My favourite pictures of 2016

My blogging friend Lies asked me for my favourite pictures of 2016, so here they are! Some of them were chosen for the moment they represent, others because the picture itself makes me smile. Enjoy!

JANUARY. A simple picture taken with my phone, but such a great moment. Mid-January yet on our terrace it felt like summer. The examens had just finished and my brother and I spent the whole afternoon playing board games outside.

FEBRUARY. Suse in her Ileanadress. The first time I photographed kids in Manual mode and I still love the result.

MARCH. The first summer sunbeams lit our kitchen windowsill and my best friend Jan and I just sat there and enjoyed the warmth.

JUNE. Right after the exams, I spent a week with two dear friends. Just relaxing and making time for each other. This picture was taken on a bike tour when we suddenly decided to pick some flowers for a spontaneous bouquet.

JULY. My sister and my little cousin in Valencia. Nothing was edited, these were the natural colors of the salt lakes.

 JULY. Again my sister in Valencia, again an unedited picture. I love the light!

AUGUST. My biggest project of 2016: our Tulip Dress and Top pattern!

AUGUST. Suddenly my sister and our two guests decided they wanted to sew something, there was no space left in my sewing room for me!

AUGUST. Loes in the Just Knot It dress I sewed for her. I love the pop of color against her dark skin!

SEPTEMBER. A week of camping in France with a dear friend. 

DECEMBER. Christmas walk with torchlights and another dear friend.

I wish you all a beautiful 2017 !

BewarenBewarenBewarenBewaren BewarenBewarenBewarenBewarenBewarenBewarenBewarenBewarenBewarenBewarenBewarenBewaren
BewarenBewarenBewarenBewaren

Lotte Martens & LeChaperon(un)limited (Project Sew It!: May)

Lotte Martens is a Belgian textile designer who prints all her fabrics by hand. I am in love with her work, as you might have noticed :-) I've already made one two three four five dresses in her fabrics! Together with slow fashion company LeChaperon(un)limited she launched a textile box filled with 13 little pieces of fabric. I was so lucky to receive three of them!

Een foto die door withlovebyeva is geplaatst op 7 Mei 2016 om 11:27 PDT

The scraps of fabric in the box range from A3 format to 10x10cm. Measurements and extra information can be found here. The box contains all types of fabric, from quilting cotton to knits to felt and everything in between. I chose two ribbing fabrics (Bask Mint and Bask Rose) and one fake fur (Niyona fake fur). 

I combined the blue ribbing with grey sweater fabric for this simple but sophisticated sweater for my little sister.

The pattern is self drafted, I already used it here. On her demand, I made it a few centimetres wider for a more oversized look.

She was so happy with it! When she woke up and saw I finished her sweater, she immediately put it on and whispered: "Eva, this is the most beautiful thing you've ever sewn!". Seeing the enthusiasm in her eyes gave me a wonderful feeling.

I bet you can even see her happiness on the pictures!

She chose the blue ribbing, so I kept the pink ribbing and the fake fur for myself.

Another grey sweater, but a little less 'plain and simple' than hers. I added white pinkish lace to the front and back panels. The pattern is the Leather Sweater by La Maison Victor. It's actually a children's pattern, but I made the biggest size (16yo) for myself and it fits me perfectly.

I used the fake fur and some piping for the shoulder parts (included in the pattern).

In the back, I added a special detail. An inverted pleat that subtly shows the ribbing.

Two totally different sweaters made using the same fabrics! For more inspiration with these (and other) fabrics, visit Ik ben Vink, Compagnie M, Petrol&Mint, Paspelpoezen, Remi & Henri, StraightGrain, Hilde@Home and De Zuster Van !

In this project I also used my new labels for the first time. I'll tell you more about them next week!

Grey-blue sweater:

- grey sweater fabric: Pauli (brick and mortar shop in Leuven)

- ribbing: Bask Mint in the textile box by Lotte Martens & LeChaperon(un)limited, for sale here

- pattern: self drafted

Grey-pink sweater:

- grey sweater fabric: Pauli (brick and mortar shop in Leuven)

- lace fabric: De Stoffenstraat (brick and mortar shop in Kasterlee)

- ribbing: Bask Rose in the textile box by Lotte Martens & LeChaperon(un)limited, for sale here

- pattern: Leather Sweater - La Maison Victor - size 176

The scent of summer

Summer has a very special scent to me. Not just the smell of sunscreen or watermelon or swimming pool chlorine. No. To me, the start of summer is marked by the scent of freshly dried hay in the fields around our house. A few times a day, the farmer comes to turn the hay, and the rest of the day it just lies there with its perfect summery smell (I'm so glad I don't have a pollen allergy, because I love it!). So I took my sister outside for some pictures of her newest sweater in the hay.

The sweater is a co-operation: we sewed it together! She did the cutting and the stitching, I did al the serging parts. 

Every little bit of it is completely her choice. The fabrics, the pattern (oversized with separate shoulder parts), the position and color of the pocket. The only suggestion I made was adding some zippers to the shoulders instead of piping, and we're both happy with the way that turned out. It adds some 'cool' to the sweater.

In this sweater, she is ready for a Belgian summer full of rain and wind. I'm hoping she won't need to wear it that often!

Maybe you were wondering where my Project SewIt contribution of April went. Well, it was a big secret until now! My little friend Liv, the seven-year-old that I babysit, celebrated her Holy Communion and I was the one who had the honor to make the dress for that special day. I'll be showing it on Thursday!

Sister twinning

You've got lovers and you've got haters. Some people always dress their kids in matching outfits, others never do. I'm not a tremendous fan of twinning, but I made an exception for my little sister!

My little sister celebrated her 16th birthday (Huh? 16 already? When did that happen?) She is the sweetest sister I can imagine, check the Christmas present she gave me! So lovely! As a birthday present I wanted to sew her a sweater since she wears sweaters all the time.

After cutting all pattern pieces for one sweater I realized I had just enough fabric left to sew to! Sister twinning it would be!

The pattern is self drafted, based on a sweater hanging in my closet. Very simple: a square piece for the bodice, two sleeves and some cuffs. Most teenagers wear sweaters with quotes on them so I adde two quotes that fit us!

"She leaves a little sparkle wherever she goes". Perfect for my little sister who can make everyone laugh just by being their. To add a little more sparkle to the sparkle, I cut this one word out of glitter flex foil. The other words are cut out of flock foil.

For myself I chose a quote from the Annie-movie. "Never fully dressed without a smile". Have you seen the video clip of the song? It always makes me smile!

The word "smile" also has glitters on it. With a little imagination you can see that the last two letters form a wink-emoticon!



We took pictures on a rainy day, but at least the sun shone on our faces!

Two sweaters, alike yet different. Two sisters, alike yet different. Happy birthday, my sweet little sissie!



Fabric: striped sweater fabric bought from her
Pattern: self drafted