I’ve told you, there’ll be a bunch of those little dresses here in the near future. Once again, the pattern is from the French Book “Les Intemporels pour enfants”, size 4 for my 2.5 year old, in Liberty Cotton. More pics, as always, on my Flickr Sewing Set.

Je vous ai prévenu, il y aura toute une série de petites robes ici, commençant par celle-là. Encore la « robe trapèze » des « Intemporels pour Enfants », taille 4 ans pour ma puce de 2 ½, en coton Liberty. Plus de photos, comme d’habitude, sur Flickr.

Wie schon angekündigt, wird es hier in nächster Zeit eine ganze Reihe dieser Kleidchen zu sehen geben. Zuerst einmal dieses, wieder ein « robe trapèze » aus dem Buch « Les Intemporels pour Enfants », aus Liberty Baumwolle, Grösse 4 für meine Zweieinhalbjährige. Mehr Bilder wie immer auf Flickr.

I’ve been sewing again, I’ll show you when I am done. I’ve decided to stop trying to sew for myself for the time being. Turns out I don’t even have enough fabric to do other sleeves on my dress and the fabric was too heavy for it anyway. I will practice on the smaller stuff for now. I see a bunch of “robes trapezes” in my near future. Once I’ll have sufficiently played with this pattern, I’ll move on to something else.

In other news, is it me (and my hormones)? Or do you see super gorgeous little girl’s dresses everywhere, too?

A couple of examples, my extra set of arms is just dying to knit up:

- Bliss by Allegra Wermuth, from the brand new online magazine ‘Petit Purls’.
- Very Cherry by Alana Dakos (pictured below).
- A soon-to-come pattern by Katya Frankel aka the Binge Knitter: Blue

Picture from the designer’s Flickr Album

Well, well… the short version is: we’ve been a bit sick again, nights are too short, new yarn arrived (and although it is not the weight I expected I’ll have enough time to adjust my design) and I am swatching away.

I’ve been sewing a bit, another little dress for a 5 year old girl that turned out great and a little top that didn’t. I gave up on the cap sleeves on my dress by the way, it just wouldn’t work out. I am now contemplating other sleeve options.

So, it’s WWKiP Day and I’ll be spending it at home, coughing, taking care of the kids (because the husband has to work, from home, but still). I am not feeling well enough anyway to venture out to the city. Damn!

But, the good news is that yesterday, just before going to bed, I saw that the Interweave Crochet Summer 2009 Preview is up. And, those crazy people put my design on the cover (again!). I think they did a wonderful job photographing it, the cardi looks so cute on the model. I immediately want to make one for myself.

Happy Knitting in public wherever you are. I’ll try and do at least a little bit on the terrace this afternoon. If a neighbor sees me, does that count as “public” (haha)?

Aujourd’hui je me suis encore lancée dans la couture. J’ai choisi cette robe du nouveau livre d’Astrid le Provost (Les Intemporels pour Futures Mamans) pensant que je pourrais y arriver. Pas si sur….
Un problème se pose surtout : la manche. Regardez ce que ça devrait donner (photo tirée du livre) et voilà la mienne. Est-ce que possible que c’est juste mon tissu qui est trop raide ? Peut-être trop épais ? Tout les deux, c’est du lin. Comme la première manche ne s’est pas si bien passé, j’ai décidé de faire d’abord l’encolure. J’ai du mal comprendre quelque chose, mais j’ai fini avec presque rien pour plier sur l’intérieur, alors j’ai du un peu bidouiller. Et même si les fronces sont encore une fois loin d’être parfaites, ça pourrait encore aller. Après essayage il s’avère qu’au niveau encolure, ça va, mais que les emmanchures sont trop étroites.
Il faudrait donc : 1. Elargir les emmanchures. Et 2. Trouver une autre solution pour les manches, une autre forme carrément ou……. Je ne sais pas. Je me suis arrêtée là pour ce soir, parce-que ça commence à me dépasser cette histoire.

Today I started a new sewing project for me. A dress from the new book by Astrid le Provost „Intemporels pour futures mamans“. I was hoping that this was something I could manage, but I am not quite sure anymore….
The biggest problem are the sleeves. Look how they are supposed to look (picture from the book) and here are mine. Maybe it’s just my fabric that is too stiff? It’s both linen, but how would I know what kind of linen they used?
As the first sleeve didn’t go all that well, I decided to do the neckline first. Somehow I must have misunderstood something and I ended up without much fabric to fold to the inside and I had to wing it a bit, it’s not great, but not the worst neckline either.
Trying it on I saw that the upper body does indeed fit me, but the armholes are too tight to be comfortable. So, I now have two problems:
1. I will have to make the armholes bigger somehow and
2. I will have to find another solution for the sleeves, using a totally different shape or…. I don’t know.
That’s where I am tonight and I am stepping away from it for a while in order to not get overwhelmed with my incompetence.

Not that I have a pattern (or two) to write… you know…. I am now also on Twitter. Search for juliavaconsin to find me.

Ok, that means I am 2 books behind. Still doable, I think. Plus, I read 2 books about half way through before giving up, but I don’t count those.
Alors, ça fait 2 livres en retard sur mon objectif, c’est encore faisable je pense. J’ai lu 2 autres livres à peu près jusqu’à la moitié avant d’abandonner. Mais je ne les compte pas, celles-là.
So, das macht nun insgesamt 2 Bücher Rückstand, das ist noch aufzuholen. Außerdem habe ich 2 Bücher ungefähr bis zur Hälfte gelesen, bevor ich aufgegeben habe, die zähle ich aber nicht mit.

12. Daniel Rocher Le Voyage de Monsieur Raminet: ****
13. Elia Barcelo Das Geheimnis der Masken: ****

I just read about June being Sewing Machine Month over at Sew, Mama, Sew! . I am looking forward to that as I really have lot left to learn. There’s a meme to go with it and here it is, although as a beginner there’s not much useful information I can share:

What brand and model do you have? Brother XL-2600

How long have you had it? Since January 2009

How much does that machine cost (approximately)? Between 130 and 180 EUR

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)? Mostly children’s clothing, some simple adult clothing and home decor projects.

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get? Actual sewing on the machine is probably not much more than an hour a week.

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name? Compared what I had before (a very old no-name machine that wouldn’t sew a straight line or work for more than 10 seconds without jamming) I absolutely love it. I have not given her (him?) a name (yet).

What features does your machine have that work well for you? I still have to experiment with most of its features. It has a bunch of stitches, decorative stitches and even some “overlock stitches” (although I don’t know how to use those yet). I like the button holes I can make with it.

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine? Nope.

Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it! Unfortunately not. I would have liked to find it under the Christmas tree, but the husband thought it would just be easier for me to choose it myself, so I bought it in January as a late Christmas gift.

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why? I would, simply because I am really new at this and I am getting along with it great.

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine? I had no clue what to look for myself. I think, as a beginner, you should go with something not too expensive. If, after a couple of years, you know much more about it, you can always get another one. I really had to tell myself “it doesn’t have to last a lifetime”, especially if you see other people in your household changing phones, computers, cameras etc every other year or so; and those cost much more. I did want to get a well known brand, though, in case I ever have to get it fixed or something.

Do you have a dream machine? No, I really don’t know enough about sewing machines to have one.