Saturday, September 30, 2017

I'll have another Martini



I love trying new things, but some patterns I do make over and over again. For selfish sewing, the Martini dress from La Maison Victor is a clear winner in that category. Although I only made the original dress only once, today's dress is the fifth of this pattern in my  wardrobe. I still wear all of them regularly. For today's dress, I used my standard adjustment, which is to double the front and draw a new neckline. I still use the same pieces as the first time, so this is with the FBA adjustment that I made years ago.



I have cut Martini's with short sleeves from one meter of undirectional print. The fact that this pattern needs a minimum amount of fabric definitely contributes to me loving this pattern so much. From this lovely Lillestof fabric I had about one and a half meter and I could add two small remnants to my scraps collection. The fabric is so pretty, the white flowers are printed in a thicker paint, and they give a lovely 3D effect.



This time, I did not use a bias finish for the neckline, I just folded tone and a half centimeter to the inside and stitched it down with a stretch stitch. I learned from the Simple dress that this is an easy and pretty solution if you have good quality knit. This time I left the dress rather long, making it extra decent.




Thursday, September 21, 2017

Sewing for kindergarten



This September, my youngest started kindergarten, now all our kids go to school in the morning. A lovely occasion to join the Sewing for Kindergarten blog tour which is hosted by Jennuine Designs this year. Seeing that I have trouble closing her dress drawer, she clearly does not need new dresses. A non-need for dresses never stopped me in the past, but I decided to do it differently this time. I actually sewed basic clothing pieces such that she can remain wearing the summer dresses that she loves so much. Besides those basic pieces, I also sewed a backpack, mostly because I wanted to try if I could.




A good basic is a pair of leggings. In the Netherlands your legs can be bare in June until August, but for most of the year, those legs have to be covered. I have sewed leggings in the past, but never as many in one week as I did now. I realized I had the Dressage leggings pattern* in my stash from a long long time ago, and tried it for my middle daughter. The fit was perfect, so I cut four more and cut three pair for my youngest as well. Yes, I sewed eight of these this week, and they are the perfect sewing shot. They are quick, and easy. You can actually make them more sophisticated by choosing a color block. My kids will be colorful enough already, so I only made the straight option.



I addressed the lack of sleeves on the summer dresses by sewed three Aura's from Sofilantjes*. I was not in the mood to search for buttons in my stash and I chose to figure out the optimal (for me) snap closure. I ended up with three slightly different options, but I think I like the one with the dino fabric the best. It actually was a mistake, I sewed it exactly the same as the kitten version, but sewed the inners piece inside out to the outer piece. This way the loop is on the inside and I love it! Another example of why it is good to (sometimes) make mistakes.



The middle color bomb in my overview picture is the Bazinga Backpack from Flosstyle. I have been longing to sew a backpack for long, but I never really dared. I did not feel like buying all the hardware and stabilizers that can make a handmade bag very expensive. The blog tour motivated me to sew at east one really interesting piece and I did it frugally. Instead of stabilizing my fabric, I actually used canvas as the lining, this way the combination of main and lining is sturdy enough. I did not buy anything for this bag. I used scraps of woven fabric, zippers from my stash and upcycled the hardware from an old back pack.




I really love the color block on this bag, it was a joy to mix and match. The bag has a high level of pretty finish. All the inside seams are enclosed with bias tape. This is something that I normally would never do, but I was so smitten with the front, that I felt I had to try to make the inside as pretty as possible. The bag is actually a bit too big for my teeny tiny kindergarter, but I am sure the bag will get a lot of wear any way. All the kids love the bag and I seem to be forced to make a few more, and for now the bag will be used by a bigger sibling until she is big enough.




I choose grey/white as the main color for the legging-bolero sets. I feel that those color fit with almost everything. I could have gone with uni pink, that would have matched will all her favorites for sure, but I wanted to give her some print as well. I had not planned to combine the kitten bolero with the earlier made kitten dresss, I thought it would be too much. My daughter insisted and I have to agree with her, it looks surpirsingly cute. She actually whore the cat ensamble, including the leggings to school today. It was a bit much for my taste, but she was over the moon with the combi. I also wanted to snap some pictures with my middle one wearing her leggings, but this was the only one she was in for.



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, September 16, 2017

A mountain of Montis dresses



I am a bit behind on my blogging, which you might have noticed.  I also have been sewing, but those things I can not show you yet, so today, I have another "oldie" for you. In July, Sofilantjes released the Montis*, and I showed you two dresses that I sewed over testing. I actually sewed three other variations, which I am showing today. The weather here is horrible now, but they were worn a lot over the summer and still leave the closet with a jacket.



The waist of the Montis perfectly matched that of the Solis and the Litore which opens up a lot of easy mix and match possibilities. The pink dress, worn by my middle daughter is a mash up of the Litore bodice and the Litore high low skirt. I have wrote it before, that probably is my favorite skirt ever.



If you come here often, you know that I like to push the boundaries a bit. I gladly mashup all kind of patterns, even if they officially do not line up. The Mantica is officially not a waist match for the Montis, but the gathered skirt is easy peasy transferred (you just gather is to the right width). If you only used the skirt (and omit the band), you do not have to change a thing (although the skirt will be slightly shorter than on the Mantica), but I also wanted a contrasting band. To create the same look, just take the band of the Mantica and cut it as wide as the bottom of the Montis top.I only used a one layer band because I did not use a cord.



Besides these two easy mashes, I also went for a slightly bigger "hack". Anne designed the Montis to be sewn with a double or a single layer bodice. Besides in thickness, the bodice options differ in view on the back. The single layered bodice has two straps and the double layered has three. I especially love the three strap option because it looks different than the front. I know that many people like single layered because it is less warm in the summer, so I mixed those two option in this dress. I wrote small tutorial for the Sofilantjes blog to get the same look. The skirt of this dress is narrower than the Montis one, because my fabric remnant was not big enough.




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, 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.