Animal Print + Easy Tee Raglan Pattern = Match!

For weeks now, I`ve had this great black and white animal print ponte knit in my stash without a clue as what to make of it! I thought it was a great idea when I bought it, and it still was when it arrived. But then I was like: "can I pull of an entire piece with only this animal print? Would that even work?!" So I just put it aside, waiting for the right pattern or idea to come along.
Eventually, I was more and more surtain that it would work just fine if I only could mix in a little neutral in there. Like black! I had a little left from when I made my second Perri Pullowe (not blogged yet. Have to get to it soon.....). It was just enough for 3/4 arms and the neckline+arm lining.

This pattern by the way, is GREAT! Super easy to print and patch up.  And you can make it in a million different ways. Go check out "Its Always Autum".

This is one of those patterns I will make again and again, for shure! The fit is perfect for me! I added a band on the bottom of the shirt so it gives a little extra "hug" around the hips.

Now, do you think the animal print is "to much"? Or just right? :)

Sweetheart Beret - A tutorial

Hi everyone!

Today I want to share another how-to with you!
I was browsing through Pinterest, looking for inspiration for something to make.
Then I came across a pattern for a suuuuper cute beret with the cutest bow!
My experience is that there is a tutorial for allmost everything out there, so I wasnt completely ready to buy a pattern before I had looked into my alternatives.
So..... after a lot of picture-looking, blogbrowsing and some sketching, I came up with a great tutorial.
I sewes it up twice, just so I could try out the differences when it comes to wether you`d want layering around the hat or not. If so, you make the top-hat pattern piece big/ger.
Here goes:


First, find youre fabric. It should be semi stiff, and quite stirdy. Wool, fleece and such is great.
I used a typical suit wool.
Now, fold youre fabric double. Find something big and round, like a lid or a casserole. Depending on how big the lid/casserole is, youre beret will be big and poofy or small and suttle. Its all up to you!

Now find something with a smaller radius then the first round thingy you used, and center it untop the one cirkle. REMEMBER to put away one cirkle for later!  Allso be shure that the radius you use for the "donut" is not smaller then the head intended for youre beret! This is where your math skills from elementary school comes in. FIY: if I told my math teacher back then that I would not need it for anything else then sewing and pattern making, well.... I think he would give me extra homework.....

Now you should have these three. The inner cirkle you can just through away.

Next up you pin the "donut" to the top hat piece. Sew down all the way around.

Now, more math... Measure the head circumference and cut a square with just that lenght + seam allowance.

When the piece is laying like this, you fold it on half, iron, and then fold in each end again (just like a bias tape) and iron again.

Like this! Then you fold it over and sew down the short ends.

Now, you almost cant see it on this picture, but here I have placed the "bias tape" on the inside of the hat, and pinned it down. All you have to do now is stich, fold over to the front/right side of the hat, fold and stitch again. 

And voila! You now have a beret for youre little sweetheart! Hey! How about making matching mother and daughter beretes?  

And for the bow, there are hundreds of DIY`s on net!

DIY on how to make a dress in to a hold-in pencil skirt

We all have it. The Dress. The one that you got just because you had to have it. Maybe because you had been spying on it at the store, stroking it between your fingers. Trying it on even though you know very well you won`t be buying it because it is just a little to expensive. By the way, where would you wear it? On what occasion would it be suitable? Oh.... if only it was on sale. Then at least you could justify buing it.

And then!! On day it happens! It`s on sale, and there`s only one left in youre size! It is faith! OFFCOURSE you buy it! What`s to question?
Weeks and months, maybe even years, go by. How many times have you worn it? ones? twice? Or maybe not at all? Did`nt the right opportunity come by? (I told you so!). Maybe by now you`ve stuffed it in a bag for goodwill. Or youre closet has swalloved it?
Dispear not! Because I have JUST the DIY for you!

You will offcourse need The Dress

Now, follow these steps:

Now, the easiest thing is to use a knit pencil skirt that you allready have, 

and just lay it flat on the dress. If you dont have such a skirt, 

you  can take a look at this tutorial on how to make youre own pattern.
Trace the pattern edges around the exicting skirt, and cut out.
Make sure you have enough seam allowance!

After you have cut the two skirt pieces, staystich the edges.

Try it on to see if it fits. If so, you can now sew permanent stitches.

Now, here is a GREAT tip!

If you are like me and simply love pencil skirts,

but is not quite comfortable with the tummy hugging ordeal, 

then this is something for you! 

I love the look that a pencil skirt gives, and I have envied so many women for it!

But you see, my stomach is bigger then my (really not that big) chest, 

so I have hesitated about this surtain fashion staple.

But fear no more, because I read this suuuuuuper tip over at The Sewing Rabbit. 

Jess Abbott made a genius pencil skirt with a tummy control panel!

How genius is that???

Now, how could I not try that when I first was up to making my very first knit pencil skirt?

I did`nt have any power mash available, but I did have a tight lycra nightie that allso was swalloved

by my closet, and managed to save....

Now you put the "wathever" you want to make the hold-in with,

and lay it over the skirt. 

Now remember you want the hold in skirt to be hugging and tight,

so you cut it in a size or two smaller then the outer skirt.

Cut the lycra a few inches shorter then the outer skirt. You dont want it to show under.

You will need a wide elastic to youre skirts waist.

Try the skirt on and put the elastic around youre waist to figure out

how much you need. Remember to keep it tight.

Sew the ends of the elastic together, and fold it around your pencilskirt,

included the hold in skirt. Pin the elastic on the right side of the skirt. 

Sew it down (again, from the right side).

Et voila!

Look! Hold in!

Hopefully very soon, I can show you a picture with the outfit on.

But I can assure you, the skirt looked like da`bomb! ;)

Now, what do you think? I think I`ll propably get more use of these two 

more than I did the dress in its former state.

I`ll wright about how I made the top in my next post.

Patter testing! The Taking Notes Skirt by Sewing In No Mans Land

Kelly Crawford is the author of the beautyfull blog Sewing In No Mans Land.  My first meeting with her blog was when I discovered the Taking Notes Skirt for girls.

I was in the look-out for an easy but classy skirt patter for my little girl, and this pattern struck my liking.

It might have been the pictures, because they are so fresh and cheerful, but Kellys instructions are very easy to follow, so within a little while I had a lovely skirt for my little twirling girl.

So, when Kelly posted that she was looking for pattern testers to make her pattern even more user friendly and perfect, I did not hesitate to enlist as a pattern tester. She got a lot of requests, and I was one of the lucky ones to review the pattern.

As you might know, a tutorial for the pattern has been out for a long time on her blog, so there are probably a lot of you who all ready know about it and even have made one. I would like to shear some pictures of my results. I will not go in to the details of the sewing, except that it is soooo easy, and everyone can make one!

I made mine out of a quilting weight fabric I had in my stash. I love the flower pattern and the colors.They are so me! I will bring this with me on our family holiday next week!

The skirt is topstitched where ever possible, wich give a great touch of professional sewing.

It allso has nine boxpleats all around the waist. The waiste band gives it all a geat silhouette.

You should all just put away your computers, and wip out this skirt right away, because it really is that simple!

Maria Of Denmark Kimono Kirsten Tee

I have noticed a big hole in my closets lately, where there should be nice, fashionable and comfortable t-shirts. Until a few days ago, there really wasnt any. So what do you do? Go shopping? Noooo.... (unless its for fabric, of course) I had been searching on Pinterest for t-shirt patterns, and I came by the Kirsten Kimono Tee by Maria Of Denmark. This is a great pattern, plus its free! Whats not great about that?

The shirt has a very comfortable fit, and NO sew-on arms! There`s only two pattern pieces, + the neck binding of course. Its the perfect base pattern for youre own modifications.
As you can see on the shoulder part, I inserted a contrast fabric of a sheer animal printed chiffon.
Enter: "fashionable"!
Allso, I added a wide cuf-binding on the shoulders, instead of hemming the edges. That added a little length allso.
I am very happy with the results! The Kimono tee has everything I want in a t-shirt. IAnd it allso looks great styled up whit a pair of skinny jeans and heels or boots!

This is definetly something I will make again and again! Thanks Maria for a super pattern!

The perfect Lady Skater Dress with a twist

By now, I am pretty shure that "everyone" has heard, or even made Kitchy Coo`s famous Lady Skater dress. As usuall I am late to the party... I overthink and over-process the whole thing EVERY TIME I have my mind set to make something. That means hours and hours of Pinteresting for ideas, reading and searching other bloggers thoughts about the pattern, and looking at pictures of the finnished results.

I really liked the pattern and the dress, but I am very self-conscious about my stomach-area (show me a woman who`s not!), therefore I had a problem whit the whole knit-dress-stomach-hugging thing.
ALLSO! I have been wanting a wrap dress since FOREVER! And I thought that the Lady Skater pattern would be perfect for that kind of thing.... I just had to convert the bodice to a wrap... but how?
I am not a fan of self drafting patterns. I am more like the "Hey! A perfect pattern that hundreds of people have allready tried out and aproved"-kind of gal`.
Now that I allready had the LSD-pattern  (wow... did that just spell LSD??...) I needed a pattern that someone else allready had tried out. That`s when I found Sew a straight lines` hacked version of the Lady Skater Dress, altered into a wrap dress! It was a wrap! Litteraly!  Check out here super tutorial on how to make you`re skater dress to a faux wrap dress!

It was all very easy peacy! The Lady Skater is pretty simple to sew up. Could that just be because I got a serger for my birthday a few weeks ago? Hahaha.. It was actually my first project ever on a serger.
A little nerve-wrecked over the fact that I coul cut the fabric on the serger-knife. But It worked out just well.

And now for some pictures...

Such a great pattern calls for a great introduction ;)

Close up on the waist-belt wich I can tie round my waist 2-3 times,

the 3/4 arm-cuff and the bodice wrap. I stitched the pieces together whit 

a few stitches just to avoid my girls falling out...

I am very please whit the results, and it will defenitely not be my last one, since I love wrap dresses.

I personally think that a wrap dress whit a belt like this helps to camuflage the stomach area, and that was eccactly my intension! Mission acomplished.

Have you made Kitchy Coos Lady Skater Dress? What was your verdict? I would love to see pictures:)

What`s all the fuzz about?!

Why, it`s the Bimaa sweater offcourse! This pattern has been going around like the flu!
It is the masterpiece of Sarah from EmmylouBeeDoo, and I feel like EVERYONE is talking about it.
Sarah is just wrapping up a Bimaa sweater tour. Hop on over to her blog and check out all the participants.

I finally got around to making a sample of my own, because I was very corious about what all the fuzz whas about. And let me tell you! This pattern is genious! And easy! And quick! And the kids LOVE it! It looks supercomfy. Infact, I wish it came in my size.....

Shes a monkey, this one...

She loves the big, soft cowl.

Not so shure about the very buzy flower-patterned pants matching up whit

the very buzy patterned sweater......

This is definately a pattern I will make over and over again! Lov it! You should give it a go, and join the
Bimaa sweater-fever!

Little boy`s pants

I have mentioned it before; I love making baby clothes!
And even though I dont have babies anymore, (mine are 6 and 3 now! Yikes!),
I sometimes make the cutest little outfits. They are great to have around whenever someone announces a birth, or a birthday.
This time I made baby boy pants. The fabrics are leftovers from a sweater I made for my son.
It has the cutest little pockets whit a rhino and a turtle. And the waist has a high ribbing for great support for the little guy.
This is the kind of pants I used to, and still make, for my son, because they are great for crawling and climbing (when older) and allso confortable.
This one will be waiting in my drawer until someone claimes it. Ooooor... I get to use it my self :D

My own designed Pussy Bow Blouse. And a tutorial!

(Furthest down the post you`ll find pictures of my blouse.)

What is you`re first thought when you think of a pussy bow?

After giving it a litte thought, this is what popped up in my head:

But obviously, thats not what we want in a pussy bow blouse...

I decided pretty acutely that I wanted, no, infact needed a pussy bow blouse. 

I had seen them around for quite som time, but whit just like my new Laurel Dress, it did`nt feel right to me.

But our minds works in mysterious ways, `cause suddenly I was convinced!

So I startet to trace pictures on Pinterest, and the options are allmost countless. I knew I had to find some great inspirational pictures, because I did`nt have any patterns available. 

These pictures from Salme Patterns here and Tilly And The Buttons here are the pictures closest to what I wanted. 

Since I`ve recently made Colette Patterns Laurel Dress, and I was familiar to the arm-pattern there, I used The Laurel patterns as a start for the bodice and arms.

My inspirational board.

Now, in my search for "How to make a pussy bow blouse-tutorial", the results were poor. I mostly used the pictures I have over my sewing machine. It was very forward really, but at the same time I felt like I needed a little assistens. But mostly I was on my own. I sort of figured it out my self, but for the interest of others in the search of a "How to make a pussy bow blouse-tutorial", I decided to take pictures of the process as I went.

A good start is to find a pattern that you know works as a bodice and arms. The only differens really, is that instead of a collor, you make a long tie to attatch to the neck.

I desided to open the bodice right at the front. If you take a look at Salmes Pussy bow blouse, you se what I mean. Allso I took the idea from Tilly, to ruche the bodice in the front. Like she did here.

Now, to my tutorial (a simple one...):

First I cut two pieces for the "tie". I started measuring from the middle of the neck. Measure all the way to the front. Make shure that you measure close along the neck opening. Then you add the length of the tie (as long as you want it. All in all, mine was about 70 cm long (make two) and about 8 cm wide. Remember to make it long enouch to make a bow, if that is what you want! Mine was just to short...)

Then stitch the two pieces together at their ends, so that you have 2 x 70 cm = 140 cm tie. Match the center of the tie to the center of the neckline, and pin it down. The (terrible lined) red in the picture is were I tried to show you where I pinned mine down. Pin the tie right side facing the right side of the blouse.

Then you stitch it down whit you`re machine.

(But dont stitch all the way to the end of the tie, only around the neclkline!)

When you are done whit the stitching, fold the tie over (double it), and tuck it under once more so that the raw edge is hidden. Pin it down neatly. 

Thats right!

Now, turn you`re work and place it under you`re needle. It is time for some "stitchin` in the ditch". But this time, start out at one end of the tie, while you tuck the raw edges inside, (see picture below)  hiding them. Stitch at the outer edge of the tie, following all the way up to where the neckline starts. Here starts the "stitchin`in the ditch". Make shure you sew down the fold on the backside of the blouse as well. 

Follow the neckline all the way around, and to the other end of the tie.

When you`re finnished, press everything whit you`r iron. 

Thats is! 

And now for my end results:

I must admit, I had a little problem whit the neckline there. It sort of falls back.

Have to adjust that the next time...

See the ruches at the bodice?

The split opening at the neckline.

I really like how it turned out! I must say, this thing whit making my own patterns is fun!