Susanne Cardigan for my mom

The very same moment she saw the Susanne pattern for the first time, my mom ordered one for herself. A few months later, here it is!

She chose a non elastic woven fabric which was beautiful on both sides, so I didn't have to line the pockets. I just finished them with elastic bias tape. Because the fabric had almost no stretch I sewed her a size bigger than the sizing table told me to, and that's perfect. I opted for the long version because she likes long cardigans, but next time I will have to lengthen it. My mom is quite tall and the long version looks more like a short one on her ;-)

She loves the cardigan (it has been worn almost every day since I gave it to her!) but she hates posing for pictures. I put her in front of the freshly painted white wall in my sewing room and gave her a cup of coffee to have something in her hands. She gave me five minutes to complete the photoshoot, so all I could do was hurry to catch her smile.

Nothing is more rewarding than sewing for my mom. She is just so happy with this cardigan and she wears it all the time.

Seeing her in my creation makes me happy every time. I think I'll do some more sewing for her in the future!

Susanne Cardigan

My most read post last year, on the Dutch as well as on the English blog, was the one with my entry for the Compagnie M.-contest. I sewed a dress for myself which was a mix up of the Louisa dress, the Lotta dress and the Ileana dress, and a matching cape with it. Sadly, I haven't worn the dress a lot, since the Belgian weather was too cold and I didn't have a matching cardigan to wear with it. Until now! Compagnie M launched a cardigan pattern for kids, teens and women and I was lucky to be one of her testers! 

All testers were invited at Marte's house to sew the cardigan together. I almost* managed to finish the cardigan in just one evening! The Susanne cardigan is a very fast project. 

*Note: I would have finished it in one evening if I hadn't decided to redo all the seams by hand, of course after I had already sewn them with the twin needle. And perhaps I would have finished the hand sewing as well, if I hadn't tattered so much while sewing ;-)

I used a grey knit fabric with a golden touch, bought at a sale in Antwerp last year.  I chose for the option with a doubled front panel and piping, which Marte generously gifted to me.
The only change I made (haha, I always have to make at least one change to a pattern!) was lengthening the cardigan. I am more than six feet tall so even the long version would have been quite short on me. So I cut the pattern through at the waist and added 12cm to make sure the cardigan had exactly the same length as the dress I was pairing it with.

The grey and gold match nicely with the dress colors, but what I like even more are the pocket lines from the cardigan and the dress. They accord perfectly!

In the meanwhile I have sewn a second version for my mom. Hers is black and red, completely different from mine! That's why I'm saving it for a next blog post. I wouldn't want you to get a headache from the color combination :-)

The Susanne cardigan pattern for kids, teens and women is for sale here. The voucher code SUSANNE10 gives you 10% off until March 20.

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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Compagnie M. - contest 2015: A Parisian girl in the woods

*Uitgebreidere Nederlandstalige versie hier*

Normally, I do not like competitions at all. Maybe my lack of talent in almost every sport has something to do with that :) But when I heard about the Compagnie M. - contest, I immediately knew I wanted to take part!

My aim was to design a pattern for myself, mixing elements from different children's dresses by Compagnie M. I ended up with:

- Lotta's folded collar

- Ileana's raglan sleeves, which I lengthened to Louisa-length. I added some golden piping.

- For the basis of the dress, I used Louisa. I have liked the special lines ever since it was released, and used yellow satin piping to draw the attention to them.

- mustard yellow, thé real Compagnie M.-colour!

To be unique, I also added a 'With Love - by Eva'-element. I added a contrasting part to the pocket part, in beautiful handprinted fabric by Lotte Martens. The quality is amazing, just like the beauty of the golden flowers. Because they are handprinted, every panel is slightly different and therefore unique!

Ileana, Lousia, Lotta and Eva combined, look like ... this!

For the cape, I used the Ileana skirt as a basis. I changed the shoulderline using the raglansleeve-pattern piece. I cut the front piece to add armholes ...

... and the back piece to add a little more of the beautiful flowers!

I had planned a button placket and a peter pan collar, just like the original Ileana pattern has. But in the end, it turned out better with an asymmetrical closure. So, I used the fabric I had bought for the collar to make a little scarf!

I hope this entry will charm the you and the jury :) Until the 3rd of November, you can vote here by clicking the little heart in the upper right corner of the blog post. Lots of beautiful creations were uploaded, so make sure to have a look at the others! One vote per creation per computer, so you have the opportunity to vote for all of your favorites!

Fabric for dress: thin grey wool by Prada

Fabric for pleated parts in dress and cape: Nivalis katoen - handprinted by Lotte Martens - for sale at Bambiblauw and de Stoffenkamer

Fabric for dress lining: Sketch Gold - Timeless Treasures

Fabric for cape: grey wool

Fabric for scarf: white teddy fleece with golden sparkles

Nina Culottes

** Dutch version here **

Belgium is a small country, which means all (sewing) bloggers live quite close to each other. A few weeks ago, I had a sewing date with lovely An. It was a very nice day, and I managed to finish a pair of Nina culottes, Compagnie M.'s most recent ladies pattern.

My sizes were between XXS and XS, so I chose the largest size. But when I tried them on for the first time, they were way too big! I cut away 8 centimeters, and now the fit is perfect.

The pictures were taken during our holidays, on Burano Island.

Pattern: Nina culottes - Compagnie M
Fabric: dark blue gabardine with a little stretch
T-shirt: Marco Polo