Friday, August 31, 2018

A bag and chicken



I was planning to show you the other clothes that I sewed from One Thimble 20, but than I realized that also have two very cool projects from OT 19 that I have not blogged about yet. So, today, I will show you two non-clothing items, a bag and a plushie.



My mother in law took up weaving and for my birthday I received a fully hand woven fabric in beautiful shades of green. Coincidentally the fabric piece was the perfect size to turn into a Pinky Promise bag. I wanted to use as much a possible from the fabric so I also created the straps from the fabric, added two extra pockets and made an extra big lip balm holder. The only thing that I could make from the leftovers was a small bow for hairband, everything else was incorporated in this bag.



The Pinky Promise bag is an extremely cute bag pattern designed by Little Moo designs and perfect for kids/ teens but also for grownups. It can hold your phone, keys, cardholder and a pocket of tissues. Perfect for a night out or going for ice cream. The instructions tell you to use a magnet closure, but I am a very frugal bag maker and did not use one. I also attached the shoulder strap differently to avoid needing bag hardware. The pattern also includes an option to make a ear phone hole which I think is the cutest and smarted thing ever. By not having the ear phones go under the flap, the phone is much more secure in the bag.



The second non clothing item is this chicken based on the pattern by Frazzydazzles. The original pattern is to make a Silkie chicken, a type of chicken that is super fluffy looking and has a bunch of feather on its head. Unfortunatly I did not have fluffy fabric. I did have short haired fur, so I made a Dutch type of chicken. One with comb on her head. I used some upcycled denim to make her feet, beak and comb.  Our children were obviously fighting over who was allowed to play with her.



This chicken is the reason why I dared to sew these two. Sewing this chicken was so much easier than I thought it would be. I somehow expected it to be quite hard with all the small pieces, but is was not at all. I sewed her almost totally on my serger but afterwards I realized that on some places I sewed a bit too close to the side due to the fur. Those small holes were so quickly and easily solved by hand, that I was inspired to sew the other two by hand alone.



Both of these patterns and the patterns from this and this blog post are all part of One thimble 19*. You can buy these two patterns plus many more as one magazine, but these individual patterns are now also available through their own designers.



Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Fibre Mood, issue one the Phoenix



I always like sewing up new patterns, a new outlet of many new future patterns is therefore something I find worth celebrating. Fibre Mood is just that, a new source of future inspiration. Yesterday, the first paper mood book fell on the doormat of the Belgian subscribers and let's hope that it is the start of many inspirational new patterns. Fibre mood not just equals new patterns, but actually a new sewing community. If you want to learn more, hop over to their website and sign up. There you can also get the free Frances pattern for women.



To celebrate the first Fibre Mood issue, bloggers were invited to sew up one of the patterns from that particular issue. I chose for the Phoenix, a sweater to start the winter wardrobe of our quickly growing son. In the pattern the shoulder seam is shifted to the front, and to show off this feature I put a strip of jersey in between the seam. If you make the back of the sweater in a different fabric than the front, you can easily create a nice color blocking effect on the front without sewing an extra seam compared to a standard sweater.



To decorate your sweater, Fibre Mood also supplies illustratons of four funny animals wearing clothes. You can embroider  them on your garments or cut them from flex foil. You know me, I always have to hack a bit, so I actually used the print to make a screen print. I decided to only print the head and I did make some minor adjustments such that I do not have any loose pieces in my stencil. Still, the result looks very much like the original drawing. I printed it with my Bobbinhood kit and metalic golden ink.



The pattern is drawn for sweater fabrics, but it worked fine in the French Terry that I used. A little less puffy as the pattern describes it itself, but still nice and warm. Our son was exactly in between a size 8 and 10, and seeing that I am sewing for winter I made a 10. The fit turned out perfect, so not too big as I feared. I would therefore advice to size up when in doubt about the size.



As I mentioned before, I was clearly not the only one that sewed up one of the Fibre Mood patterns. Several bloggers sewed up their version and you can find them gathered nicely together on the Fibre Mood link up party from 0:01 am Thursday morning on the Fibre Mood site.


Sunday, August 12, 2018

One Thimble issue 20



A few days ago One Thimble 20* released. This new issue contains ten patterns and today I am showing you four of them, four patterns that work together very well. I am showing the Ringer Raglan, the Saltwater skirt, the Riptide board shorts and the Big Ocean appliques. With these four I created two complete looks for our two eldest kids.



The Big Ocean appliques by Swoodson Says are a shark and a whale applique that you can sew or glue on anything that you like. I decided to sew them on two Ringer Raglans. The appliques are perfect to use with all kind of small scraps. Depending on your sewing style, you can either spend hours contemplating on the optimal allocation, or like me just grab some fabrics that have similar colors and just hope for the best. I really like how mine turned out. Because I sewed them from scraps that I worked with before, they also are a reminder of other things that I sewed.  From every fabric that I ever sewed with I still remember the project. I used an inexpensive stabilizer, because that is the only stabilizer that I have, so I know from experience that I have to zigzag the applique together, with a straight stitch the sides would start peeling.



In the previous paragraph I already mentioned the Ringer Raglan that both my son and daughter got for today's looks. The pattern is designed by Thread Faction who contributed two patterns to this issue. The Ringer Raglan is a slim fitted Raglan shirt with short or 3/4 sleeves. The pattern is perfect for both boys and girls, and sews up super quick. A Raglan shirt is the perfect canvas for people that would like to try their hand on color blocking but are afraid of making too bold fabric choices. The Sleeve Raglan lines make almost any combination of fabrics look natural.



To create full outfits, I also added a bottom pattern to each other the shirts. Our daughter got a Saltwater skirt. The pattern is designed by Jen herself. It is a cute full skirt with pockets. You can either create a wrap skirt or a faux wrap one with three different tie options. I went for the faux wrap with button / snap decoration. The fabric that I used is woven wrinkled very drapey rust colored rayon type of fabric. I bought it last year and it seemed to be made for this playful skirt. This skirt is perfect for dancing. Jen also created a super cute summer dress for this issue.



The last pattern for today are the Riptide Board shorts by Bubby & me. They are designed for Peach Skin, but seeing as my stash does not contain that fabric and it does contain an abundance of jersey, I simply made it in jersey. The Shorts have some of the weirdest shaped patterns pieces that I have ever seen in trousers, but they came together beautifully. If you follow the instructions and pin your curves this is a perfect projects for beginners as well. It even has less seams than regular shorts, so it sews up super quick.


All these patterns and more are available as stand alone patterns*, but they are even more attractive as the bundle which is called One Thimble 20*. For just 25 Australians Dollars, so that is just a bit over 18 US dollar you get ten patterns and even more interesting articles.


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, August 6, 2018

Back to school with Bella Sunshine



Two more weeks and then the summer holiday is already over for our kids, then it is back to school. Although many other kids have more weeks of holiday in front of them, in a month from now all kids will be back in school. Kids often seem to grow a few inches over the summer and the moment that school starts is the moment that we as parents realize that our kids seem to have outgrown most of their clothes. That is why Bella Sunshine comes with a back to school tour now that there is still plenty of time to think about a new wardrobe.



I already sewed many Bella Sunshine patterns in the past and because I wanted to show you a new angle, I went for an all knit mini capsule. In contrast to my usual deadline behavior, I actually finished this capsule a month ago! I did so because we went on a cruise and we wanted to pack light, a mini capsule is perfect for that. The entire thing turned out to be such a success that of course the rest now want their own capsules.


Our capsule consists of eight pieces, four tops and four bottoms that all can be combined. I picked a color scheme that I know our middle daughter loves and tried to use several uni colored fabrics to facilitate all mix and match options without being boring. I did a few hacks and used six patterns, of which one of them is the free Reagan raglan.


Let's start with that Reagan raglan. I had not sewed the kid version* yet but I have worn my own dress versions a lot. To show of the raglan lines I used two different blues and to decorate the shirt we ironed on a  Rhinestone beaver. Beavers are her favorite animals and when I bought my first Rhinestones a few weeks ago, she immediately asked me to create a beaver pattern and she placed all the stones herself. The shirt can of course be combined with any of the bottoms, but when it is combined with the circle skirt, the one that I hacked from the Sahara the outfit looks like a dress.


A few months ago, during a Bella sunshine Sunday sale, I pronounced my love for the Amelia*, so it had to be part of the capsule. I really like the way that the band can be used to create an interesting contrast. I made a tunic length in uni colored mint jersey and made the garment spicy by adding a striped band.


During another Sunshine sale I made the Josephine* and I just love cap sleeves. So, I made a reversible shirt Josephine. Pink on one side and yellow stripes on the other. A truly versatile piece in a capsule. It was a rather easy hack, I simply used the Reagan raglan to determine the length of the shirt. The Josephine has a wide boat neck that is pretty similar on the front and the back (when you ignore that the back has seam allowance to accommodate a zipper) so I cut the front twice actually four times if you count the lining). The shirt is therefore also reversible in the way that the front and back are the same.


A Sahara* top could neither not miss from our Bella sunshine mini capsule. I have made several already and they are all worn with much joy. The first Sahara that I made had a different fabric for the bodice than the skirt because I sewed it from two small fabric remnants. I still am so satisfied with that contrast that I again went for a different printed skirt.  I made a pair of bow tie leggings in the same color as the top such that it looks like a jumpsuit when the leggings and top are combined. You can create the same look by cutting off a pair of Eden leggings* (which is free if you are a Facebook member of the Bella Sunshine group).


The last pattern that I used, is the Tess Tulip shorts*, which was the only pattern that I had not sewn yet. The pattern is intended for wovens, but I made it in knits and it worked perfectly. I cut is one size smaller and put elastic through the entire waistband, not just the back. The Tess comes in two lengths and the light blue version that I made is the shorter length. The green shorts are the longer length and another small hack, I simply left off the front "petals" from the tulip. Neither of the shorts are lined. Because jersey is a bit thicker than cotton, I did not dare to put pockets on the full petal version, but I did put them in the greenish one.


Besides showing you all the pattern inspiration Bella Sunshine *is also having a lovely back to school sale. The sale just started and ends on  Sunday at midnight EST. All girls patterns are now $6, all ladies patterns are $7, and all bundles are $12. No coupon 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.