Belgische Blogger Meet

Hier komt een primeur, een bericht in het Nederlands!

Net voor ik naar Londen vertrok was het idee voor een meet met Belgische naaisters en naaiers (?) al naar boven gekomen op Twitter. Ondertussen zijn deze plannen iets concreter, en zijn we op zoek naar geïnteresseerden!

Heb je zin in een gezellig dagje in het gezelschap van schoon volk als Jo, Joost, Lisa, Stephanie, Inge (en ik)? Laat dan iets weten via mijn e-mailadres: annekecaramin(at)hotmail(dot)com en ik neem contact op! We hebben een doodle aangemaakt om het vastleggen van een datum gemakkelijker te maken, die kan je hier vinden.

En omdat een blogpost zonder prentjes saai is, hierbij een gif die mijn reactie toen alles concreter werd perfect samenvat:

(I'll say it again in English, just in case there's an interested party who doesn't speak Dutch...)

Before my meet-up in London, there were vague plans for a similar thing in Belgium. We are now looking for other interested people! If you are in Belgium in July and fancy meeting other sewists, feel free to e-mail me at annekecaramin(at)hotmail(dot) com and I'll contact you with more information!

The Space Oddity Dress

I had been looking for a nice galaxy print fabric for ages. In fact, I was this close to settling for an (expensive!) print from Spoonflower that still wasn't completely what i was looking for. But then I saw this post on Me and My Polar Bear and I sort of lost it. An entire duvet cover? Very reasonably priced? I'd be lying if I said I didn't do a victory dance. Roisin from Dolly Clackett was enlisted to help me get my greedy paws on the fabric, and I love her dearly for it. The fabric is a polycotton and fairly stiff, so I thought it would be a good candidate for the infamous Simplicity 2444.

I made the dress right before our trip to London (and actually hemmed it in our hotel room) so I could wear it to the David Bowie exhibition at the V&A. So here she is, the Space Oddity Dress:

We went to the Police Box near the Earl's Court tube station to take these pictures. I felt really awkward because there were so many people around, so not too many strange poses here! Anyway, the pattern is Simplicity 2444 with a few changes. I lowered the neckline in the front a bit (I don't like how very high necklines make me look) and gave the back a really deep scoop.

The bodice fit me pretty well straight out of the envelope, I did take a bit of width out of the center front because there was some gaping. After finishing the dress I noticed I could have taken some excess out of the shoulder area as well, not sure why it didn't show in the muslin... Or maybe I just forgot to make the alteration. It irks me a little bit but it's not too noticeable.

I'm really happy I went for the version with the sash. They're cut on the bias so they have a very nice drape! I had so much of this fabric it allowed me to really play with the print placement so there wouldn't be too many repeats. In fact, I have only used about half of what I had. I foresee a giveaway in the future...

There's not that much to say about the construction of this dress. I didn't really follow the instructions since I opted for a full lining, and the whole thing is pretty straightforward anyway. The finished dress feels really comfortable and I feel pretty cool with it, especially paired with my sparkly sneakers (which are just last year's Bensimon shoes with a layer of glittery fabric paint).

Later that day I found the perfect bowtie earrings at the V&A museum shop. They really make this outfit appropriate for all space and time, don't they?

I leave you with this obligatory pose. I think this dress and me will go through a few adventures together...

About that time I went to London and only took like two pictures...

... Ok, that's a lie. I took more than two. But I did manage to meet up with a few awesome sewing bloggers and leave them with only one group shot taken. Here it is:

From left to right: me, Kathryn, Roisin, Roisin's boyfriend Nic and Solvi. We met up for a nice brunch and even though all these people were sort of strangers to me (except for Roisin, who helped me get my greedy paws on awesome fabric before) we hit it off right away. After stuffing our faces we went to Liberty, where I limited myself to sewing notions, and then to an amazing vintage shop where drawers of fabric just kept popping up. I left with the flower print in this picture:

It's a curtain, but a very lightweight one, and I think I have enough for a summer dress. The other fabric is a cotton voile I bought in Brighton after developing an instant crush.

After the shopping we went for drinks at a pub. Again, I didn't take any pictures, but managed to make a quick sketch:

My portraits usually don't really look like their subjects, it's more of a way to get a quick impression, almost like a note in a diary.

After this we went searching for a place to eat and ended up in an amazing marble miracle of a place, but again, no photographs. I was too busy enjoying my crème brûlée. Zoe from So, Zo joined us for dinner, she really is a sweetheart. After all this it was time to say goodbye. It was an exhausting day but the best start I could possibly imagine for my stay in London!

The rest of the vacation was great as well. Here are some pictures I did take:

We went to Brighton to fill our lungs with sea air and meet up with an illustrator friend. It turned out to be a very pleasant surprise: the city was so incredibly nice, with loads of cool stuff to be found. We even made a new friend:

I've identified this guy as a lesser spotted dogfish, but feel free to correct me! I was pretty impressed, finding a shark doesn't happen every day.

We also tracked down my boyfriend's long-lost Spanish cousin.

And then we went to see the location used as 221B Baker Street in the BBC Sherlock series. You can actually rent the flat right now, even though it looks nothing like the set of course.

That's all there is to say right now! I have an outfit post coming up, so stay tuned for that!

Beam me up to Bed

So, I finished school. I don't officially have my degree yet, but I'm pretty sure this was my last year as a student. I'm officially a grown up now.

So what's the first thing to do after presenting my final project?

Why, make some Star Trek inspired pyjamas, dress up as Spock and pose in front of a galaxy backdrop of course. It's only logical.

I made these for Karen's pyjama party, and posting them a bit early (the deadline is on Sunday). I decided to enter since I've been sleeping in some ratty old shorts and any t-shirt I could find for way too long. I had previously thought of the Starfleet uniform as the perfect inspiration for pyjamas since it looks so comfy, and decided to make some appropriate for summer.

The top is the Colette Sorbetto top, a free pattern I never bothered to make because I don't like boxy tops on me. I lowered the nexline a bit, skipped the front pleat and used storebought bias tape to bind the edges. There were no real necessary alterations to the fit, and even though I was right about not liking the shape on me, I do like it as a comfortable sleeping top. It's made up in a bright blue lightweight cotton.

The shorts were traced from a pair I already owned, and have a simple elastic waist. They are made from a slightly heavier black cotton (I do suspect some poly in there) and feel quite sturdy.

I decided to add a little extra touch to the uniform by cutting the shape of the Starfleet insignia out of a make up sponge and stamping it onto the shirt. It came out surprisingly well, I'm curious about how it will hold up in the wash!

That's all there is to say about my pyjamas. Live long and prosper, or should I say, sleep well and prosper?

London Calling

Two posts in one day, while I'm on a break! This is just a quick heads up to say that I'll be on a short trip in London soon (from June 22nd to June 26th to be exact) and I'd like to know if some local sewists would be interested in meeting up for a chat or some fabric shopping. If you are interested, feel free to e-mail me at annekecaramin(at)hotmail.com!

With my brother on my first ever trip to London, about four years ago. Look at that babyface!

I'm still alive!

... Just working really hard to finish my book!

I thought I'd show you a few of the images I've finished so far, and picked the ones that have to do with sewing:

The story is fairly simple: an extremely shy seamstress lives her life dreaming through the clothes she makes for other people, until she gets a rough wake-up call and decides to take control of her real life. All the separate bits of the drawings are hand cut out of coloured paper and put together digitally. Hope you like it and see you soon!

A Sewing Break

As some of you know, my main occupation is not sewing. I'm currently studying comics and illustration in Brussels, and working towards my master's degree. This means working on a large project for a full school year, a project that has now entered its final phase! I'll be spending the next few weeks drawing and writing, and won't have a lot of time for sewing, taking pictures or writing posts.

My master's project is connected to sewing though, so if you are interested (are you?) I will try and post a few bits and pieces about it now and then. You can always follow my illustration work on my drawing blog too. The project is due on June 18th, after which i'll probably sleep for a day or two. And there's a trip to London planned right after that. So expect to see new sewing projects pop up again at the end of June!

Just to give a sneak peek at what those projects might be, here's a picture of all the fabrics in my stash I have a plan for right now:

There's some pretty cool stuff in there: my usual cottons, but eagle-eyes people might spot a knit, some silk, or the beautiful shiny gold navy linen I just want to pet all day!

I will miss sewing, and blogging, but I just can't afford to spend a lot of time on anything apart from drawing right now (if that isn't a first world problem I don't know what is).

(Speaking of first world problems, have you read this post by Oonaballoona? It's about a beautiful cause trying to help widowed women in India- a group of people who are generally not accepted by society. The project is trying to get enough funds to get some of these women trained as seamstresses and pay them a fair wage so they can sustain themselves and their children. If you are interested in donating, you can do so here)

See you around!