Apple blouse for Frida

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I received some wonderful fabric earlier this week – some of the designs from Sandi Henderson‘s new line “Farmer’s Market”. And today I could not help myself – while Mads was out cycling, I made a little blouse for Frida. There’s nothing to it – it’s so simple. But you just gotta love it, because of the fabric. It’s such a cheerful, lively and sweet design, and yet so simple.

Apple blouse for Frida 

I serged it together which went really easily, though I must say I find it a bit harder to be accurate when I’m using a serger compared to my beloved sewing macine. The blouse went together quickly, and the only difficult thing about it was that I didn’t have a pattern for it – or actually I did have a pattern, but it was nowhere near Frida’s size. So I used an Onion-pattern for a size 92 and downsized it to something like a 68/74 - taking into consideration that a baby’s proportions are not the same as those of a 2-3 year old. That went well – initially the sleeves were too long, but luckily that’s one of the easy things to fix. I was thinking about adding elastics to the sleeves, but I decided that I like the loose look for a summer blouse, so I’m going with this. If I change my mind, the hems on the sleeves still have room for adding the elastic.

Apple blouse for Frida 

Now that the work is done, another great thing is I can use the pattern I drafted for the similar peasant blouse I wanted to make for Frida’s pants. However, that’s gonna have to wait a bit.

While I was sewing, Ronja was sitting next to me, writing!

Writing her name  

She now only needs a reminder here and there to write her own name, which I think is so cool – and she’s totally doing it for fun, which is even more cool. When I’m sewing, I also allow her to play with the pins – it does get out of hand once in a while, but as long as it doesn’t, we’re just having a really nice time together.

This is the 2nd day of our vacation, and given that maternity leave is not the quickest way to fortune, and since we still need to get away for a while, we’re looking at last minute travel deals. At the moment it looks like we may be going to Greece in a few days – but we’ll see… In the meantime the weather here is marvellous!

Boys pants for Frida

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I did a bit of sewing today and made a pair of pants for Frida.

 New pants for Frida

The pattern I used is one from the Ottobre issue 01/2006, and even though there is one for girls, I chose to use the one for boys - just like that one better. For a while I have been looking at the rest of the linen I used for the “Tie-back” tunic,  and I have wanted to try to match it with another Sandi Henderson design from the Ginger Blossom line. I decided that these pants would work well for that combo.

 It did prove to be a bit of a challenge, since the printed fabric proved to be off the grainline. While cutting, I had to kind of come up with a compromise between following the grainline and following the design. If I had gone by the grainline only, it would’ve looked like I let Frida cut it on her own - which I didn’t. I think it went fairly well in spite of the grainline-issue, though – there are not that many straight lines, so you don’t really see it unless you look closely, as well as know what to look for.

The pants came together nicely – the only problems I had were caused by the vividness of the linen. It stretches and moves quite a bit more than the quilting cotton, which makes it hard to control at times. Anyway, I didn’t have serious issues this time, and I even decided to try out one of my sewing machine’s decorative stitches!

Girls pants from the boys pants pattern - detail 

The pants are a bit big for Frida still – I made them in a size 68, and I worried that they might be too small, but no need. I would like to make a small peasant blouse to go with it – we’ll see if I get around to it!

Kindergarten dress

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So I promised to tell you what I was making yesterday, and this is it:

Kindergarten dress - mosaic

The last two dresses I have made for Ronja have been kind of “dressy” and not really suitable for wearing to kindergarten. Yesterday when Ronja once again announced that she wanted to wear a dress to kindergarten, it made me think, that I should make more things for her that were meant for everyday wear. I wanted it to be simple without too much detail work, but at the same time something nice, that she would want to wear. For simple things that are easy to sew up, I look to Onion patterns (Danish Onion site – English Onion site). That is really one of the things, that I love about Onion – they are just so easy; easy to trace, because there are hardly any overlaps in the pattern sheet, and easy to sew, because of the detailed instructions - perfect for not having to think too much. Which is, with the amount of sleep I’m getting now that Frida gets up at 4:45 am, a very important asset. If you are a beginner, and you want to start sewing on your own, I so recommend Onion.

This pattern was one of the first patterns I ever made, back in February when I started sewing. I made a dress that was more wintery with a sturdy velour and long sleeves. This time I wanted to make something that was definitely meant for summer, and I wanted it to have cheerful colours. Once I had these fabrics layed out next to each other, I had no doubt, they were going to be the ones. I once again ended up with a Sandi Henderson fabric from the Ginger Blossom-line, and this time I matched it with a red and white gingham. I altered the neckline that is originally made with a tie-string in the pattern to have an elastic instead. I think tie-strings are mostly trouble, and at the kindergarten they actually don’t allow them, because of the suffocating-risk.

Now, one of the things I wasn’t so happy about with the last dress I made using this pattern, was how I made the pockets. The pockets for both dresses is something I added, but last time I interfaced the pockets a bit too heavily, so that it kind of destroyed the draping of the dress. I wanted one pocket on this dress, and since the gingham is a very light quality, I decided to interface it with a light interfacing, and then cross my fingers that the dress would still drape nicely. And it does!

This was a very easy project (everybody in the blog world is talking about how some projects are quick and easy – I think it’ll be a while yet before I describe sewing a garment as ‘quick’ – LOL), but I must say I love this dress! I really like the colouring as well as the shape of it. Things don’t have to be complicated in order to be beautiful – this is probably one of my own favourites!

At least the bees were busy…

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Bumble bee in a lavender  

Today has been kind of a slow and calm day. Mads left early for a meeting in Jutland, and he dropped off Ronja at kindergarten on the way, so I didn’t need to think about that. I was really supposed to host the meeting in my mothers group today, but with Frida still snotty, and me having a sore throat, I didn’t want to risk passing it on to all the babies. So the mothers group for today was moved to Rikke from the group, who lives just around the corner.

The pencil I use for tracing patterns 

While Frida was taking her first nap, I made myself a cup of coffee, and started looking at patterns to possibly make something for Ronja. The morning passed while I traced the pattern, cut the fabric and sat at the sewing machine. What you see above, is the pencil I use for tracing patterns – it just has to be a good karma pencil, don’t you think? Picking it up puts you in a creative and quite cheery mood. It’s actually Ronja’s, but she doesn’t mind my using it – much… Frida got up at one point, and in between her eating and playing on the floor, she was a great help! ;) And for those of you who spotted it already, the fabric is Sandi Henderson once again – coincidence really, she just makes a lot of beautiful fabrics. I’ll let you know what I have made tomorrow.

Frida was a great help 

Mads got home in the afternoon, and we walked to the kindergarten to pick up Ronja. The weather has been nice and warm, and Frida was sitting in the pram, squinting in the sunlight, and clearly enjoying the walk. Mads had taken Ronja’s bike to the kindergarten when he dropped her off this morning – we sometimes do that because she loves to bike home. It doesn’t happen that often, that we both go there to pick up Ronja, but when it does, she just lights up when she spots us, and it’s a joy to see! So we walked back again, and spent a little time in the garden, where the bees were busy going from flower to flower, and I snapped a few photos.

 Bumble bee in a flower

Two teeth and a romper

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Frida had her first two teeth yesterday. She likes it symmetric, I guess - can’t have the mess of getting one tooth at a time. And well, ever since yesterday, she has been attacking her food in stead of just opening her mouth. When the spoon approaches, she throws herself forward in the chair, biting the spoon when it enters her mouth. She doesn’t get the target right every time, though, and oat meal in one eye isn’t all that pretty…  ;) I don’t know if the teeth make her believe that she is a predator that has to attack and bring down the porridge before she eats it – but anyway she looks hilarious, and I have a good laugh while feeding her!

Girl's romper - mosaic 

So this morning I finished a girl’s romper that I started sewing yesterday. And it really is a girl’s romper – very girly fabric from Sandi Henderson and a sunflower appliqué on the back – which I’m totally thrilled about. I wanted it to be cheerful and colourful, and I think I achieved that! I left out the frills, since they’re not very much my style. The romper is from the Ottobre issue 03/07, and I really like the way it turned out! The only thing I’m not so fond of is the front pocket – the shape isn’t quite as it should be, because I didn’t manage to get the edge at its bottom rounded enough. Furthermore, if I were to make this pattern again, I think I would make the pocket slightly bigger, so that the proportions were nicer. Otherwise I would just use a decorative tag instead – like the example given in Ottobre for the boy’s model.

Frida modeling the girl's romper 

I meant for the romper to be used for all this warm weather we have been having, so naturally today it isn’t warm at all, and it’s really windy… It fits her perfectly, but a good thing is that it’s expandable by two extra buttons – it’ll last a while yet before she outgrows it. I definitely recommend this pattern!

Catwalk

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Let me tell you, when you’re 3 years old with lots of things to do, it’s not always your preferred way of having fun to be asked to model all the miserable things that your mother insists on sewing for you. However, when the “miserable thing” is a dress that looks princess-like when you’re twirling, and you actually do get to twirl while modeling – at least some of the time - there’s no problem!  ;)

So this is Ronja wearing the tie-back tunic. The most twirly pictures were altogether a blur, so I picked the one that came closest to showing the main character.

And this one that shows the back of the dress properly.

I should probably make something for Frida next in order to give Ronja a break from the catwalk.

And now, the weather is way too nice to be sitting here, so no more from me at the moment!  :)