as well. For every blog you follow you will get one entry. The give away is including postage for winners from the Netherlands and Belgium, outside those countries you have to pay the extra postage.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Marie Paule thanks again for organizing the wonderful weekend, it was perfect! and I also want to explicitly thank all the sponsors

 FramaloStoffengallerijCompagnie MBrindille & TwigItch2stichMy childhood TreasuresStitchCas & NinaNominettePetite CoutureHet StoffenhuisAteljee PveritasStoffenmieFlow MagazineLanalottaMind the WhaleStoff.beKaatjesnaaiselsJuffertje UilFeeëriekeDen DepotModecouponMon DepotGallery FabricsFairy TailorsViolette field threadsOliver+SElegance & ElephantsBlank Slate PatternsMade It PatternsSofilantjesSomething NaaisPindanutjesSoft CactusKiwi FabricsMisses NeedleRosie & MeTillie & The ButtonsMalieke & Co en tot slot Babarum


We forgot to take a decent camera but Sabrina's selfie stick and phone saved us. Till next time girls:

Stephanie, Aukje, Gabriela, Katrien, Sabrina, Isabel, Elke, Sofie, Hanne, Katrien, Rebecca, Marie-Paule, Evi, Ivy, Joyce, Davina, Caroline, Griet and Lindsey.



Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Sansa and Lala



The post's title sounds like a musical duo, but the Sansa* and Lala* are actually two patterns of Bella Sunshine Designs *which are both designed by her. The Lala was released last week, and is a peasant style shirt, tunic or dress. The Sansa, I tested a few months ago, but did not have time to blog it yet. The release of the Lala made the combination of these two patterns a lovely blog post, although they are not intended for the same kid.



I love peasant style clothes on my kids, this upcycle is still one of my most favorite sews or my youngest. You get the prettiest result with a drapey fabric and the See You At Six fabric that I have been showing you a few times here already, is just perfect for such sews. After sewing this dress for myself, I was left with four small pieces (the ones that were under my arms). I could not bring myself to throw them away, so they went onto the scrap pile. With an extra seam in both in the front and back middle, these four pieces where the perfect base for the dress. Due to the gatherings, the seam is almost invisible. The sleeves were cut from another rayon scrap.



The Lala has an oversized look, so when my kids saw the finished garment, they were guessing who would be the receiver. The funny thing is that it actually fits my eldest as a shirt! This means that this super versatile garment will for sure go with us on the summer holidays. I love having wardrobe options, especially in fabrics that dry quickly. My youngest daughter will apparently be able to wear this item for years, talk about a satisfying sew!



I really have a weak spot for flare pants. I know I am not from the time they originate from, but when I was a teenager they were also cool for a while. My middle one always wear leggings, so these pants are a nice chance in style while retaining the same level of comfort.



The Lala is still on sale until Wednesday for $5.50 in the Bella Sunshine Web shop*. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian). If you buy anything through my affiliate links (*), I get a small commission (the price stays the same for you), I am very grateful for everything that feeds my fabric addiction.



Monday, February 20, 2017

Barefoot romper release by Twig and Tale



During the weekend, Twig and Tale* released the Barefoot romper* and I made two very different versions with this super versatile romper pattern. Due to the big size range and the versatility in straps, fronts, pockets leg length and finishing you can easily customize to your and your kid's taste. I sewed a super sweet one for my youngest daughter (in drapy rayon) and a cool one for my son (in summer sweat).




I really like the fit of the romper. The elastic in the back gives the romper the perfect combination of fitted clothes with freedom of movement. Every kid has a slightly different build and preference how fitted he or she likes to wear his or her clothes. I therefore advice to fit the back elastic on one side, try the romper on, and than determine how tight you want the elastic. Both for my son and daughter, I left in a bit of extra elastic after sewing the second side down. This way you can rather easily make the garment a bit wider if they grow.




I did the same "possibility for growth" trick on the straps of my daughter. I fixed the shoulder strap on side in the bodice and left a small hole for the other (I just stopped sewing before I reached that strap. I fitted it on her and than sewed it in place, leaving in a longer tail. The longer tail is between the bodice and the lining, so not bothering her at all, but this does give me the possibility to lengthen the straps rather easily. I only have to take out a one centimeter long piece of stitching and stitch it back.



For my son I went in a different direction. I went with a bit oversized version. I saw that on some other testers and loved the look. This way he will actually be able to grow into it. Okay, so after a while it is no longer oversized, but I think he will still look cool. To avoid the straps to overstretch (not a problem with woven straps), I simply added a wide elastic inside the straps. This way they can stretch, but they will also recover well. His sister, who is about 10 centimeter taller, still fitted comfortably in the romper and ordered one for herself.



There are several pocket options in this pattern. I made side seam pockets for my daughter and a kangeroo pocket for my son. There are even more pockets in the pattern and I have also seen people combine them! Both versions now are now rather long legged, but when they grow (and by themselves become shorter), I could also adjust them to true shorts.




I used the left over of the one meter See You at Six pink rayon from making this coat for my daughter's romper. The gathered front option is perfect for some color blocking. The scrap of Soft Cactus gives the romper a nice extra detail. The brown summer sweat for my son's version was bought at the Stoffenmadam and was already used in this jacket.



Due to my sewing weekend, I am rather late in posting about these rompers, but the pattern* is still on sale with a 25% discount with the code "Barefoot1" in the Twig and Tale shop. The sale runs out in 24 hours though.



Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian). If you buy anything through my affiliate links (*), I get a small commission (the price stays the same for you), I am very grateful for everything that feeds my fabric addiction.