Saturday, October 21, 2017

Ode to the Domi (9 pairs of trousers)



There are only a few patterns that I have sewn more than four times and the Domi pants* have to be the winner to the "most often sewed by me" competition. I have already showed you 1-2,3,4,5-7,8,9 Domi's in the past and today I am showing you nine at once (although they were sewn over a period of 6 months. Although I can sew and resew this pattern indefinitely, I can imagine you are not in for reading about them every week.



I mentioned before that my son loves soft trousers and therefore the Domi has been his favorite trousers pattern since release. Recently my middle daughter joined him in a love for pants, and especially soft pants. Until the spring, she was a dresses and skirts only girl, but now she widened her spectrum. She still likes dresses a lot, but by having pants in her wardrobe she has even more options and she is a girl that likes options.



My eldest is still a dress girl at heart. I feel she loves them for the same reason as I do, they are so easy. She is not like changing her clothes during they day like her younger sisters. She prefers to not spend much time on thinking about her clothes. You put on a dress and you are done, no need to find a coordination piece. But also she sometimes needs trousers for gym classes. So she got two shorts, because the Domi comes in three lengths.



The Domi is one of the few patterns that I keep around printed. I really like the fact that if you have the long pants pattern pieces, you can just fold them over to make shorts. The Domi is a relaxed fitting pattern which means you can easily skip a size by adding a bit more or less elastic to the waist. That is what I did for my eldest, I used the same size as for her brother, but did a bit longer elastic in the waist.



I used a lot of different fabrics for these trousers. I used French terry, jogging and jersey. Most of these fabrics I bought at Joyfits. Many of these already appeared once before, like the kitten fabric and this blue French Terry. Especially the shorts pattern is great for using smaller remnants.



Besides nine Domi's this blog post also contains my first ever Omni shirt*, the one with the Pikachu (which I of course immediatly hacked). Someone in the Sofilantjes Sew and Show group created an unlined cowl with a bias finish, and I loved the effect. Besides cutting just one cowl piece, I also made it a bit lower to increase the effect of the bias (as did the original hacker). I created the Pikachu application from flex on her birthday last year. I cut it by hand, which was surprisngly easy.



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.




Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Apple Cardigan



I have mentioned it here more often, I have a gaping hole in my closet where other people have cardigans / jackets and other layering garments. Of course, this is a figure of speech because there actually is no hole in my closet, it is super full, it is actually overflowing to the ground, but at least you get how much I like cardigans in general... I have tried before, I even made it part of a challenge, but I was not convinced of needing these layers in my closet. But that has changed with pattern by Bella Sunshine*, the Apple cardigan. I wore it to work the day after I sewed!



The Apple cardigan* comes in two layers, tunic and knee length and I tested the knee tunic length version. Because I learned from my previous cardigan fabric choice, this time I picked an uni colored blue and I am so in love with the result! It goes perfectly with many of my summer dresses. The dress in the picture is one of my Sahara's and it does not get more summery than that, but like this it is totally fall/winter worthy. I have many other summer dresses that perfectly combine with dark blue, so I this might actually become one of the most worn garments from fall/winter 2017.



The Cardigan is an easy and quick sew. The only thing that I feel that I have to mention is that it eats up a lot fabric. Due to the lovely flare at the bottom you can compare this to a full dress when it comes to fabric. I cut this cardigan from a 3 meter long fabric, so I did not have to worry at all, but I fear that you might run into trouble if you have less than 2 meter, especially is you have a directional print. From the scraps that remain you can easily cut some kids sweater probably, but keep in mind that you need length.



As I mentioned before, the cardigan has a lovely flare, which forms a nice pleat at the back. I have also seen testers wear it with a belt. I liked the look, but feel I need at least one year of cardigan wearing before I dare to take that step.


The pattern* is on sale for a week until next Tuesday the 24th for just $6.50 on the Bella Sunshine website. There is also a girl version*, ideal twinning with your little one. While searching the links, I also saw that the Sahara*, the dress that I am wearing the pictures is also on sale by the way.


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, 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 

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Trillium in jersey



Today, I have another knitification project. I made a Trillium, which is designed for woven fabrics, in jersey. The Trillium is a dress or tunic with a color blocked bodice from Petite Stitchery and co which is part of One Thimble issue 14*. Besides making some adjustments to make it suitable for knits, I also adjusted the skirt length, originally it is a maxi dress, but I went for knee length.



One of the big advantages of knit dresses is that they do not require closings. I have no fear of sewing zippers/button holes (although today I read that I am actually incorrectly using my blind zipper foot....), but not using a zipper/buttons saves the cost of the zipper /buttons, saves the time of sewing the zipper/button holes and it saves my kids dressing time.  The original Trillium has a front button closure, which is one of the most kid friendly closures, but I also just love hacking patterns.



This time I did not size down (which is often necessary with knits), I used the back of the bodice in the size that I would have chosen for a woven dress based on the measurement table and adjusted the front to have the same width as the back. I kept the original width of the button placket, but I only cut one layer. Only the outer front is color blocked, the front lining is a all in one piece.



I realized you can not see the fabric from the skirt from close by, but it has unicorns on it, and my daughter picked it herself in the fabric store and she has been asking for a dress from it ever since. I feared that a dress from the unicorn fabric alone would be too pj like, so I used uni colors in the bodice. I found a matching combination uni color fabrics in my stash. All these fabrics, including the unicorns are from Textielstad.


I have mentioned before that I am trying but mostly failing in my attempts to use props. This unicorn seemed like a match made in heaven, but finding the optimal way to use it was a challenge. Riding the unicorn obviously did not turn out to be a winner pose, just dropping it on the floor actually turned out to give best effect.



I realized that this is actually my fifth project from One Thimble 14*, I also made a Loli, an Amuse, a Lala mash and the Thyme vest. 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.