PR+P - week 2: Once in a blue moon

So before I begin to tell you all about the items I created this week, I want to start by saying two things.

First I want to sincerely thank everyone for the love I felt in week 1 and the kind and warm words I received, thank you all so much!!

And secondly (as you will see in the pictures) my little girl currently has chicken pox… Hence my title for this week because I feel like having the opportunity to be in this competition is a once in a blue moon’s chance and then her getting chicken pox at the exact same time…Well that’s just ridiculously coincidental 😉 Luckily her fever broke before Sunday so I felt comfortable taking some pictures but I can’t say she was feeling completely like herself… But I’m very happy I get to show you some modelled pictures of what I made!

Blue is also the colour I chose to work with for this second week. And because it’s the second challenge, I thought it would be fun to make something for my second boy. And you can’t really say pleats, pintucks & gathers without thinking of a girls’ dress, right?! So my little girl also got a new outfit!

I love flowers and I love fabric with flowers even more. I know not everyone is convinced to use flower-fabric for boys, but I definitely am! And luckily, so is my little boy 😊 My original idea was to use the same fabric for his shirt & Marilou her dress, but I got a firm NO from Noah… way to much pink in his opinion. But when I showed him the blue flower fabric he got really excited! The fact that his dad has a similar shirt might have something to do with that 😉

For his sweater I got inspired by a post I saw on Instagram a while back. I couldn’t find it anymore, but a google search learned me that honeycomb smocking was what I was looking for. I thought it would be fun to try it on French terry and turn it into a sweater for my boy. I loved the process of making it and really had a lot of fun. I just made a simple sweater so the focus would go the extra dimension created on the front panel. I moved the side seam more towards the front so the excess fabric wouldn’t be uncomfortable under the arm when wearing.

For my girl I wanted to create something that has all the details I love and fits this pleats, pintucks & gathers theme. I used Lane from Little Lizard King as a starting point because I wanted a basic dress I knew would fit well and I could make the changes to I had in mind. First I turned the neckline into a boatneck because I think this looks so feminine and cute. Secondly I made the bodice shorter so I could add a waistband to it. For the waistband I added plain pintucks at the back and pintucks with a twist to the front. I wanted a really full skirt for this dress so I started at the top of it with a gathered circle skirt, then I added a gathered skirt underneath with a hemband. And between the gathered skirt & the hemband I put a ruffle. I cut the gathered skirt parts the width of fabric (so 150cm) and used 3 pieces and for the ruffle I doubled that. Which means that in total I gathered more than 15 metres (!!!) of fabric to create the skirt! But luckily I'm one of those people who loves to gather fabric and finds it a really relaxing process. But you still don’t want to know how long this one took, but seeing it finished I’m in love with it and I couldn’t be happier! :-D

For her little and very lightweight jacket I chose to use the same type of fabric as the shorts of my boy. It’s a soft cotton with a linen look and felt perfect for this week’s challenge (creating texture to your design). Making this little jacket made me realise I didn’t want to take any attention away from the skirt of her dress, so I turned it into a crop jacket 😉

For her little and very lightweight jacket I chose to use the same type of fabric as the shorts of my boy. It’s a soft cotton with a linen look and felt perfect for this week’s challenge (creating texture to your design). Making this little jacket made me realise I didn’t want to take any attention away from the skirt of her dress, so I turned it into a crop jacket 😉