Inspinration: 2016

Friday, December 30, 2016

Christmas in December

Do you remember this post from July? In July I participated in a Christmas in July blog tour, but only after I sewed my plan A dress, I realized that I probably misunderstood the point. At that time it was too warm to show you the first Off the Shoulder Dress* that I created, and only showed you the final result. Today, just after regular Christmas, I now showing you how I celebrate Christmas in December.

So, this post was a long time in the making. I sewed the dress in July, made pictures in November, and just before the new year starts I was able to blog about it. Besides the dress being too warm for summer, the dress actually also turned out too small. The super nice quality interlock (that I bought at the Stoffenmadam) was a bit less stretchier than I am used to work with and I had been a bit in denial about my actual size. In November the dress fitted fine though.

This first version of the Off Shoulder dress features the original large cowl neck. I am not used to wearing scarfs or or any accessories for that matter. Therefore I have to get used a bit to the size of the cowl. At first, I felt huge while wearing it. Looking at the pictures though, I am very satisfied with the look. It looks nice, especially for special occasions.

Seeing, I already talked about the details of this dress in the previous post, I decided to dedicate the rest of this post to my stash management. In November I signed up for a little challenge. To sew 10 meter before the end of the year, counting from the weekend of November 12. So this is what I sewed in a little bit than 5 weeks (we were away for a week last week). I put them in chronological order because the current blog post proves that my blog order is not always my sewing order. I am not 100% sure it is 10 meter, but I think it comes pretty close, especially because I have some sewing planned for tomorrow as well.

Item 1 + 2: Fawn and Sparrow
Item 3: Unblogged (for now) Flare pants
Item 4 + 5: Folis dress en Orbis pants
Item 6 + 7: Unblogged (for now) Secret Santa gifts
Item 8: Irene dress
Item 9: The Louis
Item 10: The Annaliese dress
Item 11 + 12: Divided dresses
Item 13: Maggie dress
Item 14: Ugly sweater dress
Item 15: Unblogged (for now) scarf hood together with my daughter
Item 16: Project for my son that has to remain a secret for a while

For next year, I actually made a new year's sewing resolution. Like her, I will explicitly keep track of the fabrics that I will use next year. I will do it through a gadget in the right menu that will become active in two days. I will keep track of the amount of fabric that I buy and use. Research shows that people eat less when they are counting the amount of times they swallow. Let's see if my keeping track can decrease my fabric shopping the same way. I wish you a great day tomorrow and already the best wishes for next year!

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, December 21, 2016

Ugly Sweater Blog Party

You know, I always love a good blogger party. Today, I am part of the Ugly Sweater Blog Tour organized by Petite Stitchery & Co. The official idea for the tour was to upcycle an ugly Christmas sweater into something beautiful. The problem with this plan was that I did not own anything resembling an ugly Christmas sweater. Of course I could buy one, but I felt that defeated the purpose. So, I put my own frugal spin on the challenge (after getting permission to ski off piste) and I love the result.

I first planned to use another piece of this fabric. Than I realized I was planning to sew for my middle daughter and she still fits the first dress with that fabric, I went a different route. I picked a glitter fabric from my closet, one that was originally going to be a selfish sew, and turned it into a dress. I did a little pattern mash up, I used the flutter shoulders from the Sapphire and the dress from the Mistletoe pattern (with circle skirt of course). They worked together like a charm. I even like how the backside of the fabric gives a lovely contrast to the pink. These two patterns are a killer combi!

I do not know much about ugly Christmas sweaters but I am under the impression that it is intended to be an over the top look (glitter is a nice start for an over the top look right) with some Christmas elements. I wanted to make a dress that my girl could wear in January as well (which is a bit weird with the dress I made her last year, but she pulls it off). I therefore went for a more subtle Christmas print. I decided to go for a reindeer. I once told you I salvaged some black and gold flex foil from the bin (they were somebody else's leftover and I asked permission). It was already peeled from the plastic, but I saw potential (especially because the backs had a clear distinctive color). I already successfully used it for this ghost look, and this time I used it to make the reindeer print. I feel that counts as upcycling right, it would have been thrown away. I still have a significant amount of that flex left, so it will make its appearance on the blog again.

My kids recently discovered Pixelhobby. The idea is the same as Ministeck. On the web you can find many small designs for medallions, and I used one of those pictures for the print. I had googled " pixelhobby Christmas" and quickly found this reindeer picture. With a ruler and my rotatory cutter I cut small gold and black squares (sides of half a centimeter). I put them in the right position (which was surprisingly quick) and ironed them down. One of the squares from the antler mis-positioned, but besides that, whole thing worked like a charm.

Seeing that Ugly Sweaters should be over the top, I decided to add a layer of tulle to the dress. It was a coupon that I bought from Madeline de Stoffenmadam, because I wanted to recreate this look. Needless to say, my girl loves the dress. The circle skirt and tulle combi create a perfect twirl. The glitter French Terry, that I used as main fabric is from Lillestoff and was bought at Joyfits last year.

Inspired? If you link up your own Petite Stitchery ugly sweater creation here, also, do not forget to fill in the Rafflecopter, you might win a prize!

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Tuesday 12/20

Rebel & Malice and Sew Sophie Lynn

Wednesday 12/21

Inspinration and Petite Stitchery & Co

Thursday 12/22

Sprouting Jube Jube and Phat Quarters

Friday, December 16, 2016

Maggie release

On Tuesday, I saw a sneak of Bella Sunshine Designs* newest pattern, the Maggie dress. The dress looked great it reminded me of the fact that I need new winter dresses. I lost 14 kilo's since the summer and I wanted to celebrate that with a new dress. So, I asked Melissa (the designer) if I could sew one even though I did not actually test it. If I could show my dress of today, I could, so here I am today showing you my newest closet jewel.

Do you remember this dress from the spring? Unfortunately, It does not fit that nicely anymore (although clothes being to big is less painful than being too small), but one of the great things of that pattern was the fact that it comes with different bust sizes. The Maggie*, the pattern that I am showing you today also has a full bust adjustment included. So that means you just print and glue the chest pieces that are perfect for you. I really love that about Bella Sunshine designs and I am very much looking forward to their future patterns.

For the sizing I of course followed the measurement table and the fit was spot on. I did not have to change anything after wards. I started cutting my pattern tiles pieces around half past eight and convinced my husband to make pictures around half past 10 (yes at night, so my apologies for the somewhat lower picture quality). I managed to cut, glue cut fabric and sew all in less than two hours. I wore the dress to work the next day (which included Christmas dinner, so no way I could have made pictures the next day). I made the dress with a thick jacquard jersey from Textielstad. I bought it a few months ago already, and it is already sold out.

The pattern* just released and is now on release sale for just $5. The pattern also included a tunic and shirt length, and comes in long and short sleeves, a true all-seasons pattern. You can find the pattern in the Bella Sunshine Designs shop here*.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Divided dress release

A jersey dress packed with color blocking options, The new Divided dress* is a design to my heart! The newest pattern from Jennuine Designs* is a quick and fun sew and super practical for all those small scraps of jersey that you have been hording. I tested the shawl collar option and I am (accidentally) showing you two dresses today. The final cowl version has been tweaked a bit more (lowered a bit for example), such that everything is perfect.

The divided dress has two bodice types, one faux raglan sleeve like and a shawl collar one. I tested the shawl collar. I submitted my youngest one for the test, searched some scraps from earlier projects and sewed a dress. The dress turned out big, and did not fit my smallest model, but it did fit my middle daughter. The mistake was all mine. For the first time ever, my printer was set on scale to fit paper! Every sewers nightmare, I was so lucky that it perfectly fitted my middle one. It could have been a total disaster. Besides double checking my printer options, I learned something else, for this design you need a very stable knit for the bodice. The main fabric I used was a bit thinner than the shawl fabric and that created some waving. Of course the shawl pieces did not fit as intended, but I made it work anyway, and my middle one loves the dress.

The dress supports huge pockets, although they are rather small on the outside, your daughter will be able to gather a lot of treasures in them. You know how much my kids like pockets! In the final design the pockets are a bit more visible from the front, because the A line shape became a bit narrower than in my dresses.

The second dress that I made, fitted my smallest daughter perfectly. I was able to use a treasured narrow coupon that I bought for the dress (the flower lions), so I was super excited about the fabric combi. At the time of the shoot, I did not yet top stitch the neckline (it was not written in the pattern, but afterwards I did). The neckline is now really nice and smooth. So besides using you best knits for the bodice, I advice to top stitch (it is listed as optional in the pattern now). My girls clearly had a lot of fun during their shoot.

I did not sew the other option of the dress, the ones that I saw the testers sew blew me away though! The listing has an example of both dresses, so make sure to check that one out. The pattern* is on release sale now for just $5 in the Jennuine Designs web shop*. The rest of the shop (bundles and printed pattern excluded) is 20% off with code DIVIDEDRELEASE all through Dec 19.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

The Annaliese dress release

Sometimes you see a tester call that you have to respond to even if you are too busy. The tester call for the Annaliese by MCM Studio Designs was like that. I have been sewing (and posting) like crazy, but I was immediately sold when I saw the line drawings of this dress. My high school graduation ceremony dress had a laced front, and ever since, I am in love with that kind of princess dresses, and I correctly assumed that my middle one would be over the moon with one of these.

My girls love to dress up like princesses, and the Anneliese Dress gives an everyday princess feeling if you use everyday fabrics. You could also choose for velvet to make a true statement dress. There are two front options (either a tab or laced) and I chose the laced version (due to my earlier mentioned obsession). I was planning to make a rouleau for both the loops and the string. Turning about 30 centimeter went fine, but my home made bias did not go longer than that. Either my pull thread or the bias itself broke. The string is therefore just a bias sewed together. The pattern prescribes ribbon by the way, but you know me, always in for trying a new thing.

The pattern included both long and short sleeves, I used the long ones to make a true winter dress. The sleeves have some gathering at the top and I really like the effect. I sat for a while in front of my fabric closet and finally settled on a light blue Shetland flaneel by Robert Kaufmann, so the dress is super cozy. I used a light blue cotton by Soft Cactus for the middle. I really like how the dark blue of the loops and ribbon contrast with the lighter blue's. I added side seam pockets, my girl would boycot the dress without. The pockets are not included, but a free add-on might come soon.

Due to the release the dress is 50% off until the 18th of December in the MCM Studio web shop. While I was writing this post and searched for the link, I realized that I still have to sew the Gertie's Soda Shop Dress. I bought it when it was released, but testing just works better for me, in that case I have to sew it within a week (or two).

Friday, December 9, 2016

Louis, Näh Connection Ambassador

My son needed some warm clothes and preferably some that he can wear at least one winter. When Annika announced she was releasing the English version of The Louis hoodie by Kibadoo, I jumped on the occasion. As ambasadaur I am allowed to sew up a version for the release and nNothing gets me motivated like a deadline. The Louis was released today, but I had misremembered the date. Therefore, today I sewed and shot pictures of the sweater in a about an hour total (I had already cut the pieces), and I ended up with a super happy son.

The pattern comes with a collar and hood option, optional kangaroo pocket and optional elbow patches, so several mix and match possibilities. I of course sewed the pocket, but left out the elbow patches. I made our Louis in a sweater fabric with a nice soft backside. I bought the fabric at Cas and Nina during our sewing weekend almost a year ago (we are almost going again, yeah!), so it was high time to use the fabric. I just did not have enough to cut all pieces. I needed to cut one hood in two pieces (I was really only missing a super small piece), the seam is hidden by the outer hood though, so really perfect fabric use I would say.

The Louis has a comfy and casual fit and a big cosy hood. My son isn't an easy model, when I asked him to pose for pictures this afternoon he, as usual replayed "no". When I showed him what I made he quickly changed his mind. He immediately took of the shirt he was wearing and when the soft inside of the hoodie touched his skin he became even more satisfied. He put his bear in the kangaroo pocket and could not have been happier. The deal with my kids is that they are only allowed to wear their new clothes after we make pictures. After the shoot, he therefore happily proclaimed he was not taking it off.

The pattern is now on 20% discount until Wednesday the 14th in the Näh Connection shop. Here and here you can find other Näh Connection Ambassador posts.

Pagina's