A last summer outfit

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The Belgian fabrics brand See You At Six just launched their second collection, a mix of cotton lawns and sweater knits in beautiful prints. The Australian web shop Maaidesign stocks them all AND she ships internationally! I already bought some french terry to sew an Autumn sweater for myself, but first I want to show you something I made with their previous collection.

A beautiful cotton lawn in copper and rust with which I sewed an easy-peasy gathered skirt.

To match the skirt I sewed a top with a V-neck and flutter sleeves.  I altered the pattern to make the sleeves even wider and I added the V-neck to the back too.

I sewed this outfit back in July when Belgian temperatures were still nice and summery and I wore it so much! Right now the rain is pouring but I can't wait for summer to come back so I can wear this outfit again.

The pictures were taken by my little friend Liv again. She is just 9 years old but her pictures are amazing! I love how she makes me shine.

Stof rokje: Grid Copper, Playtime collection by See You At Six, bought at De Stoffenstraat

Stof topje: beige mêlée sweater fabric and glitter ribbing, both bought at De Stoffenstraat

Pattern skirt: self drafted
Pattern top: Knipmode 

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Moonstone

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A fabric with a dreamy name and a beautiful print, that is Moonstone by Atelier Brunette. I had set myself the goal to use up some of my stash before buying new fabrics, but this one made me fail. It was just so soft that I had bought it before I even had the time to think about it.

To prevent my stash from growing I used it up right away. In the Dutch pattern magazine Knipmode I found a pattern for a flowy blouse, perfect for this lightweight fabric.
 

The fabric was so sheer that I interfaced all seams as I learned from Olga's patterns. For the sleeve hems I used super soft elastic binding.

The only reason why this simple blouse looks so sophisticated is because of the amazing photos. Now guess who took them? A little hint in the picture below:

Not quite what you'd expected, right? My little friend Liv, 9 years old, did all the photography for me.



I set the camera to automatic mode and let her experiment with it. Well, that was not exactly what she wanted. "The light doesn't look good", she told me, "how can I change it?" So I explained my 9-year-old about shutter speed and diaphragm, and told her how to focus manually. She listened carefully and this is what she came up with. Isn't it amazing? This kid and her endless patience ♥



When she grows up, she'll be a photographer, she told me. I bet she'll be a great one.

Fabric: Moonstone Pink, Atelier Brunette, bought at Lanalotta

Pattern: Top 25, Knipmode december 2013, size 36

Photographer: Liv 

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Double gauze softness

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I love double gauze. It's soft, it's lightweight, it's easy to sew with, and wait, did I already mention the softness? A few months ago I sewed this blouse in Nani Iro double gauze and it's been my favorite to wear on hot summer days ever since.

This fabric was named double gauze on the website where I ordered it (my all time favorite webshop for double gauze: Julija), but actually it's more like the swaddles you can buy for babies. Super soft but more wrinkly than the Nani Iro stuff.

Although I was kind of disappointed as the fabric was not the double gauze quality I had expected, I loved the softness immediately. I draped the fabrics around my neck as soon as they arrived

At first I planned to have something printed on it. Together with a friend I followed an evening class on fabric printing and I would have loved to print on this fabric too. Sadly the postal services messed up with my package so I only received it a few days after the last lesson. Off to plan B: embroidery! I bought some thread and hand embroidered an improvisational design while I was sitting in the sun. This was my first time embroidering and I had no expectations nor a blueprint. The best type of meditation, I tell you!

All seams are French seams finished with a decorative machine stitch (I wouldn't have the patience to embroider all those little flowers by hand!)

Almost 4 meters of softness around my neck. I love it!

Fabrics: tetrastof nude, oker and pale pink at Julija's shop
Pattern: a few simple rectangles, sewn together using French seams
Dress: Mambo Dress in Anna Maria Horner voile, blogged here
Pictures taken by my sister in Lisbon

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All eyes on me

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About Blue Fabrics has launched a new fabric collection today! The BLOS collection consists of four summer sweat fabrics and I'm very happy to present the eyes fabric to you.

I sewed up a quick T-shirt, no pattern, just loosely based on an outworn but very much loved shirt in my closet.

My friend Liisa and I had some fun head banging during the photoshoot ;)

Don't you think this fabric matches my handbag perfectly? I bought it in Madrid last summer and it looks like the bag and the fabric were just made for each other.

I finished the sleeves with a little rolled hem and added some glitter to the waistband.

Et voila, quick sew, great result! I had some fabric leftovers which I quickly turned into a pair of sports shorts. I used this free pattern by Miasu.

Fabric: Eyes summersweat - Bambiblauw
T-shirt pattern: self drafted
Shorts pattern: Miasu
Handbag: Bimba y Lola 

A Nani Iro blouse

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I bet you all know Nani Iro. If you don't, definitely check out their website, because their fabrics are not only beautiful in colors and prints, but also the softest you have ever felt. They even get softer with every wash, isn't that amazing?

I have several Nani Iro double gauze fabrics in my stash (hadn't used any of them up to now, though. Way too precious to use!)

For this blouse I combined one of their linens (Bed Grass cozy white) with a double gauze (Ori Some blue). Although the linen is less soft than the double gauze, it is so finely woven that I immediately loved it. The blue border that I used for the bottom of my top was printed at both selvages, the white part in between has fine black lines and tiny white flowers printed on it.

The pattern is blouse 129 from Burda 4/2015. It is a very simple model with only three pattern pieces: a front piece, a back piece, and a sleeve insert. 

Both fabrics were ordered online at Julija's shop, a Belgian webshop and brick-and-mortar store with a large selection of Nani Iro and Liberty fabrics. If you happen to be in Antwerp once, it's definitely worth a visit!

My best friend Jan made me these cute little earrings for my birthday. He broke some teacups into pieces, softened the edges and made a little hole in them so that he could pull a ring through. They match my blouse perfectly!

This is the first crop top I have ever made. A few years ago I would have never dared to wear something like this, but being ill for 1.5 years I lost so much weight that I thought it was appropriate to wear a crop top now. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right? 

Main fabric: Bed Grass Cozy linnen - Nani Iro - bij Julija's shop

Sleeve insert fabric: Ori Some double gauze - Nani Iro - bij Julija's shop

Pattern: blouse 29 - Burda 4/2015

My first pair of ladies pants

Being busy launching my Tulip pattern, first in Dutch and in a few days in English as well, I somehow neglected Project Sew It. The challenge I set for myself was sewing one garment with a self drafted or modified pattern each month. My last entries can be found here. Since June I've added nothing new to the list, except of course my own Tulip Dress & Top pattern, but now I'm starting again!

My contribution for today is a special one, since I've feared sewing pants over over 6 years now. But when I received this extremely soft chambray from Georgette, I wanted to cover as much of my body  as possible with it. My eye fell on this high waisted trousers pattern from Burda 04/15 (model 129).

I didn't make any adjustments to the fit of the pattern, I just added details. I like the overall fit of the pattern although next time I'd make some changes to the back since there is a little too much fabric there.

Concering details, I added a strip of leather on the side of one leg.

Also I made piped pockets. One for real...

And one fake one! I added a scrap of the leather behind it for a special touch.

The waistband, not foreseen in the pattern, consists out of different tunnel parts with a piece of glitter elastic that runs through them. The elastic I bought is not from great quality, so I only attached it to the fabric at the zipper part. This way I can easily replace it when it stretches out. Although I hope it won't because the color is just perfect!

This make is actually a guest post for the Belgian fabric shop Georgette. She sells this extremely soft chambray by Les Trouvailles d'Amandine, alongside with lots of other GOTS-certified biological fabrics. So if you'd like more pictures, hop over to the Georgette-blog! The guest post is only in Dutch, that's why I wanted to do some translation here, but I'm sure the pics will speak for themselves. Go see them here!