Wednesday, September 16, 2009

We love SummerLove!

A while back I purchased the Farbenmix e-book SommerLiebe. It's the kind of pattern that I could have drafted myself, but I like to be able to just grab a pattern and make something. I am all about the making. So much so, that I was just possessed to make this skirt yesterday. It was all cut, embroidered and sewn yesterday.

SummerLove skirt


The fabric is the easily recognisable paisley print from Sandi Henderson's Farmers Market.
The knit on the waistband is some of my hand dyed organic cotton/spandex. It was the best match that I had here. That green in the paisley print is an odd green.
Because of that odd green, I couldn't use my Farbenmix Love & Peace ribbon which would have matched the embroideries. Instead I used this multicoloured ric rac from The Remnant Warehouse. The blue and green in it look great with the skirt. I then used a pink paisley ribbon and the flower mandala sparkle ribbon.

Once again I've used Luzia Pimpinella's Love and Peace embroidery set. Mollie really liked the Love Bus Antonia top that I made for her friend's birthday, so I wanted to use the bus on the skirt. But silly me didn't plan ahead and had already sewn ribbon onto the skirt. I was worried if I hooped the skirt where the ribbon was, it might mess up the ribbon. So I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try out the Eco Felt that I had bought for embroidery.

I bought Eco Felt as it was the only polyester felt that I could find in the US or Australia.
ecofelt

I am normally a wool felt all the way kind of girl, but I didn't think wool would hold up to repeated washing. I had noticed that quite a few ladies in Germany used felt for embroidery backing, so I asked the lovely Andrea for some advice. Unfortunately I couldn't find the denser felt that she uses, but thought I would try out the Eco felt. It definitely needs stabiliser.

And of course, we need a photo of Mollie and Will. You can see the skirt and top together in this one. Will was not being cooperative even though he was insisting that he wanted to be in the photo.
summerloveskirt


8 comments:

Peta said...

Love the skirt Sara, it looks just gorgeous with the top. Ooh that felt looks beautiful

toadstooldots said...

The skirt is awesome, just my favourite colours.

The felt colours are great too and I love the idea of these eco-felt.
I saw at the Hornsby Westfield Shopping Centre (Tinas Fabric) a PE-felt, that is similar to the felt, which a brought from Germany. But I've never tried it, because I have enough at my stash.

I'm keen to hear how this eco-felt works out.

Unknown said...

Nice skirt Sara. I had not heard of using felt for the embroidery backing. So you basically use in instead of stabiliser then?

Kelly Casanova said...

The skirt turned out beautifully, Mollie must have quite a wardrobe by now. (I bet she's not complaining though)

Claire said...

Oh that is one beautiful skirt Sara!! I love the mixture of the colours & the applique is very funky!

willow and moo said...

Clo, the felt that I have still needs stabiliser. But not too much iykwim. I noticed that lots of the European ladies do embroideries onto felt and then sew them onto tops which is why i ended up asking someone about it. The fibre content is the important part. Wool while it is superb for crafting with, it's not great for machine washing. Acrylic felt isn't nice at all plus, it would melt easily if ironed. So my search was for polyester (PE) felt.

Silly me should have just asked Uta!!!! LOL Uta, I will have a look at Tina's fabrics. I was just at Hornsby the other day, but I didn't know there was a fabric store. Thanks for telling me.

I have to say that I have washed and tumble dried the skirt and the felt performed extremely well. Looks the same, no colour change, no shrinking! :)

Kelly Casanova said...

Hi Sara, you've been tagged on my blog :)

Ruth said...

Hi Sara, I'm glad to have discovered your blog! I love the kid outfits you put together for your kids!