Thursday, March 21, 2019

Velocitas release



Today, the Velocitas, the newest pattern by Sofilantjes got released. It is an unisex hoodie with two different color block options which comes with long and short sleeves. The Velocitas has a three-pieces sleeve and the testers got so creative with the texts that they put on the middle color block piece, that I had to try it myself. I always love the inspired feeling that I get when observing a devoted test force.



Our kids love wearing hoods, and they feel it is totally unfair that they are not allowed to wear them up on school. This Velocitas is the perfect snuggle up type of garment that gets your kids through colder days, but also through cooler summer evenings. Because of the short sleeve option you can also easily sew a warmer weather version.



The color block pieces are begging for nice top stitching. I first sewed the hoodie for our son and I used a decorative stitch from my sewing machine. Although I was careful,  I still stretched the fabric a bit too much, so eventhough I tried to steam the thing in submission, I did not get the end result that I hoped for. Because I ironed my heart out on the color block seams, I was not in the mood for ironing the hood for final pictures. I should have known better, it really does make the garment look better when it id fully ironed. I did now finally buy a coverlock to be able to top stitch my heart out in the future.



On the version for our daughter I used my Bobbinhood maxi kit to add the text. I printed it in metallic gold and it glitters brilliantly, it is the perfect addition to a girly hoodie. I had to cut the print diagonally, but that way it fitted with a little bit room to spare on my huge screen. I again cut by hand, I really started to appreciate this step in my creative process. You can also cut the text in two lines under each other if you need an even longer text.



All fabrics from our son's version are French Terry's that I bought at Nooteboom Textiles. The one for our daughter contains some See you at six remnants that I got from her during our most recent sewing weekend. The instructions call for ties in the hood which look very cool, but I omitted them, I was not officially testing and was lazy. The hood should not have a seam in the front, so also ignore that on the version on our son.



From now through out the weekend, the pattern is only €5,37- ex taxes (6.50 incl EU taxes) and can be bought from the Sofilantjes webshop.




Saturday, March 16, 2019

Another gymnastics outfit



When our middle daughter started gymnastics, she asked me to make her a gymnastics suit, one with the Solis back plus matching shorts. Gymnastic suits usually have an open back or wide neckline to be able to put on the suit. The Solis does not have this, and her request therefore was a nice challenge. Fortunately, there are  many inspiring people in the world, with a twist on her nursing hack of the Solis, I totally made it work.



I was first considering using snaps in the crotch, but I feared that it would hurt with certain exercises. I actually did try velcro, but that was too stiff, it was not comfortable to wear. Then, I settled on the hack that kept one side of the strap separate from the body. With two Prym snaps you can fixate it on the front where it does not bother her. With smaller kids you would probably have to assist them to put the neck strap through the back loop, but our seven year old does it herself without problems.



To have a nice finish, I lined the entire suit and the suit is therefore also reversible. The inside is light blue. I presume our kids are not the only ones who love reversible clothes. They claim it is a bit like magic. To complete the look I sewed some Play Pants in the same colors. I wanted the shorts to match both the purple or the blue outside, and the play pants has the perfect color block option for that.




Sunday, March 10, 2019

Boy summer shirts



Two weekends ago, I went on a sewing weekend and I sewed 27 pieces and eight of those were simple shirts for our son. Every year both cooler and warmer weather make me realize that he has nothing decent to wear anymore since he outgrows it all in one year. So, to avoid that unpleasant feeling, I decided to proactively sew him short sleeved shirts in which he can grow a bit. I used the Regem and Cessim patterns for all these shirts.




Finding fabric prints that he likes is hard, and sometimes you have to sell a print a bit. The colorful lama piñata's are therefore the Fortnight lama piñata's. The one with the bears all over it is his favorite shirt. Now that he has new shirts that actually fit him, he already switched his wardrobe and he has been wearing his short sleeves shirts ever since.




He loves everything with bears. These two bear shirts have been his favorite for long, and he asked me to sew him a new one. I was out of that digital bear print, but when I saw a bear panel at the Stoffenstraat I thought he would love it. I was wrong, he thought the fairies were too weird. No problem, the two under him can not wait to wear them in a few years.




I should have known better than asking him to make pictures of all shirts in one sitting. He does not like pictures, but I just wanted to get it done. I chose the best picture of every garment, finding a decent one of each was already hard, let alone showing garments from different angles. He kind a looks like a bunny caught in the head lights of the car in most pictures, but I just tell myself that you are here for the clothes, and totally do not look at his face, right?




He is wearing a Domi that I sewed him last year (and it miraculously still fits), but that never made the blog. The picture with the Fortnight lama contains a sneak peek to a future blog post, the one containing the clothes that I sewed for our littlest.

Sunday, March 3, 2019

Julianna skirt; Free pattern



I did not blog much in February, but I did sew, I actually sewed a lot because we again had a sewing weekend! One of the things that I sewed on the weekend was this awesome teen proof skirt. I sewed it from a scrap that was left after sewing this dress. Seeing that the scrap was oddly shaped I had to be extra creative with the lower ruffle, but due to the black fabric, the extra seams to do not show. Another awesome thing of this skirt, it is made with a new FREE pattern. The pattern is a collaboration between the lovely ladies behind Lilyenwoody and Kaatjesnaaisels.


The Julianna skirt is a fake wrap skirt, the fronts overlap, but they are kept together by one closed waistband. The waistband contains elastic so the skirt is easily put on and off. The black fabric hides the extra seams very well, but it also does not show the construction that well on the pictures. The pictures that you can see on the sites of the creaters make the lines in the skirt more visible. During our sewing weekend I borrowed her coverlock again and I added a contrasting seam to the bottom ruffle, so at least that line is nicely visible.


I slightly hacked the skirt (would you have expected less from me?). The ruffle is designed to have a curve at the top, but I was afraid that I would not be able to hem that curve with the 2 centimeter hem allowance that I use for jersey, so I drew the ruffle straight at the top and sewed the short edge of the beginning of the ruffle into the waistband. She also sewed a lovely Julianna in jersey during the sewing weekend, and she hemmed the curve at 2 centimeter without issues. I also shortened the waistband and cut it from rib knits (there is still elastic in it) such that the waistband does not contain gatherers while it is worn.


The skirt is designed for both woven and knit fabrics. Our eldest was a bit over the top of the size table, seeing that she prefers skirts to really hit her knees. I therefore added a bit of length to the largest skirt. The skirt comes in five sizes starting at 2 years, going up to 10. The free pattern can be downloaded from Lilyenwoody, but also visit Kaatjesnaaisels for her lovely versions.