No pink stuff today!

I don't sew pink dresses all the time! It's about time I show off my little boy again.

I have made him quite a few raglan sweaters and he loves them.  I blogged about one here and two here and now I'm going to show you two more!

Gaman!

First I want to thank all of you who took the time to read my last blogpost and for all the 

amazing comments - WOW!  

I have gotten some questions on if I plan to start selling some of my creations.  Lately I've been thinking about how I would go about doing that.  I do have a none sewing related job and 4 kids to take care of so I think I would have to base it on special orders.  

I don't have the capacity to sew up whole collections in many sizes and colors.  

Not yet anyway!

My good friend Lena, who is an amazingly talented painter asked me if I could incorporate some of the characters  from her paintings into childrens clothes.  I have been playing around with that idea for some time now, I'm sorry Lena I'm so slow!  Since I have no experience in pattern designing I have been trying out different patterns where the designer allows the sewer to sell items created from the pattern on a small scale.  

So far this is what we have come up with.

We call our project Gaman, which is Icelandic for fun.  A web page is in the makings as well. 

Anita has a new outfit!

Sometimes I have SO many sewing plans but just can't seem to get anything done.
Or at least so it feels but since my last blog post I have sewn I think 5 dresses, two cardigans and some matryoshka bins.

The reason I haven't been blogging recently about my sewing adventures is that I am not liking my photos.  I totally do not understand my camera settings now that I have to take pictures inside due to the colder weather, even though my husband has tried to explain this to me I just can't seem to get it right.  Maybe I should just make him be in charge of the photoshots.  

So I am sorry if the photos you see here are very far from perfect.  

Any tips are welcome!!

Today I'll share with you a Norah dress a pattern by Mouse House Creations and 

an Aster cardigan a pattern by LBG Studio for Willow & co

 I made for Anita.

The Fawn Lily.

I have one projected from last summer that I haven't blog about yet, and that is because the photos I took aren't that good.  Even though Anita has worn the dress a lot I haven't gotten around to take new photos so I'm just going to go ahead and post the ones I have.

The dress is The Fawn Lily a pattern by Rock the Stitch for Willow & Co. 

Pants with a happy ending.

Since I have decided not to buy any clothes for Anita and Viktor, at least now for the time being, I really needed to make Viktor some pants.  So I printed out the pattern for the Kudzo Cargos by Charming Doodle for Willow and Co and thought I would make him the skinny version.  And so I did in size 5. Thankfully I tried them on him before attaching the waistband and I panicked!
They were way to tight on him!

What to do - what to do??

Well, I had enough fabric to make a new one and Anita could always use a pair of pants as well.  But she is not in a size 5 by far.  Then I read in the instructions that one could add elastic to the waistband, so that's what I did and just shortened them some.  And BAM they both got a new pair of pants!

Getting ready for fall.

I figured Anita needed some pants and sweaters for this upcoming season.  

I mean even a princess can't wear dresses all the time.  So I've been stocking up on 

knits and fabric for pants lately.

My happy dude!

It just melts my heart that Viktor and Anita really love the clothes I make them - so far at least!  

Viktor has been waiting patiently all week to wear his new clothes to daycare so last night we had a quick photo shot so he could wear it today.  And this morning Anita threw a massive tantrum because she wanted to wear her blue dress ( the skater dress ) but it needs to be washed so after a lot of bargaining she put on the clothes I had found for her.

Back to Viktors outfit.  I made him a pair of Tree Climber Trousers by Go To Patterns 

and a Recess Raglan by See Kate Sew. 

A Skater Girl

As we transition from summer into fall it is time to start on my fall/winter sewing for Anita and Viktor. At the moment I'm working on an outfit for Viktor but I'm not ready to share that one just yet but don't worry I do have something to show you. 

Yesterday I sewed up a Skater Dress for Anita.  The Skater Dress is a Kitschy Coo pattern which I got as part of my August patterns from The Sewing Rabbit. Which by the way is a great club to be in if you want to expand your pattern collection, for just $ 10 a month you get 3 new patterns each month and so far at least all the patterns have been great!

Accessories for boys

I always get so frustrated when I try to buy accessories for my little ones.  There is this huge selection for girls, just name it and they have it!  And then in the boys department there are like a few belts, caps and band-aids maybe, at least that was the selection last time I went to H&M.

Anita has her Hello Kitty handbag with her everywhere she goes, she even sleeps with it!  Viktor being only 18 months older than she is, they kind of do everything together and always want the same stuff, so he has been borrowing her other Hello Kitty handbag for his treasures.

So armed with Pinterest and a sewing machine I knew I just had to make him a cool messenger bag.  I bought some fabric with pictures of cars on it, but he didn't like it and insisted on a Lightning McQueen bag.  My local fabric store didn't have that kind of fabric but they did have some iron-on patches so I got that and some red and blue fabric.  I used this tutorial for the bag but I cheated and bought a ready made strap.

I am a Casual Lady.

Ok friends just a heads up, this post is not going to be picture heavy since my model this time around is far from being as cute and cooperative as my usual ones.

I have sewn the first piece of clothing for myself!  It is the Casual Lady by Go To Patterns.  I have had this pattern for some time now but I got the kick in the but I needed to sew it up now as it was included in the Pattern Member Club for July.
This was super easy and took me only a couple of hours.  I made a size small, but I added a bit to the width of the lower half because my body has that weird shape and its even worse now after all the bbq this summer!

So here goes...

We LOVE Charlie!

July has been a great month with summer vacation, fabulous weather here in Norway and of course 3 new patterns for us in the sewing rabbit pattern member club. I already had the Casual Lady pattern but I haven't sewn it up yet, but now I have my pieces cut out and ready to go as soon as I am done writing this post.

I so want to make the Fedora Hat for both Viktor and Anita, I just can't decide on what fabric to make them in.

What I have made is the Charlie Dress and we LOVE it!! Usually Anita is happy with what I make for her as long as it is pink, but when she saw this one she squealed and her eyes lit up like if I had given her the whole world!

This is the first pattern by Mingo & Grace and it was first released to pattern members.

I sewed up a size 3 and I really like the fit. It is a little roomy on my skinny little girl but I like that it isn't constraining in any way now during the warm summertime and that she will be able to wear it with layers in the fall and winter.

The bias binding on the neck and armholes through me off for a while. I just could not understand it! But after playing with it for some time a light finally came on in my head and it was a smooth sailing after that.

I'm so proud of how my horizontal lines match up on the back!  High five to myself!

I bought the fabric a few months ago from Miss Matatabi, its called Japanese Fabric Rectangles in pink. I really like the texture it gives the dress.

The Charlie Dress is great for twirling, maybe too great as most of my photos were blurry.  But I can live with that because the dress is cute and my girl is cute and soooo HAPPY!

 Its also great for jumping up and down!

 And for singing!

 Playing on the playground!

 Hunting butterflies aka stones!

 And riding a bike!

I have decided that I am going to make all Anitas and Viktors regular cloths for at least the next year so I'm sure I'll be making some more Charlies.  In fact I have already picked up a fabric for another one.

So the conclusion is two thumbs up from the both of us!

Love 

Dagbjört.

Sommertime!

Hello friends!  

I am still here and still sewing so I have some catching up to do here on my blog!  

We are enjoying our summer vacation, even though it started with our 4 year old getting the chickenpox and now our youngest one has gotten it as well.  Oh well I guess it's good to have it over and done with!

Our two teenagers and I spent a few days in Paris, we had a great time checking out most of what Paris has to offer.  I never made it to the fabric stores though, but I guess my boys wouldn't have found that very interesting anyway so I'll just do that next time around.  Good to have a reason to go back there again and please don't tell my husband that we will be doing some fabric shopping when I take him on a romantic trip to Paris!  

Other than that we have been going to the beach, hiking, going to Kongeparken which is a local amusement park and just enjoying the lovely weather we have been having.  My sister in law and her son came to visit for a few days, and it's always so nice to have family and friends come visit us.

Ok then, lets get to the sewing part!

First I want to share with you my Pintuck Blouse and Dress a design by Heidi & Finn.  I'm sure I will get a lot of use out of this patterns as it goes all the way up to size 12.  This is the second Heidi & Finn pattern I sew up, the first one was the Colorblock Dress, which I haven't gotten around to take photos of yet and I'm dying to find the right fabric to make the Chic Cocktail Swing Coat.

I love the simple silhouette of this dress and the pintucks add such a nice little detail.  

The fabric is from Robert Kaufman bought at fabric.com some months ago, I couldn't find it on their site now so I guess it's sold out.  Thankfully small dresses don't use a lot of fabric so I still have some left.

I sewed up a size 3 for my 3 year old and the fit is spot on, next time though I will make the neck opening just a tiny bit bigger.  

And the best thing is that my little missy loves her dress!

Love 

Dagbjört.

The Tilly Skirt.

Anita also got to choose the fabric for my next project for her.  She had a little bit harder time to narrow her choices down to just to fabrics than Viktor did but in the end she was happy with her decision.

I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that pink is part of her combination.

I made her The Tilly skirt by sewing mama raeanne which is part of the Mai pattern bundle from the sewing rabbit pattern membership.

I sewed a size 3 for her but cut the elastic in the back an inch shorter like for size 2, I probably should have taken yet another inch of it but I was afraid that would be too much.  I guess her cute baby belly is getting smaller plus she is no longer using diapers.  

I love this skirt, it's so playful and you can totally change it up depending on the fabric combos you use.  It all came together very neatly and fast. I see many more Tilly skirts in her summer wardrobe.

Love

Dagbjört

Finally something for my little man.

I didn't have much time to sew up the April patterns from my sewing rabbit membership, but last week I whipped up The Jack and Jill Colorblock Shirt for my little man.  It is a great shirt pattern with lots of options for both boy and girl shirts from Peaches and Peanuts.  Shannon the designer behind Peaches and Peanuts also has a blog called little kids grow, which I have been following for some time now.

He had already told me that he wanted me to sew him something blue and orange and it didn't take him long to choose the fabric he wanted when I let him look at the fabrics I had on hand.  I only had scraps of the orange one so I couldn't do much colorblocking.  I'm thinking of putting orange buttons on it as well, I just have to go to the store and get some.  At first he didn't like that I made the short sleeve version but after wearing it for a little while he forgot all about that and thought he was very cool with his Ray Bans as well which match the shirt perfectly!  The Ray Bans are of course from Synsam Sandnes Optikk, the best place to get glasses in Norway, not that I'm biased or anything - I just work there! :)


And here he is my cool dude! :)

I made him a size 4 with short sleeves and the long pocket.  The blue fabric is a Robert Kaufman bought at fabric.com.

Love

Dagbjört.

What happened to April?!

I only manage to sew one garment in April, I swear that month just flew by!  With Easter, my second oldest son's Confirmation and my mom visiting from Iceland, April was a fantastic month but just went by way to fast!  Time flies when you're having fun, am I right?


What I did sew was a dress (no surprise there I guess) for my daughter to wear to her brothers Confirmation.  As soon as I saw that pattern for the first time I knew I would make it for that occasion.  I think it is one of the sweetest little dress pattern I have seen, it has the perfect balance between fancy and girly I think.  I am of course talking about the Ethereal Dress by Figgy's.

So do you want to see some photos of my little cutie in her dress?

The main fabric is some quilting cotton from my local fabric shop and for the flounce I used chiffon.  I had to go into hiding while I was sewing this one as I was sure she would want to put it on at once and wear it to daycare, and I was right she practically squealed when she saw it and ripped of the clothes she was wearing so she could put on her new dress.

I sewed up a size 3 for my skinny little almost 3 year old.  The dress is a little roomy but thats how we like them anyway so we are very happy with how it came out!

And here is the whole gang.  Anita is the only one wearing mommy made clothes this time around, I don't think my 15 or 18 year old would agree to wear something I made anyway, but I hope to venture into sewing for myself as well as for my little ones.

I am so rich!! :)

Love 

Dagbjört.