Last year Flaflinko launched a great idea: How about having a month-long celebration of Belgian Designers? She called her initiative "StikBelgique", which means Belgian Stitching. This year we are having another go at this theme. We are showing you just how much talent in pattern and fabric design a tiny country like ours can hold: it's massive!
We got a cool theme for the September edition Let's sti(c)k together: "Zak eens lekker door".
I'm very sorry but that's hard to translate as it has a lot of word play in it. We could go in a lot of different directions with this: Bags, Pockets, Repairs, Party Outfit. It all fits the theme.
The winning team in the girl PJ department over here has changed last May.
It went from "girly nightgown" to "girly top and pants".
I used the Nore - top (Compagnie M) with the cute high-low hem and the Wolf (Zonen 09) pants. Both pattern designers are Belgian. The Nore top/dress is also available in English. My daughter loved the first attempt with this pattern combination. I thought it was a bit large and wanted to size down. The little lady did not agree: she ordered the exact same size, because it's so very very comfy. Her heels won't get cold for a while ;-)
The fabric is the result of my participation in rafflecopter give-aways. I know quite a lot of people don't trust the system. Entering your e-mail or facebook name? What about safety? And do they even give actual prizes? I go by the principle: if you entered your e-mail anywhere, your data is out there. So might as well try and get something in return. I think this is prize number 5 or 6 in a few years. I love give aways!
I participated in a Zonen09 workshop last Sunday.
Zonen09 is a Belgian designer for boys and men.
They have workshops for us sewing enthusiasts. We are able to sew and relax without the interruptions of "life". You register, pick a pattern and start preparing. You are expected to show up with sewing gear and cut pieces at the Zonen09 headquarters in Gent and Sharon and Isabel make it an awesome day.
I have seen them hopping over my screen so many times: pretty little Nivalis dresses.
There are so many variations in this pattern: with or without colorblocking, with or without a collar, even a hood is included! I just had to try at least on of them.
I bought the pattern from Sofilantjes a long time ago. It got back on top of the to sew list when the ladies version launched last year. I haven't tried that one yet, but who knows. This may be the year I dare to make a dress for myself!
My last sew of 2017 was a 100% belgian product:
both the pattern and the fabric are "homegrown".
I used an amazing pattern from a belgian sewing book: "Stof-Voor-Durf-Het-Zelvers 3".
That roughly translates into "fabric/ideas for dare it yourselfers". Griet's first and second book were my guides for the first dress I ever made for my daughter. I made her first communion dress by following her guidelines too. She's awesome!
The pattern for this sweater is pure genius.
Your average sweater pattern has 4 pattern pieces: front, back and 2 sleeves (we're not counting the ribbing). This one is made of 3 pieces. And with those 3 "exotic" pieces, you get a sweater WITH a front pocket. You can see a bit of the magic on picture of the back.
The picture next to it shows my son's favorite feature: a "tunnel" pocket. You can shake hands in it or squeeze both arms through and get a rather weird pose.
The side seams don't go straight down either in this unusual sweater. They come from the back to the front and magically make the pocket too.
The fabric is from "All Animals Are Equal", a collection by the Belgian company Chat Chocolat. They make very soft french terry. As a Game of Thrones lover, I fell in love with the crows right away. I showed the release pictures to my son and it only took him half a second to decide it: OK!
I used a tutorial by Riet (Leven met Liv), the creative mind behind Mind The Whale to add thumbholes to the sleeves.
She's also Belgian, so that makes this a triple belgian sew!
Marjolein (Flaflinko) organized a Belgian campaign for a her 5th sewing anniversary: "Stik Belgique". That roughly translates to "Belgian Sewing". She had us making projects with Belgian patterns and fabrics all month.
I joined the sewing spree and made 6 projects (so far). The great part: 5 of these patterns were a first for me. Way to go on the GUTA-challenge!
I hardly found time to blog them all in Dutch and I did not get around to translating them at all.
I'm giving you guys the short version in a quick photo overview:
(if you want to see more pictures, you can check out the Dutch version of my blog:
Eloïse is a free pattern from a Belgian blogger who also co-authored her first book this month. She's a rising star in the Belgian sewing world. The pattern and instructions are written in Dutch, but I'm sure you can figure it out with the photos and Google translate.
This dress was meant as a test/nightgown for me because the pattern goes up to 8Y, but my daughter is 9 and does not quite match the measurements anymore. The fabric I used is gorgeous, but it hates needles. The tiny white spots make this dress a permanent nightgown in my mind. My daughter disagrees and consistently refuses to change into her day-clothes on Sundays. She requested more of this pattern in the future! I think I can compensate for a little while longer with lengthening and widening as she grows.
I registered for a workshop to tackle this pattern. The pattern comes in a small or large version, with a lot of options. It's in Dutch, but that should not be a problem considering the very detailed photo-instructions.
It took a lot of time at home after the workshop to get it completely ready. I'm not too familiar with bag making at this level. There were moments in the making process were I just wanted to cry and stop, because my hands were hurting and the seams did not come out the way I wanted them to look. I soldiered through and I'm so glad I did. I love how it turned out in the end! My son picked the fabric and the options. He used it at his very first schooltrip with an overnight stay. Both he and the bag came back whole ;-)
project #3: PJ's: a mashup of patterns by Zonen09.
Sharon of Zonen09 has a gorgeous PJ-pattern called Wolf (2-9Y). It has an amazing range of options, including a detachable superhero cape/blanket, piping details and a jumpsuit version. It's only available in Dutch at the moment, but Sharon has started translating some of her more recent patterns into English and French. You can allready get the gorgeous Lars (coat) and Theo (formal shirt) in English, so it may just be a matter of time before Wolf and Billie get English versions too ;-)
Unfortunately, my son outgrew the Wolf-pattern 2 years ago. I attacked my last version of the pattern with scissors and tape and came up with a 'Frankensteined' 11Y version of the pants. I was about to start Frankensteining the shirt when I remembered the Billie T-shirt pattern does come in larger sizes (even adults). That was a easy sew, as this has been my go to raglan T-shirt pattern for years.
The result: a boy ready to go on his school trip in brand new polar bear PJ's.
Project #4: Monkey puppets from "Feest in het Knutselbos"
I'm a big fan of the "Knutselbos"-books. There are 2 of them, only available printed in Dutch, so not exactly accessible for foreign readers. It is a great resources for everything related to stuffed animals and dolls though. I have made several stuffies with these books and added 2 monkey puppets to the collection. The books even feature a banana pattern for the monkeys to hold.
Here's a clip where my daughter is playing with them. She had me make these as party favors for her two friends at her birthday sleepover. I think she misses the monkeys already.
I won my copy of this pattern a few weeks after the launch at Miss Matatabi's. It has been sitting on my hard drive ever since (I know that's awful). I have bought suitable fabric last year and still it did not get made. I loved the examples in the launch blog tour and I'm very happy to have made my own now.
I used a gorgeous blue fabric with gold metallic touches by Timeless Treasures: Tonal Fern (Royal Blue) from the Suffolk collection by Chong-A Hwang. It is VERY forgiving for not matching the print. There are 7 seams in the bodice, so I did not try to match. But they really don't show! Even the topstitching doesn't show unless you look very close. The thread color matches the dress a bit too well ;-)
I just had to adapt the pattern instructions a bit to try my very first exposed zipper. I used this great tutorial by SewGuide for the adaptation. I also succeeded in adding a zipper tab all by myself. The zipper is not installed perfectly, but I'm still very very proud of this dress. It' ll fit even better next year! The fit of this pattern is actually tighter but I was stubborn and went for 1 size above the sizing chart suggestion. My babygirl has finally started to grow the last few months and I did not want this to be a one time dress!
The amazing Eva Maria has published a sewing book for teenagers. We NEED more of those, right?
Her patterns are called after cities. The (Dutch) book is titled "Urban Style". The sweater I made from it is a simple raglan model. The link with Oslo? Every combination of fabrics makes this sweater look totally different. You can go for bold sleeves, extra piping details, a harmonious blend ... Oslo is a city with lots of different views too. I should really go and have a look for myself ;-)
