Bergen love

No, I haven't become a stay-at-home-mom-seamstress (nothing wrong with them, in fact I envy them all a little, but it's very far away from my life at the moment), and no this will not turn into a blog for kids clothes.

Only very temporarily!

I spent the weekend in Bergen with my brother, sister in law (well, not in law technically, but kind of anyway) and two nieces. It was a bless! I met my new niece Ella for the first time (she's 5 months old), and although I am deeply biased, I must say that they are probably the nicest children I've ever met (oooh, the ties of blood...). Love.

We didn't do much, really, the happening of the weekend was a visit to famous fabric-shop Stoff & Stil (there is also a Swedish verion here), where I bought half the shop's stock of jersey for childrenswear. It was soooo cute, and at such good prices even though us Swedes are poor as church-rats when we are in Norway, I just couldn't stop myself. Especially not with an enthusiatic 3,5-year-old Julia walking behind me telling me what to make from everything; a dress for me, a t-shirt for Ella...

Here are our treasures (I picked all of them but one, can you guess which one?):

If you guessed for the pink one with hearts you were quite right... Julia spotted it from 5 meters away and immidiately said THIS one for me. This is going to be a struggle to incorporate more colours than pink into her wardrobe. I know I will succeed.... (evil auntie me).

I may need these hints and tips on how to incorporate printed fabrics in childrenswear in a good way, it's a busy bunch (but I really, really like them).

The owls will become pants for Ella (she's 5 months old), the elephants a shirt for Ella, the penguins pants for Ella, the monkeys a shirt for Julia and probably pants for Ella, the hearts a dress for Julia and the striped velour will become pants for both of them and maybe a dress for Ella.

I'm not sure I will actually make all these things, but that's the plan... depending on how time-consuming it is. I also plan to make a white shirt for Julia to make good use of the butterfly-badge further down the page. I hope that pants will be a very quick project... if so I will make many pants. And probably a few bibs...

Some cute badges picked out by Julia and me.

Now, I like ladybirds, elephants, owls and frogs, Julia loves flowers and butterflies and is totally uninterested in ladybirds... We both like heart-shaped buttons, at least! But I do like the butterfly and flower too, and it's fun to let her get involved in her clothes. She was very much a part in the decision on what to make from what material... (I constantly find it amazing how much personality can evolve in such a short time, she's not even four years old... children are fun!).

Naturally I had to play with my iPhone; these pictures are photographed with an app called QuadCamera, I recommend it for all picture-geeks (you can also use the images as animated gif's, but I like them this way):

Ella taking a bath in her much loved Tummy-tub.

Julia dancing.


I realise there's been an awful load of sewing for others going on around here lately (I'm also working on a blue dress each for Julia and Ella, from the same cotton that I made my 1940's blouse of).

I even held some gorgeous sandwashed silk that would have been perfect for the Vionnet blouse I made a toile for recently, and didn't buy it.... aaaaah. I was glad to find that Stoff & Stil do mail-order so I can get it later.

I must make up for all this and make something for myself soon, my closet has begun to yell at me in a very loud voice that it needs something new... now! And I am inclined to agree...