What to be?

Together with other mums I have been sewing capes for each child in L's class. Thick old velvet curtains and Ikea cotton velvet were used. Then later on during a parents' evening we all embellished them with gold ribbon and buttons, so they really got a royal look. These embellishments are really shiny, unfortunately not well shown on the pics due to cloudy weather. Last week the kids found them in their shoes in school.
L loves to wear it. Last Sunday the whole day through. As soon as she does she turns into a king, a queen, a Sinterklaas, a princess and maybe in a month into one of the Three Kings!

To warm my daughter

Just did it slowly. Searching a pattern that convinced me to give my daughter enough warmth during her cycle trips to school, passing the river and bridge, catching a severe winter. This one (see page 6) did: a hooded, zippered, high closed, simple designed one with nice long cuffs. Then reading the pattern again and again. I'm not a very experienced sewer; making a coat is a far away story for me! But at the same time an everlasting wish-to-come-true.

I decided to change the pattern, because of course it had to be lined. Plus the pockets had to be changed. Making these was also my first time and it felt quite exciting. But I just took it slowly as I said and considered everything I did as an autodidact sewing course. That helps.

Then looking around for the right fabric: preferably natural materials and perfect colors. After a long and critical search and some doubts it resulted in this green washed woolen fabric with soft olive green lining. Totally happy, but I wasn't finished yet, did the lady in the fabric shop tell me: I needed an extra third layer to keep the wind out. Ok, a common padded fabric was added. Don't start doing this to save money. I think this is the most expensive coat L ever had! As a matter of fact did I find in the same period a beautiful second-hand coat for L, so doubts were there again. F convinced me to go on and finish sewing. So did I.

It took me some evenings sewing the outer coat, then the inner coat and finally assembling these two, especially because I had to do a lot of thinking as applying a lining was not described... The cuffs were made in double fabric. The front, back and hood three-layered and the sleeves two-layered. Everything is ready in time to go back to school again after holidays.

Really, every step I loved, including the exciting beginners moments. I'm so happy now! The finishing touch was inspired by this great lady. Btw, the one and only button hole still has to be made. My simple sewing machine is not able to do a job like that :(. I'll ask my neighbour to use hers.
Curious how it fits L? Come back later!

Those are mine

Since we haven't got beautiful name labels for our daughters, I'm used to mark their eurhythmy and gym shoes this way. Buttons are from HEMA (sparkling stones are just laying around in our house, don't know from where). Maybe a tip?

Another secret

Of course Sinterklaas visited school too. Yesterday all classmates of M received a felted pouch for their so called diatonic Choroi flute.
There's another Sinterklaas secret, this time for M (who I strictly keep away from my blog and I-phone these days): weeks ago I attended a parents evening where we were teached how to make a felted piece of fabric. This was a new experience for me and I enjoyed doing it a lot. We were asked to personally embellish and finish the pouch at home. Yes, I'll do, Sinterklaas said.

Less popular

Another toy (that my children unfortunately kind of leave on the bottom of the toy basket...) is this embellished glove. I think I better reintroduce it to my youngest.
To comfort me, do you maybe like it?

Old toy

Long time ago I made my eldest this ball. Especially the beams of the sun collected a lot of love!
Now I notice the ball is still choosen to play with. This afternoon I discovered a little hole in the felt and repaired it right away.

Comfort

We allways have been loving Birkenstock sandals, maybe because of the German blood in our family. Formerly in secondary school it was really not done to wear them, and I think it's amazing what is happening now. Women on super high heels and muscular men enter the specialised shop in Rotterdam and leave some later on Birkenstock sandals. I think the company has a genious formula and is able, just like Ikea, to design for everyone. Comfort obviously wins.
For M I bought these slippers and embellished them with a ribbon I ordered right here.

Me too

The leftover thread was laying on the kitchentable and suddenly was into my good old scarf. To make it more easy I quickly handsewed the ends together with a colormatching sewing thread. The crosses are less easy to make than you would expect. To get a neat result on both sides you have to take a look on either side of your work to control where the needle is coming out. The circular scarf can be wrapped two or three times, depending the cold outside.
Now M and I are a visible set too!

Set

My daughters both love sets. Underwear, but also this hat and scarf. M was so happy, especially with the yellow kisses! I hope she is not going to sleep with it...

This hat is really simple, so you don't need a pattern. To obtain the right size M only let me fit a few times. I prefer simple, classic patterns, but a site like Ravelry is a tip for those who don't know it yet. Go there to download thousands of amazing free patterns!

P2 k2, p2 k2, k2 p2, k2 p2

Great wool to warm my daughter, that's a lovely thought. Just finished this scarf. Made of this soft yarn, quickly done with needle 10 and finished with a colorful thread.
Autumn can do his job!

Little feet

When our little girl next door was born I wanted to give her something self-made. On several places on the internet I was triggered by these little booties and this link. When you go to Flickr you see hundreds of exemplars to inspire you. So it's a piece of cake! Nevertheless I tried to be original. If you look closely you'll notice I used in color changing DMC yarn.
The joke is that for this healthy baby the booties were made to small. So I made a second pair and the first pair is now belonging to Zusje, the doll of L.

More motherlove

Just after birth I loved to embroider these baby sheets for M and L.

More school supplies

L needed a simple little bag to keep her shoes for gym and eurithmics lessons. I love such an occassion to make her something. 
And I'm obviously not the only mother who sticks to the craft supplies of HEMA. In the schoolyard I see the applications and ribbons on t-shirts, trousers, bags, ...

With a kiss of mom

Although she didn't need one, I made a new bag for my daughter. It is mainly because I seriously fell in love with this bag while scrolling down the internet, after clicking the link in this blog. And that's why I (almost) didn't change a thing! Go here to see and enjoy the great tutorial of Mmmcrafts.

Addition 5.10.10: M is carrying the bag fulltime, so also in the house and at night it's hanging on her bed. So sweet.

New skates

My daughters got new skates. So we planned a few weeks later a skate birthday party for our nine-years-old. A tour around the peninsula we live on, with a contest, a treasure hunt, a trail on a small square and last but not least a visit to our local ice cream shop. For all their efforts everybody had to be honored. All medals for the ninth place finishers and only one for the first place.