Launching tomorrow: the Tulip Dress and Top in English!

Last summer I spent hours and hours behind my computer and behind my sewing machine, alone or with my companion Katrien. On the 3rd of August we could finally share the result of our hard work with the world: we launched our first sewing pattern! The Tulip Dress and Top is a pdf sewing pattern  in sizes 1 YO to 10 YO.  It was a great success in Belgium and soon we got the question whether the pattern would be released in English too. Today I've got the exciting task to tell you it is! 

Woopwoop! After working on the English translation of our #tulipdressandtop pattern for weeks, it's almost ready to be launched! Just one more reading to filter all mistakes out. Tomorrow (monday October 3 at 12 am GMT), the English pattern will be available in @kaatjenaaisels 's shop! 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

Een foto die is geplaatst door Eva (@withlovebyeva) op 2 Okt 2016 om 7:22 PDT

I attended an international school for several years so I feel quite comfortable reading and writing in English, but I hadn't expected "sewing English" to be so difficult! It took me lots of time and effort to figure everything out, but after the last proofreading I can say that I'm happy with the result!

This result could have never been achieved without the help of our great proofreading team. Thank you so much Emi, An, Olga, Jenya, Sara, Maria, Suz and Maria! Your feedback was so helpful!

Tulip is a pattern that stands out because of its special design: two tulip-shaped petals that overlap on the chest and a gathered skirt that peeps from underneath them. The pattern gives you the option to choose between a top or a dress version and a closure with a hidden zipper or buttons. It comes in sizes 1 YO to 10 YO. Detailed instructions and step-by-step pictures guide both beginners and experienced seamstresses smoothly through the sewing process.  

The Tulip I'm showing today is actually the first Tulip I ever sewed. I sewed it up in June when Katrien and I were still working on the fit of the pattern. The fabric is very lightweight and roughly woven, with a feel somewhere between linen and crepe. This is the size 10 for Mila who turned 10 in January. At first the dress was too long, and while shortening it I suddenly decided to make a high-low-hem out of it. I love the way this turned out. It is not an option included in the pattern, but not that hard to add yourself ;-) One of our international testers was planning to do the same, I'm very curious to see what she did with it!

What can you expect when buying the Tulip pattern?
- a pdf file, to be printed in A4 / A0 / letter size
- the pattern in 12 sizes, from 1 YO to 10 YO
- option to only print the desired size
- detailed instructions with clear pictures, both for the zippered and the buttoned version
- basic sewing techniques like stitching piping or adding a hidden zipper are explained, so the instructions are easy to follow for beginners
- short instructions for experienced seamstresses

Tomorrow at 10 am GMT the pattern will be launched in the Kaatjenaaisels-shop! The launch of the pattern also marks the start of the blog tour. A team of international seamstresses will show you their interpretations of our Tulip pattern. At first I felt a little uncomfortable to contact them, since most of them are ladies I secretly admire. But they were all so kind and helpful! The coming days you'll find Tulips on the blogs of these talented ladies:

3/10⎮StraightGrain ▲ The Itinerant Seamstress 

4/10⎮Fairies, Bubbles & Co. ▲ Liivi & Liivi

5/10⎮Leven met Liv ▲ Coffee + Thread ▲ Sisko by Mieke

6/10⎮Just Add Fabric ▲ Sewpony

7/10⎮While she was sleeping ▲ Made by Sara ▲ Le labo d'Isa

Katrien and I will provide an overview of the participants on our blogs each day to make sure you won't miss any of their beautiful Tulips. One more night until we start, I'm so excited! Mila and I are already looking forward to the tour and to your reactions :-)

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!

Eva's unicorns

Most unicorn fabrics are over the top girlish, with glitters and pink everywhere. If you have followed here for a while, you might have noticed that this type of fabrics is not quite my style. But for the first time in history I saw a unicorn fabric that I actually LIKED. 

It's called Eva unicorns, a sweater knit fabric by illustrator Eva Mouton for About Blue Fabrics/Bambiblauw. Of course I had to make a sweater out of them. 

The lucky unicorn girl is Mila, Livs bigger sister and another one of my favourite girls to babysit. She is 10 so I didn't want the sweater to be to baby-ish. Therefore I opted for black instead of pink as coordinating color.

And I added some 'cool' details like leather shoulder pads and glittery frills at the shoulders (I used the frill pattern piece of the Cocoon Dress for them). 

The fabric is so soft that she insisted on wearing the sweater without a T-shirt underneath. 

Hop over to MinnieMie, Lily & Woody, MeToezie and Emma&Mona for some more unicorn inspiration! Bambiblauw ships worldwide now so no more excuse for not buying these cute fabrics :-) 

Pattern: Leather Sweater (La Maison Victor), size 134

Fabric: Eva's unicorns, Bambiblauw, 1m

Barbarums birthday and a small give away

Babarum is a Belgian online fabric shop. To celebrate its 2nd birthday, owner Jelle invited five bloggers to choose some fabric from her shop to sew with. Since my aunt had just celebrated her birthday too and since she had hinted me that she'd like some cushions for her new couch, I let her choose the fabric and sewed pillowcases.

For the first two pillowcases I used quilting cotton, piping and a blind zipper. 

For the next two I used knits. My aunt had gifted me a Ferm Living cushion for Christmas which had one side in knit fabric and I just love the softness of it. I ironed some edge tape onto the edges to prevent the fabric from stretching while sewing.

The last one is a combination of both: one side in knits, one side in cotton.  Combining the two fabric types went surprisingly well and I think I will do this again in the future! 

The fifth pillow wasn't sewn by me but by my cousin. A few years ago he sewed a skirt for his moms birthday (blogged in Dutch here). When he heard about my sewing plans for her birthday this year, he wanted to help. No blind zipper or piping for this one, but he did all the cutting and sewing all by himself and he was so proud! He insisted on showing it here ;)

When I see her beautiful new couch with its colorful pillows, I'm a little jealous ;) Enjoy the softness, Sylvie!

Babarum celebrates its birthday and gives away lots of presents. The code "BabaRumFeest" gives you 15% off in the Babarum-shop until September 15, and one lucky readers receives a free metre of fabric on top of that! Enter the Rafflecopter to participate.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

More Babarum birthday creations can be found at Querida, A Naais ID, Miss Wobie, Khadetjes and Liesellove!

Oranje driehoekjeskussen: Morning Walk Mojave Sand katoen (ArtGallery bij Babarum) + donkerblauwe paspel (Babarum)

Mosterdgeel kussen: Net Mustard (Dear Stella bij Babarum) + zalmroze paspel (De Stoffenstraat)

Lichtblauw driehoekjeskussen: Morning Walk Mojave Aloe tricot (ArtGallery bij Babarum) + gele paspel (Hexagoon)

Donkerblauw driehoekjeskussen: Kona Cotton Bahama + Kona Cotton Teal (beide Bambiblauw) + Ahoy Matey Navy (Michael Miller, overgekocht via facebook)

Mix 'n Match satchel

Oh. my. God. I've just finished the most perfect thing I've ever sewn. I don't think I could be more proud of myself ;-)

I prefer sewing clothing over sewing bags, but for this beautiful pattern I made an exception. The pattern is called Mix 'n Match and it is designed as a satchel for primary school children or preschoolers (Mix 'n Match Mini). Since I don't belong to either of both categories anymore, its designer Riet was so kind to re-scale the pattern for me until it had the perfect size for a college satchel for students!

Speaking fabrics, I chose an imitation leather (Nemesa by Lotte Martens) for the center front panels, and combined it with mint cork leather for the side panels and gold-bamboo cork leather for all other panels. The lining is an organic cotton by Birch, won here. I ironed two layers of Decovil light against all pattern pieces, with 3 broken and bent needles as a result. But it was worth it!

The original Mix 'n Match design has two backstraps to wear it on your back, but as I wanted my version to be appropriate for university instead of for primary school, I added a leather shoulder strap.

Even the back of it is beautiful. Oh look at this!

On the inside I added some handy features. Like pockets for my cell phone, my train card and a pen.

A strap with a carabiner to prevent losing my keys a hundred times or more. The black-and-white part is elastic, so I can easily stretch my keys towards the door without detaching them from the carabiner.

The inside has three main compartments. The middle one has exactly the right size for my laptop so I added a little strap to make sure it won't fall out.

It took 15 hours to sew the satchel and I bet it was the hardest sewing project I ever did. All the layers of leather and Decovil weren't easy to sew for my machine, but the result is just perfect. I'm so so in love.

I sewed the bag together with its designer and my sewing friend Riet. She made a satchel for her youngest daughter who will be starting primary school in two days. Have a look at her beautiful version here!

The two of us weren't alone while sewing. We had a camera crew filming the sewing process for the Belgian Tendens TV. It is Dutch spoken and not subtitled but it gives you an impression of the satchel sewing! (and an impression of the way I move and talk. I always find it exciting to see  other bloggers in front of the camera, for example in this little movie. It really surprised me to see what my favourite bloggers looked and talked like!)

Patroon: Mix 'n Match Mini vergroot tot 115% - Mind the Whale

Mint kurkleer: K-bas

Naturel-goud kurkleer: Madeline de Stoffenmadam (tijdelijk uitverkocht, maar wel nog te krijgen bij K-bas!)

Mint met gouden imitatieleer: Nemesa - Lotte Martens (limited edition, te koop per 60cm of in linten van 10cm)

Voeringstof: Feathers Mineral - Charley Harper's Nurture collection voor Birch - gewonnen in de Compagnie M.-wedstrijd

Fournituren en versteviging: K-bas en de Khadetjesvoorraad

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Just knot it

Almost together with our Tulip dress, another beautiful Belgian dress pattern was released. Riet is a sewing friend of mine and every pattern she designs is just spot on. So is Just Knot It, her newest dress!

Eyecatcher is the back. No zippers or button plackets, the dress closes with a little 'knot'.

And yes, I did add a button placket. Autumn is approaching and I wanted the dress to be worn on cooler days as well. The button placket is an extra option that comes with the pattern.

Second eyecatcher are the side seams. They don't close like 'normal' dresses do (although Riet offers the option of closed side seams too) but overlap under the armpits.

Third eyecatcher (oh yes! This pattern is so amazing and unique!) is the pleated front. Again, the pattern offers a plain and simple option too, but I'm so in love with the details that I wanted to add them all!

Since there are so many pattern pieces, the dress almost asks for color blocking. So that's what I did! I used 6 different fabrics: Kona cotton in  Canary, Woodrose, Bahama Blue, Lime and Papaya (bought at Bambiblauw), combined with Robert Kaufmans Geo Pop Sorbet.

The result is a dress that suits my little friend Loes perfectly. The lively colors are beautiful against her toned skin and at the same time they fit her character. She is playful, mischievous and always happy, just like her dress!

Loes and I, we both love Just Knot It! 

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