Taking steps

Look! I'm walking!

For that occasion, mom made me some fancy pants.

Upcycled from grandma's linen pants

With backpockets

Tuxedo stripes

and front pockets

Don't I look handsome?

Since they're not very sturdy, I promised mom not to crawl anymore...

So, I'll start running instead

Note from mom: The pants are self drafted. They are a bit slimmer than regular baby pants, and they fit him perfectly. The only downside is that they are made from linen, and will not last very long. 

So I'm already on the lookout for some sturdier fabric for the next version...

Linking up to Project Run and Play, week 2 (hand-me-down).  

Knitting time

Fall is in the air, so that means that I feel like knitting again.

This hat is for a little newborn girl. It's the aviatrix again, a free pattern which you can find here. Even though it looks quite complex, it's actually very simple. A very satisfying little project!

Tropical tee

We have a mini heatwave here in the Netherlands, so time for a tropical post.

Indeed, a pineapple again!

Hot summer days like this are rare, and definitely shouldn't be spent in a sweltering sewing room...

So I got a store-bought tee, my old faithful pineapple stencil, and some fabric paint

Quick, easy, and very summery...

By the way, those cute striped shorts are another hand-made item that was once sewn by my mother for my siblings or me, stored for years and years and now finally gets worn again...

Secret squirrel's next stop

Do you remember that I hosted Secret Squirrel last month? Next, he went all the way to Hongkong, to Emily from Nap-time Creations. Have a look here to see how she incorporated the five acorns that Secret Squirrel brought her. Those acorns formed a very unlikely combination: pineapple, alhambra, denim, ombre, and upcycled. 

It was so fun to see how she used the themes as inspiration and how it turned out completely different from what I would have made.

So what would I have made? Of course I thought about this. I played with several ideas, but didn't manage (yet) to turn them into reality. But I did try out one of my ideas today, combining the first two acorns: pineapple and Alhambra.

Inspired by the beautiful mosaics in the Alhambra palace in Spain, I created a pineapple stencil (I used similar stencils before), and created this freezer paper print.  

I printed it on a newborn onesie, just to try it out. It turned out as I had hoped, so I will probably use this print again on something that will actually fit one of my kids.

And this onesie? It will most likely become a gift for a little baby girl.

Ahoy!

Do you follow the "Calling All Kids" series at Alida Makes? I love this series! It's about exploring kid's clothes as it relates to gender. Alida has a great lineup of guest bloggers who create amazing clothes, ranging from pink, purple and floral shirts for boys to tuxedo inspired dresses for girls. Inspired by this series, I decided to explore a bit as well, and vary from my usual color palette by incorporating pink! 

Today's creation was for my youngest, who is not yet opinionated. Even though I don't really dislike pink, my two oldest kids (a girl and a boy) do. By making this sailor shirt for my youngest I was sure that the neon pink topstitching would not be met with opposition. 

Another reason for choosing my youngest as target that I could reuse a jumpsuit (size 6 mo) that had shrunk into crazy proportions. It had become extremely wide and was roomy enough for my 12 month old. Ready to be upcycled!

I cut off the legs, and opened up the side seams. To create a dip dye effect, I painted the bottom rows of the shirt and sleeves with fabric paint, which I diluted progressively as I moved up.

I love the effect. It's as if the shirt was dipped into the sea!

The leg parts were reused for the collar. After having sewed several shirts with very small head openings, wanted to be sure that this one was wide enough. Yes, it is! Even I can put my head through it... So I put in a drawstring, which is kept in place with two leather 'stoppers'.

I loved the combination of the blue and pink, so added some more pink topstitching around the elbow pads.

 And with that, my little boy is ready to explore...

Secret Squirrel: Stop 9 - Näh-connection to Vera Luna

The Secret Squirrel series is a year-long sewing journey created by
An from Straight-grain (http://www.straight-grain.blogspot.com/) and
Suz from sewpony(http://www.sewpony.blogspot.com/).
Read all about it here (http://sewpony.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/introducingsecret-squirrel.html).
Secret Squirrel contacted me via Annika from Näh-connection and gave me these five acorns of inspiration....

Neuschwanstein Castle, Elephants, Spring, Jersey, Astrid Lindgren

Secret squirrel made a small journey this time. He simply crossed the border from Germany to the Netherlands. Annika sent him on his way with five fun acorns. I must admit that I did lose some sleep, pondering how to incorporate all of them in one outfit, but in the end, they came together wonderfully.
Let’s start with the last acorn, because that one formed the main source of inspiration of this outfit. Swedish children's book author Astrid Lindgren is one of my favorite authors. I devoured her books when I was a child, and I’m looking forward to the time that my kids are old enough to read the books together. My all-time favorite was The Brothers Lionheart, about the adventures of two brothers; Karl and Jonatan.

I remember reading it when I was about nine, and thinking, “If I ever have a son, I’ll name him Jonatan”. The name stuck, and 25 years later I still loved it. I even managed to convince my husband, so in April 2013, our Jonatan Nils was born.

So that was obvious: the outfit had to be for Jonatan, inspired by this book. And once I had decided that, I realized that three of the four remaining acorns could be added seamlessly! The book is staged in Nangijala, an ancient land of the “days of campfires and storytelling”. And castles, of course. Check acorn number 2: Neuschwanstein castle! The two brothers live in a little farmhouse in the “Cherry Blossom Valley”, and the book is filled with beautiful blossom drawings by. Check acorn number 3: spring! And since knit fabric is my go-to fabric, acorn number 4 was also easily incorporated: jersey!

Based on these four acorns, I made a little medieval-looking tunic in blue jersey.

It was inspired by the colors of the book, and lined with this fun castle fabric (Lizzy House Peeps series) that happened to be in my stash.

 

 For the spring acorn, I originally wanted to use some blossom fabric, but couldn’t find what I was looking for. So spring was reflected in this wooden button that vaguely looks like a blossom.

 

 

However, then I discovered sun printing, and managed to create a piece of fabric that really matched the cover of the book. So obviously, it had to be used as well. But how? My outfit was already completed, and I couldn’t make up my mind what to do with it.
Sticking with the theme, it became a shield, eh bib, eh, shield-shaped bib! To protect Jonatan from fire-spitting dragons, swords and arrows, and above all, flying food! He needs it!

That left only one acorn remaining. Those poor elephants really didn’t fit in the medieval theme. So they got their own piece: grey sweatpants with two protective elephants on the knees.



A little blue side tag (not shown) links it to the rest of the costume colorwise. And hey, there are even elephants on the inside!

So that’s it! Five acorns incorporated into this outfit for my little Jonatan.

I loved hosting the secret squirrel. Who’s next?

I’m sending the secret squirrel off with the following five acorns:

Pineapple, Alhambra, Denim, Ombre, Upcycling

 

If you would like and join Secret Squirrel on his journey, leave a comment on this post and check your inbox in a week’s time… you may be the chosen one to pass on the baton of creativity that is SECRET SQUIRREL!!! If you don't receive a message from Secret squirrel, you can still sew along http://www.flickr.com/groups/secretsquirrelsewalong/ There are some amazing prizes to be won.

Kingfisher shirt

Project Run and Play has started again. I really like the themes of this season, so decided to give it a try to sew along. Let's see if I can make it through all four weeks... Anyway, I decided to keep things 'simple', and only sew one item per week. This week's challenge was to create an outfit inspired by your favorite animal. 

I decided to make a color-blocked shirt inspired by the colours of the kingfisher. They have an amazing blue colour. I used to row when I was a student, and sometimes (very rarely) we would see a blue flash speeding just above the water. That's the most I've seen of them in real life. Fortunately, the web is abundant with beautiful pictures of these birds.  

The shirt was very easy to make. I simply took a blue onesie that J had outgrown lengthwise. I cut off the bottom half about 1 inch below the armpits. Then I created the bottom half of the shirt from greyish brown jersey and added it to the remainder of the onesie. To create the pocket I reused an old t-shirt, using the existing hem as the top of the pocket (next time, I will line it or back it with some interfacing, to give it a bit more stability). Add a waistband, a little tag, and done!

The shirt is paired with basic brown knit pants that I made a while ago. That makes it a complete handmade outfit after all. 

 

During the photoshoot, J decided to do some good kingfisher imitations. He wouldn't sit still for one single second. Instead, he speeded through the room on hands and knees and tried to dive headfirst from the couch to catch a fish (ehm, toy). So most of my photos contained nothing more than a blue hazy flash...