Being together

I must say, Lieve, Gaia, Kika, Jula, Sofia, M and L, you were great! You were playing, swimming, were dropped, were slumbering (a bit short), were swimming again, played again. I really loved to be on tour with you!

Shining M

Last week was dedicated to M, being 12 years old! So I had something (and a lot of other things) on my to-do-list: making this dress, my first jersey project, made from another Fragile sale fabric.

According to a Knippie pattern, but oh! this magazine makes simple things really difficult! You rather skip the guiding text and only use your common sense. The outcome: things were changed the way I preferred them to be. Because I wanted the pattern to be continuous I added the waistband on the inside of the body and let the ribbon run through a button hole in the front. If you might think I made a fake zipper, you're wrong.

M always has been a child that suits everything. And she used to be happy with every dress or whatever I sew for her. Yes, mom, I would love to have balloons and yes, mom, I would love to have a birthday dress. She cherishes traditions, that is.
This dress tastes to more coming-soon jersey clothes. Let's see!

Je ziet het aan de bomen

We celebrated St. Jan in school. What used to be a sunny feast, turned out to be cold, wet and cloudy. Fortunately we made some pictures on Sunday evening, when the girls made their own wreaths. And M and L didn't mind the rain; they just danced and sung!

Slumbering

M isn't quite a fan of slumber parties. She normally simply quits these events because she knows what next day will bring for her: not bode well.
Some time ago we started to brainstorm about her birthday party, that will be in two weeks. M totally surprised me by suggesting a slumber party! Ok, I said, and the next moment her idea turned out into a slumber party completely our way: we'll leave the city and pitch our (great!) tent next to a natural swimming pool in the Biesbosch, a lovely nature reserve south of Rotterdam. Six girls will cozily fit in the large tent, while F, L and I will pitch our small trekking tent a little bit further away.

Last weekend I was making the initial plan for the invitations. Of course I had in mind that M had to do the job, but sometimes things are just coming out of one's hands in the evening... Btw till too late, so next day didn't bode well for me!

M agreed with the design, as she did doing an InDesign course with me to make it herself. She finished the paperwork and is delivering them right now!

Made with M

M started to make this bag for her friend Sofia and then I took over to finish it, because she had to go to sleep. Sewing precisely is quite a job for her, and I think details like the strap made by her turned out perfectly. For me a new experience with a decorative stitch of my Bernina (how I love that machine!). A press fastener of Prym was used again, but this time fastened invisible on the inside of the flap. I only have to find new D-rings instead of these rectangle ones.

This afternoon Sofia's great birthday party took place high up into the trees. Getting feedback afterwards that she loved the present is oh so rewarding, don't you think?

Like me

Facebook, not my cup of tea, I tend to say. But... look at the sidebar: time has come to change (Google reader is retiring) and to join the social media. Clickerdeclick and feel free to follow and like me wherever you want!

After work

Sometimes I just grab my sewing machine as soon as I'm home from work. These working days were not the best, so I needed to empty my head.

The lucky one who is getting a present this time is birthday girl Grietje, a beautiful romantic little girl in L's class. The bag is made of a fine and soft Liberty fabric and finished with a golden bias binding.

Like papa

F loves bikes, recumbents, carts, etcetera. And because he is not able to discard all kinds of 'lovely' parts like wheels, gears, pipes, and so on, our basement is a place where I don't like to be, but F so much the more.
Yesterday M spent the day in the footsteps of her father. Together with her best friend she made a sulky. (Now I know at least, what a sulky is :)) For many years they run along our streets and the park together with their stick horses. Both horse lovers can't stop doing so. I like them being outside this often, barely taking time for a break to eat or drink. The sulky was made by the two of them. In the end F helped a bit fastening the wheels. And there they run!
Btw, did you mention this post of Vervlogen dagen? I so hope L will once like a party like that.

Do the clutch - end

This third clutch was made for my sweet niece Sietske.

The clutches were made in the same order as shown to you. The pattern was just drawn by myself and was changed after clutch number one to get a slightly larger one. I loved to pick the fabrics with M, having the receiver of the present in mind.

After three clutches I wasn't bored at all! It's great to play with the patterns and to try to make the pattern continuously. The yellow pattern of this fabric was familiar to me, being one of the patterns in this book.

Let's finish these clutch series with some tips:

1. These Prym press fasteners are easy to cover. Cut a small circle of your fabric, baste along the edge, pull the thread to cover the upper part of the fastener.
2. It's better to reinforce the fabric on the inside for the lower fastener part. As the upper part is going through the flap with the volume interfacing, it is not necessary to reinforce here. 
3. When you make the wrist strap according to this tutorial and you're about to keep the swivel clip from sliding around, I recommend to stitch across the strap near the swivel clip exactly on the seam (that you made by connecting the two ends of the strap). Doing this will make the seam invisible. Something for purists, I know.
   

Wanna swap?

These fabrics of my stock, 50x110 cm of canvas cotton Pop and Popstar of Kokka, are apparently not my favorite. I thought that maybe one of you is into a fabric swap? Please let me know!

Do the clutch again

Today it's Christina's turn, who got 7 years old last Monday. Don't make it too flowery nor too pink, that's not like Christina, L assumed me.

We added some elastics and a hair band inside.

Do the clutch

Last weekend three clutches were made, two for two birthday girls of 14, one for a birthday girl of 7. Where were would we be for such presents without Sofie? The only little changes I made: the slightly bigger press fastener was covered by fabric. I'm not sure about Sofie, but for this clutch I used volume interfacing, that was attached to the lining.


Today it's Jula's turn. Now I know she liked it. As did M, who gave it to her.

Approved

The day before yesterday we went to the Plaswijckpark in the north of Rotterdam. Strange weather because, yes, L needed her new coat on her bike, but during the day it was on and off again. In the afternoon L was playing in her underwear because of the heat (she loves to feel the air upon her skin!), but some later she was very cold again.

We were glad her coat was finished in time!

Summer collection

Last week I just had to sew. My hands didn't take it anymore. Totally in the mood. A new coat for L was about to be born.
After a satisfying winter coat I decided to do the same trick again using this pattern (page 6) with a self-invented lining. This time no long search for the right fabric, but just a glance in my fabric stock, that was quite recently refilled with new fabrics from the Stoffenspektakel and from the Fragile fabric sale.

A bit more about Fragile. As I have some favorite dresses of Fragile I was keen on their fabric sale. So on a Wednesday afternoon I took half a day off to jump on the train to Antwerp, listened for almost an hour to a live band performing on the great station, went to buy Fragile fabrics and visited the city center afterwards, all alone and happy. Catch of the day were quite of lot of knit fabrics and this viscose.

But let's go back to the coat. At first I planned an ocher colored coat, but all of a sudden this plan changed and a Fragile fabric was used. It has a bit stretch, but appeared quite easy to sew.

Funny to combine a non-crease fabric on the outside and a crease one on the inside: for the lining I used a rose linen fabric, which I love because of the visible weaving. The peeping details were made in a Petit Pan leftover of this dress.

The back of the coat got a box pleat. The coat has a zipper to keep the wind out for my cycling daughter. To get an extra accent the front was finished with covered buttons and loops made of a bright cotton fabric.
Today was the first day of the coat into use. We discovered that the sleeves are a bit too long - so allow L to grow - and that the pockets could have been placed a bit higher. Wondering how it is on L? Come back later!

Sewing daughters

Sofia of Erika stayed overnight last week. As always Sofia took along her typical Mikodesign doll. The day after M and Sofia were both so eager to sew the I love Paris doll set I had still laying around. Without any help because I was in the office. They solved sewing machine problems together and learned each other how to sew. This is so great! In the meantime doll clothes were made as well.

Good timing because this doll will accompany M to Paris in less than two weeks! Erika spent hours with me to well prepare our Paris visit. Thanks, Erika!

Sweetheart

L has a sweet little boy in her class. Quiet, lovable, quite often the one and only boy present at girls' birthday parties. How to describe him more? He is knitting, loves knitting, knits all the time! While L is just starting her second knitted handicraft in school, he's finishing his third or forth one!
So when asking L for an appropriate present for his birthday she said at once: knitting needles! Maybe like all other girls who were invited... Never mind, because L added this unique (;)) self made present as well. Taking this pouch, but just extended it, thinking of this well-known Dutch horse. I used fusible interfacing on both outer as inner fabric, but still the long pouch could have been a bit more stable. Maybe I'll use another interfacing next time. But I do like the zipper result.

What more to tell about this small sewing project? The circle pattern of the fabric, which I really love, turned out to be continuous on the top; just a coincidence!

Just a tip

Sorry, but because we are having quite a cultural weekend, this post is about some Dutch tips and will be in Dutch.
Vanochtend gingen we naar de film, naar Het Mannetje van de Maan en ik kan het niet laten hierover te bloggen: zo'n aanrader! Dus pak de kinderen bij de hand en ga!
Gisteren ging ik met L naar Gaultier in de Kunsthal, ook een aanrader. L keek naar de gezichten, ik naar de jurken. Genoten!

Looking medieval

Not much to do here lately! Not very flattering after the last posts, I agree. A flu and general lack of creativity are part of my life these weeks.
But this weekend my sewing machine worked overtime. Line work took place. After Easter M is going a few days on a medieval school camp. We decided to make tunics for all kids and their supervisors. The result is not very spectacular to show you, but at least now you know again what's going on around here. M and her friend did a lot of zigzag stitching. Another mother will finish the sides. Finally the kids will add a felt weapon on the front. And then, off they go! The first time on a camp for M!

Let's babble

After Keiki there was more fun this week. I was surprised receiving an email in my inbox: I was congratulated by Babble because I made it to their Top 50 Mom Craft Blogs of 2013. They told me that I had to shout about it! Ok, here is my shout, but I'm afraid without Facebook, Twitter and so on, this will be my only tiny shout...

Makes me more eager to try Facebook once, when I'm grown up ;). And Babble editors, thanks for appreciating my tiny blog, your words are warm! I'm happy to show you that the reversible leather sample bag isn't complex at all.

In Danish

Fun! The stick horse DIY in the online magazine Keiki.dk (p 84-85).