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.
For the July challenge of Let's Stitch Together, Marjolein at Flaflinko gave us an easy theme to work with: Summer Holiday!
My daughter needed some breezy dresses for our trip to Switzerland. I did not need to think very long about the pattern to use: a simple Nivalis it would be! I made this dress by Sofilantjes in a longsleeved fall version before, but I had not tried the summer version with cap sleeves.
We had a plan!
The plan even came with fabric from the stash. I bought a panel for a summer dress a few months ago. But then my daughter joined me on a fabric run and we saw some UV-reactive fabric which totally blew her mind. So I just had to make the first Nivalis in this UV - reactive fabric!
I admit: it is COOL.
When we are inside the house it's just plain white fabric with black line drawings. But when you go outside those drawings are magically colored.
And it has unicorns.
And rainbows.
I rest my case.
Unfortunately I did not have the yardage chart on me when I bought the fabric. I came up a bit short to get the whole width of the A-line. So I folded the A-line curve inward until it fit. Still breezy, but a little less volume than the original Nivalis.
She wanted to wear the dress for her last day of school. We made a few shots while testing the magic was necessary. After the school test, the dress went to the suitcase and we made more shots in Switzerland.
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 ;-)
I made a large number of bags and purses this summer. That was caused by Marjolein's Challenge. The August edition of Let's Stitch Together featured 2 themes: "Packed & Ready" or "Back to School". I didn't really make a choice ;-)
2 Dutch sewing books (Zo Geknipt 1 & 2) provided my patterns.
I used 3 patterns for the first time. Way to go on the GUTA-challenge!
I usually don't get a lot of time to sew in June.
This year I just had to make time for a great project:
I accepted the "Let's Sti(c)k Together" challenge from Marjolein at Flaflinko.
The wordplay is pretty obvious in Dutch. It's the equivalent of "Let's Stitch Together" in English.
No need to thank me for the earworm.
Bryan Ferry took care of that part before I was born.
