well, that was a challenge…

Tags

best harem pants, envelope neck t-shirt, gift, jersey, kids clothes, present, sewing

… so many great suggestions for quick kids projects, thank you!

… in the end I decided to quickly whip up a pair of best harem pants, as per Jo’s recommendation and an envelope necked t-shirt as recommended by Kat…

… easy!?

… or not!

… after going through my jersey collection I decided I needed something a bit more fun and kidsy, so Friday after work I rushed by the fabric shop, put my blinkers on and headed straight to the back where I know the kid’s fabric is… it was sales, things had been moved, cursed sales lady sent me back to the front of the shop, I was trying not to see the adult jersey reduced to 5€/m, I returned to the back of the shop looking for the kid’s stuff with 2 bolts tucked under my arm…

… mother is a sailor, we both work in marine stuff, pirates seemed the obvious choice… I left the shop quickly before I accidentally picked up anything else!

… patterns printed and taped up – wow – 3 pages of A4 for a pair of trousers, I can see the attraction of sewing kid’s clothes! Plus both items fitted on two lengths of fabric 50cm each…

… I made the trousers first, easy enough, until I notice I had sewn the waist band on inside out – duh… this would be the first of many sessions with my unpicker…

… for the t-shirt I used smalldreamfactory’s envelope t-shirt pattern, and I really struggled with the neck… so much so, I actually made the t-shirt 3 times and then took it all apart as I was never happy with how the neck lay. It still isn’t perfect, but in the end I gave up! So much for a quick couple of hours project, it took me the better part of the day…

… at least the mother loved them, the birthday boy was far more interested in a plastic toy with flashing lights!

keep on serging…

Tags

blush, cardigan, etsy, knit, self drafted, serger, sewing

… before I got back into sewing regularly I bought a light weight knit cardigan on etsy from BLUSHFASHION. I love it, it is super flattering, really comfortable and it is perfect when I am travelling in Africa, going from the hot outside to freezing air conditioned meeting rooms as it folds up small enough to slip in my bag without wrinkling and is smart enough for meeting ministers!

… I plan on making another one in another colour soon, in the mean time I decided to test out the pattern on a piece of cosy red fleece I was given at last summer’s sewing blogger’s meet.

… I took my original cardigan and traced around it on pattern paper. It is somewhat bat-winged, with a shawl collar, so an easy shape to copy, but fabric hungry… I spread my fabric out this way and that and tried to work out the most efficient way of cutting all the pieces out, in the end I winged it and crossed my fingers…

… I was ok until I needed to cut out the second collar piece… I ended up having to sew together 2 pieces, I just have to sell it as a design feature! It came together super quickly on the serger, it is super cosy, and I think it looks great, I wore it out in the wild to the second sewing bloggers meet up (photos were taken afterwards, hence the wrinkles!)… I am really pleased with it!

 

a real quick question…

Tags

boy, child, guidance, help needed, pattern, question, sewing

… people with children, can you help me?

… the baby I made the snow suit and the baby blanket for is turning 1 this week, I have been invited to a party for him this weekend… I feel like I ought to sew up a gift!

… what do 1 year old boys, or mother’s of 1 year old boys want??

… I was hoping to use fabric I already have, maybe some of colourful African wax, or some jersey. Do small boys wear pyjamas (cotton bottoms, t-shirt top), would a jersey top with cotton sleeves work…

… I will only have half a day at the weekend to work on what ever I decide to make, so a fully fledged button down shirt is probably more than I want to make. I would also prefer a free or not too expensive pattern as I won’t be making many variations…

… any hints or recommendations would be most welcome! Thank you!!… a year ago with the blanket and hat I made him.

serging away…

Tags

grainline, hemlock, serger, sewing

… once I unpacked my new serger, I was on a roll…

… I zipped up my (failed) underwear, then immediately cut out the pieces for the Grainline Hemlock tee. I had put the pattern together while I was visiting my parents, and I knew exactly which fabric I wanted to use…

… at the first Belgian blogger meet, last summer, my lovely (blogless) friend Margot gave me some wonderful green on green stripe heavy weight jersey. As soon as I saw it I thought “long sleeved tee with contrasting sleeves”. The only decision I had to make was whether I used the dark side for the body or the sleeves!

… I followed the Grainline online tutorial, just to be sure I was doing the right thing. I so often make patterns up intuitively, but I get the impression mistakes with the serger would be much more final.

… the whole top came together in an instant, I then used my sewing machine and fabulous double needle for the hem and sleeves. I may be able to do them on a serger too, but I haven’t worked that much out yet. The shop where I bought the machine offers you a free lesson with each purchase, I still need to sign up for mine!

… now if only it would warm up 15-20º, so I can wear my new tee-shirt out!

a grand day out…

Tags

antwerp, bloggers, blogging, cowl, fabric, jersey, meet up, scarf, sewing, shopping, swap

… Saturday morning, Antwerp, running slightly late, Margot and I found Viggo’s coffee bar and a whole crowd of sewers…

… the lady at the next table, apparently a local politician, asked me curiously “what is the event? a school reunion? an association? I have never seen so many people in this café?” I had to explain further when I answered “a sewing blogger’s meetup, and no, most of us don’t actually know each other…”

… from the coffee bar we headed out to explore the local fabric shops, a small place with a good selection of African wax, on to the incredibly organised and well stocked Moens, passing via an intriguing looking haberdashery that was unfortunately closed. I think most of us left Moens with something, I bought a couple of things, but even 25 enthusiastic customers didn’t make the sales lady smile…

… next stop. Madame Tirette, shop, atelier and where we met Hanne. Once we had all succumbed to some of the lovely bright and beautiful jersey they had to offer, the bolts of fabric were put away and we took over the atelier’s cutting table for the much anticipated fabric swap. It is never clear whether people are more excited to be getting rid of their extra fabric, or about the new pieces they are picking up… either way, it is a win win!

… all swapped out, we packed up our bags, put back on our coats and headed to an Indian restaurant for lunch. What a fabulous place, really genuine, full of Indians, delicious food and amazing mango lassis! I think we all ate too much!

… once we rolled out the restaurant, we propped ourselves up in front of a couple of garage doors for the group photo, and then continued on with the program, to the fashion museum. Here the group split with half deciding they would rather keep shopping and visit a couple more fabric shops, while the rest of us went to learn about the rise of Antwerp as a fashion capital…

… I came home with 7 pieces of fabric: 3 bought, 4 swapped. I had taken 3 pieces to the swap that all went to new homes. I had planned on buying a piece of jersey for another self drafted cardigan, which is the green jersey I found at Moens. I also couldn’t resist a beautiful grey broderie anglaise cotton, I expect this will become another scout tee. I have a thing for jersey scarves, wearing them almost daily to work, so I snatched up a lovely piece of floral jersey at Madame Tirette, and another small piece of blue floral in the swap. The other pieces I picked up in the swap were some blue/grey jersey that will be great for a t-shirt or some other knit top; a lovely light weight brown knit that I think will make a wonderful summer weight cardigan or sweater for travelling; and a huge piece of modern geometric floral green knit, that I have no idea what I will do with, but no one wanted it, and I am sure I will find a good use for…

… home and waiting for friends to go out for the evening… I have 30 minutes, my sewing machine is out, so I quickly sew up one scarf, then the next… two down, five projects to go!

… the (possibly in)complete list of bloggers that met: the fantastic organising committee – Anneke, Lieke, Hanne and Ilse; and the rest – Heidi, Karolien, Ivy, Annie, Sofie, Lieselot, Lieve, Lindsy, Regina, Riet, Caroline, Emily, Eline, Jo, Joost, Kim, Laura… and Erika and Margot who don’t blog…

men with style…

Tags

advert, Congo, guiness, happy, sap, suits, video, well dressed

… not sewing, not crafting, not even DIY or home improvement…

… but I can’t resist sharing this wonderful clip here, so many things that make me happy: bright colors; joie de vivre; people that don’t take themselves too seriously, while being deadly serious about a passion; people overcoming adversity to make the best of what they have; some smooth dance moves; and not included, but I know it is playing in the background, an awesome sound track of African music…

… enjoy, without moderation, I know I will be watching this many more times in the future…

knickerbocker story…

Tags

bernina 800dl, fail, fold over elastic, makebra hipster, overlocker, serger, sewing, underwear

… tidying up my sewing corner, putting away left over fabric after making my chair cushion covers and T’s bed, and I decided I should really have a look through my scrap box. It barely closes, every little left over bit of fabric is stuffed into it after every project, just in case…

… I recently decided I really should update my underwear collection, I had printed out the Amerson Undies pattern months ago, but when I taped it all together and cut the pattern pieces out I realised it was designed for woven fabric and had seams front and back. I am not a huge fan of seams in my underwear…

… I scurried over to Pinterest, sure I had bookmarked other patterns, and found the Makebra hipster pattern, definitely more my style. I printed out the pages, taped and cut the pattern pieces and then went through my jersey scraps, cutting out three pairs…

… then I went away for a few days, and when I got home I got it into my head I needed a serger to sew them up…

… New Year’s day, shops were closed, Thursday was spent running around doing a million other things, Friday lunch with a friend, then I was heading to the sewing machine shop… a friend called wanting to meet up, I told her “later”…

… I knew what I wanted, I have been researching and dreaming of a serger for well over a year, last January the guy at the Bernina shop demonstrated the virtues of each of their models to me, and I left wondering if there was any way I could afford one… there wasn’t…

… now there was… I could afford a serger, so what was I waiting for? The brown box loaded into the car, I went and met my friend, we went for a walk in the forest, got caught in a spectacular thunderstorm – lightning bouncing off the hail stones that hammered down on us – I dropped her at home and declined the offer of a cup of tea, telling her I needed to get home to do “things”…

… home and I sat and looked at the box for a while, suddenly feeling overwhelmed, thinking about all the challenges people seem to encounter with a new serger… was I going to be able to thread it, did I even know how to use it… Finally I got my wits about me, took it out, set it up with only a couple of wobbles along the way. I tested it on a scrap of jersey, decided it was pretty fabulous, grabbed my pile of underwear pieces and sewed them up in an instant…

… while I was in the UK I had bought a bunch of fold over elastic, these exotic things I have yet to find locally…

… a few days away in Guinea, and all I could think of was getting home to finish my underwear! Yesterday I got out my sewing machine, tested zig-zagging the elastic on some scraps, hoped it would look better on the real thing… and it doesn’t. I have given up! Despite my best efforts, the elastic stretches making the underwear look droopy, not flattering at all… I have put them in the “come back to later” pile… I am so disappointed…

emptying the attic…

Tags

attic, fabric, history, inheritance, sewing, stash

… as a child I spent hours in front of my mother’s fabric cupboard, eyeing all the different colours and designs in her collection, running my hand over the textures, dreaming what I would make with each piece if I was allowed…

… when I was 8 a friend came over to play, I suspect we were driving my mother mad, so she sat us down in front of my sewing machine, a hand powered Singer I still have at my parent’s house, gave us each a piece of fabric, some elastic, and by the end of the day we had matching skirts. I wish I could find the photos of us, standing proud, in matching skirts, turquoise t-shirts, I think I was jealous as my friend had platform sandals, I had boring jesus sandals (it was the late 70s)…

… my parents have moved at least 3 times since I left home, a lot of that fabric had gone, but there were still a couple of boxes in the attic. Home over the holidays, my mother asked me to go through and have a look and see if there was anything I could use. I don’t really need any fabric at the minute, but… I had a look…

… each piece had a story, an intended use, something it was going to be, but never got round to being made into, something it was left over from, there was even a bag of leather scraps… I brought home about half the fabric, persuaded my mother she should use a few pieces, and other pieces were put back in the box…

… I am not yet sure what I will make with it all, I have a few ideas, some may be taken to the meet up later this month to swap…

… one piece I won’t be able to give away is the left over from those skirts my friend and I made all those years ago…

The fabled skirt fabric is the lighter red one in the top left hand image with all the florals. There are a few liberty lawns there too… the turquoise in the top right hand image is a beautiful silk, I seem to remember my mother making an evening gown out of this in the 80s, I was most disgruntled it wasn’t a party dress for me – that I probably would never have worn!