From hubby's hoodie to cute skirt for me!

My husband made a bit of cleaning in his closet, so there I was with a mountain of old t-shirts and sweat shirts.

The grey and the lines pattern on this sweat shirt caught my eyes, I thought hum! A cute skirt maybe...

Not visible on the pic, but there is a huge pocket on the front bottom.

Here is how I did it:
First you have to cut the skirt's panels.
Like this:

secure with pins.

Then cut out two bands out of one of the sleeves, you need them to be a half of your waist size and add about 5 mm to the length for both bands, for ease. If your waist is 66 cm, then you need two bands of 33,5 cm. The height of the waist band for me was 4,5 cm, do not forget to leave 1 cm seam allowance all around.

Now you have all two pieces for the skirt.
Now, back to the skirt's panel, first you need to unsew a small part on one seam to insert the zip, secure the seam with your sewing machine.
Serge the top edge.
To make the gathering you need to sew a straight line on the panels at 1 cm from the top edge, secure that straight line with a back point but do not do it at the end, leave a good amount of thread a the end.
Now just pull the under thread (the one that cam out of the can on your sewing machine).
See it's starts to gather, do it till it matches the length of the waistband
Now the waistband; sew the two bands together and iron the seam flat, then apply some fusible to the wrong side of the waistband, to give it some strength and serge the band.
Fold it in the length and iron it.
Sew waistband and skirt together following the gathering line on the skirt.
Pull out the gathering threads.
Insert zip.
Iron the whole thing, and you are done!

See the pocket!?
It was so easy to make!

From Grand-ma's skirt to Back to school dress for Grand-daugther.

It's time!
Every kids all around the world are getting back to school.

My four years old daughter attend her first day ever at school, she was so excited to finally go to school, since she was 2 years old, she was asking me : "when do I start to go to school, like my brother?" She doesn't speak English as her first language, so it was all in a French/Ducth/English mixed language, so it was more like : "C'est quand que je vais op school als mijn broer? I find her even cuter when she does that mix! And makes me feel sad, cause I know she won't do it that often now that she goes to school her Dutch will be more structured and so her French will fade a bit I think. As for her English, well TV helps a lot, and she has a great accent.

So, the day comes and I decided that for her first day at school she needed a brand new dress.
But, I didn't wanted to buy any, so I put my head straight in my stash, and found this great pink linen skirt that my mother in law gave me, she didn't wear it any more and wasn't my style at all, since it has great amount of fabric I thought it was great for this project, and the girl really liked the colour.

Linen skirt

Tutorial, Wall art," Save Money, Live Better": reuse! Silhouettes, oups! I did it again!

still some finishing touch to do here, was done and then gone so I don't have any other pictures!

After my last  wall art were done and hang in our living room, I had a lot of compliments and even an order for two wall art silhouettes!
So, I did it again, this time I had to make the silhouette of a family member who is well known for always having a broom in hand, and the second one is her partner who have the same "tic" but with a rake, you need to know that they are not crazy at all, they are just retired, so they have plenty of time to broom the house and rake the garden's grass, I guess.
They were very happy with the result.
I made them the same way as the previous ones, cut out by hand with scissors of different sizes.
This time it was less painful though!

Smurfette goes Haute Couture accessories

Smurfette/Schtroumpfette source: smurfs.wikia.com

The 29th of july, "The Smurfs" the movie is set to come out!
(movie trailer below)

Until then, someone is already on her way to become a A-lister!
This month's issue of Harper's Bazaar, there is a focus on young blue starlet/fashionista: Smurfette.
For the occasion she poses joyfully wearing Marc Jacobs, Lanvin, Dolce & Gabbana and sure Louis Vuitton!

See the looks after the jump...

Tutorial, Wall art," Save Money, Live Better": reuse! Part II Silhouettes

As part of my personal challenge, I present you five new wall art I have done, so it's six now, and I'm planing a 7th soon.
The goal was no money spent; the first four are shadows/silhouettes of my family representing what they like the most, it's not a revolutionary project but I have a lot of fun during the process, so I share.
Quick how to after the jump!

Hubby or son?

Daughter

Banana Republic goes Mad Men

Banana Republic in collaboration with Janie Bryant, who creates costumes for AMC show Mad Men is releasing a collection of 65 pieces for men and women inspired by the famous show.

Janie Bryant
pic source: Glamour

Pictures after the jump!

Tutorial for Princess canopy/curtain bed

My 4 years old daughter wanted a "Princess bed" like, so we take a look at the internet and bed shops in the area, and we finally agreed on one.
I think what made her choice on this one was the two hearts shape, but when she chooses this one she saids to me: "maman that's not really a Princess bed, there is no curtains!"
I said : "don't worry sweat heart, maman will take care of that", and then I was trapped, I had to make those "Princess bed" curtains.

Findings at the Albert Cuyp Market, Amsterdam

This week I went to the Albert Cuyp Market in Amsterdam, and I thought I had to share!

The market take place in the street of the same name, reachable by tram 16 from Amsterdam Centraal.

It's a banal market, you can shop for cheese, flowers, fresh vegetables, fish, meat and cheap clothing etc...

And of course fabrics! A lot!

I love polka dots!

Paradise for quilters!

More pictures and fun fabrics after the jump

Tutorial, Wall art," Save money, Live better": reuse! Part I

Hello, dear readers!

It's been a while since I have posted, for a good reason... I was crafting!
I really wanted to make all the wall art for my home by myself.
My idea for those pieces was to recycle/reuse as much as I can and to do with what I already have at home. Not buying anything.
So here is the first of the six I've done so far.

I absolutely wanted French words in the dinning area, it took some time to figure out wich words would be most relevant, my husband suggested Bon  Appétit, and I agreed. The font is the one called English, funny cause we choose it for it's French style.
The wood comes from a bench that the previous owner of my house left. It was naturally distressed by the Dutch weather so it was perfect for the style I wanted. Later on the process I found that the natural distressed look was not useful since I decided to use the craquelé effect.
Tutorial after the jump...

Thank you Santa!

I'm glad to present you my new friend, she is a two and four threads overlock, I can't wait to try it!
Santa your the best!