KCW: Toddler playdress disguised as Dolce and Gabbana

Kid's Clothes Week is upon us again, this will be my fifth time participating. I tried different strategies over the past seasons and experienced that tackling a few relatively easy projects works best for me. I will not be making seven projects, like when I was an official contributor, but I do expect more than my regular two per week.

This season's theme is "disguise", as always you do not have to sew something related to the theme, but I think it is a nice challenge to stretch the theme in such a way that it fits. Today's outfit is a perfect example. I sewed my smallest one a knock off designer dress. It is a simple jersey playdress disguised as a designer piece.

I often fall in love with new fabric (the love for my husband is a very steady one). Especially when I meet a fabric in an online store, I often immediately want to make a commitment and just take it home. The problem is that my fabric closet is not as big as my heart and my closet is full.Therefore, now a days I am really testing out relationship first. Fill my digital cart and click away, fill my digital cart and click away, this pattern repeats itself over the course of a few weeks. If I then finally really can't stand it anymore, I buy the fabric.

The problem with this strategy is other fabric lovers, so sometimes it happens that my treasured one isn't there when I am ready to take the plunge. The fabric I used for this dress is an example of one that (almost) got away. I had planned to use this fabric for a dress for myself. I love red in general and the graphics on this one are amazing. I had been digitally caressing it for weeks but when I finally placed my order (one in which I bought this fabric as well, and that one is in stock again now), it was gone. I asked if some new was coming in, but no, they only had 40 cm left.

A small piece is better than no piece, so I asked if I could buy the small piece (it wasn't online) and I was told that I could get it as a gift with the rest of my order, thanks again for that Stoffenelf! Although  making something for myself with 40 cm was too far fetched, I was sure that I could at least make something for my smallest girl with it.

Around the same time as the fabric arrived, I came across this picture. It is a piece from the Dolce and Gabbana collection from last year, and I loved it. Like I said, I am a sucker for red and that type of graphics. I know that the original dress wasn't jersey, but I thought that the fabric is pretty darn similar and decided to make my first knock off designer piece.

Like I said, I only had 40 cm and had to think very hard about how to cut my fabric. I wanted a relatively nice placement on the bodice and skirt and because of that, I didn't manage to create a pleat in the front. I simply didn't have enough fabric. I also went for long sleeves, instead of 3/4 ones. I love them for myself, but for my kids I prefer regular long ones.

I used my trusted onesie pattern from Ottobe 1/2012 for the top of the bodice and sleeves. I didn't manage to cut the sleeves at one piece, so I made extra long sleeve cuffs. The skirt length is based on this project (my youngest loves them). I prefer her dress to be below the knee, or else she grows out it extremely quickly, this one has already become too short for example.

My little one loves photo shoots. She literately doesn't want them to end, she actually screamed when I took her off the table. She is the opposite of him, who immediately states he only wants one picture. I think she is crazy adorable, which could be due to the hair (I know many kids her age have much more, but our others didn't have that much hair). Even when she picks her nose I think she looks darn cute, but that is of course because she is mine.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. 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). 

KCW part 2: quick travel themed garments

 ***updated on July 4 2015 with a picture of the original shirt***

Besides my extensive Ishi, I also whipped up two very quick projects during last week's KCW. The first one was this time traveling Viking shirt (Lillestoff fabric). The pattern is from Ottobre 3/2015 but I hacked the pattern to support a V-neck instead of a hood. The pattern is a bit wide for my taste and next time I will draw a higher neckline, but all in all I am satisfied with the shirt. The fabric combination was simply copied from her.

For my other quick project I used an old T-shirt that I got from a friend. The shirt was a dark shade of green, that fitted winter better then summer (I am sure that I made a picture from the original shirt but I somehow can not find it).

The print, a Volkswagen bus (clearly fitting the travel theme), mountains and a pink accent were fun, so I put the shirt in bleach to change the color. The shirt became a nice  light mustered. While keeping the original bottom hem, I cut a dress and put cuffs and the arm holes and neckline. The sewing was done in 20 minutes.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. 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). 

Lillestoff contest output part 1: Waterfall dress

Two weeks ago Lillestoff organized a competition. Everyone was asked to send in their sewing ideas for the two fabrics: Sterntaler Kimbi and Kidsface. I wrote that I would make a waterfall woman's shirt, a skirt for my daughter and a hoodie for my son, and I won! I was over the moon, although my fabric stash is filled with Lillestoff, I didn't own these two yet and not much beats free organic fabric. When my package arrived last Wednesday I was even more ecstatic because besides the 3 meter that was announced I also received 1.5 meter matching fabrics.

The abundance of fabric made me want to sew even more than I had planned. Part of the contest rules was to post about your creations between the 18th and 31st of May. Therefore, this post if the first of a series.

Today I start with my waterfall plans. With one and a half meter I decided to make a waterfall dress. After I made a few dresses last year I somehow never made more. I love wearing them but I I gained some weight instead of loosing it and this demotivates my selfish sewing.This fabric gift finally was the last push I needed to start sewing for myself again.

I looked through all my Ottobres and found a waterfall shirt and dress in Ottobre 2/2009. My measurements didn't fall in the same size and I decided to do a full bust adjustment. Even thought knit is very forgiving when it comes to sizes, and especially Lillestoff with its great recovery, I wanted to challenge myself to be better. In the fall I did a full bust adjustment on a jersey dress with princess seams which was much more complicated than I had to do for this dress. This pattern already had darts so I only had to make them a bit wider.

The dress has a six pieced skirt, which calls for a lot of fabric if you can not use the fabric upside down. The Sterntaler has small smiling suns, I considered using them upside down but I decided against it. This meant that there was no way I could cut it out of my fabric, I really tried. But when I made the dress just above the knee it worked out fine.

I really like the shape of the dress it really hugs my body the right way, although it doesn't hide my post pregnancies belly (I think I saw my neighbour even looking at it yesterday thinking I might expect a fifth) it shows that I have curves. The darts have to be moved a bit to the middle to actually be on the place where they should, but I am still very satisfied and I think I will use this pattern again.

The nice heavy structure of Lillestoffs jersey makes the waterfall less pronounced than if I would have used a light weight drapey fabric. I finished the dress with a yellow/gold double needle top stitching.

I made pictures with a tripod (to avoid sighs from my husband when I again am not satisfied with my pose). I really needed quite some distance between me and the camera and put the tripod just behind a small wall separating our driveway from the pavement. I actually had to take a small run to reach the timer, but also increased the chance of being alone in the picture. I had a small photo bomber which was running with me and fortunately didn't reach my leg before the end of the ten shots, but she was there when I was choosing the right setting and I just love the picture

  I love to hear what you think of my creations. 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). 

KCW day 4: Lion attack shirt

A twist on the wild thing theme this time. No actual animal, but its mark. I upcycled one of my own plain grey shirts that had become a bit short due to my post-pregnancies belly. I turned it into a short sleeved raglan shirt. The pattern is from Ottobre 3-2015. The original pattern has a raglan and a normal sleeve side. I adapted the pattern to have a raglan on all sides.

After I cut the front of the shirt I slashed eight nail marks, mimicking two claws. I put a piece of red jersey under the slashes and stitched with a straight stitch all around it, done.I got the idea from this pin.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. 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).    

Reversible Easter dresses to wear the whole year round

After making our newest doll two reversible knit dresses, I wanted to try the same technique on a bigger dress. I took two fabrics from my stash, one with bunnies and flowers (which I bought at Suz designers stoffen) and one very special digital print jersey (bought at Joyfits). It is a panel and it shows a picture of a forest with animals drawn on it. I bought the fabric at the same time as this one. Deciding what to make from it, and how to cut it, was even harder because the fabric is actually just one big picture and I kind a wanted to use every part of it.

I am all for breaking the rules and especially my own apparently. Last week I stated that every dress should have pockets to immediately ignore this rule the next week. Due to the reversibility, putting in pockets would mean putting a double thick pocket (both sides would need its own set). I feared this would create strange bumps so I left the pockets out. I will explore reversible pocket possibilities another time, because I know I should be able to use one set of pockets, but I wanted a quick project this time.

I love making this type of the dress, all seams can be done with a serger (with the exception of 10 cm side seam which you have to close by hand). No regular sewing machine needed, no binding, no hemming, lovely!

After finishing the dress for my middle daughter, I saw I still had a nice piece of both fabrics left. I therefore decided to give my eldest the same type of dress. I didn't have enough digital forest to cut both a back and front, so I opted for a plain back back. I couldn't cut both the back and front in one piece from the bunnies either, but there I made a seam at the back between the skirt and bodice.

I love the fact that although the dresses are made from the same panel, the forest part of the dresses are different. I did succeed in putting a bunny on both fronts though. My girls both liked the green bunnies better than the forest, I prefer the forest. I think these are perfect all-year-round dresses. In winter and fall the forest print looks lovely combined with dark colored tights and shirt. In the pictures my eldest is wearing black and my middle daughter is wearing dark blue. The light green outside is perfect for warmer weather. The dresses can than be worn without clothes underneath. The pictures were made on a nearby street. I did not wanted to really undress my daughters in public and the weather also didn't allow sleeveless either, so I used same shirt and tights for the spring/summer side as well.

I drew both from regularly used dress pieces. For my eldest daughter I used the Louisa base like here (this time I added some flare at the bottom), and the dress for my middle daughter has the Princess castle dress from Ottobre as its base.

From the digital jersey a small piece with a lovely squirrel remains. I wasn't in the mood now, but I will use him in one of my coming project. He might make it into one of my Kids Clothes Week projects. He fits the wild thing theme perfectly. Today I posted my second post as  KCW contributor, check it out here.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. 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). 

Upcycled giraffe summer dress

The people regularly reading my posts will have noticed that I am very into sew alongs. I love sew alongs because they usually challenge me to find my own style within given boundaries. Sew alongs inspire me to get out of my comfort zone. One of the Dutch Facebook groups I am a member of is organizing one with animal skin as its theme. Animal skin is not my favourite fabric, far from it even. This particular sew along is therefore totally up in my alley, how could I come up with a project that I would like and would have animal skin as a main feature?

First, I tried to get away with using the lion shirt I created by selling it as animal skin, lion skin is uni-yellow right? Although my entry was condoned, I felt I could do better, much better. So I googled animal skins and found one that I actually kind of like and could even love, giraffe skin. Coincidentally, giraffe skin is relatively easily created with some brown fabric and some bleach. I used an old water pen of my kids and filled it with bleach. Although not perfect, it did give me quite some control on the drawing process. When I started bleach coloring I didn't immediately got the right result (why would I practice right... just ignore the left upper side of the dress), but after drawing a while I was really satisfied.

The fabric I used was from a old short sleeved shirt from myself (which ironically already had two small bleach spots on it). The shirt had a ruffled front neckline and ruffled sleeve seams which I both salvaged for the final dress. I also kept the original bottom hem. This meant the dress sewed up very quickly. This is the best picture I have of the original shirt. I once plannend to make a bigger project of multiple shirts, although I did not actually start that project I was smart enough to make a before picture than.

The pattern I used is from Ottobre 3/2012, but I decided to ruffle the front of the dress instead of pleating. I cut a 62 width and a 80 length. I think she looks amazingly cute in the dress and I assume it will be worn a lot this summer.

Besides posting this animal inspired project today I also post at the Kids Clothes Week blog! Check it out here, I have written a post on how to make animal inspired clothes without featuring the actual animal or any of its parts.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. 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).  

Splitted graphic jersey dress

Two days ago, one of my favorite fabric webshops, Joy Fits added some new fabrics. One of them was that special (designed by Leena Renko) that I just had to buy it immediatly (forgoing my de-stashing resolutions), it was a good call because now it is already sold out. The next day the fabric arrived, it was even prettier than my pc screen showed. The same evening I turned a large piece of it into a dress.

The pattern is an adjusted Princess Castle dress from Ottobre 3/2013 (which I made here and here). I cut the whole front from one piece but kept the contrasting pockets. I wanted the fabric to be the main attention grabber and therefore omitted the waistband. I also chose for wider wrist cuffs than the original pattern. The cuffs and binding are cut from a light gray fabric, which resembles the color of the girls hair. The pockets are cut from a greenish blue jersey that resembles the color of the cats eyes.

It took me about an hour to decide how to cut the front and back from the fabric. The pattern has a wide returning graphic (girl sitting and cat head next to it). I could have put the graphic as a whole in the middle of the skirt, than the same pattern (in mirror image) would have repeated very close to the neck line. I wasn't sure about the look of this cropped higher up graphic. Also, if I would have chosen that option I would have had to cut very far from the fabric side and I could not bring myself to create that many unusable fabric scraps. I therefore opted for keeping the pattern on the left side of the dress, which created in a totally different images for the neckline and skirt. The rest of the fabric, between the bigger graphics is that special that it does not bother me that the girl and cat are both off centre. Whatever the remaining fabric will become, it will  feature the graphic as a whole.

I used red thread for the top stitching of the pockets and the bottom hem. Some of the hems of my jersey dresses curl up. I read that you can decrease this problem by sewing very closely to the end of fabric. While trying to be as close as possible to the edge, I even went so far as to sewing only one piece of fabric a few times. I therefore opted for a second line of double stitching. I could have taken out the first double line, but I liked the extra detail it gave.

My middle daughter needs more dresses like this. Quickly sewn, easily put on, easy to wear, a great pattern for all the jersey I have in my stash. My daughter even felt she could twirl in it.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. 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).