Just wanted to show you Frida in her new dress – I think she’s beautiful, but I may be biased…

The sun showed itself yesterday! Following days and days of nothing but greyness, it was quite amazing to see the long shadows that were cast on the snow. I was driving in the car with Frida, and she complained about getting the sun in her eyes. Complained! Of course, I had to tell her to get her priorities straight – not sure she knew what I meant, though.

I made her this dress a few days ago, and I love it – it looks even cuter on her. I’m sorry to say it’s made from Onion 20022 again, but seriously this pattern has been worth every øre (penny or dime would sound better, but it just wouldn’t be true) I paid for it. Check out everything I made from the pattern right here. This dress is made from Hilco velvet (love, love, love it) from Malika & Rosa and cotton from Joel Dewberry found at Fabric.com.

Now, it’s Friday night, and I’m looking forward to the weekend. Let’s do a quick wrap-up.

Mads will be home in an hour or two after a few days of work in Stokesley, UK. Remember the photo of Ronja in the Lucia parade? Well, it just won a global Christmas season photo contest in my company, and an iPod Touch will be arriving in the mail soon. Nice. Also I have realized that there are job opportunities out there, and some of them seem not so far off – so now I just need to find the right one, and get it! It’ll be a nice weekend!

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!

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…

However, I made something simple.

Or at least, it should have been. It has been in the category of unfinished stuff for quite some time – basically it didn’t turn out the way it should have. First I didn’t like the neckline from the original pattern, so I redrew the neckline while wearing the top and looking in a mirror. Then I wanted to finish the neckline and the sleeves with bias tape, but it just didn’t work out – I think I may need some practice in that department. The neckline kind of stood up in a funny way, so I undid the seam, and didn’t get any further.

A while ago, when my mother was visiting, she gave me the idea to make a facing instead. For a while I still didn’t get around to it, but this weekend, I did. I drew the pattern for the facing with the top as my template. Cut the facing in a different fabric to add a bit of contrast. And for something that initially didn’t turn out the way I wanted it, I’m pretty happy with it. This is me wearing my Ginger Blossom top. The pattern is an Onion pattern – 5005, however heavily modified.

And this is Frida – she knows where I keep my sewing machine…  Also, she models the “Vilkas” pants - already a favourite.

If anyone is unsure about the difference between velvet and velour – I was too. So I googled a bit and came up with two pretty good explanations:

“Velvet is a form of textile that is woven on a special loom. It is a tufted fabric in which the cut threads are very evenly distributed, giving it its distinct feel. Velvet can be made from any fiber. Two pieces of velvet must be woven at the same time. They are then cut apart and the two lengths of fabric are wound on separate take-up rolls. Looms which weave velvet must have two takeup rolls. Velvet’s knitted counterpart is velour. Velvet was very expensive.
Corduroy and velveteen, when first produced, were considered the “poor man’s velvet”. Velour is a form of textile, a knitted counterpart of velvet. It combines the stretchy properties of knits such as spandex with the rich appearance and feel of velvet. It is used in dancewear for the ease of movement it affords. Velour is also popular for warm,
colorful casual clothing.”

“The term velvet versus velour specifically refers to the construction of the fabric, not the fiber it is made of.
Velvet is a woven backed fabric with the cut pile, no stretch. Velour is a knit fabric with the cut pile, stretchy.
Both fabrics come in all sorts of fibers, from silk to cotton and many synthetic blends.
Woven fabrics are stiffer and more durable, but only have a bit of stretch on the bias. Knit fabrics are softer and drapier and a bit less durable, but they are nice and stretchy.”

There, that should settle it. So anyway, I made the pants.

I cut up the traced pattern in order to combine the velvet with some pretty embroidered fine cord which I have used once before, but other than that, I didn’t make any changes.

Everything went really easy, and the fit of these pants is great. In spite of the fact that I didn’t use a stretchy fabric for them, they are easy to get on and off, and the material works really well for a pair of baby pants. They will be nice and warm for the upcoming autumn, so all in all, I’m really happy with them.

And now for something completely different….

Computers – internet – blogosphere… Don’t you think modern technology is an amazing thing? Don’t you just love the possibilities the computer and the internet brings us? And aren’t you amazed at how the internet and the blogosphere can bring people together and minimize any distance as shown on a map?

I know I am! Every time I start thinking about it, it just blows my mind. I consider myself lucky to have been born into the internet age, and I was reminded about it again yesterday when this arrived in the mail from California:

Lisa who has the wonderful blog Bon Souvenir and her daughter Saga (“what a cool name”, Mads said – and he’s right too) sent a little something for Ronja and Frida. She wants to give them the opportunity to learn English from traditional English children’s songs by sending two music cd’s, which is such a sweet thought. Had you been here yesterday, you would have seen our two girls dancing around to the sound of Three Little Kittens, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Humpty Dumpty. And oh yes, Frida dances too – she holds on to the coffee table and bounces up and down – quite a sight, I tell you! Thank you so much, Lisa – we’re going to have loads of fun with this! I have no doubt you will be a popular teacher in your beautifully decorated classroom!