STYLO - her outfit

Today I’m sharing the details of the little girl’s outfit I sewed for STYLO.

When I started brainstorming about my contribution for STYLO, I thought it would be fun to sew outfits for my 4-year old boy and his girlfriend M.

They are such a cute pair, and they always have a lot of fun together. And they would make a photogenic combination, my tall dark boy next to this small blonde girl (would you tell that they only differ one month in age?)

STYLO!

Today the 4th issue of STYLO Magazine is released, and guess who is contributing?

Unbelievable right?

I was so surprised and honored when Jess and Celina emailed me to contribute to this issue and didn't need to think long before answering with a very big YESSSS. Especially after seeing the inspirational Pinterest board for this issue. Bright, bold, colorful, geometric, that was just right up my alley!

I was assigned to the 1 Fabric/5 Ways spread, which meant that I was sent a yard of surprise fabric, and had to create something inspired by it. So after the first excitement of being invited, some looong weeks of eager anticipation followed. My package was the last one to arrive, and I was really getting anxious that it had gotten lost in the mail. You can imagine my relief when it finally arrived.

The package contained a yard of Alison Glass' Handcrafted PLUS fabric. I must confess that it wasn't love at first sight, and I had a hard time coming up with a plan. Many hours of browsing Pinterest and the local fabric market followed. Finally, I found a nice combination of fabrics, and I could start sewing two outfits; one for my boy, and one for his girl friend.

As I was sewing the outfits, the fabric grew on me, even though I used it predominantly as a contrast fabric. My husband kept teasing me about how I was hiding it, but I really like it more as an accent fabric than as a main fabric.

The photoshoot took place early spring, on a very cold and grey day. The kids were troopers though, and had so much fun together. They are such a cute pair.

In the coming days, I will share more details of both outfits separately. Right now, I encourage you to go straight to STYLO Magazine and feast on all the great content that this issue has to offer.
Or visit Maartje at Huisje Boompje Boefjes, Holli at Hello Holli, Monica at Adirondack Inspired or Erin at Brooklyn Patterns to see what they made with this fabric.

KCW day 6+7: sweatpants

One of the great things of sewing is that you can create the clothes that perfectly fit your kids; their bodies as well as their personalities. These sweatpants, sewn during the final days of Kids Clothes Week, are the perfect example.

My kids love to wear 'soft pants'. But since they are tall and slim, their store-bought sweatpants are way too baggy. And even though I'm quite relaxed as it comes to their outfits, I don't allow them to wear these pants to school. But as I completely understand their desire for comfortable clothes, I promised to make them some soft pants that they could wear to school.

And I think I have found the perfect pattern. These are the Moto Maxx pants from Love Notions; slim-fit pants with (optional) slanted padded knee patches. It's an easy and quick sew, and the fit is really spot on. Most patterns tend to be very wide on my kids, but these are even a bit on the slim side for them... 

As a matter of fact, this was the second pair I sewed. The first pair ended up looking like scuba pants, due to my fabric choice (very thick) in combination with the slim fit. Having learned my lesson, I got some thinner fabric and narrowed the seam allowance. Furthermore, I added one cm to the rise and took 1 cm from the front. The result, perfectly fitting, school-worthy sweatpants.

I'm super happy with how they turned out, and so is my girl. She was standing by my side as I finished them and put them on straight away. I foresee that this is going to be the go-to pattern for quick and comfortable sweat pants.

By coincidence, she was wearing a perfectly matching tank top.

Kids Clothes Week: animals all over

Despite a busy week, I'm trying to participate in Kids Clothes Week. This daily hour of sewing is not only a fun challenge, but also a way to relax and unwind.

At least, if everything goes smoothly and as planned. Fortunately, this was largely the case for this little tee.

A while ago I scored this animal fabric at the local fabric market. It's a really nice, thick and high quality knit, and perfect for the theme of KCW (I couldn't find the brand, but found out that it's sold at www.babarum.be in various colorways)
I combined it with some coral/salmon pink for the collar and sleeve cuffs.

As mentioned before, I'm on a mission to introduce more pink in my sons' wardrobes, and I love it. Never having been a big fan of pink, I'm now discovering that there are so many different shades of pink, that can be used in all kinds of color combinations. It has opened a whole new range of opportunities.

Next up, some cool pants for my girl. Let's see how far we can get this week...

Wild things

Tomorrow, another Kids Clothes Week starts. This season's theme is a fun one: Wild Things. I'm always in for some animal inspiration, and already have a few projects in mind, so stay tuned. To warm up, I have been sewing some fun and simple eared hats for my kids. They love to dress up, and these hats boost their imaginative play.

It all started around Easter when my son's teacher asked for 30 bunny hats for all the kids in her class. Searching for a simple and quick pattern, I came across this free pattern from the Purl Bee. 

The original pattern was sized for babies and included lamb ears. so I enlarged the pattern and added bunny ears. After sewing a couple of bunny hats (fortunately, I didn't have to sew all 30 of them), I wanted to try out some other animals.
Enter the panther!

And the fox!

The pattern is really easy and versatile, and has a great fit. You could line the hat, as I did with the panther version, but if you use fleece, there is no need to line them or finish the edges. I think it looks really cute on my 2-year old, but it's also a great pattern to create dress up hats for older kids. In fact, the fox hat was made for a school play of my eldest. After figuring out the right shape and position of the fox ears, I could whip them up in half an hour.

Are you interested in the enlarged pattern and instructions for sewing on the different ears? Let me know, and I will do a tutorial soon!

Prism shorts

A while ago, I was trying out some freezer paper stenciling and ended up with this fun triangle print. My daughter found the stenciled fabric, loved it, and asked me to make her a pair of shorts with it.

Yes, ma'am, your wish is my command!

So I created yet another pair of side-panel shorts. I love this pattern; it is so versatile and lends itself for endless variations: use bold contrasting fabric for the side panels (as in these puffin shorts) or a more subtle combination (last year's pineapple shorts), add piping, do something different on each leg (I made a pair of stars and stripes shorts that I never blogged), or anything you can think of.

I used a self-drafted pattern, but you could easily modify an existing pattern: cut off a rectangle from the front and back panel and add these two rectangles together to form the side panel (see instructions below). The side panels of these shorts (size 5-7) were 12 cm wide.

Once you've cut out the panels, just sew the shorts together as you would normally do, just make two extra seams, and ad piping if you like.

Scandinavian style

It's week 2 of Project Run and Play. This week's assignment is to design an outfit inspired by your favorite vacation spot. Choosing my favorite spot (or area, actually) is easy. I love Scandinavia. The beautiful, rugged nature. The brightly colored houses, the soft light, the sing-songing language. And the design of course. 

Inspired by the color palette of Scandinavia, I made a color-blocked t-shirt for my daughter.  

The striped fabric is an upcycled shirt, the yellow is a nice high-quality knit (used in a very different color combination before), and the puffin fabric was a gift from Sinterklaas. It's a bit too busy to be used for large areas, but perfect for a fun pocket.

I hope this shirt will become a favorite this summer!

 By the way, the light balls are cotton balls, named Happy Lights. You can buy them in many different colors. They've brightened up our home all winter long.

pineapple shorts

Summer has finally arrived here in the Netherlands. Just in time for these pineapple shorts. 

These shorts are based on the Bubble Pocket Shorts pattern (which I've sewn twice before). This time, I lengthened the shorts and omitted the pockets, but I kept the piping, which I loved on these shorts. 

The pineapple print was made by freezer paper stenciling with discharge paste, as shown in my previous post.

The shorts are made from some peachy orange baby rib. The color is really hard to capture on photo, and it changes depending on the light, but it's really a nice summery color.