Inspinration: June 2016

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Litore and Aura release

Today, Sofilantjes* has released not one, but two patterns. This time a dress and a bolero. The Litore* has an amazingly cool back detail en three different skirt types (all three available in two lengths). My daughters prefer to wear their pretty dresses every day and I let them (I have to enjoy the time that they still love to wear my handmade clothes), but sometimes it is a bit chilly for these dresses. If your country's summers looks like the Dutch's, you regularly need something to cover those shoulders, the Aura* is perfect for that. Here you can read Anne's lovely story about the names of these patterns and why they go so well together.

The dress' bodice has 2 sets of straps and a separate front shoulder piece. These pieces are just perfect for color blocking, or just adding an interesting detail. I made three Litore's and loved playing around with the colors. On two I used colors from the main fabric, on the third I actually used the strap to spice it up (something I had seen other testers do). On the purple one I actually put the wrong straps at the top, wrong when you consider the pattern instructions (and that is what is the bible when you are testing). When not testing you can of course play with whichever order you like best. How well the Litore's back looks depends on your fabric, if your main fabric is very drapy, like the petrol one, it is important that you take a nice firm lining.

The Litore has three skirt options, handkerchief (dress and tunic length), high low circle skirt (dress and tunic length) and A-line (dress and maxi length). I sewed the high low circle one and the hand kerchief. The high low hem circle skirt is my and my girls' favorite for sure. I love how it spins and it is very practical. The shorter front makes it nice and spicy and the longer back avoids it being too spicy when my kids are playing. The best part, these skirts fit the Solis bodice! The Litore en Solis will be the ultimate summer dress combo seeing as the Solis has two great skirt options that fit the Litore.

The Aura bolero is a great staple garment, I have been under estimating cardigans and the like as you can read here, now I am hooked. I only made one because I realized my uni colored jersey pile had shrunk a lot. Yesterday, I bought eleven meter uni colored fabric, so now I can totally go overboard. The bolero has three sleeve lengths making it perfect for the entire year. I read in this post that the Nivalis'* sleeves fit the Aura up until size 7, I presume that means cap sleeves as well!

The grey indian fabric I bought at Droomstoffen. My daughter picked the fabric herself (from behind the pc). I like the fabric for her because from far it looks stylishly grey but from where she is looking she sees all the nice drawings. Last time when we picked fabric from my closet she told me she still prefers fairytale fabric best, so happy drawings it is. The elephant fabric has been in my stash for more than a year already and I bought it at a web shop that went bankrupt. I usually do not make a circle skirt with a direction print, but I just wanted to try it. I feared that I would be bothered by the fabric being sideways on the sides, but it really does not bother me at all. I might even like it in this particular print.

The petrol combi is made with two different petrol fabrics from Lillestoff. The dress fabric was already featured here and here. I bought four meter and my mother also made dress from it, but you will see more of it for sure. The bolero is made with vintage jersey. I had no clue what is was when I ordered it. It is a relatively thick jersey, which looks like from an old sweater (that is why it is called vintage I presume, I thought it had to do with the color). I bought half a meter and had not found a project for it yet. For this bolero it was perfect. It is nice and warm and clearly has some structure. Because the bolero is rather short, I could easily cut one from my half a meter. The flower fabric, I once bought as a coupon on a market. My mother actually used 80% of the fabric already, but it was just enough for this bolero and dress.

Both patterns are on release sale for two days. The Litore* will we €5.50 (excluding EU tax normally the Litore would be €8.85 excl EU tax) and the Aura* will be €4.50 (also without EU tax, normal price is €6.85 excl tax ). You can find the patterns here, no special code is needed.

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.

Monday, June 27, 2016

Jigsaw/patch work summer dress

I am not a serial cutter, meaning that I cut one project sew it, and cut the next. If I have a pile of unsewn projects, I will loose interest in them. My enthusiasm span is short, so I have to finish the cutting-sewing cycle quickly. This keeps things clean and organized in my mind. At the moment I have a bit too many project floating around, most of them aren't cut yet but I feel some stress due to all the plans I am trying to finalize the coming five days. My solution, just sew something extra that was not on your sewing list.

I was again allowed to pick a fabric for Droomstoffen and I picked a lovely viscose jersey. It is soft, flowy, perfect colors and the drape is wonderful. I immediately knew I would sew a shirt for myself from it. I am copying one of my own favorite store bought shirts for it. After cutting, I was left with a small piece that was screaming to be used. Times like those, I am so grateful of having a small toddler in the house. Her clothes are perfect scrap busters.

I did not have a clear plan when I started cutting (not the most effective sewing method, but I enjoy the process). I had one relatively large piece (when I started I had less than a meter and I had cut a woman's shirt from it, so "large piece"should be taken relatively). I tried to squeeze a circle skirt from it. I managed to cut 9/12 of a circle from it (in three uneven pieces). I pieced together a bodice (including toddler belly option) from five smaller pieces and finished it with a binding in the same fabric (because there was no way to cut even half bodice to line it with). I added a triangle to the dress to get the right waist size (I did not have enough fabric to put in rectangle strip).

All those seams do not really show, or at least they do not bother me. I added a picture of the back that has that strange extra triangle, did you spot it? I already know this will be on of her favorite summer dresses. You will have to have a bit until I show you the shirt, although I cut it already, it is not one of those projects I am planning to sew within the coming days. The same goes for the fabric, it is not yet online available at Droomstoffen, but it wil be soon!

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).

Monday, June 20, 2016

Handmade gifts: Solis and tulle circle skirt

Two years ago I sewed two dresses for the twins of a colleague. My colleague has twin girls of the same age as my eldest. I regularly get clothes the twins grew out of, so I sewed the dresses to give something back. Those two dresses came back home a few months ago (because they had become too small). Today I am showing you a new set that I sewed them as replacement.

Both girls will have a dance recital and they needed black and white clothes and I was allowed to (partly) dress them. Black and white clothes are totally the trend right now, so I wanted to make them something they would be willing to wear as every day clothing. After some back and forth questions, taking the girls' preferences as our guide, we decided that I would make a Solis* and a tulle skirt. My daughter is just slightly smaller so she could model them for you. Seeing circle skirts in action is much better than on a hanger.

There is not much more about the Solis that I can tell you which I did not wrote in the release post. It is a lovely pattern and your girl should have at least one. I hemmed the circle skirt again with the blind stitch. You can find the tutorial I wrote for it here. Did you see the heart placement at the back strap, my girl loved that detail (and so do I). You can find the lovely black and white fabric at Droomstoffen.

The twins have very similar measurements, so I used the Solis' skirt piece to make the tulle skirt. I cut the main skirt from black jersey (bought at Droomstoffen) and gathered 4.50 meter black tulle to get an awesome second layer effect. I made the waistband based on the free Liv skirt*. The tulle is super light weighted and the jersey circle skirt lifts it up easily. Her hands are behind her back, and not in pockets. I autmatically had cut and already sewn three of the four pocket parts when I realised there was no way that a tulle skirt could have pockets. I just kept them in though.

I was debating what kind of top I would put on the skirt for the shoot. My daughter suggested just pulling it over the dress. I thought it was worth a try. It looks so great that I might actually make such a dress. Just sewing an extra layer of tulle between the bodice and main skirt. My daughter also was the one that suggested the picture location. She is a true asset to my blog, thanks honey.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Boy summer outfit: Noa and ADTV

After use, I store my patterns rolled up and I tied with a fabric scrap. I strategically use a scrap from the fabric that I used the pattern on. I have a good memory for fabrics and garments, and have very recognizable fabric, so this type of labeling works great for me. If you sew uni pink every other day, this would not work of course. The only down side is that those neatly rolled patterns tend to curl a bit. Not a huge problem, but I prefer my patterns to lay flat. That means that when I finish a project and I foresee a next one in my near future, the project moves to the top of the pile. That is why I am again showing you a Noa* today. I paired the shorts with an ADTV* from Sofilantjes*.

In the testing group there were a few that sewed shorts with a blue, brown, gray combi (this one and an unblogged one). I loved those. They did not resemble the screaming combinations I usually make, and I wanted my own. This inspirational jealously is my usual reaction to seeing other people's test garments, and part of the testing fun. Of course, I put my own stamp on it though. So, I did use a print fabric in the mix and also my brown isn't not truly uni color, but compared to my usual sewing this is a rather calm combination.

The benefit of these colors is that it actually matches with a lot of my son's clothes (when I say "match", I mean it does not clash too much). Still, I decided to make him a new shirt. He desperately needs some short sleeved items. I made two ADTV shirts during testing. This time I allowed myself to experiment with the pattern. I noticed that my son easily gets in and out of his shirt without opening the buttons. I love the design effect of that diagonal band, so I just sewed the band closed. The lower part even doesn't have a "cuff" on it. Coincidentally, just after I sewed it, somebody else showed a similar one in the Sofilantjes sew and show group. She asked if others did it as well, and through that I got an even better idea how to do it next time.

The fabrics of the trousers is a combination of flannel, jersey and cotton. The brown herringbone fabric is flannel from Robert Kaufman. I had a very small piece left from sewing her coat. I really wanted to sew the trousers from this super soft fabric but I did not manage to cut the pieces that I needed from the fabric. I therefore just added an extra seam at the back. It could almost be considered a design feature. The blue farm cotton is the same as the fabric from this dress, and the black jeans jersey was a leftover from this project. The blue origami fabric I bought at Cas and Nina.

The Noa* is still on release sale and has a 10% discount until the 19th with the code "Noa10" and it is available in the Compagnie M web shop*. Around the time I posted my previous post, many more posts appeared. Somebody started with a link up, which I rudely copied into this post. Seeing as the winner from my giveaway did not come forward in time, I have a randomly chosen new one. So ALL SET, please contact me about your prize through inspinration(at)gmail.com.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Noa pants from Compagnie M

Today, Compagnie M * has launched a new pattern, and with it, she also launched a new line of patterns. The Noa* pants is the first pattern in her new Special Basics line, a line without tons of options but with a true Compagnie M stamp. The Special Basics will only be available as pdf's and will cost just 5 euro's. The new Noa definitely fits the "Special" label and considering my son has requested a few more, they will probably indeed become a "Basic" in his wardrobe.

Let's start with those pockets, because I know they were the first thing that grabbed your attention. The fold over pockets are amazing, and scream Compagnie M. I love the color blocking options the provide. You could use one type of fabric, giving the pants some subtle details, but you can also play with three different visible fabrics.The pockets are great for using treasured fabric scraps. The space ships fabric was a scrap from making this Theo.

You will have to cut eleven fabric pieces, but the pants sew up quickly. No zippers, no button holes even no snaps. My son loves how easily they come on and off. With his usual trousers he tries to avoid opening his button and zip, so I could not make him happier than with this type of pants. The trousers are comfy, but they look like real trousers, so me and him are very happy with them. We also tested the trousers on playability, as you can see his bottom stays covered even in the most demanding position.

The pattern is originally designed for woven fabrics, but fabrics with a bit of stretch will also work. The main fabric I used was just 2.50 euro per meter. I bought four meters because my son requested a bed tent (basically a curtain with window and door). After buying the fabric I realized three meter would have been enough as well. The fabric is relatively sturdy, canvas like, so perfect for pants. The rust colored uni fabric, I bought at de Stoffen Madam during our sewing weekend reunion two weeks ago.

I mentioned a few times already that my son is my most complicated model. This time I decided to make the shoot extra special and I think it worked. We cycled around the neighbourhood, searching for a nice location in the shade. We ended up making pics in the tower of a petting zoo and I think he had fun. I did not take a bag with me, so I actually put my keys in his pockets, which explains why his hands are not as deep in them as they could be. Let's hope he will be as cooperative in the future because I already cut the next Noa pair, a air of shorts. The pattern is available in two lengths, so perfect whole year round.

Get your Noa* in the Compagnie M webshop. Due to the release there is a discount of 10% on the already low price of 5 euro's. The code for the discount is "noa10" and it is viable until the 19th of June. The pattern is available both in Dutch and English.

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.

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Flosstyle galore

In February, I gave you two posts on Flosstyle's Zoo pattern, but I could have given you more. Today, I am finally showing you the rest of my Flosstyle collection. Flosstyle has just released a free pattern piece for a long sleeve add-on to the Zoo pattern, making the content of this post very relevant again! On a second nore, summer is slowly approaching here, which is where the pattern is intended for. Related to my previous post, Lauren S. do not forget to email me about the give away!

In February, I showed you the reversible knit romper and a zipper tutorial on a woven romper. I had also sewed a reversible woven romper though. One side has bright yellow flower from Soft Cactus. The other side was a scrap left from making this blouse, and is also from Soft Cactus.The pattern itself explains a way to make the romper reversible, but I of course chose an option that was not supposed to be reversible. I just made it work though. Would anyone be interested in knowing how I did it, for a future tutorial?

I have been trying to improve my photography skills, and the use of props is advocated everywhere. Using props confuses the hell out of me, but I am trying. You can only learn through trying right? I asked my daughter to search for something dark and she brought me the witch hat, and we just rolled with it. We had a blast during the shoot, and that is the most important part.

There were a few days between when I cut the dress and sewed it. In the mean time the arm cycle was adjusted in the pattern. I did not wanted to trow away the pieces that I had cut, so I just added contrasting orange to make it the correct size. Flosstyle pattern usually come with a super inspiring modification section, and so does this pattern. I could not help myself to come up with another type of modification though. I added elastic to the waist, instead of tying straps. The straps look great but my daughter can not tie them herself, so I went for ease.

The last Flosstyle project that I am showing you today is not from the Zoo collection. This is a hack of the Super Suit Set. I cut the bodice pattern pieces around the waist and ruffled a skirt on it. Easy peasy. My youngest refuses to wear anything else than dresses. She is a princess, she tells me about ten times a day.

I attempted to a sibling shoot all in Flosstyle. Getting them all to look and no socks showing was apparently too much to hope for. You can see the dress is very versatile in size. The Zoo collection officially goes up to a size four, but my kids are relatively skinny.