Showing posts with label Compagnie M. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Compagnie M. Show all posts

Monday, January 1, 2018

Dadirri Cardigan and Nore hack



First things first, happy new year! I hope that all the good things from last year will continue and that the bad ones will quickly only be memories. I usually do not make resolutions, but this year I have at least one. My life became very busy the last months and especially in December, I simply did not have time to blog. For this year, I will continue taking up less sewing deadlines (tests and tours) such that I have more time to freestyle. My blogging and sewing relaxes me, and I will go back to regular weekly blogging. I have several backlogged projects and today I am starting with a special one. Today, I am showing you my first clothing piece within years created from yarn, the Dadirri cardigan* from Compagnie M.


When I started this blog, sewing was not my main hobby. I had sewn a few things, but I mostly crafted with yarn. Knitting and crochet were the two things that kept me busy. Since I discovered sewing with knits (already four and a half year ago), those yarn related crafts just seemed to take so much time. But there is a huge advantage of yarn crafts, you can do them wherever you are. You can take them with you or just do them in front of the tv. Sometimes I feel like "doing nothing"in the evening and just want to watch tv, and then crocheting or knitting is perfect. Therefore, I usually have a yarn project laying around (which often do not reach the blog when finished). Through the years I have made a few blankets and toys, but not clothing.



I have often sewed with Compagnie M* patterns, I love the unique twist that Marte has in all her patterns. When I heard that she was going into knitting patterns, I was intrigued. The thing that make the Compganie M knitting patterns stand out, is that you are free to choose your own yarn and needles. For every pattern there is a special calculator that creates a pattern based on your personal gauge. You make a test square per stitch type and than you sit back and just follow schedule especially created for you.


The Dadirri *cardigan front is knitted in a coin stitch, and has regular knitted sleeves and back. The yarn that I used is recommended for needle size 4-5 (I knit rather loose, so I knitted it on 3.5). You can make the front dots very obvious by using a contrasting color, but I went for a rather subtle gray. On my version, the shoulders became a bit too wide. In the test pattern (the one I used) the shoulders were wider than in the final and I had even widened the front a bit because I knew my daughter would wear it over long sleeves. I am not bothered my the slightly wide shoulders, but in case you were, than it is important to know that this should not happen in your version.


I am a craft material horder and besides a big fabric pile, I also own quite some yarn. I am a big fan of cotton, and I bought this lovely blue yarn with the plan to once knit a cardigan. In blog and Instagram land I often envious look at all the perfectly matching knitted projects, so I always have plans. I also have the yarn in red, in that color I even once started a cardigan, but after knitting the back and a sleeve the project stagnated for a year, and I pulled it all out. I turned the pulled out yarn into this squirrel.


The biggest challenge with knitted cardigans is probably finding the perfect button. I almost never  use buttons on my sewing projects am very loving the kam snap option and so do my kids. I have a very small collection of buttons and almost all buttons are tiny. I therefore decided to try making my own buttons from Fimo clay (which I also just happen to have in my craft collection). I had no clue how much clay I would need, so in the end I ended up with about 20 buttons...


For the shoot I decided to sew a dress and I hacked the Nore for kids* into to be like option B in the Nore for women. I only had half a meter from the blue tree fabric, because I bought it so long ago (I started out with buying half a meter pieces, but now I buy at least a meter). My eldest really liked the fabric, so I squeezed a dress out of it. I had to make an extra seam in the skirt.  I even had to put the trees diagonal there (due to not having enough fabric), but I still feel it either looks intentional or does not show.


Friday, July 7, 2017

Nore for women and teens with a twist



Two months ago, Compagnie M* released the Nore for kids* and I made two garments during testing. Last week, Compagnie M released The Nore in bigger sizes*. Now mothers, or our bigger kids can also enjoy the pattern. To make the new release extra fun, the pattern actually includes an extra option compared to the kid version. The other option is one with a waistband, and I have a hard time deciding which option I like better.



During testing I made two Nore dresses, but they are slightly different from how you will see them on other blogs or in the pattern listing and instructions. The normal fit of the Nore is generous in size, which makes it possible to make the pattern both in jersey and in woven! I went a different direction and sized down a few sizes. I put one of my favorite store bought dresses on the pattern and used it to determine the size. In my case I ended up using the smallest size supplied. I did not change anything, and I love it! This busy fabric asked for a very simple dress, so I made the most basic option.



The second Nore that I made is the waistband option. I again used the sized down bodice, but now I went to my normal size for the waistband and skirt. I had used the fabric before to make these leggings. The leftover piece was a little bit too small, but that extra seam on the back of the skirt does not really show, right? Both fabrics, the knit print and musterd origami print were bought at Joyfits.




At the listing* of the pattern you can read all about how many different options this pattern has, there are three necklines, color block options, two ways to finish the short sleeeves, long sleeves etc. People tend to do other things during the summer. I feel it myself as well. Although I have things to blog, I find it hard to put my time into blogging. Marte probably therefore decided to have the 10% release discount on the Nore for women* the entire month of July with the code 10offnore! .



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, April 24, 2017

Nore dress and shirt



Today, Compagnie M* released the Nore dress and top*. Usually, Compagnie M patterns key words are "contrasting lines (color block)", pockets and woven fabrics. Two of those words are totally me, except the last one. My go to fabric is jersey, but for Compagnie M I love to make an exception. This time I did not have to comprise anything, because the newest pattern is for jersey fabrics.



During testing I made a Nore dress for my youngest. I am sure I probably had seen this obvious fabric combi somewhere else before, but I do not remember where. When I picked the stripes I did not immediately realize that they gave me an extra challenge. Having striped fabric for the sleeves meant stripe matching, but fortunately, I did realize before cutting. I bought the cats at Joyfits during the fall.




This is a surprisingly quick sew. It looks very sophisticated, I therefore feared that the color block would really slow me down, but it did not.  I think I can cut and sew one of these dresses in under an hour (keep in mind that I am a jersey junkie), which is really my kind of project. You will have to sew that color block with your sewing machine. Matching that up with a serger will be almost impossible. But the sides, neckband and sleeves can be finished with a serger, and you will need your regular machine for hemming anyway.



My test dress has color blocking on both the front and the back, but you can choose to have it only on one side or just go with a plain, super quick version. During testing, Marte came up with another type of color blocking. She did split back on the back, I really love it. You might not have noticed but the sleeves are finished with a band that is folded up. the the blog posts that Marte posted you can see more detailed pictures of the pretty finish.



Two days ago, I showed you the Kingsday dress that I sewed my eldest. Now, I can also show you want I sewed my son. I hacked the Nore shirt into a boy version. The original Nore has an apple shape, so it is round at the waist. I simply drew a straight line down from the armpit to take out the curve. If I would have followed the color block lines from the width size that I made, the color block would have been very narrow at the sides and the pockets would be too low. I therefore used the color block lines of a few sizes smaller, so I simply followed a different line (I used the pattern pieces without included seam allowance). I did re-drafted the pockets on the inside a bit, to make them a bit bigger (else they would have been the baby size (18m)




The Nore* is now available in the Compagnie M webshop*. With the code LETSDOTHENORE you get a 10% discount on the pattern. The code is valid till the 14th of May. 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, February 15, 2017

Frederique from Compagnie M



Yesterday, we had a lovely spring like day. It made me long for better weather even more. I always seem to forget how great it is to be able to go outside without coat, leave the garden door open and have fresh air around the house. Today's dresses are made with the newest release by Compagnie M*, the Frederique dress*, and fit perfectly with hopeful thoughts of spring!



I have a love for waist ties and apparently my girls do to.They have skinny waists and usually like very fitting clothes, so waist ties are perfect in that case. My middle one asked me to make her a waist tie dress, after her bigger sister got this one. As usual, she had to wait a few months, I still have to make her those lady bug slippers that I promised her almost a year ago. When Marte from Compagnie M showed her newest design, I immediately saw a chance to at least take the waist tie demand of my to-do list.



The pattern is, as we are used to by Compagnie M, very versatile. Of course there are pocket options, multiple collars, multiple sleeve options and multiple closure methods. You know I love color block options, so those princess seams make my heart sing. You can dress your daughter in this dress whole year round due to the long and short sleeve option. After making amazingly beautiful "plain" Frederique dresses, several testers started to hack, so I think there will be many tutorials available to give this dress even more spins. A reversible option is already included in the pattern itself!




I am very much trying to decrease my stash (did you check the right side of my blog recently). I did buy three fabrics this week though, but in my defense, I got a fabric voucher for my birthday. My jersey stash is still huge, but my woven pile is not shameful at all anymore. I even doubted for a second if I would have any nice fabric to sew up a Frederique, but of course I still managed to create a few possible combinations. I eventually went for an upcycle. I used a 20 year (plus) old pillow case as my main fabric and some Soft Cactus for contrast. I had to cut very efficient, so there is a seam on the inner skirt part and I did not have enough to add seam allowance to dress (which I solved by adding a bias to the neckline).



Like I mentioned before, the testers immediately fell in love with the pattern and made more than they were asked. A few testers made jersey ones and my love for jersey of course made me want to make one as well. Sizing down is the recepe for nice knitification, so I simply used the same pattern pieces for my eldest as the ones that I used for my middle one (I did lengthen ofcourse). I am still very much into brownish fall colors, but added a bit of spring blue. I got this lovely deer fabric from Joyfits last year. I think it will look lovely on a bit more colored skin in the summer.



The lovely weather yesterday also made me do a photography shoot outside. In my favorite shooting spot from last year, I mostly found grey and brown, so the dress is not really coming alive as I hoped. My daughter loved being there with me, so I would say the shoot was success anyway.



The Frederique* is now available on the Compagnie M web shop* for 7 euro for the digital pattern, there is also a paper pattern option (if you buy two, they will be send for free to Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany and the UK). Will you go for a long or short sleeves version? My sewing is all spring and summer already.



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.