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!!

The Mulberry Tunic Turned Sweatshirt.

Except for my raglan-sleeved knit dress, I don't think I have ever made so many different versions of clothes from the same pattern as I have with The Mulberry Tunic Pattern by Kid Approved.

The original, The even-more girly version, The 70's dress version 

and now I proudly present you: 

The sweatshirt version.

You know me and my kids' love for knit so it is no surprise that I wanted to try a knit version of this pattern.

I decided to use very classic sweatshirt details such as a kangaroo pocket and hem with contrast colored knit rib but everything else is from the original pattern.

I did not change the sizing at all since this is an interlock fabric and therefor not that stretchy.

This is a size 5 on my fairly tall 4-turning-5-in-January-child.

The yoke fabric is woven fabric (Waterfront Park by Violet craft for Michael Miller) which I received in the goodie bag from the Girl Night Out I attended in LA. 

The cream and navy blue stripe is this ultra soft and lovely Saint James interlock knit (you can buy it HERE) that you might recognize from the Look book from Willow & Co Patterns' first collection. 

I just received a ton (okay, maybe not a ton) of organic sweatshirt fleece and French terry from Organic Cotton Plus (they also have GREAT interlocks by the way - I'm waiting for the grey melange to be ready for delivery) and I just want to make like 10 more of these. I LOVE the combination of knit and woven....even though the endless possibilities sometimes overwhelm me when I trying to decide on what to do next, ha.

The original pattern has a sort of rounded hem (who gives an almost slit effect at the side seams) and you obviously have to skip that if you want to hem with a knit rib but that is an easy fix to the pattern.

The kangaroo pocket is also easily drafted and the same height as the lower front piece and is sewed in the seam under the front placket and at the bottom to the rib.

You can carry around a lot of exciting things in a big pocket like that!

Yup, this pretty much illustrate how much she loves her new sweatshirt!

Buy the Mulberry Tunic Pattern HERE.

Thank you!

Senna Tote by Willow & Co Patterns / lbg studio

Today I have something (for me) very unusual......a bag...that I have sewed...myself. And what convinced me to sew a bag you may ask? The answer is The Senna Tote from Willow & Co Patterns designed by Vanessa from lbg studio. That lady always makes the nicest bags/patterns!

Mulberry Tunic - Dress Remix

So while my blog was occupied showing one cool and/or cute kindergartner after the other in Sewing for Kindergarten I have been in the sewing room and for once have a backload of things to blog about. 

First up is a remix I have wanted do to for a very long time. Turn the Mulberry Tunic from Kid Approved Patterns into a dress with an elastic waist.

First Day of 1st Grade....and more!

Heeeeey, I'm back from vacation....and guess what the only thing I missed while I was away having an amazing time in Denmark with family and friends.....yes, sewing! (Sorry husband who stayed back to work, ha).

So after the worst jet lag fogs disappeared I went to my sewing room and did some fun sewing. You know the type that creates something you or your kids actually need in their closet. 

In this case skirts and cardigans!! For awhile when my kids were much younger I almost only made skirts because that was the fastest and I liked finishing the project within reasonable time. Then they got older, started school and was able to play by themselves and I made more complicated and longer projects.....and suddenly W barely had any skirts, ha.

Today this little lady starts 1st grade and this is what she is wearing.

AND talking about school....in the bottom of the post you can see the lineup for this year's Sewing for Kindergarten - I'm SO super proud of all the participants that has agreed to show us what they have made for their kindergartners!

Organic Cotton Plus - Fabric Review & Giveaway.

Wohoooo, it been a while since I had a giveaway on the blog and THIS is a good one!

A while ago I got contacted by the nice people at Organic Cotton Plus. They asked if I wanted to review some of their fabric?

Duuuh, is rain wet?

In other words I turned them down.....KIDDING, I said yes as fast fast as I could!

But I also asked if they were interested in sharing their loveliness with you? And I told you they were nice, because they said yes!

At the bottom of this post there is a Rafflecopter where you have a chance to win a $50 gift card to their web shop. Open for International participants, yay.

But please don't miss the post itself.

I choose to receive this great organic cotton interlock (color: cornflower) and made a heavily remixed version of a dress from Happy Homemade vol. 5 (Japanese pattern book).

And this ooooooh so lovely organic cotton fleece (color: a dusty coral) which turned out to be a sweatshirt fleece - a pleasant surprise because that was really what I wanted.

I made The Hawthorn Zip-up Sweatshirt from Willow & Co / Titchy Threads with remixed pockets. More about that later.

Let's talk about the dress and the fabric is it made of first, shall we!

The interlock is super soft and with a great drape and yet staple enough to sew with a normal sewing machine (not serger). That means more possibilities for sewing more detailed garments without the need of a overstitch or annoying twin needles (yeah, sorry I am not a fan - I think I am under some sort of twin needles spell).

I pre-washed the fabric of pure habit - even though there are no chemicals to wash out since it is organic, yay. I did not notice any shrinking but there was a tiny bit of peeling - but seriously only a tiny bit and nothing surprising for cotton knit fabric. It would NEVER hold me back from ordering it again.

The dress is a remix of a remix of a simple raglan sleeved, gathered neckline, loose fit dress.

I remixed it the first time for STYLO, vol 1. See it HERE.

For this remix I skipped the button placket, made it even more high-low and changed the sleeves to sort of half-sleeves.

When you do a half-sleeve you have to find a way to finish off the rest of the armscye under the arm. I used home made bias tape. You can find a tutorial on hemming with bias tape HERE on my blog. 

And since I was hemming the armscye with bias tape I decided to do the same with the sleeve hem as well. It turned out pretty neat looking as you can see above.

By the way the neck line is hemmed with bias tape too.

The dress is finished with a flounce (non-gathered ruffle). The more circular you make it the more wavy it will be. You will notice that it is more wavy at the front than the back. 

Let's talk about the coral sweatshirt fleece and the Hawthorn Zip-up Sweatshirt.

I am so so in love with this quality. It has a nice smooth surface and then the MOST soft back side ever - like teddy bear soft. The ultra teddy bear softness disappear in first wash but it turns into a normal and still very lovely soft back side, so it is all good.

Unfortunately this color is sold out since I ordered it and is being discontinued but HERE is a link to the other beautiful colors of fleece and French Terry that they carry.

If you are in love with the color (like me) they have other qualities like THIS thermal and THIS rib (on sale, woohoo) in that color. How stunning is that thermal!?

To sew a Hawthorn Zip-up Sweatshirt in this material is a match made in heaven. Perfect material for a perfect pattern. Wilma could literally not wait for me to finish. And luckily we are not having the usual blasting temperatures every day yet so she has been able to wear it a little bit. It will be so SO perfect for fall.

The Hawthorn is a Willow & Co pattern designed by the lovely Laura from Titchy Threads. And you all know that her patterns are basically perfection. A ton of attention to detail, wonderful finishes and a tutorial that will help you through and maybe even teach you a new thing or two. I know I did, while making the half zip version for the lookbook. Blew my mind!

I did a few changes to the pattern. One was changing the pockets from classic inseam pockets to this ehhhh crescent-opening-with-rib-pockets. What, you never heard of that pocket before? Ahem.

I love that it gave me the chance to add a sneak peek of another fabric. A leftover piece of cotton interlock I found in my stash. There was just enough for facings along the zipper and inside the collar, back neck facing and the pocket facings. 

The second change I did was shortening the length from fitting a 20" zipper to a 18" zipper - which basically just meant that I made it 5 cm / 2" shorter. I wanted it to have more of a short jacket feel.

Now all I have to do is make another one for my youngest daughter because otherwise I predict fist fights over it. It is a VERY popular item in the house at the moment. They love the cosy feel this sweatshirt and fabric gives them. Score!

You can buy the pattern HERE.

And you can buy all the lovely wonderful organic cotton fabrics HERE.

Thank you Organic Cotton Plus for reaching out to me. It was an absolute pleasure to work with your materials and it will certainly not be the last time.

In fact I have already my eye on all the stunning colors of twill they sell.

Okay, NOW you can go enter that Rafflecopter.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Persimmon Dress by Willow & Co / Mouse House Creations.

I am continuing my journey through all the Willow & Co patterns with the Persimmon Dress designed by the lovely Hayley, Mouse House Creations.

The pattern is a perfect summer dress or tunic with tie bands as straps, pleats to add volume, an optional bottom/side ruffle plus some cool pockets.

This fabric.....oh, this fabric. You know I am obsessed with small flower prints. I think I bought it at Fabric Mart. The stripe cotton shirting is from Mood.

A closer look at those pleats. And Wilma's tiny front teeth, ha. One is loose now so I better enjoy the sight of her tiny baby teeth while they last.

The whole thing is a easy and fast sew. Just what you need here in the summer.

And the finished result is obviously also perfect for summer. Just pull it over your kid's head and they are dressed. Peeerfect.

You can buy the pattern HERE.

And check out THIS post on the Willow & Co blog with tons of Persimmon inspiration and information.

Thank you!

The Ash Jumpsuit by Willow & co / Petit a Petit and Family

Ohhhh, today I have one of my new favorite patterns on the blog. The Ash jumpsuit from Willow & Co - designed by my lovely and mega multi talented friend Celina from Petit a Petit and Family.

It might seem a bit overwhelming to sew a jumpsuit - the fit has to be right because otherwise it simply won't work....and guess what? The fit is perfect - roomy yet fitted at the same time. THAT is a hard balance to find so kudos to you Celina.

My girls LOVE their jumpsuits but more about that later.

Even though it might looks slightly complicated there is actually not a single difficult technique involved in this. The hardest part might be to close up the facings/elastic casings and Celina is giving you three choices how to do that in the tutorial - depending on your skill level (or sewing personality, ha).

On Evelyn's jumpsuit I choose to make the facings/elastic casings visible. It does not require any changes to the pattern....just a matter of sewing them right against wrong, instead of right against right. 

The fabric is this very subtle Hello Kitty for Liberty Fabrics. I guess you can call it a parent/child compromise print. The blue cotton voile ties in with the blue flowers on the Liberty print.

The fabric I used for Wilma's is this aaaaamazing (and kind of pricey - around $18) thin, soft cotton denim with a tiny bit of stretch and small white flower print from Hancock Fabrics. The lady at the cutting counter looked at me for a looong time to be sure I really wanted it after she saw the price, ha. And I really did!

There is a little bit more sewing involved than the average garment but it can all be done in a fast tempo. A super fun sewing project actually.

Which was lucky for me because I had to make two right after each other. Something I rarely do. Yeah, I am lazy like that and I get easily bored doing the same things over and over.

Some of you might already have read about this little incident on my Facebook page.

I finished Wilma's size 6 and wanted to try it on Evelyn, who is 4 years old but kind of same size as her sister - except in height of course. So I figured if I one day wanted to make her one I could just shorten the size 6 pattern that I had already traced (yeah, I will do anything to avoid tracing patterns).

BUT what happened next was that Evelyn flat out refused to take the jumpsuit off. Just plain NO! So I literally had to go back to the sewing room, start finding fabrics, cutting and sewing another one. And she is now a very happy bunny....even though she (of course) refused to try the new one on when that was done. Arghhhhh kids!!!! Luckily that did not last long and since photo shoots always involved treats and now also a flat $1 payment she gave in.

 

 

I give this pattern my warmest recommendations! And so can my girls. They both wore their jumpsuits to preschool and school (with sort of tight t-shirts under) today and when I picked up Evelyn she said: "Mom, everyone was so nice to me today." Oh, that's nice, why was that?" "They all said I looked good in my jumpsuit."

Awwwwwwwwww!

The Willow & Co Glamping Tour is going on at the moment and several of the participants have made this jumpsuits - all with amazing results and rave reviews.

See for yourself:

Jess - Me Sew Crazy, Alida - Alida Makes, Tara - Girl Like The Sea, Alexia - Lexi Made,  Chelise - Chelise Patterson.

If you are still a bit scared to make a jumpsuit (even though you really shouldn't), the pattern also have a separate top and pants option....that might be a good place to start. Separates can also be practical for the younger ones. And the result is just as cool. Just look at this post from Heidi & Finn or this from Do Guincho.

You can get your hands on your own Ash Jumpsuit pattern HERE.

Thank you!

The Aster Cardigan + The Clover Shorts by willow & co.

I am going to continue showing you what I have been doing the last couple of months....testing willow & co-patterns. 

Today I am showing you both the Aster Cardigan by LBG Studio and the Clover Shorts by Mouse House Creations.

Both patterns are the fast kind but both with a great and 'finished' looking result. 
The type where you immediately get 10 new ideas for versions when you finished one.
I love those type of patterns (together with the complicated ones, ha).

The Aster Cardigan is made for mid weight knit with limited stretch (around 25-25%).....so types like interlock, French Terry etc are perfect. That makes doing stitches and button holes almost as easy as if you were sewing in woven (phew). 
It has the cutest Peter Pan collar and has an option to add a faux piping as you can see here. The model is cropped and has 3/4 sleeves.....in other words PERFECT to wear with dresses or shorts for a chilly summer day/evening.....OR entering public places anywhere in American where freeze blast temperatures apparently are the only option in summer, (whyyyyyyyyy?) Okay, rant over!

The Clover Shorts have side pockets, front pleats, a cuff, belt loops, elastic waist and options like a waist ruffle and a sash.

These are made from quilting cotton and the fabric was Wilma's choice. I sort of have a love/hate relationship with this fabric but I must say I love how it looks in this model.

I am obviously dying to make some in some color block versions in some thin corduroy, denim etc which is even more my style.

BUT for now I am just happy that Wilma is thrilled with her new shorts. 

BUT do you know what is even MORE exciting than me posting about Aster and Clover? Yeah, I know....that is a tough one to beat, ha.

Do you remember our amazing lookbook? (If not, I am posting it right below.)

Did you also drool over the amazing fabrics that the models were sewn in? 

Well, from today you can buy most of that fabric in our shop. The quantities are extremely limited so hurryyyyyyy. The quality on the other hand is unlimited. I sewed the Lily Fawn and Hawtorne samples for the lookbook and I can honestly say that the fabric is TOP quality and a joy to sew with (and look at!). I can highly recommend it, really!

Here is a link to our SHOP where you of course also can buy all the amazing willow & co patterns including the ones I have showed you today.

The Mulberry Tunic by willow & co/Kid Approved.

Today I have the original version of the Mulberry Tunic from willow & co/Kid Approved on the blog.
You can see my slightly remixed version HERE.
Olga from Kid Approved who designed it, originally made it for boys but it turned out to TOTALLY work for girls too.
The only change I have made here is to pull some elastic through the hem of the sleeve because that always adds an extra girly dimension without having to change anything in the pattern.

 

I had no doubt that I wanted to use the hood option, and the in seam pockets are always popular with my kids too. Sometimes two hands are just not enough compared to all the little things kids wants to drag around. 

 I love the narrow back yoke that screams for color block.

Here are a few shots of the awesome details. The neck seam is beautifully hidden with a binding....AND you can do the stitching for the front placket and neck in one go. I stitched down the in seam pockets and played around with different thread colors. And then I added some playfulness with two colors of snaps to match the dots in the fabric.

And where is the chest pocket you might ask? Ehhhh, I forgot....yup, no fancy design solution or anything like that, I simply forgot to sew it on. 

You can see many more versions of the Mulberry Tunic in THIS post on willow & co's blog. When you are over there please notice how insanely versatile the pattern is. From dress up style to everyday play and school style.

I have so many plans for this pattern.

The next version is definitely going to be remixed into a dress.

And you can buy the pattern HERE.

Thank you!

Kudzu Cargo Pants by willow & co

Oh, such a happy day today. The Kudzu Cargo Pants are ready and is now for sale in the willow & co shop. We have literally worked day and night (together with our amazing testers that turned into express testers - THANK YOU!) to get them ready, since we like a week before launch date decided to go in a different direction with the pattern. And we are soooo happy with the result and I will try to show you why in this post.

We decided to limit the fabric to woven with stretch. That way we could get the fit we wanted and not get different results depending on which fabric type was used. In certain more loose fitting garments it would not be a big deal to use one or the other but when you are talking tight fitting pants you kind of have to choose (.......we realized, ha. Sometimes you miss the obvious when you are as busy as we have been the last many months). Another lesson learned!

The Kudzu Cargo Pants come in a straight (but still slim fit) and a skinny version like you see above. Both versions can be made as shorts too.

It is designed with kids in mind and has no zippers or buttons. The waistband is a knit rib and easy to pull on and off.

It has front and back pockets plus a side cargo pocket. The long versions has knee pleats. And the pattern also has options for adding some cool diagonal seams that is screaming for some color blocking, he he.

The stretchy fabrics makes them soooo comfortable. Almost like jeggings (yikes, did I really use that word, ha). Don't get me wrong, I love jeggings but have a hard time with the actual word.

 Here you see the straight version made in the most soft and delicious stretch denim I bought at Mood Fabrics. I rolled up the hems to make them ready for spring.

The back pocket also have diagonal seam options and I could not handle the color block temptation anymore.

You can also see the rib knit in this photo. 

The pattern's tutorial shows you how to put elastic in the rib so they stay up. 

A close up of the cargo pocket. The pattern does not come with a color block option for that one so I guess you can say I did a bit of a pattern remix there.

And here you can see a full side view of these great pants.

I cannot not wait for fall so I can make them in sweatshirt fleece - YEAH!

I know....you need these pants in your life and you are in luck because you can buy the pattern right HERE.

Please do not miss the aaaaaaamazing lookbook with all the willow & co patterns.

One last thing....don't forget that the Designer Tour starts today on willow & co's blog.
All the pattern designers present their pattern this week (two posts a day) and show their amazing testers' creations.

Thank you!