Special day in sight

In about a week, we're celebrating a very special day: Julie's first birthday.
I can't believe how quick the year passed by. When I look back on it, my heart just swells. I can't imagine life without our little sunshine anymore. She's such a happy face that loves to give and get cuddles. This may sound cliché but nothing beats the moment when you wake up in the morning and see this tiny, little creature laying next to you waking up silently. And the moment when she opens her eyes you see instant smiles and misschief. The past year, she turned our lives upside down and gave it more meaning. Yet another cliché. Perhaps life with children is all about clichés? Haha!

Anyway, I decided to make here a little outfit for her first birthday. I used an extremely pretty piece of fabric made by my good friend Anna. And I made a matching crown to complete it.
We're ready to celebrate! :)

Pencil case

The other day at our sew/knit/crochet group meeting, we all made little pouches to put stuff in. There were patterns by three designers and I chose to make a pencil case by Oon.
Since I'm building my fabric stash I had a nice range to choose from and decided that the bug fabric by LilaRubyKing would make a perfect pencil case. I love it &hope my nephew will love it too! :)

Sewing

Made a new skirt yesterday. I was meant to clean but they cut off the water in our street and the skirt was on my list of things to do so I didn't hesitate to start sewing. Ha! What a burden! :)
And zippers are such a piece of cake now. What was I ever afraid off?
I already bought panty's to go with them. Fabric is from IKEA and panty's are from Veritas.

Hello Etsy - part 4

Besides all the inspiring talks at 'Hello Etsy', I also made another Marimekko creation at the sewing station on my lunch break. Really strange as dreamed about making it on sunday morning so I just had to go back and do it.
As I'm a beginner sewer, of course I don't do complicated and everyone can make it.
I cut 4 strips of different kind of happy Marrimekko fabric about 25cm wide (10 inches) and then I cut random pieces horizontally. I mixed 'em all up and sewed the pieces back together horizontally. I made sure I had 2 the same lengths and then I placed 'em right sides on top of each other and sewed it together. When that was done, I reversed it and it was nearly ready. Since there was no ironing board present, I decided to finish it at home by stitching all the way alongside the edge. It is already too cold to wear this pretty cotton scarf now here but I'm sure I'll enjoy wearing it next spring. If the above instructions weren't clear enough, check out some of the tutorials I found via Google. Apparently this is not a very original idea that came into my dream, it's been done many times before so no need for me to make a tutorial!! LOL :)

Curtain skirt

When I saw this fabric in the shop, I knew I had to make something with it.
At first I thought a dress but then I was afraid the print would be too overwhelming so I decided to make an A-line skirt from it. It is actually fabric that I found on the curtain department but I don't really care as it's mighty happy.

It's not totally finished yet but I just wanted to show you that I can do zippers now... I don't do it the way I was thaught at school as it's too much hassle. My co-worker showed me to do it another way. I also looked it up on You Tube so that I could do it step by step and it works perfectly! YAY!
The pattern I used was from Neue Mode J 23250.
My next goal is doing the invisible zipper. Just need to find a neat pattern or project to use it in. And some extra time too of course...

Pincushion ring

Sewing class can be really boring as things are moving soooo slow there.
We started a pair of pants in December and it's still not finished.
The class is filled with too many students that can't sew so it's taking us forever to move along smoothly. The students line up for asking questions at the teacher so when it's finally your turn, the class is half over already.
There probably is no easier way so I bear with it. While I can't work on the stuff we're supposed to make, I do other things to fill up time with small things like making happy girls or do a tiny sewing project. I made this the other day & I love it.Tutorial can be found here.

Slipper(y) sewing

A while back, I found a fab tutorial of Heather Baileys on the world wide web and I thought I could perfectly adjust it to my size. So I enlarged the pattern and it looked like this.I decided that I wanted an anti-slip sole so I used anti-slip material for the sole and soft towel fabric (don't know the word in English) for the inside.
Then I put my foot on it to see it doesn't work like this. I'm not blond but I just don't have cute little babyfeet... A whopping 39 (US size 9) is what I have so it didn't really work out the way it was in my head! LOL
But how cosy do they really look? I love 'em and I really wish I could find a fun pattern to sew my own slippers. These small Itty bitty booties will be for a special baby...So if you know any good slipper patterns that use fleece or other soft fabric, please don't hesitate to share as I really want to sew my own slippers. And who knows, perhaps I even make you a pair too! :)

M.I.A.

Just before the weekend ends, I'm quickly popping into this space to let you know why I've been a bit M.I.A. (missing in action) here... I finished all my orders and I decided it was time to wind down a bit and it's doing me good. Spending time at home, taking walks, going out with friends, and I'm still working too but there is no pressure and it allows me to chuck in some stuff I've been wanting to do for a long time. Like sewing for example... I quickly want to show you the skirt and dress I made. I bought the fabrics in sale and they are both knitwear/jersey. My favorite fabric as I don't need to do zippers! :) The skirt is my own pattern - an A-line skirt from one of my favorite skirts.The dress is a pattern from Knipmode (November 2010) and attaching the shoulders wasn't really explained well so I had to inform with my co-workers who are sewing wizards and they helped me solve the mystery. I was so happy when I finished it today. Yay!
Hope you had a fun weekend and I wish you a wonderful start of the new week!

Slipper(y) sewing

A while back, I found a fab tutorial of Heather Baileys on the world wide web and I thought I could perfectly adjust it to my size. So I enlarged the pattern and it looked like this.I decided that I didn't want a slippery sole so I used anti-smip material for the sole and soft towel fabric (don't know the word in English) for the inside.
Then I put my foot on it to see it doesn't work like this. I'm not blond but I just don't have cute little babyfeet... A whopping 39 (US size 9) is what I have so it didn't really work out the way it was in my head! LOL
But how cosy do they really look? I love 'em and I really wish I could find a fun pattern to sew my own slippers. These small Itty bitty booties will be for a special baby...So if you know any good slipper patterns that use fleece or other soft fabric, please don't hesitate to share as I really want to sew my own slippers. And who knows, perhaps I even make you a pair too! :)

Zipper proof

Taking a classic sewing class implies learning basic techniques.
Exactly what I wanted to learn.
However, the course is set up in a real school and brings back secondary school memories. There is a bell that tells us when we have a break and we have to come at a certain time and can't leave class before it's finished. I don't really like the 'school' setting. Especially not when I compare it to my ceramic course that I took at the academy of fine arts. There we had lots of freedom and it worked so much better for me. No need to treat adults as secondary school kids but hey, I can't change the setting so I better adjust.
Not alway easy being the rebel I am...
Oh, and another thing that bugs me is that we have to stick to the pattern given. We're making a straight skirt at the moment but I only wear A-line skirts so this will look really funny on me.
I understand it's all about the techniques and all but when you make something, you would want to wear it too, right? Let's see if I will...
Anyway, enough of rambling as I wanted to show you some proof of the fact that I can do zippers! YAY! It's been on my wishlist since I decided to learn sewing.

Here's where the zipper will go:
And it's in! I even managed to add a waistband in the last lesson.
It will be finished much sooner then expected. I'm so excited about it! :)

My creative space

Today will be mainly filled with non creative things. It's a bit sad as I have so much bubbling in my head.
The other day, my neighbor helped me draft a pattern from my favorite dress & I bought fabric yesterday. I had my eye on this beautiful petrol bleu jersey/knit fabric & I hope that I can cut it out tonight after my sewing class. I want to sew this dress next weekend.
I'm way too ambitious when it comes to sewing I think - as I can barely sew a straight line... But then I think: if I won't try, I won't know if I can do it so I just go with my instincts! :)

Hop over to Kirsty's for more creative spaces and play along! It's fun! :)

Work in progress

The other day, someone send me an e-mail and asked me if I make the bags I use for my baking pearls myself. So here's some proof I do...
I think it's a great way to practise sewing straight and have something useful as a result afterwards.
But being still a slow sewer, it takes me forever to finish one! :)
I stamp the bags with a quick & easy 'stamp words' technique...The fun part is that I can choose the color of the ribbon myself.
I do work in batches so I made a whole lot ready to be filled...
Hmm... I did not make enough ceramic pearls to fill 'em though. I hope there is a good movie on tv tonight! :)

Sewing results

I have mentioned a few times that I bought fabric and to tell you the truth: I think I'm becoming one of those hoarders of fabric as some of it is sitting on the shelves already. But some of it has actually turned into something.

Remember the fabric for the loungepants that I showed a while back?
The fabric was very cheap (3 euro or 4,90 $/meter) so excellent to experiment a bit. I used a Simplicity pattern (3539) as a base. I haven't learned how to do zippers yet so I'm still afraid of them. I also didn't make the darts as shown in the pattern because I was using an elastic band around the waist. It worked out fine and they are comfy and fun to wear.
I didn't iron 'em for the picture - sorry! :)
As I'm an absolute beginner, I am a bit hesistant to buy expensive fabrics so I just keep experimenting with cheap fabrics. This fabric below was 5 euro or 6,50 $/meter so I wasn't really afraid to start sewing with it.I made a skirt out of it. I made a pattern of a knit skirt that I like wearing and whipped this skirt up in about an hour and a half. *pats herself on her shoulder*
I like knit/jersey fabric as it gives me the freedom to make zipperless pieces which is quite important when you're zipperanxious! :)
I think it goes really well with brown stockings and a brown shirt.Fall can come now...

Looking forward to lounge

My favorite lounge pants are dead. They did a great job but are completely worn out.So I'm tearing them apart to draw a pattern from them.
But ouch... I didn't use stretchy/knit fabric for my new pair. So they turned out too small. Guess I'll have a happy niece.
Back to the drawing board with a new pattern... and a new piece of fabric.

Spiral scarf by Annekata

Image by Annekata

Recently I found Kathrin's blog, I not only fell in love with all the fun tutorials but she has a whole lot of happy going on on there. When I saw this spiral scarf, I knew I would want to make it and was really happy when she decided to list the pattern!
The fun thing is that this pattern uses an old T-shirt, a pair of scissors, a needle and some thread. Jip, no sewing machine needed as it's handsewed.
I managed to cut out the pattern but haven't had a chance yet to sew it together. Will probably do this weekend and I think I might crochet a shell edge along, perhaps add some beads and make a few more of these as X-mas presents. :)
Oh, and if you like to make it, don't hesitate to purchase the pattern now (it's on special offer until the 20th of August).
Ha! Another sewing project nearly finished. *taps shoulder*

Image by Annekata

I also wanted to share a little tip that I learned recently: did you know that you can use a leftover piece of soap as tailor's chalk? I didn't and wanted to try it out of course...
It works perfect and the soap leaves no marks whatsoever after washing! :)

Burda Style

As if I don't have enough networking sites that I follow or participate in, I decided to add one more: BurdaStyle Not that I'm big on sewing yet but it's inspirational to browse through the projects and I hope to find a few projects there that I want to tackle sometime.

We had a party in our street last night and I found out that the new neighbor across the street is a designer for a chain of stores in Belgium. She offered to help me with any sewing project that I'm working on. She also has a bunch of patterns that I can have a browse through which I find really rad! How cool is that? Yeah! :)

And while adding my first sewing project to BurdaStyle, I searched for a picture for the pattern that I used and found out that you can actually buy it on Etsy.

Sewing: my first garment

Apart from sewing the drawstring bags for my baking pearls, I never did any previous sewing. I only recently bought my sewing machine and the lady in the shop where I bought it told me to practise sewing on paper.
But being me, I just dive into it and decided to make a garment.
A bit ambitious perhaps? Well, so be it!
Anyway, I got me a pattern and decided to give it a go. It took me an entire afternoon and evening to finish it but I did it. It is not perfect at all but I'm so proud that I finished it. This is the pattern that I chose to make:I should have taken an easier pattern to start off with but little did I know. And when fitting it on while making it, I felt choked by the high cut of the dress so I made adjustments to suit my taste. I made a lower cut and decided to adjust a bit of the sleeves too. Of course that takes away all of the charm of the '60's dress but do I care? Nope! It's too freakin' hot for sleeves anyway! :)
And I'm not a model, so posing is really hard for me... but I tried and felt most confident doing it headless! LOL Thank you too for all the opinions on what I should make out of the fabric I showed a while ago. Since I made a dress, I'll be making a skirt soon - I think I like sewing even though it is taking me forever and I still have to learn loads! :)

Weekend impressions