Koumpounphobia

Hello there,

Whilst perusing one of my favourite magazines, Molly Makes, my eyes fell on the word koumpounphobia. Well isn't that an interesting word?!

It actually means 'fear of buttons' which probably isn't very nice at all, but the word itself could well be Word of the Day, or because it is so special, go straight to Word of the Week!

Read this Huffington post article to know more about its seriousness.

On the topic of words, there is a wonderful children's book called La grande fabrique de mots by Agnes de Lestrade, with the most beautiful illustrations by Valeria Docampo. Well worth investigating!

On that note I will leave you,
enjoy today!
TTYS XOXO

Why I shouldn't be near an iron

Hello there,

Yes, it is official, I should not be near an iron! Ironing seems to bring out the worst in me and it makes me ruin things.

Monday, inspired by the nasty weather, I thought I'd start on a warm hooded cardigan with a piece of woollen fleece I bought recently. It was an industry off cut with curious red writing on it (I love that kind of thing!) and I thought it would be good to use it to see whether the Maren hoodie pattern by Farbenmix would also work as an adult pattern.

The good news is that is does work. I used the second largest size, and not the largest, because I found the pattern to be quite generous in size. What you cannot see in the photo above is that I shouldn't have ironed the bottom. Thinking it would be safe to use steam on a wool setting, I happily went ahead and pressed the bottom seam with, to put it mildly, not the desired result. I should have known, because I did something similar before. So why didn't I think? The acrylic in the ribbing can not take the heat.

The bottom hem is now all wobbly. So sad. I have a glimmer of hope (ever the optimist) that the ribbing might turn back to its former springy self once I wash it again, but that is just the merest glimmer really.

Have a nice and cozy day,
TTYS,

Wide awake

Hi There,

My humblest apologies for my absence here. I wasn't sitting in the sun eating grapes, honestly! Just busy tying about one thousand little knots together. But now I am no longer doing that, so my life should soon start to resemble that haven of tranquility that is my regular life again. Humour me, ok? I like to hang on to that image because it makes me feel just slightly calmer.

I can't even remember where I was, it is that long ago, tssssh. Better first get my bearings before I start rambling. Let me leave you with an image of serenity for you to meditate on.

Enjoy the snooze!
XO

Tunic

Hello and goooood morning!

Do you remember this tunic and how it was soo big? This fact sat in the back of my brain, and when I needed (ha-ha-haw!) another tunic I tried one for myself in a size 158/164, and it did fit!

The material is a very sheer greyish green fabric. The only adornments are a few mother of pearl buttons, velvet ribbon around the arms and a bit of last minute in-front-of-the-telly beading. Of the latter, may I recommend that you do not try this yourself, as I already saw a couple of loose sequins after only 2 washes.

The pattern, as mentioned, is the Sammy pattern by Farbenmix. 

The fact that this tunic pattern is usable for adults has made me think I might use other patterns too. What about a nice pair of trackie bottoms à la Maren? The pattern goes up to a size 176, so maybe interesting for even more people?

Have a fun day today!

XOXO

Skirty Scarf

Hello there,

Two years ago, while in Hamburg, I visited a shop called Gudrun Sjöden by a Swedish designer called, yes, you guessed it, Gudrun Sjöden. Although many of the clothes are not of a cut that suits me, I did really like the ethnicy feel of the place. Their clothes are well made, made with respect for those producing them, the environment and those who will wear them later.

So when I saw another shop in the Seven Dials area, we jumped straight in! If you, like me, like to hear some Swedish, go and visit because all personnel speaks Swedish. It sounds so funny and delightfully foreign (no disrespect intended)!

On the sale rail there was a cotton skirt in a gorgeous pink colour that was calling out to me: "buy me, buy me". It was only £15 so, overlooking the fact that it was in a size that would never fit me, I took it off the rail and tried to calm it down a bit, poor thing! Because of the large amount of fabric in the skirt, I started thinking of alternative uses for the material and decided it would make a lovely scarf indeed. Not that I needed another scarf, but I found that I just did not want to let go of the fabric. So that is what I did.

Firstly I cut off the waistband. Because I discovered the pattern did not join at the seam, I also cut both side seams and rejoined one on the pattern. Then I put in a very small roll hem on both the top and the bottom edges which would be the sides of the scarf. At the beginning and end I turned the fabric in about 1 inch or 3 cm, making a nice wide seam. And hey, presto...a very comfy and big scarf for just £15!

As you can see, the scarf isn't scrunched up anymore because of all the ironing I did on the seams. I need to rewash it and scrunch-dry it again.

Have a good day, and remember you are loved!

Renegade Craft Fair, London

 Hiya!

We were very chuffed to be able to visit the second annual Renegade Craft Fair at the Old Truman Brewery last week and we were not disappointed!

Here are a few impressions to illustrate the vibe. The whole area was light and airy, and the spaces were nice and big and the people extremely nice and inspiring.

What about this on your plate? James Ward's sandwich defender.

Lots of interesting graphic work.

This lovely ladygirl is Debby Greenaway. Her work is of the most light hearted and irrisistable kind. Her little teeth, rain clouds and fish are such a joy to look at, it is difficult not to want it all.

Another wonderful artist is Mary Kilvert. Her work is very clean and neat and lots of fun too. She makes the most adorable prints. And look at the schweeeet sheep she made with the Olympics in mind. 

Her caption reads: My new sheep British Betty will be supporting team GB for the Olympics. Her specialty is gymnastics which she began learning soon after she started jumping as a little lamb. She likes cream teas but she dislikes relay races and is now available on my online shop. If only we had known BB was competing we would have watched more of the Olympics!

As you can see from the photos, we were there early, so no crowds, just a bunch of very relaxed and happy people. My idea of heaven.

Enjoy your day to the fullest today!
love,

Patternless skirt

Hello you!

Recently I have seen all sorts of adorable bubble and puffa skirts and thought they would be perfect for our little skirt loving monsta'.

I fell in love with this sweet teal ruffle cardigan; perfect for coming autumn. And I had this Liberty-esque-fabric that I bought many years ago. These two things combined became our first autumn 2012 bubble-skirt-and-versatile-matching-cardigan-set!

Strange fact is that the colours are - again - blues and greens, and subdued colours at that. Sooo very unlike me. But anyway, ...

I'll explain how the skirt is made, super easy!

You measure up the waistline of your model and double the width, plus an inch or so, for side seams. You decide on the desired length of the skirt and add 10 cm or about 3 inches.

If you have lining fabric you want to use, cut one piece of lining fabric and one piece of outer fabric. If you have a different lining fabric than your outer fabric, skip the next steps and simply attach a waistband in the same fabric as your outer one.

Make a side seam to form a tube in both pieces of fabric.

Now put the lining into the outer fabric (wrong sides together) and make the lining stick out 3 inches or 9 cm at the top. Check you are even everywhere and tack together.

Fold over the inside fabric to form a waistband. It can be as wide as you like it; mine was 4 centimetres. Tack and stitch. Leave open 2 inches for the elastic. Stitch all the way around the top at 3 mm from the side. This ruffles slightly and gives a nicer waistband, at least, I think so.

Fold in the outer fabric and make another tunnel. Check you are even everywhere and tack together before stitching. Leave open 2 inches for the elastic.

For the waistline I used quite stiff elastic. For the bottom seam I used this very loose webbing elastic, nice and comfortable. It ensures your child can actually move whilst wearing your creation!


To customise the cardigan, I made a little yo-yo and added half a snap on the inside. This way I can take the yo yo off before washing and make different ones to go with different outfits. (yes, there is another skirt coming up!) The other half of the snap is on the cardigan, backed by a little circle of  felt in the same colour as the cardigan.

To be fair, this skirt has pockets, so is slightly more complicated, if such a term can even be used when making a simple skirt like this. Just cut the outer fabric in two and one of those pieces in two again (you will need a slightly wider bit of fabric to do this of course. I'd say 2 or 3 inches or 6 to 8 cm extra). Make a faux fly and nice deep pockets for all those special pebbles, sea shells and other treasures.

Please let me know how you are getting on, or better still, share your results!

Oh, and before I go, do you know this song? Good for days like today!

Talk to you soon,
love,

Sporty dress

Hi there,

How are you today? Sun is up and it looks like it will be another gorgeous day here, yay! Life is so much nicer with a little bit of sun, isn't it?

When our eldest decided she wanted to try playing tennis last week, we were not whooping straight away. I don't know, but it just doesn't seem very exciting to me. Hitting a ball, hmmm, backwards and forwards. What is the fuss all about? But when I saw her and her friends enjoying themselves on the court, it did grow on me a bit. A bit, mind you.

The fun part of it is, is that I got to make a new and sporty outfit!

The pattern for the vest I made for her earlier this summer was adapted into a little dress by adding a bit of extra width on the side seams (about a centimetre or so on each side),  lowering the hem to make the total length about 55 cm and tapering out the sides to make an A-line. I hope this is a clear description, in case you want to give it a try. It is all very simple if you have the pattern in front of you, honestly. Super simple and effective.

And then a print was all that was needed to add a little fun to the otherwise quite sober design. Presto!

When she tried it on she was very chuffed, which is of course, the best reward ever.

TTYL,
XO

New colours

Hello There!

I was like a child in a candy shop when the new colours came in, wow, exiting stuff! Those lovely fluo colours that I have been coveting, and what about the girlie pink that was painfully missing in the shop?

The hardest part is to get the colours to appear sort of ok-ish on the screen. Well, I can tell you, I have failed miserably in that respect. So please treat the colours on your screen as just a general idea of what the colours may be in real life. I.e. 'Red' will not be a green tint (clue: it is red), baby pink won't be yellow. I'm afraid we are in that kind of league. I wish I could make them more realistic and more appealing, but somehow they will not co-operate. Well, what can you do??

I also really wanted to share with you the latest designs that were added to the shop. Aren't they ultra cute? I hope you have a good day today and TTYS!

Joining

Hah! I got you there, didn't I? You must have thought I'd fallen off the side of the Earth or had undergone a similar fate by now, didn't you?

But nothing so dramatic I'm afraid. Just getting carried away with the whole holiday-laze-around-virus. Veeeery dangerously contagious too!

In my defence, I was doing stuff but nothing very worthwhile of a mention here. Better mention the 'lots of eating ice creams' and similar low intensity activity with the family. To make myself feel a bit purposeful and as if I had a plan, we did a dab of shopping once or twice ('twas the sales after all) but that was mostly it. I really, really enjoyed these summery weeks.

But now we are almost back to normal life. The girls have started school again, enjoy seeing their friends and getting back into a routine. So, if all goes well, I should be getting back into my routine as well!

Just a glimpse of what I did do over the holidays

I have started joining my grannies! Riveting stuff like you wouldn't believe! Sorting the various colours is such a lovely thing to do. Little piles of colourful grannies were everywhere on the dining room table for 3 days.

The lovely Lucy provided me with a way of joining them I didn't know before. If you are interested, she has a very clear tutorial with lots of photographs and extremely clear instructions (so people like me can understand them). There are many other tutorials in her list for you to enjoy too.

HTTYS (Hopefully Talk To You Soon)
XO

Little house on the prairie - kinda

Hi there,

If you have ever wanted to experience a what I would call a 'Pippi Longstocking-moment', we have found the perfect place for it!

This wooden caravan is actually a little B&B. Isn't it adorable?! I have tried to capture the inside and hopefully you'll get a feeling of how cute it really is. It has a little kitchenette, with a cooker, kettle, coffee maker, a shower, a toilet and 2 bunk beds. The couch in the living area folds down as a double bed.

Because everything is quite petite, I think you'd better not be too tall or have claustrophobic tendencies. That said, if the weather is ok, there is plenty of space outside for you to enjoy.

Situated in a very pretty coastal village where lots of artists have found their home, this was our home away from home for one night only. But it got us thinking that we should go back one day and experience this deluxe-camping for a bit longer.

Enjoy today & TTYS

Craft marktet Hoorn, The Netherlands

Hello and good morning,

Another beautiful day is upon us and before we set out to enjoy my day outside (this corresponds loosely to waiting for the first load of washing to be ready ;-))  I thought I would give you the lowdown on the craft market we visited recently.

My oh my, what an experience! I have never before visited such an extensive craft market. There were things of interest for everyone and if the weather had been better I could have easily spent all day there, just watching people being enthusiastic about their wares.

A few rays of sunshine on this stunning display!

In all there were more than 120 stalls, many with craft materials. I saw lots of hats, necklaces, clothing, felt, books, crochet and knitting materials. So many inspiring people, happily braving the pelting rain in order to show everyone their beautifully crafted projects. 

This is a skein of duo-tone angora wool I bought for an autumn project. The photo isn't at all clear, but the wool is a kind of purpely brown mix. After a little on line research, I think it was spray dyed. This blog gives a clear description of the way it is done. The vendor explained how the wool from her own angora goats is collected, then sent away to be spun and then hand-dyed by her. How cool is that? 

The yarn is super fine and by knitting it on size 5 needles the effect becomes nice and lacy. One skein will make a good wrap or scarf. Oh, and, did you know that angora wool apparently does not shrink if you wash it? Good news for someone that succeeds in shrinking favourite woolens every time!

This was another one of the many lures of the market. Look at it: boxes and boxes of yummy colour! All there screaming "pick me, pick ME". It is 100% merino wool. 

Refusing would have been very impolite, don't you think? This is what ended up in my shopping basket:

Just little bits of it, see, I kept it very reasonable! The general idea would be to do some felting with it at some point. I have tried felting with normal wool before, but it just doesn't work well so that is why I thought I could indulge in this colour fiesta.

And speaking of felting, I have to show you this amazing site. I just love the work by Gillian Harris! Did you notice there are still a couple of spots on her September felting courses? Wouldn't that be a dream? Aaahhhh....

Have a lovely day today!
XOXO

Racer back dress

Hello you!

Have you been enjoying yourself today? We had a good day here at the studio and I even managed to get a few shots of the dress I have been working on lately.

The idea for the dress germinated when I was reading a crafty book written by the very clever Norwegian Tone Finnanger, called Tilda's Atelier. If you have never heard of this lady or laid your eyes on one of her books or craft materials, I would recommend you do so asap because there will be lots of loveliness to be discovered!

Anyway, in the book she uses a circus theme that sat in my head for a couple of days, wanting to become something. Then, when I saw a pattern by the wonderful Crafterhours ladies, I knew what it was going to be: a little racer back dress with a circus elephant on it.

The pattern is free (A big Thank You, Ladies!) and can be printed straight from the link above. I hope you can see the print in the first photo. I apologise for the quality of the photo because my model got stroppy and this was the best I could get at the time.

I traced the elephant head straight from the book and ironed on 2 layers of non-woven interfacing to give it some stability and make sure the flowers from the circle behind it didn't shine through the light pink fabric. To be on the safe side I also put some fray-check around the edges before sewing it onto the background. I let a little pompom sit on the tip of the elephants trunk.

The collar is made by sewing two layers of dotted fringing together and attaching them at the base of the neck. I made the little flower necklace by attaching some small lace flowers on top. The Circus Elephantini lettering around the circle is in neon pink to make it a bit more visible. Oh, and I added two tiny green bells under the collar too. Just a little surprise and great when jumping!

TTYS,
XO

Possibly ideal home

Hello there,

We have just arrived back from a few days of inspiration, and boy, did I enjoy it!

Let me start by showing you the most gorgeous little house.

Isn't it incredible?! I wonder who lives here. The garden is wonderful, even in the boring old rain my heart just skipped a beat seeing it. It was about 8 o'clock in the evening and as I mentioned above, it was raining.

Can you imagine what it would look like on a sunny day?

Well, better get stuck into sorting my photo's and hopefully I can show you some more gorgeousness soon.

Have a nice evening,
XO

Colour blocking

Hi again,

Do you remember the shirt with the unwanted snip at the hem in this post? It sat here looking very unhappy so I had to do something to make it feel better. After looking closely, I decided to open up the sides and take them in to 'move' the snip more to the seam and at the same time making the shirt smaller to fit my girl. I put in sleeves of a different fabric.  Then I covered the remainder of the snip with a little band aid in the shape of my favourite 4 leaf clover. Ahh there, much better!

To turn this shirt into an outfit I also made a short skirt and leggings. I used an old jeans skirt pattern (the Sara skirt from Ottobre 4/2008) because I have been wanting to try it out for ages (uhmm, for about 4 years I guess).

Don't pay any attention to the creases, it has been worn all day, it was nice(r) this morning, honestly!

The skirt pattern wasn't completely to my liking. Much too long and quite straight in the waist. I ended up taking in the sides a bit and putting in some elastic at the back. The end result is very, very plain to my liking, but I seem to be going through a phase of green and blues. I am more of a maximalist pink and red girl. Need to work on that, seriously!

XOXO

Good news

Hello there!

We are having a good start of the summer holidays, lots and lots of fun and activities (some of them quite wet), lots of relaxing, book reading and drawing.

Our good news for today is that both girls have grown! They will never be giants (phew..) but I really hope they won't be tiny either.

It didn't seem very important to me before, as I used to always be the smallest in my year and ended up feeling fine at 5.45 ft or 1.64 metres. Lots of women are around that height.
Since I met a fourteen year old that was 4.65 ft or 1.42 metres however, it dawned on me that that really is rather short, this side of the world. Ever since every inch is considered good news.


I still wanted to show you the wings I was working on, remember? Yesterday at the end of the day, the weather finally cleared and provided us with an opportunity for a quick photoshoot.

For the top I used a very old pattern that I adapted (Ottobre 2005, Singlet no 19). It is a boy cut, so originally very straight at the sides. I also deepened the racer back and front neckline a bit more. As much as I lurve the wings, I don't think they sit well on this top. I would have done better to make them smaller and  place them higher up the back. But there you go, another insight gained. If you fancy a pair, they are in the shop as of now.

XOXO