Clowns and Angels

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Yesterday, we all went to Fastelavn – you know, the thing I told you about the other day. And Ronja was indeed an angel – here she is on the wings.

On the wings 

On the wings  

Saturday I had been making an outfit for Frida as well – a clown costume to be exact. I based the costume on the Onion pattern 10009 that includes a pair of basic loose pants, and a blouse that buttons on one shoulder. I modified them a bit – the pants are meant for rib at the lining and at the ancles, but I decided that elastics in dotted casings would work better for my tiny clown. The blouse pattern is meant for a knit, and has a rib at the neckline – I switched it and went with wovens and a clown collar at the neckline. I covered the collar edge with bias tape, made from the same fabric as the collar. Then I embellished it with a tiny pocket and two flower-buttons.

A colourful clown 

I threw all kinds of colourful fabric in the pool; Michael Miller, Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett, and a bunch of other stuff - and above you can see how it all turned out. Below, you can see the caring big sister holding hands with the little clown, while they’re having their picture taken together with Ronja’s friends Emma and Ida.

Fastelavn 

The Fastelavn-party took place in a gym, and all the kids lined up in different lines according to their age, to beat the cat out of the barrel (this very traditional event at Fastelavn has got to make no sense to many of you – read more about it here - about halfway down). Ronja had fun with her friends, and although I think the experience was a little overwhelming to Frida, she found it exciting as well.

Afterwards, Frida and I went to meet with my mothers group. It has been quite a while since the last time, because we’re all working now – but we had such a nice time, and the kids are just growing up so quickly. It was great to see them all again, and to watch the children play! Frida was exceptionally tired when we went home, so she had herself a good long afternoon nap.

Ottilia angel

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Yesterday evening, I finished Ronja’s angel costume, which is based on the Ottilia dress from Ottobre winter, 2007.

Angel costume with wings and headband 

It’s made up of a dress, an underdress, a headband (as a halo), and a pair of wings. For most of the dress, I used white cotton and baby cord, which was pretty cheap. For the hem panel of the underdress, I added a layer of silverish net fabric over the fine cord to make it glisten a little, and for the dress itself, I ironed on rhinestones, edged the sleeves with feather boa, and added two types of silver ribbon. I left out all the frills, because I don’t find frills particularly angelic – angels are more into serenity, if y’all know what I mean… For the headband I found some silver elastic, and as for the wings – well, I went and got those from a toy shop… Sorry! Pretty much everything except the wings came from Stof og Stil – a Danish fabric store.

Ronja has a pair of slightly silverish sandals, which she will be wearing with the costume.

Ottilia angel mosaic 

The dress came together easily enough, actually. I really don’t feel the need to gather anything anytime soon, but then at the same time, I’m totally in practice! The silver ribbons were a bit stiff, which made the curve on the edge of the dress kind of tricky, but that went fine as well. I used elastic tape for gathering the sleeves in the middle, like the instructions say, and I must say, that is just brilliant – so easy! I used blanket stitches to edge the sleeves, to have something to pull the boa through. The boa can then be taken out, when the dress needs washing – which believe me, it will! Thanks to my invisible zipper foot, the zipper didn’t cause me any trouble either, so really – everything just went together quite nicely.

Feather boa edging the sleeves 

Need I say that Ronja loves this costume? And need I say, that I wonder how our 4-year old will look after a few hours in an all white dress, when she isn’t quite as angelic as she starts out?  ;)

Nevertheless – I really like this one! Good thing we have two girls!

**UPDATE**

Rikki just mentioned the fact that she has no clue what this costume is for. Of course, Rikki – that didn’t even cross my mind. Most readers of my blog won’t know, so that’s a pretty good point! Thanks!

In Denmark we celebrate Fastelavn at the end of February. I believe a common translation is shrovetide. In Denmark we don’t usually dress up for Halloween the way other parts of the world are known to, so fastelavn is basically our carnival. You can read a bit more about it here.

A year of sewing

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I’ll just start this post off with a reminder: There are still lots and lots of links out there pointing to my old url http://astrid.thusgaard.com – so please update your links and feeds, as the new url is www.connectingthedots.dk. Same blog, still me behind it - and I really need you all to come along! Also, thank you to those of you who have it changed already – I really appreciate it!  ;)

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That said, I’m here to tell you that I have been sewing for a year now – one whole year!

A while ago, Chris and Jeannine posted about their sewing history, and I wanted to share as well – however, I decided to wait for my sewing anniversary, which is now – like right now!

Sewing history 

Like most people in Denmark, I had sewing classes when I went to school – I think it was about the time when I was 13-14 years old. The class was about learning the basics on how to use a sewing machine. I don’t really remember making much, but I do remember sewing in paper, trying to make straight and equal lines and stuff like that.

Since then, I haven’t really been sewing – until last year. Ronja needed a dress for shrovetide – just like this year – and I went and bought one at a costume sale. I wasn’t quite pleased with it, though, so I bought some ribbon, sequins, and little fabric roses, in order to spice it up a bit. So I spent a lot of time sewing them on to the dress by hand, and Ronja loved it, even if I still wasn’t completely happy with it.

Princess 

Anyway, this got me started. I realized that in order to get things the way I wanted them, I would just have to get out my inherited sewing machine and start sewing. Went and bought some Onion-patterns and fabric at a local sewing shop, and when I came back to buy more Onion-patterns, the shop owner asked me if I’d heard about Ottobre – it would be cheaper for me in the long run. Just guess how much I appreciate that piece of advice! Got my first magazine in Swedish, which was how I found out that I completely DO NOT understand sewing terms in Swedish, so when I decided to subscribe one week later, I ordered my subscription in English. A few weeks later, I bought my new sewing machine – a Pfaff 2027 – and I love it!

After that, I have been sewing lots of stuff for the children – just check out the mosaic above. And that isn’t even all. I have been learning so much, not least from the Ottobre English Sewing Group, which I have mentioned a few times before. I was afraid that when I started working, it would be hard to find the time, but now after two months “out there”, I still love spending an evening with the sewing machine, so that doesn’t seem to be a problem.

Tonight, I’m adding the final touches to Ronja’s angel costume – I will show you soon, promise!

The girl in the window

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I just left work, and while I was walking to the train, a bird was singing – you know, spring-like! I immediately started dreaming of bursting buds, sunshine, and warmer temperatures. It won’t be long – right?

The girl in the window 

This is Ronja modeling her rose dress.

I must say that I find the [lack of] light at the moment utterly uninspiring – which leads me back to dreaming of spring. Can’t wait!

Roses for Ronja

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This weekend I did some sewing. I bought a delicious Hilco velvet a few weeks ago at Dots N Stripes – who are having a sale at the moment. There’s still a few months of winter left in Denmark, so it’s not too late to make a nice and warm dress for Ronja, which is what I did. It’ll be great for our chilly spring as well – oh, just thinking about spring! :)

 

I have been looking at the fully lined “Betty” pinafore dress from Ottobre 06/07 a few times, but earlier the number of pattern pieces kind of scared me, so it took me a while to work up the nerve. However, with this fabric it seemed like an obvious choice, so I decided to go for it.

The dress did present a challenge to me, I assure you. I haven’t tried making pleats before, so that was something new - but that wasn’t really what I found difficult. The cursing started while I was making the pockets. Gathering the pockets and attaching the binding was terrible -  probably because I chose to make the bias tape for the binding from a very light weight quilting cotton. Next time I would definitely go with something more sturdy – a medium weight would do it, I believe. The binding continued to give me trouble, due to the light weight fabric, which was a bit of an agony. Also, I seem to never be quite sure as to how to finish the binding at the ends – folding it under, around, or whatever. I think it ended up looking ok, but it has a few imperfections (yep, that’s what I choose to call them) on the inside of the dress.

I gotta tell you though, on the positive side, one of the highlights of making this dress was the zipper. For Christmas I got an invisible zipper foot for my Pfaff 2027, and even though you do still have to make sure everything’s aligned and stuff like that, it just totally takes care of the most difficult thing about attaching the zipper for you – well, almost anyway. It worked wonders, and I’m really happy with the result – if you do a lot of invisible zipper sewing, I would definitely recommend this little thingy. I just realized, I didn’t even get a photo of the back – that’ll be included when Ronja models it.

Another highlight was just the thrill of making it – because even though I didn’t find it easy at all times, it was so pleasing to get out the sewing machine and work on a project. Oh, and Ronja loves the dress, so what’s not to be happy about?

Next up is making her a costume for shrovetide – she wants to go as an angel…

One princess to go, please

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 Last weekend, Ronja was going to a princess gala party at a friend’s place. A few days ahead of it, I accidentally promised her, that I would make a new dress for the event, and I thought it would be fun. Furthermore, I thought that it wouldn’t be that much work – doh…! I was planning on using one of the patterns from Ottobre, that I used previously, so tracing wouldn’t be an issue, and I would just modify, whatever I needed to.

Ronja's princess dress 

It took longer than expected… I even think it took longer than the original tie-back tunic which did also present a bit of a challenge, mainly due to the ties. This challenge was different, though. I never made a tulle skirt before, so I had to figure out how to do that. I found a Danish tutorial online, and used that in combination with my own thoughts on how to do it.

For the bodice I used crushed velvet, and for the skirt I found this funny fabric that has elastic sewn into it, gathering it up in points, which I found to be very princessy. I didn’t foresee how heavy it would be on top of the tulle skirt, so the skirt doesn’t stand out quite as much as I imagined it. The belt is made with a dark purple confetti sequin knit fabric like this one (though not quite the same colour), which you can’t see very well in this photo – it’s rather dark around here at the moment, even during the days, so it’s hard to get good shots. The belt fabric might have worked better in a lighter colour, but this was what I had lying around, and Ronja likes it. The belt is tied in a bow on the back of the dress, and above that the bodice is closed with two bows. I didn’t sew the ties to the outside of the bodice, the way it’s originally designed, instead I sewed on some ribbons into the seam between the bodice shell and lining.

Ronja's princess dress 

A few things don’t show very well in these pictures. For instance I sewed on sequins all the way along the neckline, and I gathered up the skirt in four places to make the tulle skirt visible, covering the gathers with rows of sequins. Also I found a star appliqué in one of my local sewing shops, which I used to embellish the bodice. I could have done much more, but I ran out of time, and it ended up looking very much like a princess dress, I think. The only thing I’m not entirely happy with is the belt – in spite of the belt loops, it crawls up above the waist line, so I may have to sew it onto the dress, and just leave 20 cm loose in the back, so that it can be tied to fit the waist of the princess. I’m still wondering whether I should make a belt that’s lighter – white with stars maybe…  I think that would fit Ronja’s taste as well. ;)

Don’t forget to enter the Onion-pattern give-away!

White world

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 I woke up to a beautiful sight this morning. Our garden is covered in snow, the sun is shining, and moments ago I sent Mads and Ronja off with a sled to play in the snow.

Ice on the branches 

So what am I doing back here? I’m sitting on the couch, covered with a warm duvet. Frida and I took over Mads’ flu that put him out of business for a few days, and now I just hope that she and I will be well for tomorrow when there’s a big Christmas party at Mads’ work.

Karen and her family were supposed to visit us today, but of course I had to cancel that as well. Bummer. However, 12 hours on a plane isn’t much fun if you’re coming down with the flu, so it’s a good thing they will be back sometime during the next year!

 I promised you guys a picture of Frida wearing the Dolly daisy dress, and this is it.

Frida modeling the Dolly daisy dress 

There was just no way to get her to stand and not chase the camera, so you will have to do with this sitting image of the dress. I can just see her wearing this dress along with the little red shoes from my own childhood – she’ll be adorable.

I have been receiving a few e-mails and comments about the Onion-patterns that I have used quite a bit. I think you will be interested to know, that coming up in my next post, I’ll be announcing a give-away. Maria from ShopOnion.com has been kind enough to donate some patterns for you guys – and no worries, the patterns come with an English translation. So check back soon! :)

Dolly daisy dress

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When I found this fabric at my local sewing shop a few weeks ago, it was love at first sight! I didn’t get it at the time, mainly due to the price, but when I returned there this Friday, I had to take it home with me.

Over the weekend it has been transformed into a dress for Frida – the “Dolly” dress from the latest issue of Ottobre.

Dolly daisy dress  

It looks like an easy project, but I have to admit that this one did fight me a bit of the way. I think mainly because I just don’t know the right technique for sewing in an invisible zipper, and I find it really difficult to make it look the way it’s supposed to. This is my second attempt at it – my first one was with the China grass dress for Ronja, and I think in comparison, this one went easier – at least a little. Then there was the elastics for the sleeves – their diameter is so tiny that it was really difficult to work with, and I had to redo one of them.

Dolly daisy dress - sleeve 

The dress is quite wide, so if you wish to alter that, you should consider tracing a smaller size for width. I really like it, though – I think that the wide garments look adorable, especially on little girls. One might argue, that using the same fabric for the entire dress doesn’t show off the design of it very well – however, I’m fond of the way that it makes the pattern design kind of subtle, yet important.

Dolly daisy dress - yoke 

Summing up, I loooooove this dress! The shape is beautiful, I love the yoke and the puffy sleeves, and the colours of the fabric change with every kind of light that falls on it. I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends up being the dress that Frida wears for Christmas.

By the way, I did a bit of research on the fabric, and I found that it is from Stenzo Kids, and you can get it here – at Banberry Place. Now, a few minutes ago, I discovered some online video tutorials on YouTube – among them one for sewing invisible zippers – it looks very detailed, so I’m off to learn more! (The link goes to the first out of 16 videos on the subject.) Don’t you just love the internet?