Tutorials by me

On this page you can easily find the tutorials that I have written. I am planning to make more, probably first another crochet cactus (the one with the oranje flowers), would anyone be interested in that one (if so leave a message)?

Crochet cactus: The traffic generator to this blog. This post is in the top five of most frequently looked at pages on my blog every week! When I started to learn myself to crochet I needed a project that would not look weird if it would have lumps all over (first crochet project remember) and I thought a cactus would be perfect. After the first cactus I crocheted on and made this one. A friends wanted to try it and I wrote my first tutorial.

Faux bolero dress : This tutorial shows you how to re-draw a jersey dress pattern by adding an interesting twist. It makes the bodice look like a dress plus bolero. The tutorial start from a situation in which you have a back bodice pattern. If you do not have an existing pattern just use any of the many tutorial out there to create a basic bodice pattern from a fitting shirt.

I also showed how to make an extremely easy muscle T with the back wrapping to the front. I used this technique to make the garcon lion shirt, but this would be great for any other "face", or just to have some interesting color blocking, especially if you making the wrapping more than 2.5 cm. The whole thing is extremely straight forward, but a beginner might just needed this to find the confidence to just start cutting apart and taping back together her existing patterns.

For Sofilantjes' Summer Surprise Anniversery Tour I hacked the back bow into a closed back and added closed bow pockets. I wrote a small tutorial on how to make these closed bows. If you do not own the Summer Surprise pattern you can also draw an extended half circle (from a circle with a radius of about 7 cm) with a 29 cm total line length to place the pocket on.

Babies are so cute and dresses make them even more adorable, but dresses are not very practical for tiny girls. That is why onesie dresses are perfect for that age. I made three already, and I made pictures of the process and wrote a tutorial. You can use this tutorial on a pre-made onesie, but ofcourse you can also make the onesie yourself.

I hacked the Nina A-line skirt from Compagnie M a bit to have a contrasting zipper on the front. I wrote a very extensive photo tutorial on how I did it. I put the zipper on the front, but you could do the same with a zipper in the back. Although my skirt is a Nina girl, the tutorial will still work if you use a different skirt or the woman's version.

When Sofilantjes released the Amare pattern, I truly fell in love with the bow. I am not a bow type, but somehow this one really appealed  to me. Anne was searching for somebody to do a guest post on bow construction and I got the honor to do it. Besides explaining the manual more extensively, the bow tutorial also explains some bow hacks.

For the release of the Zoo Collection I wrote a hack to adjust the front with a decorative bound zipper. This tutorial will work for any garment that requires a decorative zipper and could be used to to give garments a front closure.



Although now a days I can appreciate some hand sewing, I do prefer to use my machine if possible. I therefore wrote and alternative construction method to sew the Folis from Sofilantjes almost entirely with the sewing machine. So, no handstitching the lining to the hood (except for a small turning hole).

During testing the Arctic Racer by Harristar Designs, I sewed a one sided rushed dress version and I wrote a small tutorial for it. With the tutorial you can either make a flared or fitted one sided rushed dress, depending on your personal preference.



For the Orbis blog tour I sewed three pairs and I was allowed to hack a bit. So, I sewed one without fly and one with straight fly. I wrote a tutorial that explains both. The tutorial is both in English and in Dutch.



For the Angie hack-a-ton blog tour I wrote a tutorial on how to add princess seams and constrasting pockets to a dress with waist darts. You will have to do some guestimation, but you will get the shape of the pocket that you are dreaming of.



On the Sofilantjes blog I wrote a tutorial for two alternative Cicero collars. I am showing how to have a collar without a zipper and how to combine the hood and the collar without having a thick seam at the front.


My new favorite way to hem a circle skirt while using your serger. I read it somewhere but could not find the original source anymore.




I wanted the side panels of the Hibernis to continue into the sleeves, if you have the same desire, you can find the tutorial here.


I adjusted the front of the Mantica to have a hidden kangaroo pocket and I wrote a few instructions for you to do the same.