Inspinration: July 2017

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Skirting the issue: Rugam, free skirt pattern

Like last year, I am again a guest on the Skirting the Issue tour and this year, I am offering a FREE pattern. Skirting the issue is a beautiful idea, you are invited to sew skirts for charity, and to motivate you, the whole month is filled with free skirt tutorials and patterns, you can read everything about it here. Visit the Project Run and Play site to see what others already suggested to sew.

My skirt pattern is based on the free Liv skirt from Sofilantjes* and is available in six sizes from 9/12 month to 11/12 years. It is an easy skirt with a double circle bottom, which is perfect for dancing (without showing their underwear). The skirt has a fold over yoga waist, without elastic. I drew instructions, which are part of the pattern file and you can find the pattern in the file section of the Sofilantjes Sew and Show group.

I of course made several skirts to test the pattern. I somehow thought that the skirt would look best in one fabric, so that is how I sewed most of the skirts. The last skirt that I sewed, the one for my eldest daughter was impossible to squeeze out of the piece I had in mind. I therefore made it a dual tone skirt, and I have to admit that I like that one best. The color block shows off the lines of the pattern best. My next one will also be color blocked.

I used good quality organic cotton jersey for all parts of these skirts. After making these skirts, I gathered more insight. I think you get the best result with a fabric with a nice drape for the lower skirt. Some rayon or modal jersey would look beautiful. I think you could even use a woven fabric. The diagonal seam makes the stretch level of the under skirt irrelevant.

Like I wrote before, this free Rugam skirt, but also the free Liv (the skirt the pattern is based on) can be downloaded from the Sofilantjes Sew and Show group in the "file"section. 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.

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Lillestoff Modal

Lillestoff is the brand that got me hooked on sewing. In the beginning, I just had to have all their beautiful prints, and only wanted to sew with those. That is now four years and many other fabric brands ago, but I still have a soft spot for the brand. Somewhere in the beginning I once ordered four meters of uni colored petrol modal jersey. I admit, I had no clue what I was going to get, I never heard of modal but I was intrigued and convinced of Lillestoff quality. When it arrived, it turned out to be a super soft an flowy fabric. Good to work with and super comfortable to wear. I used it in several projects (1,2,3,4). Over the years I tried to buy it again, but Lillestoff no longer sold modal. Than, Deborah from Cas and Nina* said she was expecting several modal fabrics and wanted to know if we wanted to try them. I knew I did not have to try to love them, and was just very happy to show you what I would make with this fabric.

I got one and a half meter of the Poppy blue*, so plenty of fabric to play with. Such pretty and soft fabric means selfish sewing. I sewed several summer dresses for myself the last half year, so I went for fall/winter sewing. A while ago, I bought a dress during a sale of which I love the designs. It is a rather simple dress, but it has gatherings on one side of the front. Based on the Nore dress pattern and the actual dress I made my own version and I love it. The gatherings are not very visible due to the print, but I feel they really add something. I wear three quarter sleeves whole year round, so dresses with that sleeve length get the most wear, sometimes even during summer.

My dress used up a good amount of the fabric, but I saw more possibilities. I did not have pieces big enough to cut the entire dress in the same fabric, but with a bit of hacking the Nivalis* becomes a lovely pattern for scraps. I cut the Nivalis pattern at the waist to support a gathered skirt. For the gathered skirt, I used a strip that was among the leftovers. It was about twice the width of the waist, so it is not a very full skirt, but the modal drapes beautifully. I used a piece of the petrol modal (I still had about 40 cm left) for the contrasting sleeves and upper bodice. The color block sleeved were inspired by the Sylva*.

Now, I only had small pieces left, but when I put them together, I felt I could cut another project from them. I therefore sewed about six pieces together to squeeze out a tank top. This way I could show you how nice the fabric combines with pink. Both the dress and tank are the size of my middle daughter, but a group shoot is more fun. My youngest one is just a few centimeters shorter, so she also fits the tank, but she has room to grow.

Like I wrote in the beginning, this fabric can be bought at Cas and Nina*, and even better news, she has ten different versions*, both prints and uni colored. If you have not felt the softness and drape, I really advise you to buy a piece. If you already felt it, you do not need convincing.

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.

Just Delphine - Magnifieka - Madame Stof - Lola with Love - Mijn leven met vier helden - Plus 2 = 5 - Bel'Etoile - Momfieme - Sewing by Marie-Fleur

Friday, July 14, 2017

Kawaii screen printing

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably noticed that I got bitten by the screen printing virus. Yesterday, I had my latest printing adventure and I loved the result so much, that a part of it had to be turned into a shirt immediately. As could be expected all four of my kids actually ordered a piece, but for now my son was the lucky one, he is my screen printing muse (because my store bought fabric stash contains mostly girl fabric).

I used the Kawaii felt charm pattern pieces (by felt with love designs) from One Thimble 13* to make the print. The print is super easy, just two layers and the printing itself probably took me 20 minutes top (of course I also had to prepare the stencil and clean up besides the priting). I read my kids Harry Potter between the two layers, so I did not have to blow dry anything. When I was preparing the print on my pc (again I let my Silhouette do the cutting), my son peeked over my shoulder and told me he liked the print. So, I made sure that the final print would be suitable for him (I might have had plans to make these rainbow colored). I printed with silver and copper on a black background. Black tones down the cuteness a bit, making it perfectly suitable for my son and this way I did not have to print the eyes, I just let them unpainted like the background.

I wanted an easy and quick project for this awesome fabric and made shirt from the One Romper designed by Filles a Maman. That pattern is also part of One Thimble 13* and the cutting lines for a shirt are included in the romper pattern. The same issue contains the Orbis trousers from Sofilantjes, but I completed the outfit with a Domi* from Sofilantjes. As I mentioned in my previous post, that pattern is extremely loved in this house (the Orbis as well by the way, but that one was not cut in my son's size, and I went for quick and satisfying sewing).

The fabric of the Domi is from Nooteboom textiles. When I saw them the first time, I just had to have them. Here you can read I bought two versions at Textielstad a few months ago. I had actually planned the fox version for my son, but he did not agree. He wanted the bunny's. We raise the kids rather gender neutral, so pink is a color and boys can wear flowers. But this bunny print did not immediately inspire me to sew for my son. Of course I could have just turned it into a shirt, but I never got in the mood for that. Fortunately a Domi always inspires me,and in my book these trousers and shirt go together perfectly!

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Sew Social Amsterdam and the Harry Potter print

In May, I had the honor to meet some awesome European blogging girls in real life! The third edition of Sew Social was held in Amsterdam and I was invited! Besides fabric shopping, talking, sight seeing and eating we had a screen printing workshop by the one and only barbara from Bobbinhood. I already showed you a close up of my print on Instagram, but now I finally showing what I sewed with the Harry Potter fabric.

As usual, I tried to squeeze as much as possible from my fabric. I first sewed a Sylva* for my son. I know it it a pattern for girls, but by drawing down from the armholes, this pattern works very well for my skinny son. I love the Sylva because it is perfect for panels, and other pieces that are usual to short for a regular shirt. I forgot printing one layer in two of my screens at the top of my piece, which resulted in a shorter total print, but the Sylva* saved the situation.

I designed the print based on individual elements that I found on the web. I let my Silhouette handle the cutting again, but this time I did not realize I scaled the print a bit too small. Only after cutting the first layer I realized my mistake. This way the details in the tail of the broom became too narrow for example. You can make a very detailed print, but you can overdo it as well, my line detail in the broom ended up being narrower than a millimeter. I chose the Gryffindor colors to complement my print.

My daughter has fallen in love with comfortable pants. This is therefore actually the third Domi* that I sewed her, but the first one to make the blog. Fun fact, the Domi pattern is one of the few patterns that I keep on hand cut out, because my son loves it so much. I still use the original pattern that I cut during testing two years ago which now perfectly fits my daughter. I have made at least 10 trousers from this one size, which is a huge amount for me for one pattern.

There was no way that I could cut an entire Domi from the fabric that I had, so I had to extra creative. I went for statement color block and added a triangle on her bottom, this way I could use the fabric as optimally as possible. I used the same color ribbing as with the Sylva, but the contrasting golden stripes give another vibe than the plain yelllow from the shirt.

If you feel inspired by my print, make sure that you check out the blogs of the other Sew Social girls during this and next week. Many of them will show their awesome creations. Barbara thanks so much for having us, it was great again!

Amsterdam Sew Social crew: As it seams, Compagnie M, Craftstorming, Dotta, Fliegfederfrei, Huisje Boompje Boefjes, Inspinration, Made by Toya, Miss Castelinhos, Needle&Ted, Pienkel, Vera Luna

Montis release

It is that joyful moment again, another release from Sofilantjes*! Today, Anne released the Montis*, an asymmetrical summer dress with two different construction methods for the bodice. One with three straps on the back which is made with a fully lines bodice. The other, a non-lined bodice with the same asymmetrical back as the front. The pattern has one skirt included and all the skirts from the Litore* and Solis* are a perfect fit on the Montis bodice. I made five dresses with this pattern, and today I am showing you two, the only 100% official Montis and a slightly hacked one.

Let's start with the 100% Montis. This orange dress just screems summer to me. The bias finish (explained in the pattern) is perfect to add just a little bit of extra contrast (I have some fit pictures without it, but I loved them too much not to add). Although not a full circle, the Montis skirt can spin! It easily passed the twirl test. The big advantage of having the same front as back is that your daughter can not put on her dress backwards. The same advantage as what I mentioned when I showed the Sylva.

The other dress that I made has a Montis bodice, the other option as the previous dress, but has a gathered woven skirt. I personally love asymmetrics, and the back with those three straps is just perfect. You can go three different colors, or just plain like I did. For the skirt I simply gathered remnant that I bought at a Cas and Nina into a skirt, without cutting into the piece itself. I gathered the entire width, so 150 cm around the waist. I read that this in-between skirt length is the new trend, but even if it would not be, my daughter really likes it. I think that a gathered woven skirt like this would work for many girls, because the gatherings make the woven skirt stretch as bit. You could also use the Mantica* gathered skirt if you need more guidance.

The pockets are of course included in the pattern. I bought the orange cherry fabric from Joyfits, and the bunny fabric was a scrap which was left after I sewed this dress. I had hoped to make something out of those scraps, but had not really felled the inspiration before this plan came along. I really like the combination of the sweet print on the bodice and grown up print in the skirt.

Due to the release, the Montis* is on a steep sale for 5 dollar (excluding VAT) for just 48 hours. Due to some summer celebrations in the Sofilantjes Facebook group you can also get the Summer Surprise* and Solis* pattern with a 15% discount for a few more days. The code for those patterns can be found in the Sofilantjes Sew and Show group.

Pagina's