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Fairytale forest dress
Autumn has come here in Finland. I made a playdress for S using a “Riine” dress pattern from the book Mekkotehdas by Etula and Valkeapää-Ikola. The dress has a nice square neckline. I completely forgot to make a slit to the back but luckily enough the neckline is big enough to fit over S’s head even without. The fabric is gorgeous quilting weight Michael Miller cotton called “Fantasy forest”. I also added some piping to the dress over the gathered skirt. I am quite proud of the piping because this was the first time I used it. I also had to make my own piping to get the right color. I…
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A Little Pink Squirrel a.k.a. Passenger Trench Coat
S has grown so that the old beloved H&M trench coat was way too small. However, sometimes a young lady needs a pretty coat and the days are getting chillier, so I took up a challenge to sew a trench coat using the Passenger Trench Coat pattern from Ottobre Design 1/2013. I had bought a lovely dusty pink microfiber fabric already at spring and cut out the pattern pieces. After that I chickened out. The number of pieces and especially the scary pockets made me store the pieces to the shelves to wait some extra courage. Finally last week, after watching a marathon of The Great British Sewing Bee, I started…
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Hello! It’s me at last and my new Norah dress
I haven’t yet shown my face in my blog, but here I am at last to show my new Norah dress. We took the pictures yesterday after exiting from the cinema where we went to see a new Finnish action comedy called Big Game. The tunic works best with some leggings. I have also worn it with a tee-shirt under it or with a cardigan and the outfit looks nice in both ways. The weather was finally warm and sunny, as you can see, but I still carried a button-up shirt just in case. The pattern is Norah dress from a wonderful book Sy! Urban Collection by Jenny Hellström. I originally…
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Looking for gingerbread house… or red clovers
I fell in love in the “Old Fashioned Beauty” dress in Ottobre 3/2013. S’s closet is bursting with dresses, but there’s always room for this pretty little thing. I found the cotton in Kangastukku and initially was not impressed with it. However, after sewing the dress I really like the outcome. There is actually some vintage ribbon to make tribute to the name of the pattern. I have an acquaintance whose hobby is to find owners to the old stuff found in cupboards of people that don’t need them (usually because they have recently passed-away). She knows that I do a lot of sewing and now passes me bundles of little treasures…
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Warmer weather clothes
The warm weather has been waited for a long time here in Finland. Being optimistic, I made a pair of shorts for S already several weeks ago. (Edit: Pattern Burda 5/2012) When we took the pictures, it was +13 degrees Celsius. S did not seem to mind, especially when she spotted chives growing in our flowerbed. Afterwards she has been adding chives to several different foods in (cough!) generous amounts! I have also been sewing for myself lately. However, taking pics alone is a bit tricky. Hopefully I will get around asking help from my husband to take the photos so that I will be able to post those, too.
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Twirly polkadots
I bought some lightweight polyester polkadot fabric already year or two ago and found it really hard to find any pattern for it. I had almost forgotten the fabric in my cupboard, but when I saw this pillowcase dress on Burda (07/2014) I knew I already had fabric for it. I did not want to make lining for the dress – read: did not have any suitable lining fabric in my stash, so instead of lining the dress, I finished the armholes with some white satin bias tape. Since the polkadot fabric is not see-through in any way, the lining was not really needed. A white satin ribbon finished the…
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Hippie flowers and ninja moves
The warm weather has disappeared completely so tunic and long pants are a necessity and gave me an opportunity to try combining two gorgeous patterns. I made the tunic using Sophie tunic pattern by Sis Boom. I used the fabric with the smaller pattern as a basic fabric and added the other fabric to the cuffs and collar. There was a lot of left-over fabric, so I decided to make a pair of pants using “Peruspöksyt” pattern from a book “Juju – Erilainen lastenvaatekirja” by Mari Savio & Kati Rapia. The 110 cm pattern ended up being way too big, so I added side seams and took away 2 inches from…
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Sweet dreams in sweet nightgown
I think that there is something special in the old-fashioned long nightgowns. After seeing a picture of Olabelhe’s Hannah I knew that S must have it. Crisp white cotton with subtle pattern was perfect for the nightgown. Sleeveless gown suits well for the warm summer nights. The end result reminds me of little Clara’s nightgown in the Nutcracker ballet.
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Sunny skirts
Sunny weather requires twirly skirts! I made this sunny yellow skirt for S to wear with the polkadot pinafore. I did not use any pattern, just folded two layers of cotton on a waistband and added an elastic band to fit S. The next skirt I made to use up left-over fabric from other projects. I used pattern from Ottobre 1/2013 called “No U Turn” as a basis. The smallest size of 122 cm was of course quite big but a tighter elastic band fixed it. I also added some lace to add some extra girliness. The hat in the picture, however, was a bit sad story. I really love…
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Arrrr… pirate birthday
I have never before arranged a themed birthday party in my life. However, my pirate-loving son is turning eight soon and we decided to organize a pirate-themed costume party. I decided to be ambitious and sew a pirate captain costume for my son. I made a pirate coat and turn-up cuffs using some cheap faux-leather. I combined them with a sash made of unbleached sheet cotton and some old leather belts I found in a flea market. I made a Jack Sparrow type of scarf using red sheet cotton and some beads and some coins a got from a cheap H&M coin-necklace. Hat was originally an old felt hat that…
