Quilted Knit Top with Yoke.

When you are planning on making a post mainly with photos it would really be an advantage if the photos were good, right!! Well, not today - sorry!!!

This top has put me through 3 photo shoots and I made one mistake after another BUT I learned some things along the way! Unfortunately for you I will only show that in my next post, ha.

So today you are getting some overexposed crap and I'm sorry about that but I just couldn't handle a 4th photo shoot.

Oh, and thank you Celina for helping me avoid utter disaster and doing your editing magic.

The worst part is that I looooove this top and I have been looking forward to show it to you. So here it is folks!!

It is actually made with the same self-drafted pattern that I used for THIS post. But with short sleeve of course.

What a difference this fabric makes compared to the green think and drapey fabric I made the other top from.

Both these lovely fabrics are from Miss Matatabi on Etsy.

The navy quilted knit is so cool and suitable for so many projects - it is both soft and sturdy at the same time.

I wasn't able to find the amazing floral cotton fabric again in her web shop - I think I bought it on sale so it might be gone - but it has texture a bit like gauze but thicker. I love it so SO much. And I can reveal that it is playing a big role in my next post - uhh, teaser!

Cotton shirt from H&M and slim utility pants from J.Crew.

Here is one of the few photos from one of the earlier photos shoots that was not blurred (it took some time to figure out how to handle focus AND taking photos with a remote with my new lens, ha) BUT with this shot I realized that ironing my shirt would be a good idea. Siiiiigh!

Thank you for your patience!

School Clothes Inspiration - Knit Dress

Today I got another school clothes inspiration post for you as a warm up for Sewing for Kindergarten that starts next week.

This little lady has one last year of preschool before Kindergarten waits next year.

Looking Back....Way Back! When We Were Young.

It is the second last day of the year and many takes the time to look a little bit back at the year that have passed. So I thought it would make sort of sense to bring home a post that looks 32 years back.

Earlier this year was I invited to Suz from Sewpony's series When We Were Young and today I am bringing home the post. The concept is simple. Find a photo of yourself as a child and recreate it for one of your children.

The result of the post turned out to be way more emotional than I expected. 

First you have to see when I was young, right!

I don't think I have to explain that I am to the left and Evelyn is to the right, ha. 

The photo is 32 years old (yes OF COURSE it is taken before I was born, ahem). Okay, so I am skyping with my Mom in Denmark and she shows me a few photos she has found for this post, looks at the back of this one and says: "oh, it is from your 4 year old birthday." And since Evelyn is turning 4 years old in January it could simply not be better timing. 

But before we start talking about the outfit, let's get the basics in place.

Suz also sent me some questions.

Where were you born?

I am born in Denmark. On a small island with 45.000 people called Bornholm.

When you look at a map you would actually think it belongs to Sweden, and people there have this funny dialect that is a mix of Danish and Swedish. The island is a bit of a Danish vacation 'paradise' and we have tons of German and Swedish tourists in the summer.

Who did you grow up with?

I grew up with my Mom, Dad and my little sister Karen. We are five years apart so we were pretty much adults before we got a good relationship. But now it is as good as it can get. Love you Sis!

Did you have any childhood ambitions?

I had tons. I LOVED going to school and I honestly thought I was going to study for years and years and years. It did not really matter what is was but I remember doctor was definitely in the running. And when I was a little older I would do something for the environment. 

But then I started on the university (studying the intro to economics, politics and sociology) and I absolutely hated it. I felt super stupid (I do not come from a university family) so I stopped and started sewing...and I have never looked back. Best decision of my life!

Do you see any similarities between yourself and your children?

Hmmmm, yes. My oldest got my personality and my youngest got my looks.

 My oldest is scared of a lot of things - well used to, I am starting to see some changes - but she is certainly not a daredevil. She is also a girl who very easily gets friends and I have always been like that too.

My youngest IS a bit of a daredevil but she is also totally stubborn and, ahem, I do know who she got that from (sorry!).

What did you like doing when you were little?

I loved reading books and playing with Barbies (mostly dressing them in outfit after outfit).

I also remember being outside quite a lot and playing with the neighborhood friends.

I also loved all sorts of crafts and I always started making homemade christmas tree ornaments in like October. I was (am) not one of those who is very good a crafts but I definitely enjoyed doing it.

Do you live far from where you grew up?

YES.

Now I live in the US on the 6th year.

Where do you live now and who with?

I live in North Carolina with my British husband and our two daughters who are turning 4 and 6 both in January - two days apart actually. Yup, great planning there, ahem!

I knew all along that I would sew for Evelyn since she is the one of my two daughters who look like me. Normally I would probably have said: Who looks a little bit like me - my oldest does not look like me one bit - but after seeing the comparison I think it is safe to say she looks like me.

It actually almost brought me to tears looking at it.

It is really kind of freaky looking at us dressed the same because that really makes us look alike. 

Fun and freaky.

I was not able to find a corduroy in the correct color so I used this cotton twill instead. Unfortunately that is a more stiff material so I decided to skip the front pockets on the skirt because I think it would have taken even more drape out of the skirt.

The skirt I am wearing is by the way also homemade. My Mom could not remember wether it was herself or my paternal grandmother who made it. We had a lot of sewers in my family. Which makes it even more weird to think about that I only even considered starting sewing when I was like 20 years old. Buuut I think I have made up for my late start!

So I had to guess how the back looks like and I made it this way.

The front of the skirt is gathered to the front waistband but the back is gathered with an elastic inside. This way it is easy to get on and off. I have buttons on the inside of the back waistband and button holes in the straps.

The shirt is a Japanese pattern that I made more fitted. It had the right details such as front button placket, the collar and sleeve cuffs.

To make it looks like the cotton lace ribbons my original has, I made these tiny ruffles with some baby pink cotton voile. 

I know the original also have ruffles where the sleeve is sewed on the bodice, and I did try that but is simply did not work out. It looked silly.

A closer look at the sleeve cuff.

Here in the end I have to tell you a short funny story. 

So after the photo shoot we went out for lunch and even though Evelyn did not wanted to wear the skirt or have her hair made before the shoot, yeah we managed with some bribing,  she ended up wanting to wear it all the whole day - yup, that a three year old for you. 
SO at the restaurant she starts telling the people at the next table that she is dressed like Mommy. Ha, they looked at me and was totally lost. And me? I did not even try to explain that one - too complicated.

Yeah you know I am a blogger and I am participating in this series and......ohhh, forget about it. But I had to tell you because you will understand!

Thank you all you amazing readers for your support in 2013.

Happy Happy New Year!
See you!

Girls Pleated Winter Skirt - Tutorial.

Today I am bringing home a tutorial for a pleated winter skirt I originally made for The Sewing Rabbit Team.

The weather was changing and I realized that Wilma was missing something in her closet....winter skirts. What defines a winter skirt you might ask? Well, my personal opinion besides the obvious use of warmer, thicker fabric, could be to include a lining but also to have a bit more snug fit around the bum. In summer you want a loose and breezy fit but in winter you really want no cold air around that area, right!

BUT little girls still like to twirl even in winter so I came up with this design. Well, I am obviously not the first one to make this type of skirt but the pattern is self drafted and it fits the criteria I mentioned above. And further down I have a tutorial so you can make one (or ten) too.

As soon as you have drafted your pattern and made sure the fit is right they are quite a fast project. And even the pattern drafting is a pretty fast project for this one.

Here is a closer look at the skirt. You can see that the pleats are closed up/sewed together at the top and that is what gives the snug fit AND twirl ability. Score!

I have purposely not ironed the pleats all the way down. I like that they stay 'soft' and are just folding under the seams. If you like sharp pleats....well, knock yourself out.

What you have not seen on photos yet is that the waistband has a wide elastic pulled through to make dressing herself easy.

Let's get to the tutorial, shall we.

The very fist thing you do is to decide how wide you want your pleats. Mine are 3.5 cm / 1 3/8 in. And then how many pleats you want. I went with 5 pleats - notice they don't go from side seam to side seam - which by the way makes this skirt extremely easy to grade into other sizes but that is another story.

Now take a big piece of paper and start making vertical lines. The distance between every line is the width of your pleat (here 3.5 cm / 1 3/8 in). Every pleat is three 'rows' so we need 15 rows and that takes 16 lines.

Fold your pattern like you can see on the above photo (this is how the pleats will be folded in the fabric) and NOW we need some measurements. Two measurements. The first one is the hip measurement of the SKIRT....not the child. It is simply easier this way. I simply took my measuring tape around Wilma's hips in a circle as loose/snug I wanted the finished skirt to fit. Divide this measurement with 4 and you have your 1/4 of your desired skirt circumference which you can see marked on the pattern above.

The second measurement you need from your child is the skirts full length. BUT before you draw that line on your pattern you have to withdraw the height of your desired waistband (mine is 3 cm / 1 3/16 in).

Before you can draw your rectangle with the right measurement you have to find/determine your center front/center back (this skirt uses same pattern piece for the front and back piece - so you cut it double).

Now the first skirt I made I put the CF/CB on the middle of the middle pleat. But when I sewed the skirt I realized that was kind of a mistake. Because what you can see is the 5 lines where the pleats are sewed together not the actual five pleats. In other words the CF/CB looked off at the finished skirt. So CF/CB is the middle sewing line as you can see above. Now it looks off in the pattern but it will look right on the skirt.

And now you simply draw your rectangle with the correct measurements and then add your preferred seam allowances.

Last thing you have to do is determine how much you want to close up the pleats. I choose 13 cm / 5 1/8 in. Mark your pattern as above.

And when you unfold your pleats this is how your pattern will (hopefully) look like.

And now it is time to make your waistband pattern. Again just a rectangle, woohoo.

I just make one long pattern piece and cut it to fold in the one side seam. If you prefer a side seam in both sides of the waistband simply add seam allowances in both sides and cut it double instead.

I don't think I have anything to add otherwise. The graphic should tell it all.

And now to the lining pattern - which is optional by the way. But if you are making it in a wool fabric you really should put a lining in it.

Again I think the graphic/photo says the most. The length of the lining is of course a bit shorter than the length of the actual skirt. I prefer like 2.5 cm / 1 in shorter.

At this step I would suggest you sew a muslin to make sure you don't waste your nice fabric if something went wrong along the way. And think of it this way....when you have made your muslin and  you know your pattern fits, sewing the real skirt is going to be SO much faster.

When I cut the skirt I leave the pattern piece on and put a pin through all those markings where you have to sew the pleats together to. And don't forget to cut little cuts at the top notches.

Then fold your fabric as you can see on the lowest photo above and sew straight down to the pin. Continue with all five pleats on each skirt piece.

Here is how it looks when the pleats have been sewed. Sorry, this fabric was hard to photograph.

Now you sew, overlock and iron your side seam (s) of skirt and waist band (and lining if you made that). Then hem your skirt (and lining).

Sew waistband on skirt - right against right.....and so on. I am not going to go into detail with the waistband since it is a simple waistband with an elastic in it. I have a tutorial HERE if you need it. Only difference from this one and the one I am linking to, is the number and width of elastics I am using. In this one I am not sewing any casings. I am just using one wide elastic that fits the whole waistband.

Here is a look at the finished waistband.

I decided to spice this one up with some rows of grosgrain ribbon.

Just remember the hem will be more stiff and the pleats will not drape as softly as if there are no ribbons sewed on. But since this fabric (a cotton/wool mix) was quite heavy/stiff in the first place I knew there would not be much draping anyway so I just went with it.

I made another skirt in more soft fabric with no ribbons and you can clearly see the difference in the drape.

You can see that skirt HERE.

Scandinavian Styling Sewing Series

Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy did I LOVE sewing for this series. Scandinavian Styling Sewing Series that is. The lovely Stacey from the great blog Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts (yeah she has three boys so you know....it is quite a fitting name, haha) lived in Denmark for the last couple of years and to celebrate the influence the Scandinavian style had to her own style she made this series. I KNOW...so fun!

Being a Scandinavian myself of course gave me some sort of an advantage. I did not need to do any specific research. BUT it also forced me to reflect on what part of my style was classic Scandinavian. My style has of course also been influenced by living in the US for the last 5 years. But also what is Scandinavian style specifically?



Okay, so my personal definition of Scandinavian kids clothes style is this:

-  adult style in mini versions and ALWAYS in comfortable fabrics and styles.

- Prints like dots, stripes, leopard, small flowers (think Liberty fabrics), geometric prints and camouflage.

- clean lines.

- cool vibes.



So what did I make?

A loose striped cotton shirt from a Japanese pattern book, a tight short sleeved leopard knit sweatshirt and some peach French terry pants with black piping. Both self-drafted patterns. I originally made the pants for The candy challenge at week 2 of Project Run and Play. You can see them HERE made in a soft 21 whale corduroy.

I will let it up to you if you think it fits my own definition above, ha.

A closer look at the short sleeved sweatshirt made from this great knit I bought at Michael Levine. Classic shape but with short sleeves.

I don't have any photos just of the shirt itself but it is pretty simple. I have made a short sleeved version you can see HERE. 
Loose shape, raglan sleeves, a bit of gathering in the neckline and finished of with a bias tape. Simple front button placket. 

The sleeves have a slit and is also finished of with bias tape. I skipped the button hole and put a small loop in there instead.
Amazing black/white/green buttons from Lots of Buttons.

Wilma was purrrring when she got these pants on. "Oh Mommy they are so comfortable." Yay!
They have an elastic waist, a fake zip fly, a single front pleat, a slightly tapered leg and a wide elastic in the end of the leg not super tight to the ankle.
They also have side pockets with a decorative flap that is held down with these insanely cute bow buttons from Hancock Fabrics.

That's all for me today.
Thank you Stacey for inviting me!
Make sure to check out all the other amazing posts in this great series.
You can find and follow it all at Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts.

Go Scandinavia!

Sweatshirt dress + adding a button placket to any pattern tutorial.

Today I am bringing home my September post for The Sewing Rabbit Creative Team. I am going to talk about this sweatshirt dress and what you can do to change any classic sweatshirt (or t-shirt with raglan sleeves) pattern into something similar.

See kate sew's RECESS raglan knit tee would for example work perfectly.

I am going to give a detailed tutorial on how to add a buttoned placket to patterns that does not originally have it. It is actually pretty easy and only requires basic math - you know the logic stuff!

As you can see the bodice of the dress have the classic sweatshirt dress with the raglan sleeves so no need for changes there. You will have to shorten it though and probably also make your pattern less wide around the belly - in other words take in the side seams a bit.

If the bodice is too long or wide it will change the look of this dress to more of an old fashioned long coat....so please make the bodice first and try it on your child before you start making the skirt part. Oh and how do I know what it will look like....yes ahem I might be speaking from experience here...twice did I shorten the bodice after I sewed on the skirt...twice!! I mean....yeah, let's move on! Now don't come back and tell me I did not warn you.

The skirt is just a rectangle that has been gathered to the bodice. Easy peasy. I measured the lower part of the bodice (the waist) and made my skirt double that measurement which I think give the right amount of gathers for the type of dress.

Then there is rib in the neck opening and sleeves - again classic sweatshirt style.

This type of dress does not necessary need the placket and buttons but I certainly think it adds quite a lot to the finished result.

Normally I stay faaaaaar away from buttonholes in knit and uses snaps instead, but this cotton French terry did really not have that much stretch in it so with some fusible interlining along the placket it actually totally worked, phew.

These great orange buttons are from Lots of Buttons.

So let's talk about plackets.

1) First you have to find center front (CF) on your sweatshirt/t-shirt pattern. It will usually be marked by the pattern maker. Most sweatshirt and t-shirt patterns are cut in CF anyway and asks you to cut your fabric on fold and that will be CF. Otherwise you simply fold your front pattern piece in the middle.

2)Then you have to decide how wide a placket you want. This is a design question so it is really up to you. But think about what buttons you want to put in. Tiny buttons in a wide placket is usually not that pretty. So let's work with an easy example: 1 inch/2.5 cm. Now you divide your desired placket width in two....yup, told you it was easy math. Since we want CF to run down exactly in the middle of the placket we are going to add that extra half to CF and now we got the overlap and the fold line.

3)Now since we don't want raw edges running down there, you have to extend CF further with the full width of your placket plus seam allowance.

You do the same with your skirt at CF and you are good to go.

Here is an overview of all the pattern pieces.

That's all for me today.

Thank you.

Girl Pleated Winter Skirt Tutorial, part two.

 This post is part 2 of my October post for the Sewing Rabbit Creative Team.

Part one on Me Sew Crazy is a full tutorial to this easy pleated winter skirt plus another version with grosgrain ribbons. You can catch up HERE.

This version is made in this pretty soft cotton (from Jo-Anns) and you can see how the pleats drapes down soft and wavy. As opposed to the one from part one.

A closer look.

And from the side. You can always makes more pleats if you want them on the side too.

My team mates and I have had a little talk about serger thread colors and I am the type who mostly matches my thread with my fabric....as you can see above.

The photo also shows that this skirt has lining.

Okay, I think that is all for me this time

Here is another link to part one of this post.

Thank you.