Pippi Longstocking

My little Romykins wanted to be Pippi Longstocking for Halloween. I finished the costume last month and it has been worn with much love many, many times since then, but today she finally got to go to preschool with orange hair and all. Can you see how happy she is?



The apron is an Ottobre pattern, issue 4/2004, a great issue for underwear and costumes! Leggings by Studio Tantrum (Laguna) and the shirt is a Quiara.
Mr. Nelson is poking out of one pocket and old man, Pippi's horse is in the other, but Romy said he was to shy to come out ;o)

The Imke Sweatshirt pattern is amazing!!

Quickly, before all hell will break loose upstairs (the kids are on their own!) I wanted to post about the IMKE sweatshirt pattern. It promises that this pattern can be used for Girls and Boys and I wanted to see what the fit was and how easy the pattern was to use. I love, love, love it! There are.. I am trying to count, at least 5 different variations possible in the pattern! Yes the instructions are in German, but if you have ever sewn a shirt before sewing IMKE is a piece of cake even in German (specially if you follow the photo tutorial).
It was much easier to sew the three Imke's than trying to get the kids together in a picture, to not all look like Calvin, in Calvin and Hobbes :o) As you can see I wasn't successful there haha!

Some Stenzo fabrics have arrived

Well as my Mom, a midwife of over 20 years would say... "This was a difficult birth!" A saying that we have adopted in the family when something just did not go right but in the end turned out OK. I have lost not just a little bit of my hair and some sleepless nights over the fabric, but it was well worth it, as this fabric of course is beautiful. I have not gotten everything I wanted yet and a smaller amount than originally planed. So please keep in mind, that specially the Stenzo corduroys and velvets sell out pretty fast. You can find the new fabrics here.
Oh I will enjoy a Martini tonight! :o)

Oh yes! These are fancy pants!

Wanda by Farbenmix, is a dream pattern there is no doubt about it. It is true that you can use your remnants to make a pair of pants that will turn heads because they are so unique. The fit is awesome too!


I will not lie, it does take some time to trace all the pattern pieces, to cut the fabric and to sew them up. But Romy has been wearing them for 2 days now (along with her Pippi Longstocking costume which I still need to blog about) and that is all that it is about! To make art with fabric and clothes that are loved. Very satisfying indeed!

Little Matryoshka dolls

Today I got the prettiest fabric!! It is imported from Japan, 100% cotton and features little Matryoshka dolls, animals ( I spotted a mouse, a cat and an elephant so far :o) and toadstools of course. I do not know what it is about toadstools. There should be a toadstool anonymous club or something, because I have a serious addiction!

The sale is still going strong and I also added Japanese canvas fabric, Alice in Wonderland and Little Red Riding hood prints, to the on Sale items.

SALE, SALE, SALE

While I am waiting not so patiently for my Stenzo fabrics to arrive (they are stuck in customs... fun!) I am having a BIG SALE on Stenzo wovens, Hilco wovens and select knits.

New Farbenmix patterns and ribbon

I just added 3 new patterns to the Farbenmix inventory. The famous WANDA fancy pants pattern (Nancy has a great sew along on her blog!), IMKE a very versatile sweatshirt pattern for girls AND boys, and INSA a fancy or simple skirt pattern. I intent on using them all and am very excited to sew them up soon!

ROXY is now back in stock as well.

I also got sold out ribbons back in stock, such as the deer family, hedgehog and the oh so cute toadstool ribbon but I also added A chocolate brown ribbon with squirrels, gnomes, mushrooms and... Can a simple 15mm wide ribbon have more motives?? Yes! It is simply amazing and will add SO much to anything handmade.

Ottobre Magazine subscription anyone?

Jan from the Wooly Thread has this to say. It's a great time to get a new subscription!

If you do not know about Ottobre but love to sew, it is an amazing magazine with wonderful, inovative patterns.

Farbenmix JADE jackets

The weather is definitely changing here. Some mornings are quite cool already and the girls needed some transitional jackets. I have been looking at JADE for a while now on klick und blick and have loved this pattern. It was extremely easy to sew, specially since I made these two out of fleece with no lining. The most time I spend on the embellishments. The deer are very closely inspired by Luzia Pimpinella designs and the idea that one of the hedgehogs has a toadstool mushroom stuck to him comes from this ribbon (also designed by paulapue for Farbenmix). I cut the deer out of corduroy and the hedgehogs are cut out of felt. Than I used various ribbons and pompom trim.

I used felt buttons, keeping everything about this coat soft and cuddly. The fit for both sizes, 98/104 and 110/116 (3-4 and 5-6) was dead on for my girls.

Yes the instructions for JADE are in German and that may be a bit of a challenge, or you think it will be. But trust me, it's not so bad. And if you do take the plunge and buy a German language pattern I am here to help with any questions you may have. Be brave and try, you will end up with such a lovely coat!!