Cover-up / Top tutorial

Tutorial

Start with deciding how long you'd like you top/cover-up to be. You need twice the length in fabric measured from your shoulders. Cut the fabric at it's desired length (keeping in mind that you mind want some extra to make a nice border). Finish the edges (so that is the bottom of your top/cover-up).

Fold your fabric once in length, and once in it's width. This is where you will cut the hole for your neck. The hole is nowhere near the edges of the fabric.

From the middle point of the fabric (if you would fold it open again), you need to cut a small split. For me, I cut a hole of 13cm in the width and 2 cm in the length. 

After you cut the hole, the unfolded fabric looks like below. Finish the edges.

Fold the fabric again. Just once this time. You will now need to decide where your armholes will be. The opening will start from the shoulder and I gave myself 35 cm from the top. I used the pattern in the fabric to determine where I would place the armholes, but make sure you have at least your circumference at the broadest part (for us females, usually at the bosom). I used chiffon, which does not have any stretch, so I made sure it was more than my circumference (70 cm between the stitches).

 Then I started sewing in a straight line down. Here, I only sewed for 14 cm. Since there is enough fabric on both sides, even for the cover-up (ankle length), it falls completely closed, but gives you the freedom to walk unrestricted. I would recommend not to sew below hip length.

That's all, it's ready to wear now!

Bellydance outfits

Linus' Owl

Pattern by Dendennis (www.dendennis.nl)

Miffy and the turtle

After patterns by Sara Yip and Maja Hansen.

Baby presents

My mum has incredibly improved my baby-towels! She uses the baby-announcement-card to make her own patterns and transforms them into embroidery for on the towels. They are really too cute, but I am a bit terrified for when we have a baby ourselves... We better pick something we really like for on the card, because we will be seeing it at least until the baby is old enough to get him/herself a place of themselves... Just have the feeling my mum won't be anything close to subtle...

Baby-bag number 4!

Little Liv's Owl

Oystercard holder

Mini's giraffe

Combining the learning towel with a little animal.

 

Pattern of the giraffe by Maja Hansen. 

Newborn babies

We are really bad in sending cards... So everytime we should be sending a card, we realise that usually shortly after the deadline. Great thing about the internet, it is delivered as soon as it is send. However, sending an email just doesn't always cut it. So especially when a newborn baby arrives, we tend to forget, but feel kind of guilty about that. We also don't have a clue about when it is time for friends to visit babies, so we usually wait way too long before we actually contact the parents.
Now that we have moved to another country and visiting is largely out of the question, we were thinking about an alternative solution. Another reason why we don't send cards, is that we don't like most of them. They are all annoyingly alike and extremely mawkish. I do agree thay it is something to celebrate, but most of these cards are just a bit too much. There are some that we might like, but they are for special friends thay won't be offended by our kind of humour... So we needed something different. You can make your own card, but you'd still have the problem of people not getting your jokes. I did yet into trouble one day by saying that a fetus is a sexually transmitted parasite...
So we are trying to mail out these little towels. It might be a bit late and we probably will forget the next 10 birthdays, but we're hoping to make up for that by sending a handmade gift that the kids will hopefully use a lot and love. Cause that's the point, we might not pay a lot of attention to birthdays, cards or even the calender, but that doesn't mean we're not happy for them!

Organiser for my crochet hooks

Like I said, I make lots of things from that fabric. Too bad my Addi-swing crochet hooks don't fit in there!

Last weeks work

Since we moved to this tiny appartment in London, we were having a bit of a problem with our shoes. In Leiden we also didn't have a good spot to put them, but at least they didn't have to be exacly behind the door. And behind the door does indeed make it no longer possible to open it... So last week, when we were cleaning the house, I decided to do something about it. Permanently.

I wasn't able to bring every fabric I had to the UK, but fortunately I brought my big practise piece. I bougth it a few years ago for a very small price and have been making all kinds of stuff with it. Hats, bags, organisers. It's not a particularly beautiful fabric, but it is sturdy and works for many things, so I'm happy to use it! Especially if it should be useful and not necessarily pretty.

So this is wat I made out of it, our shoes have their own place and we can open our front door again!

Two more finished

And please don't think I finished them both today,  had them ready for a few days already, but I only had time to post it today!

Chantal

The 'my daddy may have a PhD'-shirts

Well, what do you think of that? Kids always look smarter than their parents! ;-)