Little Red Riding Hood

My Ella wants to be little red riding hood for Halloween. Once again I count me to the fortunate people who know how to sew. Nothing makes me happier than to be able to create something unique for my little girl.

The top of the dress is Roxy and the bottom half is Geske. I self drafted the apron and added some details with felt. The cape is from Ottobre (Winter issue 4/04) with a Finja hood. It was nice to branch out and construct something out of so many different patterns!!

Farbenmix Wiki

Thanks to the lovely Sarah, who does so much to spread the word about Farbenmix, we all now having the option to contribute to farbenwiki! A great resource about Farbenmix patterns, Studio Tantrum patterns, tutorials etc.. Since it is a wiki page everyone can contribute and together we can all make it a fantastic place to come to.

Sarah is also giving away Feliz and Anna patterns in celebration :0) So please visit her and say "HI" and get a chance to win. And of course check out farbenwiki!

And the winner is?

... The Winner of two patterns is:

Rachel from Oakland CA!

Congratulations!! I will e-mail you :o)

Happy Birthday Bunte Fabrics!

On Sunday the 21st of September I am celebrating the stores 1st Birthday! I remember so well, how with clammy hands and a pounding heart I opened Bunte Fabrics to the public. Time has flown by and it has been a fantastic first year and I am so thankful to all my *wonderful* customers :o)

To celebrate I will have a special offer to share. From Sunday, September 21st through Thursday the 25th:

Make a purchase of $50 or more and get one yard of Hilco or Stenzo Woven Fabric free!*

Make a purchase of $100 or more and get two yards of Hilco or Stenzo Woven Fabric free!!*

Please let me know at checkout in the special request box which fabrics you would like me to send to you.

In addition I am going to have a drawing! One lucky customer, who makes a purchase from Sept.21st through Sept.28th will have a chance to win two patterns of your choice!

The Winner will be announced on the blog on Sept.29th, so check back here :o)

THANK you so very much for a wonderful first year!!!!

Yvonne

*excluded are corduroy, knits and organic fabrics

Busy weekend!

I spend almost all of this weekend improving my little store on the web :) I have now made it possible to calculate shipping based on weight, using the usps shipping calculator. 

International customers can now see right away, how much it will cost them to ship. Before International customers would have to wait until I cut and weighed their order to be able to give them the total shipping costs. 

Canadian Customers will also see an improvement in shipping costs.

Also I now accept credit cards directly on site. It is SSL secure. I still accept paypal  as well.

All in all I hope that your shopping experience will be an even better one! And now I am going to take a well deserved break :o)

Finja and other Farbenmix patterns

I have added Finja (the pattern I used for Ella's rain coat) and other fantastic Farbenmix patterns to the inventory in my store. Please come by and check them out :)

Ottobre meets Farbenmix

Yesterday was a busy sewing day for me. I made the girls matching (well more or less :o) outfits.
The skirt is from Ottobre 4/04 and so are the leggings but the shirt is Antonia by Farbenmix.
Everything went together super fast and I love the color combination. Unfortunately the Campan in Petrol has sold out already, but the two new Campans look beautiful with the Anouschka in Auqua, corduroy (on Sale!). I have this one in light brown as well.

Antonia is one of my favorite shirts to make. The sleeves are long, I believe they are supposed to be longer than normal, but can be changed numerous ways to fit your taste. What I like especially is that you can use scraps of different knits to make a really bold and colorful statement with this shirt.

What I love about sewing for children is that they love color. Really it cannot be bold enough for them. Finn too as a boy is seldom tickled by navy blue or hunter green, but prefers bright orange, red and yellow! It is a short time before they grow up and usually follow the trends set by the fashion world and big time marketing, so I for one enjoy the freedom I have right now to make outstanding clothing that celebrates their childhood rather than make them look like little adults.
Ottobre as well as the Farbenmix team, seem to agree with me and many other sewing Moms. Looking at their wonderful patterns they really know the child and service our desire to please them and dress our children playful and fun.

A rain jacket for Ella

It is a well known fact that it rains a LOT in Washington State and last year Ella went through not one but 3 rain jackets! They were your typical rain jacket and my Ella who loves to climb trees and play hard in mud puddles simply tore them to shreds. This year I decided I would make her a coat that will hopefully last longer. I don't know if the plastic material of her old rain jackets tore so easy, because the material was so flimsy (and they had not been cheap jackets either) but I am hoping that this one will last longer! I used a Farbenmix pattern, FINJA, and a simply great fabric by Hilco which is water resistant. Really, truly! I washed this fabric many times before and still it holds water away. Plus working with it is just like sewing with poplin.


If you have ever gone to the Farbenmix "Klick und Blick" Gallerie you may have also been in awe at the wonderful materials that German seamstresses have to embellish their clothing. I personally love the velour iron ons (Hello Sarah! I know you love them too ;o) but sadly they are not yet available here, at least not in my favorite designs... So what is a woman to do? I used my ability to draw and scetched a squirrel on felt and made my own mock up of a velour iron on design. Except of course it's not velour and no iron on *smile*


Anyway, what I mean to say with all of this is, Chubasco is a great fabric and with your own creativity the sky is the limit with what you can do should you also try to make a beautiful rain jacket or winter coat.
Jacket patterns are coming soon to aid you :)

First day of school

Well... Now they are off to school every day and Mama get's to have some time to herself :) Romy is still with me but she will also start pre school next week. She is insisting however that one of her teeth is loose and soon she'll be old enough to go to school and most importantly, ride on a school bus!

All of them wear Mama made clothes entirely! That feels good and I am sure they will be the best dressed kids in school ;o)