Me and a fish.
I’m somewhat blurry in most of those pictures as the photographer focused on the fish rather than me. But can you blame them? The fish is amazing.

I made a hoodie! I wanted to try that for a really long time, so I’m glad I finally stopped thinking about it and just did it :)

But I guess there’s a time and place for everyting: I was packing for a trip (back in january) and realized that a purple cropped hoodie would be just the thing to have – And the fabric was kicking around since I bought it to make a hoodie years ago. I just randomly drew a pattern while consulting a few regular hoodies I own.

It ended up being the best decision ever. Cropped hoodies are the best thing no one seems to be selling. They have all the comfort and cozyness hoodies have, but work way better for curvy figures. And big skirts. What I’m wearing in the pictures might just be the best casual winter outfit I ever had.

Anyways. Cropped hoodies. Get one. They’re the best idea ever.

Three piece hood. Huge.

So I always had this somewhat irrational idea that I could not possibly be able to properly sew with knits.

As it turns out, this is only half true. When one evening I just went for it and made a cropped hoodie, I realized that it was not that hard. Sure, some techniques were different from working with wovens, but generally it works. Maybe I should have tried this approach 5 years ago :P

The big issue is actually the fabric. It’s almost impossible to get decent-quality knits around here. Everything is either way too thin and slinky for most garments, or made from polyester, or the pilling is so bad that a garment (that I just spent a lot of time on) hardly survives the first cycle of wear and laundry. Even the expensive stuff from the “good” fabric store often ends up to be really bad quality.

The thing is … I made this sweater, and it’s amazing. It is cozy and soft and not too tight and it has a big hood – and as it’s cropped, it works really well with circle skirts. But it started to fade and generally look quite worn out really soon. It is also starting to rip at the seams even though I did use the right kind of needles and everything. The fabric is not great, even though it looked and felt so nice when I bought it. And I think that is my least favorite part of sewing. Buying fabric that looks and feels like it would be a lovely quality, but dissolves as soon as one starts wearing it … Oh well. Live and learn. Or … try again and hope for better luck next time.

Fake buttons. I was really happy to find them in my stash, as the colour matches perfectly.

The hood is lined with t-shirt weight lavender jersey.

So these pictures were taken while I was travelling, after half a day of exploring Antwerpen. This shows that it really is a wonderful, versatile outfit.
It also is the reason why everything is a bit crinkled in those pictures. And the reason for me not wearing a crinoline. Also, salt water in the air makes my hair look like plastic cotton candy.

All wrinkled and salt-haired, but happy.