Monday, 19 May 2014

Tender, Love, and Care

Recently my cellphone didn’t work properly. All my contacts, videos and pictures got lost. Luckily some of it could be restored but not everything.
To avoid future problems I decided to give my phone a good portion of TLC. So I made my phone a jacket.



A cover made from recycled paper!
The outside is made from solid brown paper, the inside is covered with felt.


To avoid my phone to lose its jacket I added a piece of webbing with a magnet in the end. The opposite site of the magnet is hidden between the felt and the paper.


The cover is already in use for a little while now and is still in a very good condition. And … my phone works without flows, so he clearly loves its new cover as much as I do!

Monday, 12 May 2014

Silence

Since the beginning of March it was very quiet on this blog. I never really have a lot of spare time but the last two months were even more hectic than usual. We unexpectedly and very suddenly had to move houses. So finding a new place, moving all our stuff and finding new routines with the kids did not leave a lot of time to get online reading your blog posts let alone writing myself.
Meanwhile things are slowly getting back to normal. I have a sitting area, a new chair and even our very own Alcea Rosea!


I already found some time to sew and we are online again. I can’t wait to share what we have been making and I am dying to add some personal touches to our new rental house.

Tuesday, 4 March 2014

Ten fingers and ten toes

You were warned about the upcoming baby boom and you already saw the diaper basket; but baby Alfons is finally born, so we present you the rest of his presents!
He got three lovely blankets! He might live in a warm country, but the air-conditioning is often set way to low so he might as well have enough blankets. His mum choose the fabrics and we buckled down to the details.
The smallest blanket (85cm on 70cm) is made of a layer of soft white interlock and a layer of flannel with very nice turqouise elephants. Both layers are separated by blooming yellow piping.


A second blanket (100cm on 75cm) is made of the same white interlock on the one side and very soft white teddy fabric on the other side. Both sides are attached to each other with a wide band of hand cut bias binding.
As a decorative element we heat-pressed a penguin on the blanket as Alfons his dad is crazy about those cute creatures.


A third blanket with the same measurements as the last one is also made of flannel and interlock; this time around both layers are attached to each other according to her guidelines.


Although we made 3 blankets according to 3 different methods I am still not able to determine to which method I give preference.
I am a super fan of putting piping in between two layers as the color of the piping can gorgeously accent the fabric. Nevertheless the other methods also have their charm and there was not a big noticeable difference in time it took to make the different blankets.


Alfons also got a towel with his name embroidered on it. We almost always give this to newborns, but this one was a special one as we embroidered his name entirely as it was written on his birth announcement.
Have a blissful life Alfons!


Fabric: The organic flannel with the elephant print and the one with the globules are from Rae Hoekstra from the Fanfare collection designed for Cloud9 Fabrics. The wide grey band of bias binding was cut out a piece of Kokoro Gris from Petit Pan.

Friday, 21 February 2014

Baby Boom

There is a baby boom on the way, and it started with the birth of gorgeous Baby C!
The pattern of the Noodlehead divided basket was still on the cutting mat, so an easy choice on making a gift this time around!


Blue as main color, as this seemed to be mummy her favorite color and suits perfectly for a boy.



Pattern: Just like last time we used the Noodlehead divided basket pattern.
Fabric: The fabric is Dots and Stripes from the Up Up and Away collection of Skinny laMinx also designed for Cloud 9. The elephant fabric is from Jay-Cyn designed for Birch Fabrics.

Thursday, 20 February 2014

Babyshower

As an expat we get to experience cultural habits and festivities from all over the world and so we recently experienced our first babyshower.
I decided what gift I wanted to offer a while ago but did not start until 1.5 hours before the shower started. 


This timeframe seemed a good 20 minutes short to choose fabric, sew 2 Noodlehead divided baskets, and also take pictures for the blog.



We went to the shower empty-handed but with the promise that –according to normal Belgian habits- we will bring the gift to the maternity clinic.


Pattern: I used the Noodlehead divided basket pattern.
Fabric: The fabric is 1000 Cranes in Cerulean from the Tsuru collection of Rashida Coleman Hale for Cloud 9. The red fabric is Dots and Stripes from the Up Up and Away collection of Skinny laMinx also for Cloud 9. The other turquoise fabric is Free as a Bird of that same collection and from the same designer as the red fabric.

Sunday, 9 February 2014

Dubai Tour

Wednesday evening we got a last minute message that the school would be closed on Thursday. This time around not due to heavy weather but because Dubai Tour was about to race through town and so lots of roads would have to be closed down and traffic would probably be hampered. Everyday life was put on hold again, this time for cyclists.
On Saturday we caught a glimpse of the sportive legs.


The showpieces of Dubai Police were dug up.

Tuesday, 4 February 2014

A-line dress with 3D-pleats

The last project made during KCW winter 2014 is this A-line dress with 3D-pleats.


Inspired by these gorgeous dresses, we immediately put a similar project on our todo-list. The last day of KCW we cut and sew the dress, nevertheless the handwork took way longer than planned.


The dress was dragged along to gymnastics- and swim classes of the children and was completed while cheering on the kids and watching their progression. The dress in the making was already watched and approved by many mothers.


The daughter and me we are pleased with the final result; my contentment is partly related to the fact I am done sewing pinches.




Jade her favorite color, pink, isn’t really my favorite, we found a compromise in fluo pink and so everybody is happy.


The pleats were sewn together with fluo orange thread. Initially I wanted a more contrasting color for making the pinches, but that takes away the attention from the 3D-effect of the pinch itself to the color of the thread and after all the handwork that is not what I wanted.


Pattern: The pattern is drafted by Curl Up, Doguincho inspired us to fold together the pleats.
Fabric: The fluorescent pink cotton is from Riley Blake Designs and was bought @ Hawthorne Threads.