I was perusing Flickr and I found this great dress pattern, Antoinette , and one for boys' pants too!  Then, after weeding through a bunch of links and web pages in Dutch I could not understand, after seeking help from Google Translate, I finally realized, the PDF pattern is no longer available for purchase!  Why?  Why would you do this to me Van Katoen people?  It's not fair. Antoinette And the pants - Broek Always late to the party. Sometimes not invited

Pattern: Ottobre 3/2012 Hollyword Cherise #13 Fabric Price: ~$5.70 Buttons: cheap color pack from Walmart (I hope they don't melt in the sun) Size: 110cm Child's Age: 7 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I got my Ottobre back issues.  I was so excited, and then I opened them, and then I realized I'm losing my mind.  Only one of the three issues was the right one.  Uh.  I don't know what happened.  I must have another personality that likes to mess with me and really screw things up for me. Still, I wanted to get started right away.  The project I was most excited about was the Trumpet Dress from issue 3/2012 for which I did manage to find and order the orignial fabric directly from Ottobre.  But the fabric cost was like a slap in the face and I paid it anyway because I only needed a bit over a yard.  However, I'm not about to mess this one up and since Monkey Pants measureme...

So, I finally took the plunge and ordered the French Country style stools I've been wanting for several years, so that our home can actually start looking French Country-ish in real life and not just in my imagination.  These are not them. Before This photo doesn't do justice to the stains on this seat. I would like to sell the old stools on the local, online classifieds, but the fabric was in shambles. And by shambles, I mean disgusting.  That's what happens when you have three little pigs eating at home several times a day, every day of the week. I guess quilting cotton isn't cut out for this kind of abuse. Looks like someone took the marker to this one.  Nice. Sadly, I had already re-covered them once with a beautiful Amy Butler print which I had the forethought to protect by adhering iron-on laminate onto.  This worked for a while.  But eventually, the laminate started peeling and cracking off until it was...

        So I've gotten quite carried away with my new found enthusiasm for sewing, that I ordered three back issues of Ottobre magazine, the children's pattern magazine from Finland. There's one or two projects in each one I'd like to make. One of them is this gorgeous dress for Monkey Pants.  She doesn't have any nice dresses nor much occasion to wear one, but I figured she should have at least one nice dress that fits in her wardrobe when the occasion does arise so I don't have to be shopping for an overpriced dress at the last minute or trying to sew one the night before.   from ottobredesign.com I love this dress, but I have to confess, I mostly love this fabric.  Now how to figure out where to find this fabric.  This is from the last issue pictured first above. Help. Anyone?

While searching in vain for women's apparel fabric at the local fabric stores, I found this striped knit at a quilt fabric store of all places, and thought it would be perfect for the oliver + s Sailboat Top pattern . I have a similar shirt with orange stripes I got on the cheap at H&M , and actually wanted to get one for Monkey Pants but haven't found one. I know, it's crazy, a classic nautical design, who would want that. Also crazy, the idea of JoAnn carrying striped knits. No, why do that when they can stock their store with scary spandex-y purple, green and black prints instead with their wide appeal for all ages and genders. I come out in a very bad mood every time I go there. Monkey Pants   is seven but she's really skinny and a bit short.  I made the size five and added an inch to the length of the sleeves. I could have probably gotten a slightly better fit with the size 6 by making the front, back and sleeve narrower....

From Burda After completing the Renaissance costume in one day, my head got really big and I actually started thinking I might be capable of sewing things again. So I got all excited and remembered that, once upon a time, I had ordered a subscription to Burda Style magazine. It was supposed to take 3-6 months to arrive but it never did which was just as well I guess because I haven't had much time to even go to the bathroom in the past two years since #3 was born. But, my new found excitement got me reved up, and I ordered it again. This time, the first issue is supposed to arrive in July! I didn't want the momentum to die off, so I bought a PDF Burda pattern to try to get back into the swing of things. Burda #108 is a sleeveless dress with a twist not in the front. It was in one of their previous magazines this year and although the model dress is not very appealing, I saw some other pictures of it made up where it looked quite nice. I've been wanting to get into ...