Don't mind me, I'm just being casual

People, I've been on a bit of a roll lately. There are honestly so many ideas and projects bouncing around in my head it gets a bit overwhelming at times. I've been doing some sewing, knitting and even dug up my felt again to make some patches! Next stop: more linoprinting. I didn't have to work on Tuesday and Wednesday this week so I decided to have some fun. On Tuesday night Lieke and her boyfriend took me and my boyfriend to see the Decemberists, and it was AWESOME! I made us all little badges for the occasion:

On Wednesday we slept in and met up with a good friend and her daughter to go see the Panamarenko exhibit at the Muhka in Antwerp. It was all very nice and interesting, but at a certain point our youngest companion had a different kind of entertainment in mind:

I wore another Linden sweater for the occasion, the third one I've made so far! It's a ridiculously quick pattern to make, I cut it out on Monday night and sewed it on Tuesday morning, before my boyfriend woke up. It took some time to convince him that was actually the thing I'd been cutting the night before!

Boyfriend: "Go stand in front of the diarrhea wall! It'll be hilarious!"

The fabric is impossible to photograph, but it's a pretty light blue knit with golden sparkles all over. All those years of wearing jeans and t-shirts are finally catching up, and I'm currently drawn to glitter like a six-year-old. There are worse things!

I can't really say much more about this sweater. This time I just made view B in a size 12, without any alterations. I lengthened the neckband a smidge again to help it stretch around the neckline and finished all the edges with a zig zag stitch since this knit does unravel quite badly.

The skirt is new as well! My boss had another plan for us to wear matching clothes, and this time it was a t-shirt with a sequin appliqué on it. She thought it would look 'so cute with some jeans' so I made a burgundy wrap skirt to go with it. The pattern is from the previous Burda magazine and it was super simple. The back and front underlap are just rectangles (the instructions tell you to gether them but I went for pleats since I didn't want my butt to look too poofy). The front piece has a pretty interesting shape, the hem is straight but the upper side is much wider and curved, which is then pleated into the waistband. This makes the hem drop in the front, giving it an asymmetrical look. I used a solid linen bought in a local fabric shop.

Here are some more badges! I made the bottom two, the top one was bought from Lindsay Bottos. This picture also gives the best impression of what the fabric (and part of my hair!) looks like.

Of course I also got my lovely friend to help me pose. We take each other to a whole different level! Her daughter has clearly inherited her talent:

And how did we end this super sophisticated day? By eating pancakes and laughing at this cat. His name is Tupac and he's 2 bizzy 4 u.

Casually kicking ass... In space!

Hi everyone! Just as a disclaimer: the garment I'm showing you today has been shamelessly ripped off. In fact, it's a piss-poor attempt to touch the heels of the latest Valentine collection thing. I mean, how can you look at this and not want it?

I know, right! I had a dark green sweatshirt knit in my stash and loads of different gold and silver textile paints (because of course I own loads of those) so I decided to use the Grainline Linden sweater as a base and just go loco. I finished it in time to wear on a weekend in the countryside with my family, which was amazing. We were staying near Ypres, and even though I've been there before I was just overwhelmed with the amount of history in the area. We visited Tyne Cot cemetery and Flanders Fields museum and it was just incredibly touching.

I had made this pattern once before (But not for me! Incredible!) and knew it comes together really quickly. The only thing that gave me trouble the first time was the neckband: I used self fabric and I think the sweatshirt fabric just isn't stretchy enough compared to ribbing. I had a really hard time fitting it around the neckline the first time round and decided to lengthen the pattern piece a tiny bit on this version, which definitely helped!

The neckline turned out nice and flat, no gaping anywhere. It's a super speedy sew because knits (so no seam finishes, haha). I think it took me about an hour to get it together, clumsy fumbling included.

The print was really easy, and only took a longer time because I wanted to paint both sides and had to let the whole thing dry before turning it over. I cut rough stars in different sizes out of a sturdy paper and used a soft paintbrush to stencil them on. After that I added loads of dots and finished with some glitter (which ended up all over car seats and everything during our family retreat. I am simply too impatient to heat set the paint before wearing the thing)

The sparkle doesn't really show on camera, but it looks really nice in real life! I picked the size of the dress based on my bust and hip measurements and just lengthened it straight down. I like a flared skirt on a fitted bodice or in a more drapey fabric, but add it to this relaxed fit in a structured fabric such as this and I look like a trumpet.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my spaceship.

PS: As a bonus, here's what happens when my boyfriend tells me to 'look angry':