Project Sew it! - March

My March contribution to Project Sew It was to be a sweater for my brother, or a dress for myself, or even a jacket. But it turned out to be a blouse. My goal for the project was to sew one garment of a self-drafted pattern a month and I hadn't planned to draft a blouse pattern at all. Actually, I had planned this blouse as a quick project. But it turned out a little different.

I flipped through my collection of pattern magazines and chose a blouse pattern in Knipmode's June 2012 edition. According to my measurements I had to cut a size 36 so that's what I did. I sewed it up rather quickly, but it didn't fit at all! It was too big one me, the darts were in the wrong place, and I had chosen the wrong fabric for the collar. As you might have seen on Instagram: a big fiasco! So I tore al pieces apart again and drafted my own blouse pattern. Here it is!

The blouse has bust darts and vertical waist darts to make it fit perfectly. I drew an open Peter Pan collar and added golden piping to it. The puff sleeves are made of an elastic lycra which is a little shine through. I finished them with some elastic bias tape.

The blouse matches perfectly with my new blazer, bought during sales at Hilfiger!

The original blouse was sewn in the beginning of February, but it took me a little time to find the courage to start over again. I finished my final version two weeks ago and had it photographed last weekend, so it was ready for blogging on Tuesday. That day Brussels got hit by two ISIS bombs and the whole country was mourning for a few days. It didn't feel right to publish a blog post then, that's why I'm posting it with a little delay.

I am so lucky that all my friends and family are allright, although some of them were near the airport when the explosions happened. We pray for the families who lost someone, we light candles for peace, we lay flowers, and we keep smiling, because love always wins.

Bird fabric: Atori Black - Echino - @ De Stoffenkamer
Pattern: self drafted, based on model 22 - Knipmode June 2012 

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.

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

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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