Koumpounphobia

Hello there,

Whilst perusing one of my favourite magazines, Molly Makes, my eyes fell on the word koumpounphobia. Well isn't that an interesting word?!

It actually means 'fear of buttons' which probably isn't very nice at all, but the word itself could well be Word of the Day, or because it is so special, go straight to Word of the Week!

Read this Huffington post article to know more about its seriousness.

On the topic of words, there is a wonderful children's book called La grande fabrique de mots by Agnes de Lestrade, with the most beautiful illustrations by Valeria Docampo. Well worth investigating!

On that note I will leave you,
enjoy today!
TTYS XOXO

Why I shouldn't be near an iron

Hello there,

Yes, it is official, I should not be near an iron! Ironing seems to bring out the worst in me and it makes me ruin things.

Monday, inspired by the nasty weather, I thought I'd start on a warm hooded cardigan with a piece of woollen fleece I bought recently. It was an industry off cut with curious red writing on it (I love that kind of thing!) and I thought it would be good to use it to see whether the Maren hoodie pattern by Farbenmix would also work as an adult pattern.

The good news is that is does work. I used the second largest size, and not the largest, because I found the pattern to be quite generous in size. What you cannot see in the photo above is that I shouldn't have ironed the bottom. Thinking it would be safe to use steam on a wool setting, I happily went ahead and pressed the bottom seam with, to put it mildly, not the desired result. I should have known, because I did something similar before. So why didn't I think? The acrylic in the ribbing can not take the heat.

The bottom hem is now all wobbly. So sad. I have a glimmer of hope (ever the optimist) that the ribbing might turn back to its former springy self once I wash it again, but that is just the merest glimmer really.

Have a nice and cozy day,
TTYS,

Wide awake

Hi There,

My humblest apologies for my absence here. I wasn't sitting in the sun eating grapes, honestly! Just busy tying about one thousand little knots together. But now I am no longer doing that, so my life should soon start to resemble that haven of tranquility that is my regular life again. Humour me, ok? I like to hang on to that image because it makes me feel just slightly calmer.

I can't even remember where I was, it is that long ago, tssssh. Better first get my bearings before I start rambling. Let me leave you with an image of serenity for you to meditate on.

Enjoy the snooze!
XO

Tunic

Hello and goooood morning!

Do you remember this tunic and how it was soo big? This fact sat in the back of my brain, and when I needed (ha-ha-haw!) another tunic I tried one for myself in a size 158/164, and it did fit!

The material is a very sheer greyish green fabric. The only adornments are a few mother of pearl buttons, velvet ribbon around the arms and a bit of last minute in-front-of-the-telly beading. Of the latter, may I recommend that you do not try this yourself, as I already saw a couple of loose sequins after only 2 washes.

The pattern, as mentioned, is the Sammy pattern by Farbenmix. 

The fact that this tunic pattern is usable for adults has made me think I might use other patterns too. What about a nice pair of trackie bottoms à la Maren? The pattern goes up to a size 176, so maybe interesting for even more people?

Have a fun day today!

XOXO

Skirty Scarf

Hello there,

Two years ago, while in Hamburg, I visited a shop called Gudrun Sjöden by a Swedish designer called, yes, you guessed it, Gudrun Sjöden. Although many of the clothes are not of a cut that suits me, I did really like the ethnicy feel of the place. Their clothes are well made, made with respect for those producing them, the environment and those who will wear them later.

So when I saw another shop in the Seven Dials area, we jumped straight in! If you, like me, like to hear some Swedish, go and visit because all personnel speaks Swedish. It sounds so funny and delightfully foreign (no disrespect intended)!

On the sale rail there was a cotton skirt in a gorgeous pink colour that was calling out to me: "buy me, buy me". It was only £15 so, overlooking the fact that it was in a size that would never fit me, I took it off the rail and tried to calm it down a bit, poor thing! Because of the large amount of fabric in the skirt, I started thinking of alternative uses for the material and decided it would make a lovely scarf indeed. Not that I needed another scarf, but I found that I just did not want to let go of the fabric. So that is what I did.

Firstly I cut off the waistband. Because I discovered the pattern did not join at the seam, I also cut both side seams and rejoined one on the pattern. Then I put in a very small roll hem on both the top and the bottom edges which would be the sides of the scarf. At the beginning and end I turned the fabric in about 1 inch or 3 cm, making a nice wide seam. And hey, presto...a very comfy and big scarf for just £15!

As you can see, the scarf isn't scrunched up anymore because of all the ironing I did on the seams. I need to rewash it and scrunch-dry it again.

Have a good day, and remember you are loved!

Renegade Craft Fair, London

 Hiya!

We were very chuffed to be able to visit the second annual Renegade Craft Fair at the Old Truman Brewery last week and we were not disappointed!

Here are a few impressions to illustrate the vibe. The whole area was light and airy, and the spaces were nice and big and the people extremely nice and inspiring.

What about this on your plate? James Ward's sandwich defender.

Lots of interesting graphic work.

This lovely ladygirl is Debby Greenaway. Her work is of the most light hearted and irrisistable kind. Her little teeth, rain clouds and fish are such a joy to look at, it is difficult not to want it all.

Another wonderful artist is Mary Kilvert. Her work is very clean and neat and lots of fun too. She makes the most adorable prints. And look at the schweeeet sheep she made with the Olympics in mind. 

Her caption reads: My new sheep British Betty will be supporting team GB for the Olympics. Her specialty is gymnastics which she began learning soon after she started jumping as a little lamb. She likes cream teas but she dislikes relay races and is now available on my online shop. If only we had known BB was competing we would have watched more of the Olympics!

As you can see from the photos, we were there early, so no crowds, just a bunch of very relaxed and happy people. My idea of heaven.

Enjoy your day to the fullest today!
love,

Patternless skirt

Hello you!

Recently I have seen all sorts of adorable bubble and puffa skirts and thought they would be perfect for our little skirt loving monsta'.

I fell in love with this sweet teal ruffle cardigan; perfect for coming autumn. And I had this Liberty-esque-fabric that I bought many years ago. These two things combined became our first autumn 2012 bubble-skirt-and-versatile-matching-cardigan-set!

Strange fact is that the colours are - again - blues and greens, and subdued colours at that. Sooo very unlike me. But anyway, ...

I'll explain how the skirt is made, super easy!

You measure up the waistline of your model and double the width, plus an inch or so, for side seams. You decide on the desired length of the skirt and add 10 cm or about 3 inches.

If you have lining fabric you want to use, cut one piece of lining fabric and one piece of outer fabric. If you have a different lining fabric than your outer fabric, skip the next steps and simply attach a waistband in the same fabric as your outer one.

Make a side seam to form a tube in both pieces of fabric.

Now put the lining into the outer fabric (wrong sides together) and make the lining stick out 3 inches or 9 cm at the top. Check you are even everywhere and tack together.

Fold over the inside fabric to form a waistband. It can be as wide as you like it; mine was 4 centimetres. Tack and stitch. Leave open 2 inches for the elastic. Stitch all the way around the top at 3 mm from the side. This ruffles slightly and gives a nicer waistband, at least, I think so.

Fold in the outer fabric and make another tunnel. Check you are even everywhere and tack together before stitching. Leave open 2 inches for the elastic.

For the waistline I used quite stiff elastic. For the bottom seam I used this very loose webbing elastic, nice and comfortable. It ensures your child can actually move whilst wearing your creation!


To customise the cardigan, I made a little yo-yo and added half a snap on the inside. This way I can take the yo yo off before washing and make different ones to go with different outfits. (yes, there is another skirt coming up!) The other half of the snap is on the cardigan, backed by a little circle of  felt in the same colour as the cardigan.

To be fair, this skirt has pockets, so is slightly more complicated, if such a term can even be used when making a simple skirt like this. Just cut the outer fabric in two and one of those pieces in two again (you will need a slightly wider bit of fabric to do this of course. I'd say 2 or 3 inches or 6 to 8 cm extra). Make a faux fly and nice deep pockets for all those special pebbles, sea shells and other treasures.

Please let me know how you are getting on, or better still, share your results!

Oh, and before I go, do you know this song? Good for days like today!

Talk to you soon,
love,