Saturday, September 9, 2017

One Romper Panda



In my previous post, I already told you that I contributed a teeny tiny bit to one Thimble 16. Besides patterns, One thimble also has articles and tutorials, and in issue 16 there is an inspirational piece on how to sew costumes. The most important thing for sewing a costume is your imagination, and the article shows that with one base pattern you can make an unlimited amount of different costumes. The base pattern that was used was the One Romper* pattern by Filles a Mamán (from issue 13*) and I turned it into a panda costume for my son.



My kids love hoods (although they hate the fact that they are not allowed to wear them up during school). A hood is a perfect element to show the details of a costume, so it was clear that my costume romper need a hood. I took the hood from the Marty hoodie from issue 11* which fitted perfectly without any adjustments. The hood is designed NOT to cross/ meet in the middle, so it will fit many neck lines. The hood is designed to have a smaller lining piece, but I turned the pieces around. I actually put the lining pieces on the outside. This way I had a seam to put the panda ears in. I cut the ears from scaled ear pieces from the baby shoe pattern from the same One Thimble issue* as the Marty hoodie.



 Instead of cutting the front on the fold, I just cut two separate front halves because I wanted to add a zipper. I cut the regular neck band, but instead of closing it to a loop, I immediately sewed it to the neckline. Than I sewed the zipper on both fronts and top stitched the zipper. I kept the actual hacking to a minimum to make recreation easy. A real panda has black arms and legs, so I simply cut black sleeves and I color blocked the romper by cutting the pattern on the "shorts" line (and added seam allowance to both side of the cut). I  omitted the anatomically correct black line on the back (the one connected the arms, and made full white back.



In nature a panda has a white tail, and I felt that is would add sitting discomfort more than that it would add "wow" to the suit, so I left it out. With hindsight, I should have gone with a black tail. Although it is not like nature designed it, it would have added to the idea of the costume (as it does in the pillow on the picture). In most cases your costume will not be lifelike, and that is not important. The main thing is that you and your kid have fun, so if your kid asks for a tail, although the actual animal does not have one, or you only have the wrong shade of fabric, just let it go. Enjoy the adventure with your kid, there is always next for an even better costume.



Before I sewed the panda, I used the pattern to make summer pj's for my son. I had the perfect fabric in my stash for a super cool version. I have been adding side seam pockets to everything lately, and I am starting to rethink the way I sew them in. The pockets often end up  like my son is showing here, like little wings. My son totally does not care, but in the future I will sew the pocket opening smaller than the actual pocket, that should keep them in place better.



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, September 1, 2017

Sleeved Pearlie Dress



For almost six weeks, I did not sew... We were on two holiday's got a new kitchen and assembled a new room for our middle daughter. Earlier this week I finally had time and space to sew again, but I just felt like watching tv. I  had totally lost my sewing groove. I know that sewing is actually my way to relax, but because I was out of it for long, I needed a kick start. This project was just what I needed. An assignment with a deadline, a new pattern, a hack, and beautiful fabric.



Project Run and Play is having a mini season with previous winners and ofcourse they have a themed link up. The theme this time is "Inspired by Art Gallery". I love Art Gallery designs and I love that they have wide knit fabrics. I bought the fabric for this dress a year ago together with this other Art Gallery fabric. I bought it with selfish sewing in mind, but as usual I changed my plans.



For me Art Gallery fabric equals quality fabric and timeless designs. This particular fabric has a very nice combination of on one hand simple lines and on the other complex color elements. The Pearlie dress* from the new Peach designs seemed a perfect match for the fabric. The pattern is an easy to sew but stylish dress and by hacking it into a long sleeved dress I created an extra element to play with the lines of the fabric.



The dress has two fit options ( relaxed or tight fit). I made the tight fitting for my narrow chested nine year old, and the fit is perfect. Not having to blend is a very rare event. The pattern only comes with short sleeves, but this long sleeved hack is easily implemented. I did a long sleeved hack before on a dress for me, so I knew it would work.



The Pearlie dress is part of One Thimble 16*. Another lovely issue for which I actually contributed a teeny tiny piece by hacking a romper into a costume, but that is a blog post for another time. For now I am happy to get my sewing groove back.


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.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Brueram with circle skirt



The Rugam skirt was not the only sized thing that I drew at the beginning of the summer. At the beginning of the summer, I also drafted a circle skirt for the Brueram*. The Brueram is one of my most favorite Sofilantjes' patterns, and I felt it needed some more love. Over the course of the entire summer we had all kind of admin organized fun stuff in the Sofilantjes Facebook group, and my event was encouraging people to sew more Brueram. I got the idea of a circle skirt over a year ago, but now I finally drew it for all the sizes and it now is a file included in the listing when you buy (or bought) the pattern.




I sewed two circle skirted Bruerams and I hacked one of them. The first one that I sewed for my week was sewn with fabric that I got from Griet during the sewing weekend in February. My little one turned four that week, and this became the perfect party dress. This skirt can twirl! She likes rather long skirts and because the Brueram is so flexible in the back, I know she will be able to wear this dress for her fifth birthday as well. We are celebrating life everyday in our household, so fear not, this is not a strict birthday dress. She has worn this dress at least 7 times since I made it.




When I posted pictures from the first dress, and encouraged others to follow my example, I heard that some people did not like the smocked back of the dress. For me the back is a true eye catcher. But because some did not like the back and others just feared it, I hacked the smocked back out if it. I replaced the back with simple ribbing fabric. You can use the table for elastic in the pattern to determine the width that you need.

 


The back of this dress, either smocked or in ribbing fabric is perfect for color blocking. On the first dress I used exactly the same back fabric as on the dress from this post. That fabric and purple just go so well together and the small print is perfect for shirring. If you fear shirring, you can always read the blog post on the Sofilantjes site that I wrote during that week. The fabric from the second Brueram was from the goodie bag from the sewing weekend. I know the hearts on the bodice are sideways, but this was the only way how I cut the entire dress from my fabric and my daughter does not care. It are hearts anyway you turn them.




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, August 16, 2017

Back to school with Made It patterns



In two weeks, school will start again. This time all four of our kids will go because my little one turned four this summer. The beginning of the new school year always gives a double feeling. It is the end of the summer holiday, the moment we again have to use alarm clocks, but also the moment my kids see their friends again. New teacher, new class room and new things to learn usually equals excitement. This newness is best celebrated with some more new stuff. New lunch box, new drinking bottle, new bag and new clothes. In our house I of course make the latter two and today I am showing you a back to school outfit of my eldest in Made It Patterns.



In the Netherlands the kids do not wear uniforms to school. The Netherlands is very liberal in the clothes that are allowed to school and I would say there are pretty much no rules. If my kid would go in a bikini it might be a bit weird, but I am not sure if it would be against the "rules".  I know that there are bloggers on the tour that will have to stick to grey colors on their outfits, so we went overboard (pun intended) with a very colorful knit boat fabric. My daughter picked it herself from my stash.



I made her a Groove dress. A dress that for me symbolizing freedom, although it does not twirl like a circle skirt, its wide skirt is definitely approved by my kids. This is the second Groove dress that I made, and like the first time, I slightly hacked it. Like I said, the Groove has a wide skirt, so wide that I actually could not cut it from my one meter directional print fabric. I never read fabric requirements and am a cut-first-solve-later kind a girl. So, only after cutting the front, I realized that there was no way I was going to cut a full back from this fabric. I decided to simply color block a contrasting fabric into it. To make it seem predetermined, I also added a strip to the front. Also one of the sleeves needed a color block. As usual, I really like my fix, and might like it better than if I would have been able to cut the entire dress from the boat fabric.



To take her new bottle and lunch box, I also made her a Sling Bag. I made medium size and I am totally in love with this bag! When I made this dress, I had a long and narrow leftover. No clue what I would be able to make from it, I just put it back in my stash. I was over the moon when I found out that this bag actually needed almost the entire piece! This bag and the remnant seemed to be made for each other. I really like this fabric it made gorgeous dress, but also an awesome bag and the black is perfect because this bag will see a lot of floor. To did not wanted an upside down bird so some pieces were not cut on the fold. I simply cut two and added a seam allowance.




I used two rather lightweight fabrics for this bag, so I cut a third layer, from some fluffy fabric to give the bag more body. This bag pattern is really awesome, it has two small pockets, a key chain and sews up surprisingly fast. Instead of making a key chain loop, I used a piece of elastic.



To celebrate the back to school tour, there is a 20% discount store wide with the code "btsins" until the end of August. I strongly advise to visit the shop and especially check out the Fold collection. I really stole my heart. Here you can see a mash-up that I made from two of those patterns.

CONTRIBUTORS
 TRUDY - Fox and Me
BROOKE - Idle Sunshine

MARIA - My Cozy Co
EMILY - Enjoyful Makes
THAO - Little Cumquat
SASKIA - She Who Sews
MIRANDA - Inspinration
ANN - Atelier In ‘t Leerke
TOYA - Made by Toya
OLU - Needle and Ted
Back to school graphic6

Friday, August 4, 2017

Misusu's Dia



So, right after I discovered the awesome Misusu patterns, I started on a Dia Sweater. After cutting the pattern I tested their Louise and somehow the Dia just remained where it was. It might be because of my preferred relationship with my serger (my sewing machine is clearly my lesser loved machine) or I was simply intimidated by all the small pieces of the diamond. It probably was a combination of both.


For me it is a "self preservation thing" (Love Actually movie reference) to only have one sewing project cut and ready to go. I tend to loose interest quickly, and a cut project becomes a UFO (unfinished project), but this Dia sweater just kept begging me to be finished. My procrastination was finally stopped when I decided to just go for it on my serger. I settled for potential imperfect and just sewed all those tiny triangles together.



If you look closely the diamond is indeed not perfect, but I LOVE it. With my serger the whole front probably did not take more than 20 minutes and it is good enough for me. The biggest issue creating imperfectness is probably that I did manage to sew two seams in the wrong direction. To create a perfectly flat diamond, you seams have to all lay flat and sewing one in the opposite direction as a previous one forces you to "clip"it.



Although the diamond is clearly the eye catcher, I love the puffed sleeves as well. With regular sleeves (included in the pattern), the pattern is more suitable for boys. My short sleeves are by the way a small hack, the pattern only contains long sleeves. The designer of Misusu is at the moment enjoying time with her newborn, but drawing the Dia sweater in bigger sizes is on her to do list. When sewing a bigger one for my eldest, I will again use my serger, if you are like me, than that is totally a viable option.

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.