Sew It! challenge: February

My January contribution to Project Sew It! was a last minute project: sewn on the last day of January, blogged on the first day of February. I promised myself to finish my next contribution well on time. Uuhhm... Luckily, February has an extra day this year. This means I am not blogging it on the last day of the month, so I reached my goal!

My plan for 2016 is to sew at least one garment of a self drafted or modified pattern each month. Last month, I made myself a comfy T-shirt with a special back. I am working on a tutorial on how to draw a pattern like this yourself, so stay tuned!

Some more about my contribution for this month. Again, I chose for a top. My closet is full of dresses and skirts but in desperate need of tops to pair with trousers. I started from the Harley Top pattern and modified it until the original pattern is hardly recognizable.

I livened up the back piece by adding a faux zipper with a scrap of bird fabric behind it. Although my mom always tries to close the zipper when she washes the shirt, it's purpose is nothing but decoration.

On both shoulder seams and at the bottom, I stitched some copper bias binding on the knit fabric.

The neckline is the most special part of this top. I folded the fabric until I got to this asymmetrical shape, which I liked. Have you noticed my growing love for asymmetry lately?

I still had a little piece of the bias binding left, from which I made a loop.

The tiny collar, which I made from the wrong side of the fabric, disappears behind the shoulders. The front part has a yoke on the inside.

The beautiful knit fabric is a leftover from the sweater I sewed for my best friend Jan this summer. It is extremely soft, so I was lucky to have just enough of the fabric to make this top for myself. I am very happy with how it turned out. Now, let's think, what shall I sew in March?

Fabric: Strass (Belgian kids fashion label who sell their overstock fabrics)
Bird fabric: Hirondelle - Atelier Brunette 
Pattern: modified Harley Top - La Maison Victor 
Handbag: Ichi

100% Belgian Style

A few years ago, StraightGrain hosted a series called Kids' Clothes Belgian Style. Bloggers from all over the world participated and re-interpreted designs of our Belgian children's clothes designers.

What I present you today is even more Belgian Style! The fabrics I used for these two dresses are designed and hand printed by Lotte Martens, a Belgian textile designer.  The orange one is a thicker woven fabric, the light pink one is a very soft cotton.

The patterns are Belgian design as well. Do you recognize them?

For Suse (6 years old), I chose the Ileana dress pattern in size 6 and lengthened the bodice to obtain an A-line shaped dress. I made the short raglan sleeves in a furry fabric, like I saw in the winter collection of Belgian designer Anne Kurris.

Suse loves the shoulder detail, she keeps petting the fur and calling it "my kitty".

Her little sister Mona (4 years old) got a Tinny-dress in size 4. I added an improvisational pleating detail in the bodice and accentuated the copper fabric print with some glitter piping.

Both dresses close with a blind zipper in the back and are fully lined. I used one panel of the fabric for each.

I don't think I ever enjoyed a photoshoot this much. My two models were so full of joy!

Belgian fabrics, Belgian patterns, sewn by a Belgian girl and worn by two little Belgian girls: 100% Belgian design!

Suse's dress:

pattern:  Ileana dress by Compagnie M, size 116 (6y)

fabric: Rhodifer - Lotte Martens

Mona's dress:

pattern: Tinny dress by StraightGrain, maat 104 (4y)

fabric: Clarias - Lotte Martens

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One to Hug

One to Hug is the name of a baby jacket designed by Riet from the Belgian pattern shop Mind the Whale. It comes in sizes 0 to 24 months and has different options, like piping, pockets, teddy bear ears and several designs for the hood.

The fabric was gifted to me by the new Belgian webshop Jongens Toch!, a shop that specialises itself in fabrics for boys.  I chose this beautiful quality wool to sew a One to Hug-jacket in size 1 month for baby Warre. Isn't he extremely cute?

The colors reminded me of Winnie the Pooh's Tigger, so the decision to add ears was easily made.

The jacket is still too big on him, although he is five weeks old now. But I'm sure he'll grow into it very fast!

The pattern only exists in Dutch, but it isn't that difficult to sew and it comes with lot's of clear pictures explaining every step in detail. It can be bought as an e-book here!

Since the weather man forecasted cold weather for the next weeks, I fully lined the woolen jacket with sweater fabric. Warre won't be cold if it's freezing outside. But in the cozy living room the jacket was a little hot for him, which he clearly expressed in his baby language :-)

Me and my Nikon had a great time visiting this love family. The picture below already shows a little glimpse of the dresses I made for his bigger sisters. More pictures on Wednesday, stay tuned!

I don't know whether they ship outside Belgium but if you want to order at the Jongens Toch! shop the code withlovebyeva gives you 10% off!

Outer fabric: orange and blue wool @ Jongens Toch!

Lining: dark blue sweater fabric @Pauli

Piping and buttons: @Veritas

Pattern: One to Hug babyjacket @ Mind the Whale

Bomberjack

**I am not a native speaker, but I try my best to translate my blog posts into English. The original Dutch version can be found here **

I don't know about the rest of the world, but Belgian clothing brands seemed to feel a special love for pineapples last summer. At a certain moment, they were everywhere. I was trying to stand strong, trying not to buy any pineapple fabric, but I collapsed after seeing this sweater. In the blink of an eye, I had ordered some grey sweat fabric at  Petite Couture.

The sweat fabric turned out to be very thick and warm, so I decided to sew a bomberjack with it that could be worn as a jacket in Fall and as a sweater in Winter. I chose a pattern from the Dutch sewing magazine Knippie. For the sleeves, I paired my pineapple fabric with the plain grey version of the same fabric.

A little bling bling now and then makes a girl happy, so I altered the pattern a little to create add golden piping at the shoulders and in the back. I also topstitched all seams with a golden thread.

I don't like zippers closing near my neck, but in order to keep warm, a long zipper was necessary. I added a wind stopper that gives extra warmth and folds around the top of the zipper to keep everything soft and nice over there.

After finishing it, I was a little disappointed. Although I had used a children's pattern (size 14), the jacket was way too big for me. My best friend said: "Eva, you look pregnant with it!" Uuhm, that was not what I meant to suggest! I took away 2 centimetres at the sides and added darts in the back.

The result is wearable, although I'm not entirely satisfied. Due to the alterations I made, the inside of the jacket is not perfect anymore, and I think it still looks a little big on me. But it's comfortable and soft, so I'm happy!

Fabric: A nana's grey sweater - Aime Comme Marie - ooit bij Petite Couture

Pattern: model 30 - Knippie 2/2015 - maat 164

Sew It! challenge: January

**I am not a native speaker, but I try my best to translate my blog posts into English. The original Dutch version can be found here **

Have you heard about Project Sew It yet? I feel so lucky to be part of it. Celina Bailey, blogging at Petit à Petit +family, challenges everyone to set themselves a sewing goal which is slightly out of their comfort zone. Most of the participants have planned to do some more selfish sewing, but since most of my sewing is for myself, I decided to set my aim a little different. My goal is to sew at least one item from a self drafted or self modified pattern. I am not at all a skilled pattern designer, but I love to experiment with sewing patterns.

For my January contribution, I decided to start with an easy project. My closet was in need of some T-shirts, and the beautiful new fabric collection at Bambiblauw inspired me for this one!

I bought one panel of the Snowtiger knit, and I combined it with a plain grey knit for the sleeves.

Drafting a T-shirt pattern wasn't that hard, so I opted for some "special effects". I added some piping at the shoulders. The color of the piping is almost the same as the color of the tiger's nose.

For the back, I cut the pattern in three pieces and combined both fabrics and some more piping. For the shape of the pieces, I was inspired by a volleyball shirt of my sister's. Inspiration is hidden everywhere ;-)

Although it is a very simple garment, I am so happy with it! It is just so comfortable.

What I like most about this shirt, is the tiger fabric. It is so soft and qualitative and the print is beautiful. Unlike most knits, it was really nice to sew with.  The Happy Nature 3 line has four animals (a cat, a fox, a dog and a tiger) who each come in a poplin, a knit and a sweater version. An from StraightGrain made a gorgeous dress for her daughter in the poplin version of this snow tiger panel. And best of all: I heard they also ship to the USA!

Doing a good exam = little present for myself! @bambiblauw @lanalotta #happynature3 #bambiblauw #lanalotta #fabric #sewing

Een foto die door withlovebyeva is geplaatst op 23 Jan 2016 om 1:24 PST

Tiger knit fabric: Happy Nature 3 - Bambiblauw @ LanaLotta

Grey knit fabric: Swafing bij LanaLotta
Piping: LanaLotta