My favourite pictures of 2016

My blogging friend Lies asked me for my favourite pictures of 2016, so here they are! Some of them were chosen for the moment they represent, others because the picture itself makes me smile. Enjoy!

JANUARY. A simple picture taken with my phone, but such a great moment. Mid-January yet on our terrace it felt like summer. The examens had just finished and my brother and I spent the whole afternoon playing board games outside.

FEBRUARY. Suse in her Ileanadress. The first time I photographed kids in Manual mode and I still love the result.

MARCH. The first summer sunbeams lit our kitchen windowsill and my best friend Jan and I just sat there and enjoyed the warmth.

JUNE. Right after the exams, I spent a week with two dear friends. Just relaxing and making time for each other. This picture was taken on a bike tour when we suddenly decided to pick some flowers for a spontaneous bouquet.

JULY. My sister and my little cousin in Valencia. Nothing was edited, these were the natural colors of the salt lakes.

 JULY. Again my sister in Valencia, again an unedited picture. I love the light!

AUGUST. My biggest project of 2016: our Tulip Dress and Top pattern!

AUGUST. Suddenly my sister and our two guests decided they wanted to sew something, there was no space left in my sewing room for me!

AUGUST. Loes in the Just Knot It dress I sewed for her. I love the pop of color against her dark skin!

SEPTEMBER. A week of camping in France with a dear friend. 

DECEMBER. Christmas walk with torchlights and another dear friend.

I wish you all a beautiful 2017 !

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Tulip sweater for men

My brother has a clearly outlined clothing style. He likes simple but refined: no prints or flashy colors, but patterns with special details.

Since he is more than two metres long, finding clothes in store for him is rather difficult. Most of his sweaters are a little short. But for his birthday, I wanted to sew him a long and perfectly fitting sweater! I drew a pattern based on one of his store-bought sweaters and added a Tulip back.

Drawing a pattern for a sweater yourself is really not that hard. I took pictures while making it and I am planning to write a tutorial!

The fabric is a super soft elastic wool mix. I bought it at the stocksale of children's clothing brand Strass last year. Blue with a subtle grey stripe in it, totally his kind of thing!

For the collar (extra wide, since my personal trendwatcher told me this is the new fashion for men's clothing) and the little triangle I used the wrong side of the fabric.

The back side got its Tulip part. I wrote a tutorial on how to draw this HERE. The original Tulip has curves, but to achieve a more man-like shape I just drew straight lines instead of curved ones.

Happy brother, mission accomplished!

Laptop sleeve for my little brother

*Uitgebreide Nederlandstalige versie hier*

Tomorrow, my little brother will have his first day at the university of Leuven, where I study as well. For his birthday, he got a new laptop to be used while studying, and I made a sleeve to protect it during transportation.

The pattern comes from the Belgian sewing book Zo Geknipt 2, a beautiful book with a lovely layout and perfect explanations.  

I cut the pattern pieces in two and played a little with the right and the wrong side of the dark blue fabric. It gave a special touch, which I accentuated even more by topstitching randomly with light blue thread.

My dear brother, I wish you some beautiful years in Leuven! Find new friends, enjoy the freedom, and everything will be alright. I'm sure you will do it brilliantly. Enjoy!

Pattern: Meneer de Directeur, Zo Geknipt!2

Outer fabric: dark blue canvas

Inner fabric: Triangularity Topaz, Art Gallery