Masquerade

This year I managed to make a costume from this cute fabric I bought a year ago. By the way I bought it in a huge fabric shop near Ljubljana - Svet metraže.Svet metraže They have an on-line shop, as well. They're not exactly cheap but the shop is really big so you can always find something affordable if you just search long enough.
Anyway, I managed to prepare for the annual festival (Fasching - German) that we celebrate in Slovenia. The reason was that we had holidays from school so I had some time to fool around.

First I made the hat for my daughter and I liked it so much that I quickly made one for myself as well. I got the inspiration from Sew Kawaii! by Choly Knight but I drew the pattern myself. I measured our heads and drew the pattern. I made the hats by trial and error. So I had to do the top part for my daughter's hat twice. The first one was too small and even the second one was not exactly great. I had to make some corrections.

I'm publishing the patterns but use it carefully and make your own adjustments.

Lady bird hat adult download
Lady bird hat child download

I also made my daughter a cute tunic. I used a pattern from Burda magazine: Burda 12/ 2005; mod. 136; size: 86/92. Originally it was a top part of pyjamas but it works well as a tunic.

White-or-black-coffee dress + mum's knitted coat

White-or-black-coffee dress

I had this unusual patterned fabric for several years and I just couldn't decide what to do with it. I've finally done this dress from Burda magazine - 11/ 2012; modell 101, size 38. The material is of course jersey. I changed the bottom hem & sleeve cuffs. I used a dark brown jersey left from other project. Basically I simplified the dress for several reasons: because I didn't have enough material, because the original thing was a bit more complicated and because it turned out just fine in the end. The pattern is not difficult. Nowadays I always choose patterns that are quickly done because I don't have the time or energy. After I'm done with my job and my baby girl I'm sometimes too tired to do anything. I associate this pattern with white coffee, black coffee and cappuccino. I have no idea why. Probably because of the brown colours and the winding pattern.

Mum's knitted coat

That's the other thing that I really wanted to show off. It's not my work. It was made (knitted) by my mum when I was in high school - a long time ago. It was a full-length coat but I didn't like that and I had never worn it. But then I suggested to my mum if she could shorten it to a knee-length. Now it's absolutely wonderful. It's very warm because it's woollen and this year's winter is just perfect for it. It's unusually warm without any snow in Slovenia which suits me fine. I'm not a big fan of winter.

Xtra Big Cardigan

I had this wonderful material for a couple of years and I didn't know what to do with it. I forgot how many metres I bought and how much it cost me. Finally I've decided to make this wonderful extra big cardigan from Burda magazine 7/2013, model no. 109. I chose size 36, even though I wear a bigger size. But because the pattern is a bit oversized & baggy I thought it would be fine. It turned out great. It's a bit colourful for a cardigan, now I see that cardigans & jackets should be in darker tones and in monochrome so that you can wear something colourful underneath. Now I have to be careful not to look garish or gaudy. It goes well with jeans.

monochrome- in shades of only one colour, especially shades of greygarish- very brightly coloured in a way that is unpleasant to look atgaudy-clothes, colours etc that are gaudy are too bright and look cheap (Longman dictionary) 

The best bit is that I had only 1.5 m and the pattern needed over 2m of fabric. So I had to make a cut at the bottom, it's still the same lenght as the original, it was just not cut in one piece but two pieces. It doesn't look bad, especially because it's so colourful that you don't even notice the extra seam.

A Big Baby Towel

Before me and my husband got a baby we were entitled to a welfare packet for a newborn (a benefit that was given to every newborn baby (not just the poor) but unfortunately it no longer exists in Slovenia). Anyway, there was this huge towel (96cm x 96 cm) in the packet which I found very useful - it's good to have a big towel and I noticed it was very easy to make it. So I measured it and so far I have made two of the same towels. As you can see from the following pictures it is made of two pieces.

Crocheted Snowflake

I've found this wonderful book about crocheting & knitting  in a local library (it's even in English) - 150 Blocks to Knit & Crochet ( The anything-but-the-square collection) by Heather Lodinsky and it's really great. What I always look for in books and magazins for crocheting are the sketches because I don't like reading the description in words, I just want a quick look at the sketches and I quickly see if there is something I can make.

Petite Lace Snowflake

This pattern is called Petite Lace Snowflake and it's so easy to make it. It's made of chain stitch, double crochet and slip stich. I think I will make some of this year's Christmas cards by using this snowflake. I've decided that this year's cards have to be super easy to make because I just don't have enough time to do anything.

Summer dress made from online fabric

Summer dress made from online fabric

I bought this wonderful fabric online at http://www.tissufabrics.co.uk/, this was the first time that I actually bought the fabric (5 pieces) on the Internet and it turned out great - the fabric was wonderful, it arrived quickly and it wasn't very expensive. 

I love all the fabrics. I have always thought that ordering via Internet is a bit risky because you never know what you might get, but I was pleasantly surprised. I admit that the colours look slightly different in real than on the internet page. Nevertheless, they're OK, it's just a bit of a surprise. They're all jersey fabrics. Lately I'm obsessed with jersey and knit fabric.