Showing posts with label woman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label woman. Show all posts

Friday, October 12, 2018

French Terry by Lotte Martens: Dots fiery red



Yesterday, Lotte Martens released another fabric collection and I was again honored to be part of bloggers that are delivering you some extra inspiration. I received my fabric on Wedneday afternoon (yes that is two days ago), so a few hours before launch, but I still managed to sew up two garments and a hairband that same day. Some fabrics just deserves it to be used the instant they arrives, and this was clearly one of those.



The new fabrics are all French Terry, which is perfect for the fall season and there are four different designs. The Fiery dots, the fabric that I got, is my personal favorite, because I love the rusty main color. The main color is calling out fall outfit to me and I love the irregularly placed dots in blue and pink.The other fabrics from the collection are the Hands mineral blue, Squares coral pink and Squares indian teal.



I took the very safe strategy for patterns, time was tight so I did not want any unpleasant surprises. For myself, I again used the Martini dress pattern in my usual hacked way (having a symmetrical front). I also still use the same pattern pieces that I drew five years ago. This Martini pattern and the original test Domi pattern pieces are the only two sets of pre-cut pattern pieces that I can just take from the shelf without having to reprint, that is how satisfied I am with the Martini. I again just sewed the neckline down instead of using a facing, the French Terry is stable enough for creating such a neckline.



I am so in love with my dress that I wore it today while making studio recording for my students. I knew that I would be shown in front of a blue background (within the studio the background was of course green) and I was told not to wear stripes. My non-to-busy printed clothes are all stripes or uni colored blue or grey which I feared would be rather boring on a blue background. I clearly needed a fun new dress, which is the other reason why I got to work that quickly on Wednesday.



After cutting my dress from the fabric, I judged the amount of leftovers and saw that it had to be doable to create a sweater from it. I made a Regem for our youngest. I wanted to play with some color block and the Regem is perfect for that little splash of extra contrast. I only used the front color block pieces and the sleeve color blocks. For the ones that are paying close attention, yes I did use the sleeves the other way around. The bigger part of the triangle is supposed to be on the front. By switching the sleeves I could put the extra seam that I had to make to be able to cut two sleeves at the back of the sweater.



All four French Terry's are now available in store. Check your local fabric store or shop online. If you follow Lotte Martens, you will get to see a lot more French Terry inspiration.



Thursday, June 14, 2018

Solis for women



I assume that I do not have to introduce the Solis dress by Sofilantjes. But just in case you have not seen it, you can check out my versions here, here, here and here. What might be  new information is the fact that Sofilantjes now released a women version of the Solis. The dress is just as quick and cute as the girl version, but now you can wear it yourself! Compared to the girl version there are even some extra options. There are three skirts instead of two and besides a regular bodice there is also an empire waist bodice. This empire waist option, is awesome in general but also makes the dress perfect for pregnancy.



The pregnancies are long behind me, so I went a different route, I went for twinning. So, besides the pleated Solis dress that I sewed myself, I sewed our middle daughter a pleated tunic. The girl version has four pleats (two on the left and two on the right), the women version has six pleats, three on the left and three on the right). The pattern of course also comes with the twirly circle skirt which is probably the most loved option for the girl dress. I wanted to squeeze two outfits out of the coupon that I had, so I went for the fabric friendly pleated skirt. Our middle one still prefers tunics over dresses, so she is wearing her Solis with a very short pair of jeans.



The fabric is an oldie from Lillestoff and it has a dandelion print with golden elements in it. We have seen in the Sofilantjes sew and show group that the Solis looks perfect in any kind of print. But I am really pleased with my version of the little black dress. Some people in the Sofilantjes group asked what kind of bra to wear under the dress. I have seen some very fancy bra's that would be perfect, I just used two paperclips, but I am frugal like that.



As always there is a very good release sale. For three days, until Sunday evening, the Solis pattern will be just  €5.60 exl tax. For the people that like paper pattern, there is more good news, the Solis for Women will also be available as a paper pattern.




Saturday, May 19, 2018

Catalina re-release and give away



Blank Slate patterns re-released the Catalina* dress which was the perfect opportunity to sew one. The Catalina is a versatile summer dress that can be sewn in woven or in knit. It was a no-brainer that I would sew one in knit. Knit is my go-to fabric. Seeing that the pattern can be sewn in woven, I actually top stitched it in a non-stretch stitch. This made sewing up this dress even quicker, am I the only one that dislikes how slow a stretch stitch is? The re-released pattern now has a wider size range and an optional front placket.



I sewed up a super easy version without pockets. I thought I never really use them, so why bother? But I have to admit that when I put on the dress, I immediately missed them. I am sure that I will get used to not having them though, because the dress is super comfortable and I already know it will be one of my favorites. I made it with a drapey light weight knit and it is super comfortable. I slightly haked the finishing of the armholes and neckline. I took a narrow strip of jersey and folded it. I sewed the raw edge to the good side of the hole and turned it over. It is not the official way to sew a bias, bit it works well with knits.


Since I was a kid I have a weak spot (pun intended) for spotted fabric and it seems that our eldest has the same. This dress has been her favorite ever since I sewed it, and she still wears it. It has become a bit short, so I bought fabric to make a new red-white dot fabric. By mistake I got twice as much as I planned, so enter my own red dot dress! I do not know why I did not sew one for myself earlier. I love red in general and dots somehow make it even better.


I sewed the knee length version, but the pattern also has a maxi dress option. In her post you see her recently sewn beautiful maxi version and her version is in woven. For even more examples you visit this Instagram tag.


You can buy the pattern in the Blank Slate patterns webshop*. To celebrate the re-release I am allowed to give away a version of the pattern! For a chance to win the pattern you play along by filling in the rafflecopter as ususal. You get "tickets" for following me and commenting on this blog post.The give away is open until May 25.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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.

Friday, March 9, 2018

Sora sweater and give away



For this blogger year, which seem to be similar as academic years (seeing that they start after the summer), I am part of Blank Slate Patterns, sewing team. In October, I therefore made this tutorial on how to create slightly different pockets for the Denver. Next week, I am showing off my two versions of the Fairelith, but today I am posting about one of Blank Slate's newest patterns, the Sora* Sweater.


The Sora Sweater is actually intended, as the name says, to be a sweater. The perfect layering piece for winter or summer evenings. But, I took a different angle, I simply made it into a summer shirt. I am very much looking forward to warmer weather, and by sewing summer clothes, it at least partially feels like summer.



The pattern has two options, you can make it into a pullover, like I did, but you can also make a cardigan* with it. It has both long and short sleeves and you can create some cool color blocking effects with the small triangle piece on the side. This time I went for plain, uni colored fabric. No color block. Next week, on the Blank Slate blog you can see very different fabric for my Faireliths.


Although I have been regularly sewing for years now, I do still make mistakes, and sometimes even huge mistakes. While I was sewing the Sora, I paid close attention to how sew in the collar. The instructions are great (and Melissa is even making a video), and all should have been fine, but there was one tiny detail that I did not pay attention to. I have sewed shawl collars in the past, but this one was different. And due to my previous experience, I actually sewed up the collar piece upside down.


While sewing the collar, I went through the same phases as she did with a different project (read that post, I laughed so much). I was sure that I was doing it fine, and the problem had to be with fabric/pattern combination. I just did not understand why I had to stretch the neckline so much to fit in the collar. But, I believed in the pattern and hoped that a good top stitch would fix it. I steamed the *** out of it and felt it was decent enough. I even made pictures, and when I showed them to Melissa if she understood why mine looked so different, I realized myself that I of course  had sewn in the collar wrong. Better late than never right... The last picture, the one with the light colored jeans is how the wrong construction looked.


I am not one for waisting fabric, so I took out that top stitching (yes of course I did a stretch stitch), steamed again, and than all was fine. If you like the neckline as much as me, you are probably happy to hear that I am allowed to give away one Sora pattern to my readers. If you are interested in winning the pattern, just fill in the Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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.

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Stories without endings



Lotte Martens released a new collection on Wednesday and I again had the honor to provide you with some sewing inspiration. You know that my heart beats for jersey fabrics, so I picked an Aronia from the new collection. The Aronia fabrics have a gradient print with stripes and there are five different colors. I sewed with the yellow version which is a lovely color combination with a warm and bright  effect.



I wanted to provide as much inspiration as possible, so I used the stripes in vertical direction on the front and in horizontal direction on the back. I used the Legend dress pattern from Sew Straight and Gather. I sewed the dress before and I just love the neckline. The entire front of the dress is lined, for that nicely finished neckline. I color blocked the lining such that I only used the Aronia on the top of the lining.

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The theme of the new collection is "Stories without endings" and I associate that with fairy tales. This weekend we had another sewing weekend that was located in a storybook surrounding which perfectly fitted the collection's theme. Katrien also took her dress on the weekend to make some magically beautiful pictures of her Lotte Martens party dress.



Lotte Martens' fabrics are known for their sparkle, and many of the fabrics in the new collection are printed with metal paint. The Aronia fabrics are also available with metal screen printed stripes, make sure you check this listing because that yellow dress takes your breath away for sure. Besides jerseys, the collection contains thick knits, scuba, wovens and more. I got a sneak peek from several of the blogger projects and with every sneak, I was amazed again, so make sure you check out all the posts that will become available for the tour.



I sewed my dress with one and a half meter of fabric and only had some small scraps left. This time I could not turn them into a dress for my youngest, but I did manage to sew a shirt. I used the Nivalis* pattern and some extra creativity. I had used all the clear stripes in the fabric on the dress, but by combining scraps, you can still see the gradient effect. I cut the front from four smaller pieces, but they go well together like this. I top stitched with some sparkling gold thread.




In the theme of never ending stories, I will also show you another Lotte Martens piece that I made earlier. After this ensemble, I still had quite some fabric left and I sewed my middle daughter a Aura* bolero. I probably do not have to tell you she loves this sparkling piece.



Although the collection was launched on Wednesday, you will have to be a little more patient for the Aronia fabrics. They unfortunately were not delivered yet, but you can already check the stores and the other fabrics from the collection.




Monday, October 9, 2017

Women Nivalis release



I can't remember how often I made my kids dresses with the Nivalis pattern from Sofilantjes. Besides the "normal" Nivalis dresses that I sewed with it, the Nivalis is also my go-to pattern for hacks and mashes because the fit is perfect. Today, Sofilantje releases the Nivalis for women*, and I think that this pattern will be as big a staple pattern in my wardrobe as the child version for my kids.



During testing I sewed two different dresses. One in cotton jersey (the brown one) and one in modal (the blue one). I sewed one with the hood and one with the collar, two different sleeve lengths and I used the instructions for a full bust adjustment, so I tested most elements of the pattern. I like the dress in both types of fabric, but it does give a different effect. The cotton jersey one is a bit more stiff which gives a more sporty look. The blue modal one is super comfortable and is suitable for almost every occasion.



I only sewed the collar in drapey modal and in that fabric it is very comfortable. I can imagine that maybe in a stiffer fabric the collar might stand up a bit, so keep that in mind. The hood is very comfortable. I do not have many hoods in my wardrobe, and I now see why my kids love them. When I put on the hood I get an instant "higge" feeling like drinking warm chocolade on the couch feeling.



You know that I personally prefer 3/4 sleeves on anything, the fact that that length is included in the pattern makes me very happy. Both the long and 3/4 sleeves were perfect for me and I am about 1.66 meter. The pattern's sleeve style is comfortable narrow sleeves. I really love the fit, but if you know you prefer rather loose sleeves, you might have to drew them slightly wider.



The pattern includes excellent instructions on how to make a full/small bust adjustment. I needed that and it worked like a charm, the fit is great. Do not be afraid to try it yourself even if you have never done anything like it. Just follow the steps, and you can always ask questions in the Sofilantjes group if needed. Besides bust adjustment instructions are there also shoulder adjustment instructions (and of course length adjustment instructions).



The brown dress is made with fabric from Hamburger Liebe that I bought last year at Joyfits. The uni colored fabric in that dress is from Textielstad, it is one of my all time favorite uni colored fabrics. The blue dress is modal from Lillestoff. The pink strip in that dress is a strip of uni pink jersey that I serged in between the seam, it is like empty piping.



As usual the release sale will last for 48 hours and the Nivalis* will be €5.50 excluding tax during that period. If you do not own the girl Nivalis, this might be a good moment to buy that one as well! 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.

More inspiration: Krullenbol - Delphine  - Crea Shars  - Stokstaartje doet het zo  - Dragons workshop -  MaMarieke