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

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!

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!

With Love by Eva celebrates her fourth blogging birthday!

After my birth, my grandma took sewing classes and started making cute little clothes for her first grandchild. And she passed her passion on to me! Every summer holiday we spent at her house, she teached me how to sew clothes for my dolls. Almost six years ago, she gave me my own sewing machine! The best present ever. I can't imagine how many hours I spent with it since then.

After two years of sewing and blog following, I felt like it was time to write my own blog. With Love - by Eva was born! The amount of visitors increased, especially those from foreign countries, so a few months ago I started writing in English as well. I am so happy to welcome all of you English readers!

Blogging has brought me so much. New friends whom I met at blogdates and sewing days en workshops and events. Interesting cooperations with Jongens Toch!, FinchFabrics, Liesellove and especially the Belgian textile designer Lotte Martens. So many inspiration and energy to sew more and to try new things. I feel like I'm growing every year! 

My favorite makes of With Love - by Eva's fourth year were:

In the category 'ladies clothes': de Nina Culottes I made myself last summer.

In the category 'childrens clothing': the testers Tinny I made for Liv in fabric designed and screenprinted by myself. By far my most perfect dress ever!

In the category 'mens clothing': the Chess sweater I made for my best friend Jan.

The 'non-clothing' category is quite empty ;-) This laptop sleeve for my brother still makes us both happy.

And you? Which makes of the last year were your favorites?

Birthdays are way better when you celebrate them with others, so I'm throwing a party with presents to win on Instagram and Facebook! Both giveaways are open to international entries, although the books are both written in Dutch. Winners will be announced May 9.

🎈 G I V E A W A Y 🎈 The blog celebrates its fourth birthday today with some presents for you! Here on Instagram you can win this cool book. How? Leave a comment with a wish for the next blogging year. Winners will be announced on May 9th. Also check Facebook for more to win! (the book is written in Dutch but the giveaway is open to international entries) NL De blog wordt 4 jaar en dat vieren we met cadeautjes! Wil je dit boek graag winnen? Laat een reactie achter met een wens voor withlovebyeva's volgende jaar, taggen en delen zijn pluspunten natuurlijk. Op 9 mei trek ik een winnaar. Check ook de facebookpagina voor nog meer cadeautjes!

Een foto die door withlovebyeva is geplaatst op 27 Apr 2016 om 11:24 PDT

Tulip sweater for men

My brother has a clearly outlined clothing style. He likes simple but refined: no prints or flashy colors, but patterns with special details.

Since he is more than two metres long, finding clothes in store for him is rather difficult. Most of his sweaters are a little short. But for his birthday, I wanted to sew him a long and perfectly fitting sweater! I drew a pattern based on one of his store-bought sweaters and added a Tulip back.

Drawing a pattern for a sweater yourself is really not that hard. I took pictures while making it and I am planning to write a tutorial!

The fabric is a super soft elastic wool mix. I bought it at the stocksale of children's clothing brand Strass last year. Blue with a subtle grey stripe in it, totally his kind of thing!

For the collar (extra wide, since my personal trendwatcher told me this is the new fashion for men's clothing) and the little triangle I used the wrong side of the fabric.

The back side got its Tulip part. I wrote a tutorial on how to draw this HERE. The original Tulip has curves, but to achieve a more man-like shape I just drew straight lines instead of curved ones.

Happy brother, mission accomplished!

Tulip T-shirt #2

My January make for Project Sew It was a self drafted T-shirt pattern in a beautiful snow tiger fabric. I named it Tulip T-shirt, after it's tulip like shaped back. On the Dutch blog I got lot's of requests for a tutorial, so I made a second version and took pictures while drafting the pattern and sewing it. The tutorial is written in Dutch but comes with clear pictures, and I am always willing to help if you don't understand! The free tutorial can be found HERE.

Today I present you the second version, with it's special tulip-like back piece.

This time I opted for medium length sleeves, since spring has finally arrived in Belgium. I added a decorative cap sleeve, for which I used the ruffle pattern piece of the Cocoon Dress but skipped the gathering.

The piping used in the back piece returns in the shoulder parts.

The fabric is a super soft one by Nosh Organics, won at the Compagnie M. - contest. The colors are not my favorites and I wouldn't buy this myself, but I really like the way it turned out!  (the rest of the knit fabric will become the lining of the Berlin Coat I'm working on)

My best friend Jan was in charge of taking pictures. He is very artistic, and so are his photos!

Are you planning a Tulip T-shirt too? My next version will be one for men!

Fabric: Mini stripes aqua-pink, Nosh Organics
Pattern: free tutorial Tulip T-shirt (in Dutch) 

How to make your seven-year-old feel like a princess

She loves everything I sew for her. Little Liv, the seven-year-old that I babysit. As soon as she saw this skirt, it became her favourite.

No frogs were needed, a few layers of tulle were enough to make her feel like a princess.

I bought two types of white tulle. The 'hard' version, which feels a little rough and plastic-like, for a voluminous circle skirt, and the 'soft' version for a gathered skirt on top. Some white cotton fabric for the waistband and the lining and my princess skirt was done!

Princes, beware, this beautiful princess is waiting for you! And hurry, because today she gives free hugs :-)