Like that one please

When a schoolfriend of M saw this bag in school, she asked me to make one for her. It turned out to be a cosy sewing afternoon. First we met in the shop, where she chose the leather fabric pieces. Then our sewing date was there. She wanted me to sew, but after a little while she took the lead and did all the rest by herself.

Happy to make you happy, Diever!

For a lointering teen

This summer M got 15! My boyfriend and I decided that a little couch on her bedroom would be fun for a teen like her. The couch measures 150 x 70 cm.

In the office I'm working with a (for me) new software program and the drawing of this couch is a very first result. The couch is simply made of birch plywood panels, that are joining in miter angles.

The wooden base was made by my boyfriend, who screwed the panels in advance. These screws we later removed and replaced by massive wooden rods.

The cushions are custom made, but the covers are made by me. The making appeared more difficult than I had in mind. I used Kvadrat samples for the sides, the rest is made of a warm grey wool fabric with a felted look. Some samples appeared too thick for the corners, but because of timepressure I couldn't change the composition anymore. Better corners are something to improve next time.
The covers have long zippers, so they can be cleaned once in a while. Tip is to make two zippers in line, in order to get the zipper ends in the middle of the cushion and invisible from the sides.

We didn't make it to finish the couch in time. Last week I finally had time to lacquer it with a super mat paint called Skylt. The result is that you can't believe it's painted. It has a very natural look, that M very much preferred.
On the first picture you see the couch installed in her room, where she is able to use a soft pillow in the corner. Welcome to the teen lointerer!

For Klaar

Birthday twin girl next door invited L for her slumber party. As her room was just renovated, she asked for a little pillow to decorate. L picked fabrics from my stock and I sewed. Not to forget some butterflies. Note that this pillow is only 30 x 40 cm.






Klaar could use it right away in the night. And I was happy to learn from such a tiny project: did you mention that there are no visible seams at the side ;)?

Covering

Sometimes it can take up to one year to post a post. These covers, made of Petit Pan oilcloth, I made for M's schoolbooks and like new they will be used next year again, as well as the years after.
This simple tutorial is handy to use. I give you some extra tips:

• add some scotch tape at the bottom of your sewer foot when you work with oilcloth
• you will use tape instead of pins, but remove the tape just before sewing
• add 4 cm for top and bottom instead of 2,5 cm.

Hope to inspire you in this covering time of the year!

Daughter's turn

Last May holiday, my eldest daughter M and I spent some quality time together when the two of us had the house for ourselves. M was very, no extremely determined to make a bag. Just a second schoolbag, not at all necessary, but really necessary to be made right away. It became a cosy three-days mother-daughter project, with the daughter in the lead and mom just following.
The blue denim was found in mom's fabric stock, as well as a sturdy mustard yellow denim-like fabric for the lining. She knew exactly which kind and which color leather to chose. The horse girl had a saddle in mind.

The lining and the waterproof extra layer that she wanted to be added were easily made, but the leather details were not. What a joy to have a motivated co-worker along. Motivation does it all! Whenever things had to be done over and over again, no problem for her! She did it with patience, till the late night hours. For me it was one of the hardest projects ever, but it was great to do it together! And with together I mean, that I did the roadmapping and the leather cutting, and M did the rest.

By now I can tell you that she is using this bag every day. Schoolmates couldn't believe that it was self-made. M prepared an answer to this: by topstitching her name on the shoulder strap she convinces all disbelievers.
Besides, which girl has a whole bunch of braided wristbands made of exactly the same leather as her bag?

Bd girl in a bd dress

Let's continue with the birthday posts of our youngest. As always I wanted to make her a dress. Searching at the local fabric store, the www and even at our local museum with a temporary fashion exhibition and great fabric sale. With no result. So in the end my very own fabric stock was newly explored - what an idea ;) - and with success! These two grey and green all time beauties of Nani Iro I found, but were sadly both to small... So I decided to combine them.


Easier said than done, I took me a lifetime puzzling. But again: with success! Happy to have that upper little bird on the right place on her breast.
Nearly no fabric was left. As a gift, this dress forced me to teach myself how to join patterned fabric.

The pattern 'Sweet' of Remi&Cosette for teens was used, without collar and with added elastic waistband.

Baby for baby

Our youngest L goes to the 'Vrije School' (like the Waldorf schools). The last three years she had only one teacher. Next week she will have to get used to her new teacher for the following 3 years. Often some problems occur with changes in L's system, so I'm extra awaken.

Her former teacher left her class with a little baby inside her. I made this little baby gift. Look for more great doudou's at the blog of our doudou queen. She made like 30 pieces. This one is my very first :). But a piece of cake, so do follow me!

Neeltje

My friend K. give me this totally great piece of fabric for present, just out of the blue. Her talented youngest daughter Neeltje gets all credits for the mermaid drawings. And K. gave us all on her blog this lovely idea. Hard to resist to try!




Two pouches, one for L's friend Grietje, who's having her birthday and inviting all her friends to the zoo. And because L loved it, one for herself. A surprise when she comes home from school. With content that is.

Magpie

Rasmus is like a little magpie that loves to find and collect small antiquities. Yes, he's special and having his birthday party tomorrow. L is invited and she will bring this naturel leather pouch, not for his pens but for his finds.


The leather is bought last Saturday among a lot more beautiful pieces. Thanks Kristel, for the great day! And say congrats to me, making something out of it this soon ;).

Like a goose and giveaway

Almost a month ago L turned 9. Our house is perfect suitable for a Ganzenbord (or the Game of Goose or Goose board) birthday party, we thought. We have so many stairs and surprising nooks and crannies. The idea is that all around the house are numbers, from basement till the upper room. We made 63 yellow envelopes, some of which are yellow bags. L helped a lot and loved to write the numbers. Inside the envelopes the kids found an instruction to do or make or guess or play or collect something. Apart from the instruction they found some supplies as well inside the bags, like a tapeline or some goodies. For this birthday party L had to invite eight friends, to be able to make three groups of three kids. With one dice for each group off they went to be occupied for many hours. The kids loved it, it was a big hit! And of course especially our basement filled with clutter was the most popular place to be.

For the Dutch readers among you: nu liggen de tasjes en enveloppen hier en, omdat de voorbereidingen best veel werk kostten, vroeg ik me opeens af of ik misschien iemand met dit feestje blij kan maken. Laat maar even weten in de reacties. Bij meerdere reacties zal ik iemand trekken.

As in my mind

Some weeks ago I was attending a dentist visit with my youngest, and while waiting I was flipping through a magazine. When my eyes fell on the picture above, I knew all of a sudden how L's birthday dress would be. And this idea was there to stay; the egg hàd to come out soon after.

At first I was thinking about the fabric. It had to be cotton and stepped or at least have some embossment. As our fabric shop only sells polyester lining fabrics, I considered to buy and use this coverlet of Ikea. Finally I decided to make the stepped cotton fabric myself, and was able to choose color, thread and topstitch.
A relatively thin fiberfill layer was added between lining and outer fabric. I first cut the pattern pieces, as used before and found in this book, and then topstitched horizontal in the color of the fabric and on 60° with yellow thread.

The circular skirt I turned inside out to avoid a seam at the bottom of the skirt. After finishing the body piece, I measured it's bottom line to be sure about the size of the circle I had to cut out of the skirt. How to make the cap sleeves I found as well on Griet's blog.

For the accent edging I chose yellow and a salmon pink in the color of L's cheeks. As you can see I wanted to avoid a shoulder seam in the yellow part of the edge.

About the topstitching a final note: my head wasn't able to finish this laborious job. I decided to decrease the number of yellow lines of the skirt. And I was happy about that: the handmade look of the fabric is more obvious now and I like the change of embossment, something you might not see at once, but only when you look closely. This kind of perception on different scales is my cup of tea.