Flower girls' dresses

Elokuun alussa rakas ystäväni meni naimisiin ja pyysi morsiusneidoiksi Emman ja erään toisen rakkaan ystävänsä tyttären. Häiden teemana oli Suomi ja meri, joten väreinä oli lipunsininen ja valkoinen. Koska morsiusneitojen mekkojen yhteinen pähkäily oli varsin haasteellista, toinen neidoista kun asustaa New Yorkissa, lupauduin tekemään tytöille mekot juhliin. Ensimmäinen ehdotus meni läpi, mekot tehtiin sini-valkoisesta Marimekon Unikko-kankaasta, sillä sitä suomalaisempaa kuosia ei varmasti ole. Sattumalta tytöt olivat mitoiltaan melkein samankokoiset, joten ompeleminen oli nopeaa ja helppoa, kerrankin!

Mekon kaava on mukaelma vanhasta mekosta ja yläosa on vuorattu. Alla on tyllialushame ja taakse kietaistu iso rusetti. Tyttöjen unelmamekko siis!

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My dear friend got married at the beginning of August and asked my daughter and another friend's girls to be her flower girls. The theme of the wedding was Finland and the sea, so the colours were bright blue and white. It was a bit difficult to coordinate the flower girl dresses, since the other girl lives in New York, so I offered to make the dresses. I suggested the fabric for the dresses and the bride loved it - there is nothing that epitomizes Fnland more than Marimekko's Unikko fabric. Luckily the girls were almoist identical in sizes, so cutting the fabric and sewing was a breeze.

The pattern of the dress is taken from an old dress of Emma's and the bodice is lined. There is a tulle skirt underneath and a big bow in the back. Every little girl's dream dress, isn't it!

Juhlat pidettiin Sirpalesaaressa Helsingin edustalla. Paikka on upea, suosittelen ehdottomasti hääpaikan etsijöille! Kauniit maisemat, erinomainen ruoka ja taitava ja ystävällinen henkilökunta, mitään huonoa sanottavaa ei paikasta ole. Eräs tarjoilijoista jopa viihdytti lapsia piirtämällä heidän kanssaan illallisen aikana, niin me aikuiset saimme syödä rauhassa. Lapset viihtyivät kallioilla, tosin siellä oli pakko vähän vahtia touhuja, meri kun oli pulahtamisetäisyydellä.

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The party was held in Sirpalesaari, an island in frontside of Helsinki. Beautiful place, breathtaking views, delicious food and very special staff, I have nothing but praise for the place. One of the waiters actually spent some time drawing with the kids so that we could eat our dinner in peace - priceless! Kids loved the cliffs, although someone had to be watching them all the time, the sea was a bit too close :)

Bonuksena häävalokuviin ilmestyi joutsenpari poikasineen! Uskomattoman hieno yllätys :)

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As if the place itself wasn't beautiful enough, a pair of white swans came to greet the wedding couple just when their pictures were being taken! How awesome is that!

Kuvia tuli otettua miljoona, suurin osa huonoja näillä kuvaustaidoilla. Onneksi ystäväni otti meistä muutaman perhepotretin muistoksi. Tilannekuviltakaan ei vältytty, tässä tiiraillaan upeaa vanhaa purjelaivaa, joka ei kyllä kuvassa näy :) 

Ei muuten värikoodattu asujamme ollenkaan. Itse asiassa tein itselleni tummansinisen pellavamekon näitä häitä varten, mutta jotenkin kummassa onnistuin laihtumaan ennen häitä sen verran, että mekko roikkui päällä ja tuli kiire mekkokauppaan. Hyvä juttuhan se kai on, mutta hieman harmitti!

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I took a gazillion pictures but most of them were really bad. Luckily a friend of ours took a family portrait of us and also a few actions shots. Here we are looking at an old ship, which isn't shown on a photo. And no, we were not colour coordinated and I did not make my own dress. Actually I made one dress (navy linen, very chic) a month before the wedding and managed to loose some weight so that the dress was too big on the wedding day. Oh well...

A new shopper

Löysin Marimekon Maalaisruusu-kappaverhon UFFista ja pakkohan siitä oli tehdä tällainen sievä kauppakassi. Taidanpa tehdä toisenkin, sillä tämä menee äidilleni lahjaksi.

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I found this Marimekko fabric (Maalaisruusu) from a charity shop. It is actually a curtain but I have no need for such curtains - I just could not leave the fabric behind, since it was cheap and pretty. So, it became a shopping bag. I might just do another one, since I am giving this to my mom.

Black, white and yellow

Black, white and yellow. My favourite colours, looks surprisingly good on Emma as well. The fabric is Marimekko jersey from Eurokangas, pattern is my own (drafted from some old shirt).

"Mom, can I go now???"

New cushions

We are renovating our home and right now we are working on our guest room. I had the Marimekko cushion cover from "Kulkue" fabric and decided that it could be the base for the colours in the guest room. I also had some fabric scraps from stripey Ikea fabrics and I made two pillow covers from them. Very simple, but I rather like them :)

Rainbow dress

I do know that rainbow has more colours than this dress has, but the colours in the middle remind me of a rainbow. So I decided to call this a rainbow dress :) The fabric is from Marimekko and it is called Alas Taikavirtaa, designed by Anu Luhtanen. The pattern is again very simple and from a Japanese book. It is a bit big for Emma, even though you cannot really tell from these pictures. it is not huge, so she can wear it already.

The pattern is from this book:

Oshama Girls Cute Clothes

Paperback: 87 pages
Publisher: Nihon Vogue Sha (October 2009)
Language: Japanese
24 Girls' clothes patterns in sizes 90-130cm

The girl wearing this dress looks a bit bored in the book, but I liked the colours of the original dress as well. The fabric looks interesting!

Honestly this dress took less than an hour to make, from cutting the fabrics to finishing the seams, so I will definitely be making more of these. Maybe in a smaller size next time?

Edit. I just noticed when looking these pictures that the fabric pattern is upside down. Doh. The rainbow actually IS a rainbow and it should curve nicely downwards. Oh, well, can't be helped. Luckily I have lots of this fabric left!

A little skirt - with a bird!

I am a big fan of Marimekko, especially their fabrics. I cannot pass their sales, it is quite impossible and I get this urge to buy a few meters of fabric every time. I never seem to be able to make anything from them, since they are so precious to me. Silly me! This time I decided to make a skirt for Emma and was determined to make a dent to my fabric stash by using one of my Marimekko finds. Her favourite shirt at the moment is green ( a welcome aversion from pink) and that shirt definitely needed a pretty skirt to match.

I did not use any patterns, since most skirts are so simple to make anyway. Just cut a rectangular shap of fabric, sew it together from sides and add elastic to the waist. Done! 

I chose Karmiini fabric in red, pink and green. I love the fabric, it is so versatile! I am planning to use it in other projects as well.

 

I also bought the fabric in turquoise and love that too. Very fresh, I think I am going to make a dress for Emma, I have the perfect pattern for that.

I liked the basic skirt but somehow it lacked something. I added some ric-rac to the hem and appliqued a white birdie to the skirt as well. Here it is, very simple and very cute :)

I also made the little brooch she is wearing. It is made from an old button and some fabric scraps.