Saturday, October 29, 2011

Lili makes ... a bouquet

One of my colleagues (and a good friend) defended her PhD yesterday (and she did great btw!).
I worked in a flower shop all through university, and I loved it. It's been almost 6 years ago since I last worked there, but I always have this Proust-madeleine experience when I pass by a flower shop or stall ... So it was pretty obvious for me that when colleagues decided I would be in charge of the bouquet we would hand her at the end of the defense (since I "know" my way around best), that I personally would assemble the bouquet - which I did. I just went to the local market (it conveniently was the same day as the defense, so yay for fresh flowers!), chose what I wanted and assembled it at home.
This is the result :-)

Before: getting things ready
And after!




The bouquet was made out of "Vampire" roses, hypericum and alstroemeria. I also used tree fern, leather fern and bear grass.
I also applied a trick from my florist days: the water bubble. It's very easy, and comes in handy if you know your host doesn't really have a vase at hand.
You just cut out two squares out of some wrapping plastic, and place one on top of the other (extra layers, so the water won't flush out). You take the plastic sheets and wrap them around the bottom of your bouquet, as if you wanted to make a "bubble". Secure everything at the bottom of your bouquet (last picture: where you can see the ribbon) with tape, and then you fill the bubble with water (I did it with my shower hose, so you don't spill any water. If you have a long water tap, that's just fine - I just didn't have the space in my tiny kitchen to do so). The trick for having the bouquet standing up without tipping over is cutting the bouquet in a 'straight' manner. Just test out before making the bubble whether your bouquet can stand upright without tipping over, and you'll be fine. I hope this makes some sense ;-). If not, please feel free to ask!

Thanks for stopping by!



Thursday, October 27, 2011

Bias maker and other ingenious printables!

I'm really in awe of what bloggers produce. All those ideas! And when it's made available for everyone, I'm even happier. So when I saw this today, I knew I had to show my appreciation and share it!


















It's a *printable bias making device*. It might not sound impressive, but I'm sure going to use it! Now that I have this tool, I'm sure bias making will be soooo much easier. Can't wait to print it out and test it, actually!

And that's not the only instrument the Scientific Seamstress has made available! You can find very helpful folding templates here and a circular template here! Thank you so much, Carla!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Tohoku Tote (English version)



I've been thinking about making a bag for quite some time. Of course, the reversible bag I made before is a bag, but you know what I mean. I wanted something that looked just like a bag I could have bought in a store. And when I saw the Tohoku Tote, I knew this was a bag I had to make. Such an amazing design! And it looked very feasible too. So this is my first attempt at bagmaking, and I'm very happy of how it turned out. As soon as I have time, I'll be making another one - the fabrics are already waiting ;-) ...


A Tohoku Tote!




I was so happy when I took it to work. It's quite an understatement when I'm saying that I showed it off :-). 
I was thinking that I didn't really do anything special with the pattern, but I did tweak the pattern a bit by adding just one long strap instead of two smaller handles - I like being able to just carry my bag on the shoulder. The fabrics I used were a grey pleather coupon from the local fabric shop, some bright blue velvety fabric, and some basic IKEA cotton for the inside of the bag. I did interface the whole thing, which gives the bag the structure it needs. And I thought I wouldn't need an inside pocket, but I actually do, so that's what I'll add next time. What a great pattern :-)!







Notebook cover

As I might have mentioned before, I'm quite busy writing up my PhD thesis at the moment. Luckily, I have made a few things the past months I could blog about. This notebook cover is one of those things. It's made to fit an A5 size notebook, has a little pocket to put things away (like a pen, etc.) and is just very cute. I followed this tutorial and it worked out great. It was my first project with so much topstitching though :-).




































Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Snelle bobbypins

Ik heb weinig tijd om zelf iets te maken, maar wel altijd efkes tijd om op het internet rond te dwalen. En dit wil ik wel zelf even maken, van zodra ik het lijmpistool van bij mijn ouders kan lenen ;-). Tutorial hier.


Saturday, October 22, 2011

Wow, cool!

Soms ben ik echt verbaasd over wat mensen maken, en hoe gemakkelijk dat soms is! Wat dachten jullie hiervan:

Echt super, nietwaar? Wel, het is nog gemakkelijk te maken ook! Hier vind je een heel simpele tutorial. De feestjes van Kara zijn echt wel de moeite waard ... Ik denk dat ik er 'n aantal zal maken, van zodra ik tijd heb ;-)