By post

My mother is having her birthday today and is turning 75! We posted this for her and will visit her with the whole family next weekend. For now a small present filled with birthday goodies like pictures, drawings and letters.

My mother loves a modest way of living. Design should be simple, colors preferably natural. I hope this bag will suit her well. The leather is much more soft and supple than used in this tutorial.

Nice couple

Ok, I thought, let's make some more skirts of my favorite Petit Pan fabrics. This time with side pockets and neon waistbands. L complains that she can't choose...

They are meant for L, but yesterday both skirts were worn by M and L. I must say that M is getting too old for a skirt model like this. But in the sun I especially loved the bright color of the orange skirt. I would say it's autumn orange.
"Mama, don't show my bare belly on internet!" I tried, my dear L.

Anouk

Last Friday M's teacher invited international and national popstars on her birthday. M turned into her favorite singer Anouk and therefor she whipped up a proper t-shirt the day before, using sparkling leftovers from this craft.

Pour ma fille

Just great to work on, such a photo book! Already finished and written in french, I'm glad. Pour toi M, ma chère fille. Here are some of the pages to get a peek:

Baptism

Yes! She beamed when she saw it. That's why we do this, right? Noeks showed her new fabrics in her newsletter and at once this one was ordered. Funny that right now I notice the similarity with my blog banner :). The elastic was bought in Paris - again at La Droguerie - but is as well online available here. On Sunday outside plans were skipped because the weather wasn't like forecasted. So room to sew. Not finished in an hour, like my admired Belgian colleagues, but some more. I liked the seams to be invisible (you might see one in the left picture?) and the pattern had to be taken account of.

Minadotter helped. Look at her number of skirts! And all beauties in my opinion, especially these. My elastic waistband was 5 cm wide instead of 3 cm and I decided to finish the waist a bit different. The pattern of the fabric appeared to be useful as a ruler. Altogether a sewing project to be recommended!
And now over to the more serious part of this post.

indistinct view of the skirt

side view of the skirt

front view of the skirt

Dear L, you baptized it in a proper way!

Little gift

Of course M and I visited Petit Pan in Paris. Just love their fabrics. M choose this one. On the inside my favorite oilcloth.

For me, this is one of the most difficult sewing projects, so really, I do respect my Belgian blogger colleagues, for instance her and her. They finish over 10 pieces, when I hardly manage one! Like before, I used this tutorial.

I ironed the volume interfacing to the outer fabric, and that's what I have to skip next time, because unless the topstitching there's no relief left.
Never mind, I added all my love and closed the pouch. M is over the moon.

Appendix one week later: I had to laugh when I saw it laying around like this, without any air left inside.

Candy

I told you about La Droguerie in Paris. That's where I found these candy like beads. Yesterday I had to wait during M's violin rehearsal and there this simple necklace was born. During her performance later on, M gave me a little signal that she liked it. Btw, they made me cry with their first performance after summertime.

This silicone souvenir from Paris is made by an artist with a beautiful name: Tzuri Gueta. M and I found it just 30 minutes before we had to leave by train back to Rotterdam again. And certainly no regrets!

A great day

One day makes two blogposts! Kristel explains.

After our date we visited het Stedelijk Museum (mmm, I don't like this site and typography...), that gave us some great experiences and likewise pictures.

Ok, next time I promiss you a craft post again.

Homemade souvenir

M loved to buy souvenirs in the shops down the Sacre Coeur. But none of all possible 'I love Paris' t-shirts she liked. Some later we bumped into a great fabric shop where a friendly woman sold us quite some silk fabrics. This one was combined with a sample of a red transparent curtain. The skirt layers were wrinkled and attached to a shorter, silk waistband.

I'm glad how the length turned out.

As I don't have an overlock machine, the skirt was finished in a different way: I first rolled the silk edge through my fingers and finished it with a fine zigzag stitch. The red underskirt was already finished.
Tadaa! My first Paris buy result, today on M's hips to school.

M à Paris

It's so small! she said, stepping out of the ground at Trocadero. I laughed and would love my girl for four more days in Paris. The way she walked, the way she looked, the way she smiled, I loved it. She and Paris, a beautiful couple.

Two days by metro, two days by bike (Vélib' Paris). Heavy traffic cycling on the Place de Gaulle and the Place de la Bastille and au Marais, romantic cycling by night, making good memories!

 Naturellement doing it the Paris way!

 Spending many hours at La Droguerie, where M started to make bracelets right away!

Admiring all kinds of art.

Enjoying the view on Paris from all directions. We are still dreaming.
M, when shall we do London?