The Lotte Martens Blog Tour

I am so excite to participate in the Lotte Martens blog tour. Lotte Martens is a Belgian textile designer. All the fabrics are designed and handprinted by Lotte Martens herself. Every fabric is one of a kind. I am humbled that I was asked to sew with such beautiful creations. The fabric came from their latest line, Party Animals.  I used Vuurdoorn 08. 

I wasn't sure what I would make at first. I had a dress in mind, but when the fabric came I realized it was a bit of a wrong weight to make the dress. The fabric is sturdy, it's a bit heavier than quilting cotton, but not as heavy and more pliable than canvas. It think it would make a stunning trench coat. I didn't have the time to make the trench coat, but please buy the fabric and make the coat so I can live in peace. lol. I can't get it out of my head! 

Since I requested quite a bit of fabric for the dress that never happened, I had enough to make myself a skirt and a dress for Ania. We also took the Party Animals theme seriously, as you can see. lol Anis's dress is my Ila dress pattern. I just used the lining piece for the front and lengthened it to match the back. I wanted a simple silhouette with just a bit of bling. 

Gold piping! I think it goes with the dress perfectly! 

I had a totally an off day when I was sewing it, nothing I did went smoothly. I sewed a zipper only to realize it was twisted. I could not for the life of me make the back seam meet the zipper nicely. Do you ever get days like that?  I am glad I persevered, Ania loves her new dress! 

What a monkey! 

For my skirt a used this Burda pattern and I am happy with the results.  Though I did something that I would totally disapprove and tell you to never do it. I chose the size without measuring myself. Yep. Or to be precise I thought I knew my size, but I lost a bit of weight recently and apparently I am no longer size 40 in Burda patterns. I was always size 38 on top and size 40 on the bottom. I had to take in almost an inch on each side to make it look decent. So the side panels are not as wide as they should be, though I think it still looks good. 

Twinning is winning, right. My 12 year old was the main photograher. The camera was way to heavy fo rhim so all the pictures came out at 45 degree angle. Lots of cropping had to be done! I enjoyed working with the fabric and really pleased with the results. Thank you for the invite, Eva!