The Antalya Dress by Kid Approved.

Okay, I'll admit it.....when I suggested we went strawberry picking for Mother's Day it was (also) because I could really see this dress go well amongst all the strawberry plants. 

Yeah, I know, yikes the woman has gone mad!

But I promise we had lots of fun and the photos were just bonus and W aaaaalmost didn't notice that I took them, ahem.

The dress I'm talking about is this stunning Antalya Dress. A pattern by my good friend Olga from Kid Approved. You HAVE to check out these two versions that she made HERE. GAH, beautiful!!

I already knew that the pattern was good (yeah, I'm psychic like that) so I went straight to my absolutely favorite piece of fabric that I have just looked at with heart emoji eyes for years and NOW was the time to actually cut into it.

So the thing is that Antalya is actually made for woven and the dotted fabric is this thin lightweight knit (printed insanely off grain, grrrrr)

BUT....it totally worked out, phew.

For the sleeves I used this very lovely and lightweight black voile from Organic Cotton Plus. It is quite see-through so I decided to cut my side/sleeve pieces double and that worked out great.

Since I made most of my bodice in knit fabric I decided to skip all the beautiful back opening options that the pattern has and simply sew a knit rib in the neck opening. Even that worked too - I feel like this dress and I are on quite good terms at this point, ha. Thanks for cooperating!

I love the lines of this dress. It's calling for some serious color blocking....am I right or am I right!?

One last change I did was adding a bit to the length. I'm not sure it was necessary though since the knit already stretched a bit. I made a size 7 for my 7 year old. But now it will definitely be long enough to use in the fall too with tights and a cardigan. 

I don't have a lot to say about the pattern because it is GOOD...very good! You are in good hands when buying and sewing this pattern.

Get your own Antalya Dress Pattern HERE.

Thank you!!

Stylo 4 - Sun Kissed

Finally!

I have been counting down to this day. 

Today is the release of the amazing and inspirational online sewing for kids magazine STYLO. It is the 4th release and I could not be any prouder so say that I am amongst the group of AH-mazing ladies that has been invited to make a spread this time. That was a question I did not hesitate for a second to say yes to when I was asked by the two wonderful editor-in-chiefs Celina and Jessica.

I made my girls two outfits each and these two dresses above are what I consider my showpieces. Understood in the way that these dresses are more meant as inspiration than as actually everyday kids clothes. Especially the dress for my big girl is more 'show' than 'let's go and play at the park' reality. That is why doing STYLO is so fun because it has room for it all.

They are both made from The Sunki Dress by Figgy's Patterns.

The one above is from the original pattern but with pieced curved side pieces.

The incredible flower printed fabric (which was my initial inspiration for this whole spread) is by Anna Maria Horner from the collection Honor Roll. This print is called Overachiever and comes in 3 color ways and I absolutely LOVE this one. Just plain yum. I bought mine HERE.

And as soon as I decided to use this fabric I knew I also wanted to make a non-printed dress for my other daughter but in the same color ways. And the first thing that popped up in my head was to use Cotton Couture from Michael Miller Fabrics.

It comes in a plethora of amazing colors and I had a very hard time choosing - which is a good problem to have in that situation!

And here is my heavily remixed Sunki Dress. My inspiration started at this beautiful Pinterest STYLO inspiration board made by Celina that was presented to us when we got invited. There was a dress with a big circle that caught my attention and The Sunki Dress was the logical pattern to use as a starting point. Especially since I have always loved that dress but at that point had never made it. 

So I extended the half circle side pieces to full circles. Removed the sleeves and used the rounded shoulder overlaps to create separate oval shoulder pieces. And then I added those lower side pieces to add some more volume in the lower part. The hem is'wavy' and high-low. I made a big circle 'keyhole' opening in the back which I closed with an oversized bow made of pink and beige striped grosgrain ribbon.

The dress is solely made from Cotton Couture by Michael Miller.

The finished dresses gave some heavy 60s and 70s vibes and the hat and glasses were no-brainer-accessories for the photo shoot.

In my other two outfits I wanted to create a contrast to the two dresses and go big on the wearability but still cool of course, ha. And still in the same colors.

I really want this outfit for myself - although I wouldn't look quite as cute.

The top is a pattern U from the Japanese sewing book Happy Homemade, vol. 5.

The fabric is pure deliciousness. Cotton & Steel Indigo double gauze bought at Michael Levine Fabrics.

And the shorts....THE SHORTS..... those I really want for myself. They are the brand-new-releasing-any-day-now Morocco Pants (and shorts) by Petit a Petit Patterns. They are shock full of lovely details such as back welt pockets, side pockets, belt loops, zip fly and the ultra cool color block option you can see above. I choose to make part of my front in the same fabric as the back. But you can also make the side stripe stand out which will create a tuxedo pants effect - I knoooow, so good!

If you scroll down to wednesday on Celina's Sewing for Kindergarten post you can see her version. I love them SO much!

They are not a fast project BUT they are something even better - they are a truly satisfying project and you might learn a new trick or two.

All three fabrics used for these shorts are from Michael Levine Fabrics. Burgundy denim, baby pink stretch denim and stripy denim.

For my youngest daughter I made my own remixed sweatshirt version of The Mulberry Tunic from Kid Approved Patterns. HERE is a link to the post about this remix.

The lovely and on the heavy side of medium weight stripy cotton sweatshirt fleece is from Girl Charlee. The black and cream is since sold out but HERE is a link to the same fabric in heather grey and black stripe.

The skirt is a slightly remixed version of pattern N from the Japanese sewing book Girl Clothing by Akiko Mano.

I added the separate back ruffle after seeing THIS dress.

The fabric is more Cotton and Steel double gauze goodness from Michael Levine.

Cream double gauze from Imagine Gnats Shop just for the back ruffle.

And here you see my two happy bunnies posing and turning towards the camera but I think you can see on W's smile that something was up....

....and the whispering started.

I honestly have no idea what happened but oh boy these photos makes me so happy. 

I was stressed out of my mind during the photo shoot to get the photos right and at the same time try to take advantage of the sinking sun. But I'm glad that they at least had some fun, haha.

Oh, you can see the back welt pockets here. Woohoo.

*********

I want to give a big thanks to the fabric shops below for generously sponsoring part of the fabric for this spread. 

THANK YOU!!

New customers get 10% off their first order.

Get 10% off your entire purchase when using the code 'STYLO4'

And thank you Figgy's Patterns for The Sunki Dress pattern, Kid Approved Patterns for the Mulberry Tunic pattern and Petit a Petit Patterns for the Morocco Pants pattern.

Now PLEASE go check out the full magazine HERE. The other editors have shared sneak peeks of their work and I PROMISE you that you do not want to miss it. They are all SO very talented and I am very honored to be part of this High Fructose issue.

Thank you!!

Rowan Tee with gatherings plus Seraphic Pants.

My love affair with my new CoverPro from Janome continues and my favorite knit patterns are getting extra attention from me these days.

This is The Rowan Tee (slightly altered) from Titchy Threads and The Seraphic Pants from Figgy's Patterns (also slightly altered).

I recently bought this 100% rayon knit from Fabric.com and it was quite light weight. Which means excellent drape but also not super suitable for a slim style t-shirt since they are usually a bit see-through if it gets too close to the body. So I took my Rowan Tee pattern because I love it and I know that the fit is right AND then I added some center front gatherings. 

That is simply done by moving the pattern piece out from the fold line on the fabric before cutting. I moved it 10 cm / 4" away. Which meant that I added a total of 20 cm / 8" extra fabric to the front piece. I added two rows of long gathering/basting stitches to the neckline and gathered a 30 cm / 12" center front piece back to 10 cm (5 cm on each side of center front (CF)) so the neckline stays the same size as the original pattern.

I'm sorry if I'm making it sound complicated. It really isn't, promise!

Then I overlocked my neck rib on and used my cover stitch to sew a single stretchy chain stitch to hold down the seam.

Stitching the seam down afterwards it not at all necessary but it helps the overall look of the garment after wash. I'm sure you have noticed how your seams looses that lovely pressed looked it had when you just finished sewing it after the first wash. And sure you can press/iron it again but seriously to me life it too short for ironing t-shirts (and most other things too, ahem) on a general basis.

I kept the back and short sleeves as it is from the original pattern but I overlocked it together with 0.7 cm SA instead of using the pattern's 1 cm / 3/8" which overall gave a tiny bit looser look.

I'm super happy with the result and I can't believe how much different this tiny change with the gatherings made.

HERE is a link to a post where I made the original pattern by the book for comparison.

The Seraphic pants is a new favorite. I have already blogged about the original version HERE and in that post I talked about putting elastic at the bottom hems for my next pair and oh, how I love that. I also made them more cropped and I think it gives such a funky yet ultra relaxed look. I seriously wish I could rock pants like that, ugh.

The fabric is the same type in navy blue and royal blue. Both are Laguna cotton jersey from Robert Kaufman bought at Imagine Gnats Shop. I seriously LOVE this knit. Firm and medium weight and yet soft and stretchy at the same time. LOVE!

The waistband rib is this heather sky blue rib from Girl Charlee. The rib is quite loose and very stretchy and I have an elastic inside the waistband too.

If I didn't already love my cover stitch machine I really started doing it after making these elastic hems.

I basted the elastic on the very bottom of the pant hem, folded the elastic up including fabric and then cover stitched from the right side of the fabric through the elastic (which is as wide as the top of the cover stitch that you can see above) while stretching out the elastic to fit the fabric. It worked sooooo well and no annoying twisting elastics in casings anymore, seriously yay!

It's funny because the machine can at times have problems sewing over many layers of fabric (e.g. at a seam like where the navy and royal blue meet above) but when it sews through a thick elastic there has been NO problems. I guess it is in it's element there.

That's all from me for now.

Thank you!

The Celestial Tee + Mini Hudson Pants.

This outfit is a few weeks old and has already gotten lots of wearing time.

It was made that weekend where I sort of pretended I had a deadline and sewed almost for an entire weekend while hubby hung out with the kids. Glorious!

(Feel free to borrow the idea, ha)

The t-shirt is the Celestial Tee from Figgy's Patterns and the pants are a below-knee length version of the Mini Hudson Pants from True Bias.

All the fabrics are from Girl Charlee. The orange and pink is this amazing thin stretchy  French Terry and the heathered blue is a rib.

It's my first time sewing the Celestial Tee and it worked like a charm. It's a super simple pattern with a front and back piece, three pleats at the front neckline, a neck rib and a high-low hem. That's it and the result is a super wearable t-shirt with a few details that makes it a bit more interesting than the average t-shirt. Many more to come for sure! 

I want to lengthen it too to a cool t-shirt dress.

This outfit was part of my fun with my new Janome coverstitch and you can see all three types of stitches that the machine can do in this photo above.

The neckband has the triple decorative stitch.

The sleeves and bottom is hemmed with a traditional two stitch coverstitch. And the rib on the pockets is stitched with the 1 thread chain stitch.

All three types are stretchable stitches.

Thank you!