Russian shawl-skirt

Just finished this skirt. It was a bit of fight, to be honest. Took me a while to position russian shawl over the skirt.
So the story behind it:
My daughter asked her mother-in-low who was visiting Russia at that time to bring her a traditional russian shawl. So I asked to bring one extra so I can make her some nice skirt (she is obsessed with skirts :)))  ) So there we are!
Skirt comes in two pieces - there is a main black skirt with ribbon around the edge and then the second part comes over the black skirt and is removable - two skirts in one!!!

Happy sewing, everybody!

Hooded fleece jacket

This year I will have quite a few travels, therefor a comfy, casual jacket with a big hood to hide from a wind or rain is must have on the road!
Used two separate patterns for this jacket - hood is from BurdaStyle 11/2011 pattern called "hooded sweatshirt" and jacket itself is from BurdaStyle 04/2010 project number 117. I did change the neck line which was originally v neck. Also I put a soft, warm lining inside from a knit fabric.
This is warm, comfortable, light enough jacket to carry around and most important - you can throw it in your bag and it wont get wrinkles :)
 I am ready to go backpacking!

Crazy Felt belt

Starting to get into crazy felt, so much fun! Most crazy ideas can be realized with this method. 

It is quite straight forward - wool and yarn are arranged as you wish on a base material which is water-soluble stabiliser and temporarily attached with a spray adhesive before being stitched in place using sewing machine.

Got this idea in Jeannette Knake book called "Crazy Felt". You can find plenty of great designs and interesting ideas in this book.

And this is my first belt using this method :)

Dread lock accessory

Recently my daughter got herself dread locks. Simple hair-bands doesn't look good enough anymore.. So it is time to brainstorm through new ideas!

She showed me some pictures of her ideas and this is what I came up with - simple felting using irregular triangle form, long enough to wrap around her hair. Cut a button hole and sewed around to make it more solid. Looks really nice and holds dreads together perfectly. Ideal project for felting beginners! Highly recommend to try this!

Covers for iphone and kindle.

Trying out something new!
I have an iPhone 3GS and a price for a good, quality cover for it starts from €25... In the time of a recession even owning an iphone is too expensive, never mind paying an extra €25 for a cover itself... So I made one myself from a leftover fabric! Way better that a bought one :)
Created this pattern myself. Using the measurements of the phone, first I cut outside of the cover. Then I glued adhesive fabric on the wrong-side of the material to make it more harder and easier to embroider the fabric. Sewed on some ornaments.. Separately I made an inside of the cover - put together lining with polyester material and sewed together using embroidery style. Sewed some pockets over it and sewed together with the outside of the cover.
The same style I did for kindle covers. Just holders and pockets are different style and sizes... Turned out to be better that expected - very solid and strong and safe covers.
You should try it yourself - a perfect project to practice your skills on!

Folk-style dress

This is a dress I made for my daughters mother-in-low. She loves all kind of folk-style clothing and was looking particularly for a sarafan type dress.
She chose the material herself and it was a little bit hard to work with, to be honest.  It was one of the tweed type materials but very dense.. But pretty, indeed :)
 I found the pattern in "Botique" magazine and made slight changes to the neck line. Also added a heightened belt right under the bra line on which I sewed on crocheted circles and hand made buttons made of a modeling clay material. Unraveled some of the material from the belt making fringe-type finish to it.
She loved it :)

Great pattern for a jacket!

My daughter wanted a jacket which she can wear in different occasions, not too classic and most important - comfortable. 

After a great search I found this really pretty pattern in "Burda Style" (11/2010) . 

This jacket has a great fit and nice cuts. My daughter claims it is the most comfortable jacked she has ever owned. And the buttonhole pockets with flaps are really handy, too. Not the most easy pattern, I must say, I wouldn't suggest it to the beginners... 

I used good quality tweed fabric which I bought in Latvia. Lining inside and it's ready to be worn :)