Best of Summer guest post

Today, you can find me over at CailaMade, where I'm participating in her Best of Summer series. Curious on which tutorial the dress below is based? Head over here and find out....

A big thank you, Caila, for having me in your wonderful series!

Kids' Clothes Belgian Style week 6: Petit à Petit and family

 

With just a couple of amazing bloggers left in our series, we're entering the last couple of weeks of Kids' Clothes Belgian Style. Today's guest is Montréal-based Celina from the blog Petit à Petit and Family. I actually got acquainted with Celina's blog via Pinterest; as one of the medium's most influential children's fashion pinners (over 3.000.000 followers - have you been counting yours, lately?) she is THE person to follow if you're looking for sewing inspiration. Celina has an amazing eye for gorgeous children's clothing, and ironically, I learned about quite a few Belgian brands via her! Everytime she pins one of my creations, my harts jumps - and so do my blog's statistics ;-p

Back when I met Celina via Pinterest, her blog focused almost entirely on new collections from hip brands. But then, a few months ago, Celina, who is a (former) children's fashion designer, also started blogging about her own sewing adventures. As I hoped and expected, her creations turned out fabulous, and even more inspiring than her pins. So, Celina is now not only the pinner to follow, but also the blogger to follow!

 

 

Hello! I'm Celina from Petit a Petit +family and I am so very excited to be here today. I have been a fan of Belgian children designers for a long time now and I am constantly inspired by them. I've put a round up of my favourite Belgian designer on my blog today and is basically what got me inspired. You'll probably notice the vintage styling, the lovely mix of unexpected colours and patterns, the layering, we could add peter pan collars, piping and the cardigan! All of which, in my opinion, would describes Belgian style.  It's no wonder I tried to incorporate most of these elements in my designs. 

I have to say, what took me the longest was picking out my fabrics and putting my colours together, I then opted for some simpler style and silhouettes. I was very inspired by Bellerose, American Outifitters, Maan & Simple Kids, their collections are vibrant and very urban. I love their use of accessories as well, such as scarfs, bags and brooches. 

For my son, I wanted to create an outfit that could be mix and matched with the rest of his wardrobe. I made a striped tee with a contrast back and a fun coloured pocket. The cardigan is partly up cycled, the yellow is from an old sweater and the grey is some stretchy french fleece. I still have a lot of practice to do with buttonholes, but I get better every time! I really like the way the shorts came out, I think I've had this khaki fabric for 10 years! I had just enough to make these little shorts. I added some neon pink (it looks orange in the photos!) gros grain ribbon, in reality I wanted to put some piping but what I had on hand was just not the right colour. I also made the waistband from the same stretchy grey tee-shirt material for extra comfort. I had all the fabric already and the patterns are my own. 

Now I'm not sure if the sticker guitar tattoos are very Belgian, nor do they make for a great photo-shoot, but sometimes there is nothing a mother can do! 

For my daughter I also wanted something she could mix and match, something she could wear for a while as well. The skirt was a quick sew- I used the entire length of the fabric, cut 2 pieces sewed them together, hemmed and added a foldable elastic waistband- I love that is a very full almost circular skirt. I got the fabric not too long ago at my local fabric shop, it is slightly textured and makes be believe it's a polyester cotton mix. I was just attracted by the pattern and new I would make something with it eventually- I also made my son's scarf with the remainder. The Cardigan is made from some vintage knit fabric I found a long time ago- the green rib detailing at the cuff and hem was also thrifted.

 The colour block blouse is made with a cotton silk blend, it is light weight, sheer and ever so soft. This top will be perfect for the hot summer days ahead. I officially hate my sewing machine, I had so many problems with it while sewing this- what was supposed to be a simple- top. At least the kids and I had fun making fabric pompoms which I then turned into a brooch. I thinks it's a little bigger and heavier than I hoped for, not great to put on that delicate silky top- but it makes for a cute headband too!

I cannot thank An enough for inviting me to be part of her super fun series. It has gotten me to think outside the box, to go beyond my comfort zone and made me do not 1 but 2 little outfits which my kids love and I had such fun to create and sew. Thank you!!! 

Kids' Clothes Belgian Style week 15: Sewpony

In this series, we've had bloggers from the US, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, and Canada, but today, we go aaaaall the way south. Our guest is Australia's finest, Suz from Sewpony, with whom I've been long-distance friends for quite some time now. Suz has supercute daughters, Isabella, Juliette, and Emily, and these girls have an amazing wardrobe! Apart from our taste in children's clothing, Suz and I share something else: our love for Tiny/Martine/Debbie/... books. Keep an eye on Suz' blog, because in a few weeks, she will be releasing her own patterns inspired by this lovely series - the Debbie. Judging by her previous (free!) pattern, the Perennial Dress, the Debbie will be a must-buy.
Suz is also hosting a great new series, When we were young, which starts in two days. 
And, starting today, she's giving away a great package for making your own Belgian-style dress: the Tinny pattern, and 1.5 meters of the vintage fabric she used for Juliette's dress! Check out the detials here.

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I am very excited to be guest posting today here for An’s Kid’s Clothes Belgian Style series.  I have loved watching the series over the past couple of months and have been introduced to lots of great blogs I had not yet discovered.  When I started ‘researching’ the Belgian aesthetic, I found that I loved it – clashing prints and colours, layers (including lots of cardigans – I do love cardigans) and basically no rules, but mostly lots of fun.

I had so much fun making these outfits for two of my daughters, Isabella and Juliette.  Except for a few details, the garments were made from vintage or recycled materials.
I think Belgian style seems to have a definite vintage feel to it, so going down this avenue seemed to fit the style well.

Isabella wears:  Vintage orange floral cotton (sheet piece purchased on ebay) made up in the Rollerskate dress  by Oliver & S.  Bodice lined with a 1930’s reproduction print (ok, this was new).
Dress is trimmed with blue cross-grain ribbon, two rows of blue ric rac along the hemline and a vintage blue button at the back.  Her cardigan is a recycled cardigan of mine that I chopped and resized.  I changed the buttons to pearl (thrifted) and added a cut doily (also thrifted) as a collar. 

 

Juliette wears:  Vintage cotton (thrifted) made up in An’s wonderful Tinny pattern!  The collar and tulip sleeves are plain blue cotton. I was actually looking for brown cotton for the collar and sleeves, but can you believe I could not match the colour? I was then opting for cream, but thought that would not do the dress any Belgian style favours.  I lay the blue cotton against the bodice pieces and thought “why not? This is Belgian style – it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t match!” Don’t you love how your second choice (made from necessity) often ends up better than what you first intended? I find that happens to me a lot!!   

I chose the peter-pan collar, tulip sleeves and gathered skirt.  An was very kind by letting me have a sneak peak at her pattern and gifted it to me prior to it’s ‘official release’, since I had my heart set on making Juliette a Belgian Tinny!  This pattern is totally awesome and I can only begin to imagine how many hours An must have poured into making it.  There are so many options – four collars, two sleeves and three skirts!

Juliette’s cardigan is a recycled turtle neck of mine that I hardly wore. I cut it into a cardigan, preserving the ribbed bottom for the bottom of the cardi and also the bottom of the sleeves. I decided to make this one a little more fun with an assortment of colourful vintage buttons from my (huge) button stash.

Best invisible zipper I’ve done – thanks for your detailed instructions An!

The girls were very compliant for our little photo shoot in my sister’s ‘Europeanesque’ lounge room…mainly because there was the promise of (unauthentic) Belgian hot chocolates and (authentic) Belgian waffles!!

They were looking ‘oh so civilised’ sipping from their (thrifted) cups and curling up on their comfy
Danish armchairs.   Note - the story books on the table are Belgian.  After contacting An to ask if she would take part in my new series, a conversation began about the blog button I had created for the series – which features a gorgeous illustration taken from my favourite children’s book (link is below).  Serendipity, coincidence or something along the lines of “great minds think alike”(?!!)… An’s pattern ‘Tinny’ is named after ‘Tiny’ from another series by the same author and illustrator,
whilst the books on the table above are the inspiration for my first (yet to be completed and released) pattern - view 1 and view 2.

I was looking for something to serve the waffles on and I pulled out this little plate from my thrifted plate stash, which happens to be made in ‘Nunspeet’ in Holland.  I googled ‘Nunspeet’ and found that it is a little town less than two hours away from Antwerp – An’s home.  Talk about all coming together!!

My treat after all that sewing and photo taking!  Well, it wasn’t exactly hard work – I had way too much fun!  And the waffles were delicious!! 

Thanks so much for having me An and for hosting this great series!
I think my girls will be wearing ‘Belgian style’ all year long!

One more

I wasn't really planning on making any Tinny's anytime soon; I've made more than enough in the past weeks. But right before releasing the pattern, I wanted to do a final test of the adapted asymmetrical collar.
I picked a fabric from my stash that I wasn't really fond of (what what I thinking when I bought it a few weeks ago?), as I wasn't planning to finish the dress anyway.

But as I was making the bodice, I suddenly realised why I liked the fabric (bought here) again, and I just had to finish the dress.

I used the 2Y pattern (Norah is almost 3-and-a-half, but weighs less than the average 2-year-old) and lengthened the bodice with a strip of the fabric of the collar. I left off the sleeves, and finished the armholes with fine bias instead.

The idea for the bow came from my friend Véronique - brilliant, isn't it?

Of all five Tinny versions I've made so far, I think this is my favorite. Funny how things can turn.

The photoshoot was, as you can imagine, a pleasure as always.

On a different note: here's a picture of a masked squirrel holding a needle and thread.

 

Tinny winny

I think I mentioned them a few times before, my fabulous pattern testers. Some of them have blog, others do not, but all have them have been so important in improving my patterns and instructions. Thank you so much, ladies!

Some of the testers who do have a blog are offering you a chance to win a free Tinny pattern - some right now, others in the next couple of days and weeks. So keep an eye on the blogs of the testers below, and you might spot a chance to winny a Tinny!

Amanda of Heartland Happy and Ana Sofia of  S Is For Sewing

Debora of the Belgian blog Toertjes & Pateekes and Olga of Kid Approved

Ashley and Elizabeth of  FranscesSuzanne and Christine of Beanniequilts

Marta of Do Guincho, Maria of Fil a l'Agulla and Victoria of As It Seams will probably be posting their dresses in the coming days or weeks (but their fabulous blogs are worth a visit right now already!).

And speaking of winning... FrancesSuzanne will also be hosting an amazing year-long contest called Flip That Pattern, with amazing prizes for the contestants (which have already been selected)... AND the sew alongers (you, perhaps?). In August, the challenge will be to sew your own interpretation of he Tinny dress, and I'm currently working on nice prize package (patterns, fabric, and something more) for the sew-along winner!

Make sure to check out this month's contest, which is all about Heidi's ubercute Bubble Shorts pattern!

Kids' Clothes Belgian Style week 14 : Imagine Gnats

Today in the Belgian Style series, we have Rachael from Imagine Gnats. Rachael is an incredibly creative mom of two who sews mostly for her daughters, but also for herself. Her creations are always colorful, fun, and just plain beautiful, and I just love her fabric choides. Rachael has her own Etsy shop, in which she sells finished products as well as pdf patterns. Make sure check out her newly released super cute Roly-poly Pinafore tunic, which has been everyhwere these last couple of days! On top of that, Rachael is a true embroidery buff, and an allround supernice person!

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hiya! rachael here from imagine gnats, and yay for kids' clothes belgian style, right? after checking out An's belgian style pinterest board, i realized that my girls' everyday style, full of pattern and bright colors paired in mixed-up layers, was already on the right track. so we amped up the color, added some fun geometric touches, and piled on layers of texture for this belgian-style-inspired outfit.

i started with the idea of transforming the classic cardigan into a garment made with woven fabrics... which, it turns out, is a jacket. yep, seems pretty obvious in retrospect. this three-button jacket has raglan sleeves, exaggerated front panels, and an a-line shape that gives it a nice swing. it is also fully lined and (with the exception of the buttons in this case) fully reversible. both fabrics used are Kaffe Fassett shot cotton from Fabric Shack.

the next piece of this outfit i decided on was the leggings, inspired by the fabulous organic jersey from Stitch Organics. (currently out of stock... sad face. though i do have a little over a meter left that i think will need to be a skirt for me.) pattern used is the Go To Leggings, appropriately named as it is my go to legging pattern.

the top is a color-blocked, hi-lo hem, tunic length version of my upcoming pattern, the tumble tee. i knew that this bright blue organic jersey from Kitschy Coo was the perfect color, but it needed... something more. enter my lovely pals Kat and Max, who said "lace!" knowing that was the perfect idea, but wanting to keep the comfy feeling and ease of knit, i was very excited to find the perfect lace-like knit at Jo-Ann! to change the color-block, i simply cut the pattern horizontally where i wanted the seam to be, and then added the width of my seam allowance to that seam line on both the top and bottom pieces.








thanks for having me today, An! my girlie loves her new belgian-style outfit, and i had a lot of fun making it! happy belgian-style stitching, all... xo, rachael