Sporty dress

Hi there,

How are you today? Sun is up and it looks like it will be another gorgeous day here, yay! Life is so much nicer with a little bit of sun, isn't it?

When our eldest decided she wanted to try playing tennis last week, we were not whooping straight away. I don't know, but it just doesn't seem very exciting to me. Hitting a ball, hmmm, backwards and forwards. What is the fuss all about? But when I saw her and her friends enjoying themselves on the court, it did grow on me a bit. A bit, mind you.

The fun part of it is, is that I got to make a new and sporty outfit!

The pattern for the vest I made for her earlier this summer was adapted into a little dress by adding a bit of extra width on the side seams (about a centimetre or so on each side),  lowering the hem to make the total length about 55 cm and tapering out the sides to make an A-line. I hope this is a clear description, in case you want to give it a try. It is all very simple if you have the pattern in front of you, honestly. Super simple and effective.

And then a print was all that was needed to add a little fun to the otherwise quite sober design. Presto!

When she tried it on she was very chuffed, which is of course, the best reward ever.

TTYL,
XO

New colours

Hello There!

I was like a child in a candy shop when the new colours came in, wow, exiting stuff! Those lovely fluo colours that I have been coveting, and what about the girlie pink that was painfully missing in the shop?

The hardest part is to get the colours to appear sort of ok-ish on the screen. Well, I can tell you, I have failed miserably in that respect. So please treat the colours on your screen as just a general idea of what the colours may be in real life. I.e. 'Red' will not be a green tint (clue: it is red), baby pink won't be yellow. I'm afraid we are in that kind of league. I wish I could make them more realistic and more appealing, but somehow they will not co-operate. Well, what can you do??

I also really wanted to share with you the latest designs that were added to the shop. Aren't they ultra cute? I hope you have a good day today and TTYS!

Racer back dress

Hello you!

Have you been enjoying yourself today? We had a good day here at the studio and I even managed to get a few shots of the dress I have been working on lately.

The idea for the dress germinated when I was reading a crafty book written by the very clever Norwegian Tone Finnanger, called Tilda's Atelier. If you have never heard of this lady or laid your eyes on one of her books or craft materials, I would recommend you do so asap because there will be lots of loveliness to be discovered!

Anyway, in the book she uses a circus theme that sat in my head for a couple of days, wanting to become something. Then, when I saw a pattern by the wonderful Crafterhours ladies, I knew what it was going to be: a little racer back dress with a circus elephant on it.

The pattern is free (A big Thank You, Ladies!) and can be printed straight from the link above. I hope you can see the print in the first photo. I apologise for the quality of the photo because my model got stroppy and this was the best I could get at the time.

I traced the elephant head straight from the book and ironed on 2 layers of non-woven interfacing to give it some stability and make sure the flowers from the circle behind it didn't shine through the light pink fabric. To be on the safe side I also put some fray-check around the edges before sewing it onto the background. I let a little pompom sit on the tip of the elephants trunk.

The collar is made by sewing two layers of dotted fringing together and attaching them at the base of the neck. I made the little flower necklace by attaching some small lace flowers on top. The Circus Elephantini lettering around the circle is in neon pink to make it a bit more visible. Oh, and I added two tiny green bells under the collar too. Just a little surprise and great when jumping!

TTYS,
XO

Good news

Hello there!

We are having a good start of the summer holidays, lots and lots of fun and activities (some of them quite wet), lots of relaxing, book reading and drawing.

Our good news for today is that both girls have grown! They will never be giants (phew..) but I really hope they won't be tiny either.

It didn't seem very important to me before, as I used to always be the smallest in my year and ended up feeling fine at 5.45 ft or 1.64 metres. Lots of women are around that height.
Since I met a fourteen year old that was 4.65 ft or 1.42 metres however, it dawned on me that that really is rather short, this side of the world. Ever since every inch is considered good news.


I still wanted to show you the wings I was working on, remember? Yesterday at the end of the day, the weather finally cleared and provided us with an opportunity for a quick photoshoot.

For the top I used a very old pattern that I adapted (Ottobre 2005, Singlet no 19). It is a boy cut, so originally very straight at the sides. I also deepened the racer back and front neckline a bit more. As much as I lurve the wings, I don't think they sit well on this top. I would have done better to make them smaller and  place them higher up the back. But there you go, another insight gained. If you fancy a pair, they are in the shop as of now.

XOXO

Career plans

Hello there,

Ever since we have read Alexander McCall Smith's books about the wonderful adventures of Harriet Bean the career plans of our eldest have dramatically changed.

Her plans used to include being a bookstore owner, being a part-time teacher and taking care of us when we were older. We were both very pleased about the last bit of course, because you never know if retirement homes still exist when we'll need them.

Now however, she is in training to become a cowgirl - slash - private eye. Please do us a favour though and don't tell anyone about the last part, for, as you will understand, it is to be kept a secret.
The cowgirl part isn't, so I worked on a design that would inform the world gently of this change in plans.

A pity she can't wear it at the moment; it is pouring down with rain (yes, again) and about 16 degrees.

That's it for now, hope you have a nice & cosy day inside today (or better still, that you will see the sun today and have the opportunity to go out)

XOXO

Life is all about slaying dragons

Hello you,

Can't remember where I saw this line, but I like it! It is also very applicable to my life at the moment.

Not that I go around hunting down dragons - what for, we're peace lovin' Veggies in our house and not in the slightest blood thirsty - but the feeling of fighting something quite big does seem to be a recurring item on our agenda these days.

Most of it is related to computer stuff, so probably boring and yet familiar to you (or maybe not at all and am I, unintentionally bien sûr, insulting your intelligence).

The delight of working with computers is enormous; we can't even imagine working or living without them anymore. But getting them to do what you want them to can be a bit of a struggle. And tedious. And frustrating. And time consuming. Did I mention boring?

Anyway, I like the slogan so much that I am considering doing some work on it and putting it up in the shop. With the small under caption 'but I am a Veggie' as an optional extra. Would you wear such a thing on your tee when you are having 'one of those days'?

Today I have been able to finish the last of my gift t-shirts. What should have been just a couple, turned out to be 8 in total. Here is the final one:

Don't know what the problem was, but the stitching on my cover locker is back to its well behaving self, even with the woolly nylon.

Happy to call it a day for now on the t-shirt front though!

TTYS,
XXX


 

More creativity

Hello There,

I am so much like a proud mammy that I am slowly realising that I might actually be (unofficially, until officially diagnosed as such by the Irish Proud Mammy Federation) a proud mammy.

Look at what our clever four year old made at school, isn't it lovely?

What about the use of colour, the different textures used?? And the likeness, a-ma-zing! Sorry to be such a brag about it, but I just love little gems like this!

Moving on from little gems to little Gems; this is the second Tee I have been making of this design. 

It is for a lovely two year old little Gem whom we'll be seeing soon. You might still see water marks as I tried to get the chalk marks out before I took the photograph. But they will dry soon, because the weather is gorgeous today.

Hope you have a lovely day outside today!

XOXO

In the Mood & Give-Away

Hello There, This one is for you!

You know how sometimes one image can say more than a thousand words? And how images (and words for that matter - but somehow, most of the time this does not apply to husband and kids, I hear myself going yada yada yada. But I digress .. different story) can have a huge impact?

 When you are low on energising words or equally, bursting with them, a simple message is all it takes to get the idea across. No words needed.

 This inspired me to create the following iron-on transfers. All you need to do is to stick them on a t-shirt and enjoy! They can be found in the shop but, because I like them a lot, I have decided to give away one of each. All you need to do is post a comment and I will randomly choose two lucky winners.

And what about this one to get you inspired ...

Good luck everyone!