With Love - by Eva: dress

Showing posts with label dress. Show all posts

Thursday, June 23, 2016

The outside kids and their outside clothes

The month of June was all about final exams at university and not that much about sewing. But as my summer holidays started, I'll make up for that soon! To start with, two easy projects in knits for my neighbor kids.

Lans and Roos play outside all day long, I could hear their little voices scream and laugh while I was studying ;) Comfortable clothes are a necessary ingredient for good play, so I took the Billie shirt pattern by Zonen09 and the Princess Castle dress pattern by Ottobre to make them some comfy play clothes!

Roos is such a happy kid, always singing and telling imaginative stories. The fabric matches her personality so well!

The dress is still a little long now, but at her growth speed it will be perfect length for their summer vacation.

Her big brother Lans got a Billie shirt by Zonen09. The pattern is great: nice fit, good instructions, and it comes in several languages. Designer Sharon is a friend of mine and she's such a talented lady! Billie offers a lot of options, like raglan sleeves and a V-neck, but I chose to keep it simple. My brain wasn't ready for difficult projects yet, after all the studying ;)

These two kids know what they want. They chose the fabrics themselves (and I was happy, since those were on the pile "don't remember why I ever bought them") and they were extremely satisfied with the result. So was I!

T-shirt pattern: Billie by Zonen09, size 8yo length 7yo
T-shirt fabric: bought from her (I used 0,5m)
Dress pattern: Princess Castle - Ottobre 4/2013 - size 7yo without seam allowance
Dress fabric: Lillestoff (I used 1m)

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Miss Polly and Miss Liv

As soon as I saw the first version of Miss Polly, I knew she and Liv would become good friends. Two months later I finally managed to sew her a Miss Polly Dress!

Completely Sewpony-inspired: her mom chose the fabric after she saw this dress passing by on Facebook. It's called "vintage kitten" and comes in three qualities: quilting cotton, cotton knit and sweater fabric. Designed by children's fashion brand De Melkbrigade, for sale at Bambiblauw! (I guess they do international shipping. And if you stop by, have a look at the other fabrics designed by De Melkbrigade. I'm completely in love with their Summer Swans!)

At first I didn't really like the colors of the vintage kitten fabric. The black and brown seemed too harsh to me for little girls. But when I combined with light pink and yellow, the colors suddenly lit up. I love the way the design of the pattern gives you the ability to play with different colors!

And Liv, she loves the loose fit of the dress. Perfect for playing!

And have you seen my new labels yet? Previously I used to make my own using a stamp and textile paint, but I like these som much better! They were gifted to me by Nominette.

I'm happy with my new labels, Liv is happy with her new dress. Thank you Nominette and Sewpony!

Cats fabric: Vintage Kitten - De Melkbrigade & Bambiblauw

Pink fabric: Soft Cactus

Pattern: Miss Polly, Dutch version - Sewpony (size 134)

Monday, May 16, 2016

Communion dress #2: a Tinny dress for Mila

Last week I showed you the Jaanu dress I sewed for Livs first communion party. But Liv wasn't the only one I dressed for this special occasion! For her sister Mila, I sewed a very special Tinny dress.

The sisters are very alike yet different too. Therefore I chose matching fabrics (the same orange-pinkish color but with a different print) and matching patterns (Jaanu and Tinny, both by StraightGrain).

Her only wish for the dress was a bow. That reminded me of the Antoinette dress, once sold for the good cause by Spiegelstiksels, sadly not for sale anymore. The largest Antoinette size is size 8, way too small for ten-year-old Mila. That's why I took the Tinny dress as a basis and added the Antoinette features: the pockets, the pleated skirt, the V-shaped neckline and the bow.

Again, I chose a handprinted fabric by Lotte Martens, this one is called Bromelia and has a border print with orange flowers. I cut the skirt pieces in that way that the flowers appear in the front and in the back. For the bow, I chose an orange striped fabric by Petit Pan. The color is almost fluorescent and very difficult to photograph. The picture underneath gives an idea of the real colors.

Mila was very happy with her dress, especially since the fit was loose enough to jump and run around at the party. Mission accomplished!

Both sisters were so beautiful together, I couldn't help taking lots of pictures :-)

Livs dress: blogged about here

dress fabric: Bromelia by Lotte Martens

bow fabric: Rigato Orange by Petit Pan

piping: Hexagoon Leuven

pattern: mixed Tinny - Antoinette

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Project SewIt for April: Jaanu as a communion dress for Liv

I've told you many times about my little friend Liv. I worked as a volunteer in the kindergarten for a few years, and since then the two of us have a very special bond. She is twelve years younger than I am, but we get along so well that I would call her one of my best friends. So when her mom asked me if I wanted to sew a dress for her First Communion, I didn't hesitate at all!

For the pattern, I opted for Jaanu. I had already sewn the Elena version for her and it has become her favorite dress. For this special occasion I chose the Norah version because the box pleats give it a festive look.

The fabric is Aspius by Lotte Martens, a very soft and rather thick woven cotton with copper sparkles on it. Liv chose it herself and I am completely in love with her choice!

Her mom wanted flutter sleeves, I added a copper ribbon with a little bow on the right.

I finished every pleat with a pearl and a metal leave, all secured by hand. I also made her earrings with the same leaves, but I forgot to photograph them.

Under the dress, she wore a petticoat that I had sewn for her before.

The pictures were taken both in the studio and at the party, where I was invited to join the family and celebrate this beautiful little girl!

This dress was my April project for Project Sew It, but the dress had to be kept secret until the party was over. Now I'm finally able to show it to you!

I got lots of compliments from the party guests, they even asked me if I was a professional seamstress! Not at all, I replied, but I have to admit she was beautiful in her dress!

I didn't sew one dress, I immediately sewed two. One for Liv, and a matching one for her bigger sister Mila. I'll show you that one on Monday!

fabric: Aspius by Lotte Martens

pattern: Jaanu (Norah version) by StraightGrain

sandals: Liu Jo

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

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.