Wake up cousin! We're going to the zoo!

Well hello there! I'm here! With a garment post! Isn't that exciting? I've actually finished three other things that should be photographed, but other stuff just keeps happening. Last weekend Tasia and her husband were in town, and I basically spent three days with them having a blast and getting a slight sunburn (first one of the year!). It was really nice to meet them both, and I think they had fun as well:

Just saying: they were trying not to hit kids, no matter what this picture looks like!

We really enjoyed showing them around Antwerp, introducing Tasia to a few museums, fabric shops and of course the wild swarms of bees that regularly roam town:

This was really cool though. People were having drinks two tables over. Surreal.

(In all seriousness, I hope they got a beekeeper there instead of just exterminating them. We need all the bees we can get, people!)

Anyway, today my boyfriend, Lieke and me went over to Planckendael to look at cute animals and I took the chance to photograph a new thing between some huge plants. It's an Alder and I love it.

I'm feeling like sewing summer things (even though I was freezing my butt off when we arrived back home) and this is definitely summery. I used a super lightweight cotton gauze, which means I have to wear a top and bike shorts underneath it unless I want my underwear on display.

As usual with Grainline patterns, this came together really well. Any hitches I encountered had more to do with the fabric! It was very shifty, and I had to press very carefully to avoid warping it. Some pieces also grew a lot after cutting. I ended up using my walking foot for most of the construction, and that definitely helped.

One big booboo: I barely had enough fabric to cut this dress, and could only make it if I cut the front skirt panels on the crossgrain. Sadly enough, they now wrinkle in a different direction than the rest of the dress. It doesn't show as much in real life, but I'll definitely have to remember it the next time!

I'm also tempted to rip out the topstitching on the collar stand because it's a bit too wonky for my liking. But then again, this fabric is pretty fragile so it might not be a great idea (but obviously running and climbing through playgrounds is). This silhouette is pretty different from what I usually go for, but I really like it. I cut my size according to my bust measurement because I didn't mind a relaxed fit around the waist. The result is a number that might get a sequel or two!

After this little shoot we went ahead to see everything on offer. There were loris you could feed nectar to:

We also got to see a very grumpy fox right after waking up, and before his lunch. Too cute.

It was a pretty intense day, and we managed to see the entire park. We learned tons of things about bonobos and I managed to identify a tawny frogmouth and some banded mongooses. Good times!