And so it begins again

A new year, a fresh start, a tidy sewing desk, new supplies on the shelf - what more could one possibly want?

January began with a winter wedding of a dear friend and we drove to the nearby lake Geneva in Switzerland, to a beautiful little town of Vevey where we could take some great pictures of the lake and the couple just before the sun set in the afternoon.

My wedding gift were two soft but well stuffed 50 x 50 cm pillows in custom made decorative covers - I used all linen fabrics, cut out the initials F and J and decorated them with lace, ribbons and buttons.

December was a month of giving and what better thing to give than one's time and attention. Recently a couple of friends became the lucky parents of a baby boy and since they have a Christmas tradition of buying special ornaments that remind them of certain places and events, I decided to make them a "baby's first Christmas" ornament - a little bird for baby Gaspard.

And since I mentioned new supplies... I ordered some small embroidery hoops before Christmas, thinking I could engage my children in some needlework - they have been asking me to let them help me sew so I am always looking for ways to involve them in my craft in a fun, safe way. So far we haven't yet had time to try out embroidery but I couldn't just let those hoops sit on my shelf untested - so one night, while watching Agatha Christie's Poirot episodes on Youtube, I made this little floral arangement on a 5 inch (13 cm) hoop. 

But what about the children? We'll do needle work next time, for now I bought them some colour pencils for fabric and they drew some creatures on white linen which I then sewed together and stuffed into small plush toys.

While all this was going on, I hardly had any time to sew new Loddelina bags - they will have to wait for my next post.

Have a lovely week!

:: :: :: 

In spet se začenja

Januar je čas za nov začetek, za pospravljeno šivalno mizo in nove potrebščine na polici. Mesec se je začel s poroko dveh prijateljev -  nekaj foto utrinkov iz mesteca Vevey ob Ženevskem jezeru. In moje darilo mladoporočencema: okrasni blazini 50 x 50 cm z začetnicama J in F na lanenih prevlekah. 

Pa še eno darilo, božični okrasek za dojenčkov prvi božič, moji prvi poskusi vezenja (pred novim letom sem nabavila nekaj manjših okvirjev, da bom mogoče otroka navdušila za delo z iglo) in živalice, ki sta jih na blago narisala s flomastri za tkanino, jaz pa obrezala, zašila in natlačila v mehke igračke. 

Tudi za Loddelino bo čas, več v naslednji objavi!

December

Last night I was up till one finishing my double advent calendar for the children. Papa Arno made the light wooden frame (90x130cm, 35x51") with screwed in metalic hooks on which we strung a simple white cord to make 24 intersections. Children helped me make the tags and when they went to bed in the evening, I added two sets of red paper bags with small presents inside, attached with red polkadot ribbon for Lily and brown for Gaston.

I didn't grow up with this tradition but always found it fun for the small children who have a hard time waiting for Christmas (my son has been asking me about it since his birthday in September...). With this simple countdown tool they will discover a little surprise every morning of this holiday season.

Have a nice Thursday and don't forget, Loddelina December newsletter will be out this weekend, there is still time to subscribe and get fresh news about new items and shop promotions!

Have a nice weekend!

Yesterday I added a new zippered pouch to my shop - a dark brown canvas base with emerald green and raspberry pink silk patches, decorated with matching trims. 

I wanted to list another purse but the day got too short as I decided at the last minute to make a small girl tote as a present to my friend's daughter. I used my favourite Ikea striped canvas and lined it with whimsical colourful print of lobsters and fruit - what else!

I wish you a great weekend,
See you soon!

Homemade play dough

Today is the first day of autumn school holidays, a week and a haf of hopefully not too cold and rainy days spent with my children. Some children workshops have been planned for next week and visits to Grandma as well, but I started preparing some crafting ideas, in case we get stuck at home with freeizing cold weather outside.

My children love to draw, unfortunatelly my youngest prefers to express herself on all other surfaces except the paper so she can never be left alone with a box of crayons. Her older brother loves to cut out things with scissors but that again becomes a dangerous tool in the hands of his sister.

So the safest occupation for both seemed the play dough, better still, play dough that they can eat (if only by accident). I first thought of salt dough - cheap to make but unfortunatelly doesn't stay fresh very long, according to some only a couple of weeks in the fridge. But yesterday I came across this wonderful post from The Mama Dramalogues blog, a source of inspiration, laughter and support...

image: The Mama Dramalogues

... - the recipe for homemade play dough. It requires some cooking but once made it will last for years and you can add food colourants and even some vanilla or peppermint extract to make it smell nice (and even more attractive for the children to eat...).

I will try it out in the next couple of days - I wonder if food colourants can be washed out of carpets, curtains and clothes...

Girlying up a boys jacket

Spring is also the time to review children's warderobe to see what still fits and which items have to be replaced.
Passing clothes from brother to sister requires some creative recycling (don't ask me how it works the other way, with the mountains of pink and glitter one sees in girlswear these days...).

I wanted my daughter to wear her brother's old navy blue jacket for spring but she refused.
So I decided to girly it up a bit, replacing the dark blue zipper tags with a red and pink ribbon, embroidering pink flowers along the collar and sewing on little cherries, made of green embroidery thread and red & dark orange wooden beads.

Success!
In this picture she is matching her new jacket with her brother's brown pants but I think the butterfly cycling helmet helps finish the look...

A tiny bag for a tiny girl

The bag is 18 cm wide and 21 cm high (7 x 8 inch) with 8 cm (3 inch) wide bottom and 28 cm (11 inch) handles.

I've finished a custom order today, a tiny little tote for a baby girl. Baby's aunt, a nice Turkish mama I've met at the kindergarten, wanted a really small and cute tote for Eylem Naz, who was born two months prematurely, weighing only half of what a healthy newborn is supposed to weigh.

So I've embroidered the baby's name in deep pink on a pale dusty pink linen-viscose blend and added a butterfly in multicoloured thread. For the lining I used a vibrant rose print to add some colour.

Eylem Naz is now past her official birth date and is growing bigger every day. For now she might use her bag to keep an extra pacifier - and later, who knows. Girls never need a reason for a new handbag.

A gift for Sabine

The bag measures 23 x 29 cm (9" x 11.5") with 45 cm (18") handles

This is a small boy tote I made for Sabine, my lovely friend who has bought two Loddelina bags last week. We had a mamas-only dinner on Wednesday and to thank her for the purchase I've included this little bag for her son, Timo (although she liked it so much she might keep it for herself! Girls and purses, what can you do...)

Bird lover's birthday bag

Another birthday invitation for Gaston, another gift project for Mom...

The bag measures 23 x 29 cm (9" x 11.5") with 40 cm (16") handles

This time the invitation came from Fabio, a quiet boy nexdoor, who just turned 6. I was planning to go to town and find a nice book on nature, his favourite subject. But in the few days I had before the party there was no opportunity to go book shopping so I ended up making another tote bag.
Yes, I know, Fabio is a boy, but if Tinky Winky from Teletubbies can have a bright red feminine purse (vintage even), then a boy can have a nice book/gym shoes tote.

Unlike my son, Fabio doesn't care much about dinosaurs, robots or big construction machines, but he does like birds. I used the printed canvas with birds and branches from Ikea and cut the pattern out so that I got a bird on the front and solid black colour on the back (I used another bird print on cotton for the lining). I then machine embroidered his name in red thread and used red cotton rope for handles. At the end I hardly had time to take some pictures before I had to wrap the gift and off we went.

Fabio loved the bag. And he got enough books from other children...

A Tote bag for Lily

The small personalized tote bags I've made a while ago for Leoni and Michelle came out quite nicely so I used the same pattern to make one for my daughter.

Lily and I go to toddler gym once a week for an hour of active play, climbing over obstacles, up the ladders, down the slildes... She will use her tote bag to carry her water bottle, her workout socks with non-sliding nubs, a change of nappies and a snack for afterwards. There might even be some room left for her teddy bear.

Totes for kids

When Gaston left his nanny or Tagesmutter, as Germans call it (meaning "daytime mother"), he got some beautiful going away presents from all of her family, like a photo album of the months spent in their home and a handpainted callender, mostly done by his two "daytime sisters", nanny's 3 and 8 -year old daughters, who were very fond of him.

I wanted to give something to the girls to thank them for their love and so I've embroided their names (thanks to my new machine embroidery foot, see previous posts) and sewed it into small tote bags, just large enough to carry around some books, toys or crafting materials. The totes are 30 cm (almost 12 inch) wide and 22 cm (8.5 inch) tall, with a T-shaped bottom seam of 10 cm (4 inch) and handles measuring 35.5 cm (14 inch) from end to end. I have lined this beautiful striped canvas with bright red cotton and I think the black stripe with red embroidery gives it a nice touch.

Now all I need is to find a nice name for it and I can offer some in my shop...

Poudre de Perlimpinpin

One of my favourite shops in Ljubljana is a little boutique in the old part of town selling French label of childrens fashion called Poudre de Perlimpinpin. Behind this funny name, which roughly translates into "charlatan's 'magic' powder", is a line of very sweet and unique childrens clothes in vibrant colours and comfortable, soft fabrics.

The clother are usually quite pricey but this time they had a clearance sale of last year's winter collection and I was lucky to found this little dress for Lily, my one year old. I took size 18 months so it should fit her perfectly when the cold weather arrives -it is made of thick and soft cotton jersey, perfect for a winter playdate in the park.

The official Poudre de Perlimpinpin website is still under construction but you can see a few more photos on this blog, dedicated to designer labels of childrens fashion with that little extra something.

Odd socks

Looking through some old back-up CDs of pictures (what a mess, now I put everything on external HD) I came across this illustration-riddle I once made for a children's magazine in Slovenia. It was about a sock that gets lost in the washing machine and now children have to point out the one that's missing a pair.

I've made quite a lot of these illustrations straight after college, while I was trying to earn some money (there is no money in illustration) and figure out what I can do with my diploma in fashion design. Soon after Loddelina was born and I started expressing myself through sewing but never stopped loving to draw. Perhaps I can join these two passions in my future work - I'm already making some sketches...

And by the way, there was no great money in designing handbags, either. So I ended up being a journalist and writing about fashion and lifestyle. I have gained tons of experience and met my husband through work. Can't complain!