I’m joining The Nina Blouse Tour today.
There are some awesome seamstresses on this tour and each creation is so delicate and beautiful! We have Olga, the super talented designer behind Coffee + Thread, to thank for this great pattern.
Tag: cotton+steel
Sweet sweet Vienna!
Wait what? Back already? And I’ll even be back again very soon!
I’ve gotten myself in a bit of a deadline pickle, but I’ll do my very best to meet them all cause I’m not about to let anybody down!
I don’t know what it is but Belgians seem to have some kind of sewing superpower, must be something in the water over there. They also seem to have access to the prettiest fabrics available, the kind the rest of us can only dream of. So you can imagine my excitement when I was asked to join in on an Instagram tour featuring The Vienna pattern by two Belgian designers @beletoile and @kaatjenaaisels
The Mira Dress Blog Tour
Man, was I stoked when Heidi asked if I wanted to join in on The Mira dress blog tour! I had to read the email a few times to be sure I was understanding it correctly. To answer no was not an option in my mind so here I am sharing my lovely Mira dress. If you read or at least scroll to the end you’ll find a special coupon code to E & E Patterns
Warm jackets for the kids!
Winter is slowly but surely creeping up on us whether I like it or not,
and it doesn’t look like we will be getting a summer house somewhere in the
southern hemisphere this year (or any other year for that matter).
I guess I had a feeling this would be the case and I’m glad I bought some lovely
wool fabric at Mood Fabrics when I was in N.Y. with my besties celebrating
our big Four Zero this fall.
I used those beautiful fabrics to make jackets for my two youngest ones.
It was the loveliest day when we took our photos so be ready for picture overload in this post!
I was going to blog about the jackets in separate posts but there are some discount codes
going on that I didn’t want you to miss out on.
I’ll start with the young dude.
For him I used The Jude Jacket pattern from Shwin Designs.
I made him a size 7 since this jacket is quite fitted and I wanted to make sure he
could wear a thick sweater underneath and I didn’t want to make a jacket that would
only last for a short time.
I need to fix the three lowest buttons, I had to hurry up and finish before we
lost the lighting for our photoshoot. I usually don’t like to go back to my projects
after I finish them but this time I will because we absolutely love this jacket!
So for the rest of this post please ignore my sloppy button sewing.
The pattern comes with an optional chest pocket. I knew my boy would like pockets
to carry all the treasures he finds along the way so I made the pocket piece a little
bigger, I think about an inch, and added lining to make it a bit sturdier. And as you can see
placed them lower.
I bought some leather elbow patches at Stoff og Stil and used for the crest on the sleeve and
for some contrast on one the pockets. The buttons are from Stoff og Stil as well.
AAAATSJU!!
I fully lined his jacket. I used Heavy Metal by Whistler Studios from Windham fabrics
I bought from Glam Fabrics.
Oh and his hat is knitted by my mom!
This pattern is great and if you only sew it with the facings and not fully lined
it would be a very fast project.
You should definitely sign up for Shwin Designs newsletter NOW!
She has some amazing black Friday deals going on for subscribers this weak.
Lets check out the little Lady of the house now!
For her I made the Michelle Jacket also a Shwin Designs pattern.
I made hers in size 5 and it is a bit roomy but as with Viktors
that’s what I was going for.
I know the back pleat is going in the wrong direction, you can’t win them all!
I love the effect of the piping and those side pockets are so cute!
I used the same buttons as for Viktors jacket.
Anita was so happy finally getting some new mommy made clothes, it has been
a while since I made her something so it was long overdue.
Her jacket is fully lined as well. I used some cotton + steel fabrics bought
from Miss Matatabi for the lining.
Her dress is the Maggie Mae also from Shwin Designs, blogged about here.
She is also wearing a grandma made hat.
Check out the photobomber!
I’m so glad I finally tackled making jackets for the kids and even though it was a bit challenging
it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. The only thing is that it is a bit time consuming,
since each jacket is basically two jackets because of the lining.
But it was a fun challenge and well worth the time. I love that there are no
exposed seams.
Cutest kids ever – if I say so myself!
Now don’t forget to sign up the the Shwin Designs newsletter for the
discount codes. There is something special for girl patterns on Wednesday,
for boy patterns on Thursday and then storewide Friday through Monday.
The jacket patterns were given to me for my honest opinion and I love them!
Love
Dagbjört.
My first pattern testing!
You know how Denmark is famous for great designers? If you don’t ask your friend Google.
I mean in every aspect – furniture, toys, jewelry, fashion – they are just amazing!
So what do you do when you get asked to test a pattern by a Danish designer?
I’ll tell you! You jump up and down and squeal like a crazy person
and than you brag about it to everyone meet!
At least that’s what I did when Christina Albeck of Wardrobe by me asked
little old me to test her newest pattern which was just released this weekend.
It is a T-shirt and top pattern.
You can either make a fancy top or a casual light sweater.
Choose from a round scooped neckline or a v-neck, sleeveless or with sleeves,
finish the armhole and neckline with facings or with rib.
Curved og straight hemline.
So many options that result it totally different tops.
I made two versions. Here is my fancy top.
This one has the facings at the neckline and armholes and a curved hemline.
Very feminine and quite dressy.
It is recommended that you use a lightweight fabric with a good drape.
I used cotton + steel Mesa, which is cotton lawn. Bought from Miss Matatabi,
looks like she is all sold out of this one though.
I made this one in size 4 on top and then graded out to a 6 at the hips.
It fits really well. In the final version the neckline and the armhole are a bit more fitted.
Then there is my other one.
As you can see this one is very different.
This version came together very fast! It only took me a couple of hours from tracing
the pattern to the final seam.
If using knit she recommends going down a size so I made this one
completely in size 4 and I couldn’t be happier.
I used light weight knit I bought from Girl Charlee, I don’t know the name of it.
It was part of the August Knit Fix and I lost the card that came with it.
This floral fabric is a bit outside of my comfort zone and I wasn’t sure I would like it.
But it grew on me and now I love it, I’m sure combining it with the right pattern
makes all the difference.
That’s it folks!
Go check out Christina’s new pattern and all her other nice patterns
Thank you so much Christina for giving me the opportunity to test your pattern,
it was such a pleasure! And congratulations on the release of your newest pattern!
There is a 30% discount valid until October 17th, use code EASYTEE
Love
Dagbjört
The Garden Girl Collection: The Stella Tunic and Leggings
The last but certainly not the least in the Garden Girl Collection
from Shwin Designs is the Stella Tunic and leggings.
How cute is that?!
Business in front…
Party in the back!
Hahaha, but in a very cute way!!
I adore the high-low hem of the skirt and the pointy collar makes it oh so sophisticated.
This pattern is a little more advanced than the other two in the collection because
of all the buttonholes. I don’t mind doing buttonholes though, and my new sewing machine
does them automatically and they look really nice. I do however get stressed out a little bit
when sewing on so many buttons in a row, cause if the spacing is off you will have some
puckering and that does not look good right there in the center of your garment.
The buttons hit spot on this time, pheeew!
If you want you can continue adding buttons down the skirt piece as well,
but I wasn’t about to temp faith by adding two more!
You might notice that I put the buttonholes on the left side instead of the right?
Oh well, I guess you can’t win them all!
And besides my almost four year old couldn’t care less!
Other than placing the buttons this came together quite fast and easy.
The pattern pieces printed out perfectly and the instructions are very clear.
The bodice is fully lined so it looks very nice on the inside as well.
The pattern has options for sleeveless or cap sleeves. Although I’m
a sucker for cap sleeves I opted to go with sleeveless this time cause
I loved the slight racer back look on that version.
I made Anita a size 4 and it fits perfect, there is some room so she can wear
a thin long sleeved t-shirt underneath for cooler days.
Which lets face it will be most days in this part of the world!
There is also a pattern for the leggings. They are straight forward slim fitting leggings.
I should have sized down the width cause Anita is mostly skin and bones,
but I forgot and coming fall/winter we will have to layer with some
long johns anyway.
All I had on hand for the leggings was this light pink jersey so I added
the flowers to the knees to give them some more color.
The fabric is Playful, cotton lawn from Cotton + Steel by Melody Miller,
bought from Miss Matatabi. Looks like she is out of this print, but no worries she has
a great selection of cotton + steel fabrics and also really cool Japanese fabrics.
Her etsy shop is one of those dangerous places for sewing addicts!!
There really should pop up some kind of warning before entering!
And now for Anita’s signature:
She’s got the moves like Jagger
Anita gets so many complements and having made her outfits gives
me this nice fuzzy proud feeling inside. I’m so glad I took up sewing!
Thanks for stopping by and go check out Shwin Designs for some great patterns.
Shauna also has a whole bunch of free patterns on her blog.
Love
Dagbjört
Ps: I bought the Garden Girl Collection before joining the Shwin Designs ambassador program and all opinions are completely mine!
Shorts = Summer?
We are trying to stay optimistic that there will be summer here this year so I keep
sewing summer clothes for the kiddos.
Now it was Viktors turn, and he wanted shiny shorts!
Oh boy how am going to pull that off, I thought!
So together we looked through my fabrics and he found this great cotton + steel xoxo in green
I bought from Miss Matatabi.
So green and gold shorts I made.
The only thing was that I barely had half a meter of this fabric
and it was so close being enough for the shorts.
But you either have enough or you don’t!
We started digging through fabrics again and then I remembered another cotton+stell fabric
I had, Arrows in navy metallic, which I bought from The Laughing House. It is sold out there now.
Perfect match!
I used the Kid Shorts pattern by Made in size 6
This is a simple pattern with lot of options and possibilities to make them your own style.
I made them last summer as well, such a quick little project.
Ok, lets turn to his shirt. I was going to make him a tank to go with his shorts.
Like I said we still have hope that summer will come to us. I didn’t have any solid color knit
in my stash that could go with those busy shorts and in Norway stores are closed on Sundays.
I really wanted to take these photos yesterday though so I could post this today.
As he was trying on his new shorts I noticed that the undershirt he was wearing was actually
the perfect navy color so I decided to just spruce it up a bit with some gold fabric paint I had.
We love how it turned out, even though the shirt is old and worn and kind of stretched out.
I guess when you are as good looking as this young dude you make everything look good!
Love
Dagbjört
KCW: My Prepster Lion.
And now its time to show off my other Wild Thing!
Here is Viktor in his Prepster Pullover from Blank Slate Patterns.
I might be an overly positive person, but this is yet another great pattern I sew up.
I’m always a little nervous sewing collars to shirts, but this one came together
beautifully in first try!
I made it in size 6 and it fits just the way I wanted it to.
I’m pretty proud off how nicely I managed to line up the pocket!
Awww that cute face!
The fabric is Monarch Aqua from Cotton + Steel, I bought it from Miss Matatabi.
I hope you are ready for some picture overload of my handsome young guy!
The pants are old jeans from H&M which were too short and I just cut
off the legs and made them into shorts.
I zigzagged the edged so they wouldn’t fray too much.
That’s it folks!
Love
Dagbjört.
Heading towards spring!
We have been enjoying some lovely springdays in between the rainy ones so I could finally snap some photos outside. And o boy it is sooooo much easier than dealing with setting up the backdrop and trying to figure out the lighting, which I haven’t been successful
with this winter.
Hopefully it won’t be as far between my blogposts now that we are going towards
warmer weather.
My littlest man turned 5 in February and of course that called for a new button down shirt.
I used the Bookworm shirt pattern from Blank Slate Patterns. I made view A in size 5. The pattern is really good with great instructions as Blank Slate patterns tend to be
so the shirt came together quite easily.
I wanted a slim fit so I didn’t size up this time, but I think it is too short so I should have added to the length. He will just have to wear this shirt for every occasion we get before he outgrows it.
The fabric is Arrows from the Mustang collection from cotton + steel I ordered mine from
the laughing house fabric store. She has some great fabrics and great service.
Even Anita likes this fabric and wants a dress from it!
It’s not so easy to see but for the inside of the collar stand I used XOXO in green with gold also from cotton + steel.
His jeans are from Next so I wont be taking credit for them.
Love
Dagbjört
Conquering the fear of the invisible zipper!
I’ve had this pattern since last June, but never got up the nerve to sew it. First of, this dress has an invisible zipper, which I have been terrified of doing after a total failure on a pair of pants for Anita. Luckily she is such a flagpole that I was able to skip it and just do an elastic waist on those pants. Second, I have been waiting for the perfect combo of fabrics for this amazing dress.
And third, the invisible zipper thing.
At last the stars aligned, I had the perfect fabrics and decided I just had to conquer that fear!
The pattern is the Louisa Dress from Compagnie M.
I made the horizontal split back with piping and fully lined.
I guess my zipper could be a little more hidden but oh well, better luck next time!
I don’t have an invisible zipper foot for my sewing machine and since I used white piping
I kind of like the contrast it gives.
Anita is three and a half years old now, I sewed up a size 4 for her. It’s a bit roomy
but I like that she will be able to wear it for some time as it is just so darn cute!
As for the fabrics. The solid color one is interweave chambray in sorbet from imagine gnats.
It looks like she is out of that color, but there are some other great colors there,
it is so so soft and nice to work with.
If you are into sewing and follow a sewing blog or two you probably know that the butterfly
fabric is from cotton + steel the Moonlit collection called The Monarchy Bysantine.
I got it from the Miss Matatabi store on Etsy.
I have had the hardest time selecting which cotton + steel fabric to buy,
I just love them all, so if anybody would want to send me some bolts of them
I totally wouldn’t mind at all!!
Anita LOVES the great big pocket!
I am so glad I finally made this dress. It was somewhat challenging to sew but in a very good way. The instructions are really good and walk you through the entire process.
I will for sure make it again, maybe in one of the other versions,
when I stumble up on the perfect fabrics again.
Anita was sick during this photoshoot, so I had to rush through taking pictures of three dresses, the one in my previous post, this one and the one in my next post.
I see my lighting was off as in the very sharp shadows and my backdrop is all wrinkly. But we will just have to live with that for now and hope for better results next time.
Love
Dagbjört.
by dagbjort 