I didn’t realize until the elastic was in its casing, and everything was pretty much done – only needed to sew the two tiers together. I have no idea why I didn’t see it coming – there is so much fabric around the waist of this skirt, you could fit an elephant in there – if the elastic was long enough. But I didn’t. See it coming, that is. I ended up gathering the top tier to fit the second tier, and now I can’t decide whether I should unpick a lot of seams and redo the whole thing. All that fabric around Frida’s tiny waist does take up some space…

I adore the fabric (baby corduroy) which I found at Malika & Rosa, but I only got half a metre, because that should be plenty for a small skirt – however now that I used everything making the waist of this skirt (yep), I have next to nothing left. What to do, what to do… In the meantime, Frida absolutely loves the skirt – I’m not sure she sees the problem!

A few days ago, I mentioned here that Rae is doing her Spring Top Week again – and it’s open for entries now! Being last years winner, she has asked me if I would like to be part of the jury this year, and of course I would love to! I am so happy and proud to be included, because the rest of the jury is made up by 9 incredibly talented women – I’m sure it’ll be lots of fun.

I’ll get back to that some other day – but right now I’m just feeling so internet-lucky! The internet is an amazing place to get together with like-minded people – online as well as IRL. During this past weekend, I was at my third bloggers meetup with an amazing group of girls who have their blogs and a great deal of creative talent in common – and then we have come to see that we really just share so much more than that, and I love being part of it.

Lucky me!

I made a Lickety Split bag for spring a while ago as a gift for a special blog-friend. I didn’t show you then, but it’s more than appropriate now, because I think I can say with confidence, that spring is finally here!

These are pictures from yesterday afternoon, when the girls and I enjoyed the sun in the garden. Mads was out with his friend Martin and thousands of other motorcyclists celebrating the annual opening of Bakken Amusement Park – the oldest amusement park in the world. (If you’re curious, the first to paragraphs here explain the event rather well.) I do believe they enjoyed themselves as well!

So now that I’ve proved to you that spring is really here – this is the Lickety Split in my dotted spring-version.

I made it just the same way as usual (previous versions here and here) – followed Rae‘s pattern, and added sew-in interfacing to give it a touch more body and a magnetic snap. I’m really fond of it, and I think the recipient was as well.

And speaking of Rae – don’t forget that her awesome Spring Top Week is about to begin. Tops can be entered from March 30th, and all the details on how to participate are on her blog. Even if you don’t participate, the amount of inspiration found in the many contributions is amazing – and that will be revealed over on Rae’s blog in the beginning of May.

It’s a gift card – for a custom made Lickety Split bag. This means that she got to choose the colour, and I went on to choose the fabric and make her the bag.

My mother-in-law decided on a purplish bag that would go with a felted wool jacket she just got for herself. Below you see the result.

The outer fabric is from Stof & Stil, and the fabric for the outer pockets and lining is from Malika & Rosa – this is actually fabric from Onion, the same Onion that makes many of the patterns I use. I was actually going to use this for the exterior of the bag, but the cotton quality was just too light for that. I do like the combination the way it turned out, though. So I followed the pattern instructions and added sew-in interfacing for padding the way I did with the one I made for myself. I also installed a magnetic snap at the opening, because it’s nice to be able to close the bag if you’re carrying a lot in it. I have missed this a few times in my own.

This has been my first sewing in quite a while, and I must say I’m happy with it – I just hope that goes for the recipient as well!

Part of my prize in the Spring Top Week was a beautiful bag designed by Rae herself, and she was kind enough as to send me the pattern as well – what I believe to be an early version of it. I love the bag, so I thought I’d give the pattern a go as well, and after making the Birdie Sling, I wanted a bag that was not quite as big, and with a different fabric combo, since I wasn’t so happy with what I did with that one. So this is my result.

For the exterior of the bag I chose Amy Butler’s Happy Dots design, and decided to go with Sandi Henderson’s Petal Party for pockets and lining – both purchased from Fabric.com, but you would be able to get them in many well-assorted fabric shops online, I believe. I wanted to add a little bit of body to this bag, and I decided to add some sew-in interfacing (Vilene Heavy Sew-In in this case). You add sew-in interfacing by cutting matching pieces, and then pretending that the interfacing is the back side of the exterior fabric (or the lining fabric) at all times. It does give you a little extra work, because you need to match up three layers when sewing everything together instead of too, but it’s really not bad, and it gives a nice slightly padded effect when you’re done. I learned working with it when I made the oilcloth backpack a while ago, and I really like the way it behaves.

I made the bag with exterior pockets going by my own measurements, as I didn’t have the measurements that Rae has used for hers. I’m not sure I will be using them all that much, because they are kind of open to anyone, but I still like them as part of the design – I think they add a nice detail to the bag. My pockets – exterior and interior – are interfaced as well. For interior pockets I chose to make a rather large one at one side of the bag (below), and a pocket for my mobile phone at the other side. Note to self: Add pockets before you close the bottom of the bag – I didn’t, and I believe Mads overheard me swearing a few times… I considered adding magnetic closure to this bag as well, but decided not to.

Conclusively, I’m so fond of my Lickety Split, and it has a perfect size for a handbag. The pattern is easy, instructions great, and the final result still looks nice and fresh. If there are any beginner sewers out there, who thought the Birdie Sling looked a bit too much (and too big perhaps), I would say they should go ahead and make this – it really is fun and easy to make with a wonderful result that you will certainly find use for. You can buy the pattern ($6) for immediate download here.

Finally, this is me with my new bag – it came shopping with me yesterday, and it did a great job!

First up, I had ordered some stuff from jcaroline creative a while ago, and I’m telling you, if you love ribbon that is the place to go! I was just stopping by for a few pieces of ribbon, and I ended up going a little bit crazy. Check this out – and this is just a small selection of my order:

Sorry guys – I know this could be an expensive acquaintance…  Note, that if you’re from Denmark, you could have a little trouble checking out – I did, as the shop system didn’t accept my Danish credit card. Don’t give up, they were so helpful and it ended up working out just fine.

So guys, do you remember a while back when I entered my light summer tunic to Rae’s Spring Top Week? And it went and won? Well, Rae just sent me a package full of gorgeous stuff that had arrived when I came home yesterday afternoon! A few peeks:

And there was a beautiful handmade belt and a sweet card as well! And she mailed me the pattern for her wonderful Toddler Backpack which will be perfect for either one of the girls, when I get around to making it. This has to be my favourite, though – the Lickety Split Bag!

I’m going to agree with her – it’s a perfect bag for nearly anything! It’ll find great use here – for outings, trips to the beach, visiting friends, etc. And she even included the pattern, so I’m definitely going to give it a go!

Thank you so much, Rae – I love it all! Next time you do something like the Spring Top Week – i’m in!

It’s just incredible – my top actually won out of the hundred tops in the Spring Top Week, and there were so many beautiful ones there!

So I just want to say thank you to all you guys who voted for my top. And the same goes to you, Rae – if you are reading along; lots of thank you’s for hosting the Spring Top Week, and making it such a fun and inspirational event to participate in!

Thank you all!

OK – I’m late, so I’ll just get right down to it. Spring Top Week over at Made By Rae was a huge success, with 100 posted spring tops! There are so many gorgeous ones and it’s great for inspiration, so I really recommend taking a look. Rae made some awesome tops herself!

The voting is running at the moment, and though I don’t think I’ll be in the winning league, I’d love for you to head over there and vote for my top. If you like it, that is! In case you don’t recognize it, I’m picture A in group 2.

Thanks guys – I’ll let you know soon what has been going on here the past week!

I just love it all! I have been cutting fabric for a summer top for myself – yes, that’s right – another garment for myself. I have decided to take part in Spring Top Week over at Made By Rae, so I’ve better make a few things to choose from… It’s a wonderful idea and a great initiative, by the way – you should really join in the fun. Click the button below to learn the details. (It’ll also give you an excuse to browse through some gorgeous photos from Italy…)

Mads and the girls picked me up at the train station coming home from work today. We all went to Vallø Castle to take a walk in the park, and Mads had brought bread for the ducks there. It was a perfect afternoon. The weather has been beautiful today, warm and mild. Frida was chasing ducks, going “RAP, RAP” (Danish ducks say this instead of “quack”) with a huge smile on her face, Ronja was enthusiastically throwing bread crumbs, and we were all just lazily enjoying the fact that the weekend has started, and there’s definitely a change of season on its way. We ended our walk by going into the yard of the castle, to check whether the 12 Dancing Princesses by any chance would be dancing in there. They weren’t – and the girls rode on our shoulders back to the car.

In our garden, the leaves are coming out on Frida’s heart tree – it’s going to be a wonderful weekend.