Prism shorts

A while ago, I was trying out some freezer paper stenciling and ended up with this fun triangle print. My daughter found the stenciled fabric, loved it, and asked me to make her a pair of shorts with it.

Yes, ma'am, your wish is my command!

So I created yet another pair of side-panel shorts. I love this pattern; it is so versatile and lends itself for endless variations: use bold contrasting fabric for the side panels (as in these puffin shorts) or a more subtle combination (last year's pineapple shorts), add piping, do something different on each leg (I made a pair of stars and stripes shorts that I never blogged), or anything you can think of.

I used a self-drafted pattern, but you could easily modify an existing pattern: cut off a rectangle from the front and back panel and add these two rectangles together to form the side panel (see instructions below). The side panels of these shorts (size 5-7) were 12 cm wide.

Once you've cut out the panels, just sew the shorts together as you would normally do, just make two extra seams, and ad piping if you like.

Puffin shorts

Just a few pics of the puffin shorts. More shorts coming up soon...

Summer time!

It's summer time! Time for jumping, running and dancing. 

Not for standing still for a photoshoot.

Not even when modelling my brother's new puffin shorts. 

They're so soft, colourful and stretchy, I just cannot stop moving in them. 

Okay, mom. If you insist, I'll try to sit still (for one second).

Are you done? Fine, then I'm off to jump again.

Notes from mom:

I'm sorry, no detailed pics of the garment today, but I can assure you that these shorts are well loved!

Ole Guacamole

Ola!

This tee is for my nephew Ole! 

His parents call him Ole Guacamole! 

Upon hearing this funny nickname, inspiration started flowing, and I simply had to make him this tee.

 I happened to have a very soft -almost velvety- green XL tee in my stash that had exactly the colour and feel of a ripe avocado. 

My best neckline ever!

 Inspired by the marvellous shirts made by Trine from Groovybaby... and Mama, I decided to add some shoulder pads. I freezer paper stenciled yellow rectangles on a rusty orange knit. Can you guess what they should resemble? (My husband had no clue...)

Isn't it obvious? Nacho chips of course....

To prevent the little guy's head to get stuck, I added a button closure to the left shoulder. I used some fun buttons with an aztec-like print and lime green thread to fix the buttons. 

 The lime green also appeared in the side tag and the serged edges.  

So, there it is! A fun shirt for Ole Guacamole!

Linking up to: 

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.

sail away...

Hi there! Wanna see my latest creation?

Yes! Another dip-dyed sailor sweater. 

A while ago, I pinned this hoodie from Scotch and Soda. I love their clothes, but their prices? Not so much. The sweater shown here costs a whopping 89,95 Euros! 

My inspiration: a Scotch Shrunk hoodie

I figured I could create something similar myself, for a fraction of the price! So I bought a yard of navy striped knit, and dipped it into a dye bath. It took some experimenting to get it right, but in the end, I'm satisfied with the result. 

Then it was just a matter of sewing up the sweater. I used a basic shirt pattern from Ottobre (size 122), and added an overlapping, shawl-like collar.

To create this collar, I cut the neckline about two centimeter (1 inch) wider than the pattern prescribed. The collar was a strip of approximately 70 cm (28 inch) long and 8 cm (3 inch) wide, tapering off at the ends, which I then sewed to the neckline. 

The bright orange drawstring gives a nice pop of color.

So does the topstitching on the elbow pads.

So, there it is. A real Scotch and Soda knockoff for about 10% of their price!

In total, this sweater cost me no more than € 9.00:

Navy striped fabric: €4.50 (9.00 per meter)

Blue fabric: from my stash

Dye: €2.75 (I used only half a sachet)

Orange drawstring: €1

I'm linking to:

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...