Merry X-mas and a happy New year

Champagne: my apron pattern or 'pretletters' in Deventer

At 16.00 uur, after my show-and-tell, we opened the bottle of champagne.

It's so much fun to have your 'own' pattern. But I couldn't have done without the help from Jeltje and Henk from the Quiltshop the 100 rozen in Deventer. THANKS

Still feeling so proud.

The good life on wednesday eve...

Stephanie in my apron.

... every wednesday eve we dinner together at our house. There are Dieuwke and Willem (always there), Alexine (almost everytime, sometimes with her daughter), Rob and me, and don't forget Mies, she is always happy when somebody comes. Wagging her tail.

Sometimes we have extra guests. Everybody is welcome on wednesday eve quilter or not. And there is always something in the pan to find.

I treasure these evenings, this is the good life.

Alexine and Stephanie, both very creathive

Els was coming along to do the binding. This is her first quilt, ever isn't it fantastic. All made from fabric she found in her stack. The elephants are from indian cushions, she didn't use. The circles are from a dress from her daughter.

Good things, there is always some who volunteers to do showing/modelling. Doesn't she look lovely in this apron. The pattern is made by Jeltje from the 100 roses. 

Wednesday evening project.

 

Sinterklaas is in the Netherlands

1972 or 1973, Sinterklaas at school, I'm the girl at the left.

Hurrah, Sinterklaas is here together with his 'zwarte Pieten'. The 'zwarte pieten' are taking care of Sinterklaas, they help him because Sinterklaas is very old,  they climb into the chimneys to put little gifts in childrens shoes and are just so much fun.
Last saturday Sinterklaas came in the Theresiastreet, and I thought about all the good memories in my childhood: dag Sinterklaas, dag Zwarte Piet. And remembered the songs we were singing.

 How exciting was this time, and how we waited for the 5th of december, the day Sinterklaas and his zwarte Pieten came along, knocking on the door, giving gifts to the children.

So I found this old school picture of me, I must have 6 or 7 years old, and Sinterklaas came along at school. What an excitement.

Tutorial with extra pictures / Handleiding met detailfoto's

You can order the pattern from the 28th november 2015 at the Quiltshop 100 roses in Deventer.
Costs 5 euro (excluding mail costs)
http://www.quiltwebshop.nl/
Or you can buy it at my show-and-tells.

Het patroon is vanaf 28 november 2015 verkrijgbaar in de Quiltwinkel 100 rozen in Deventer
Kosten 5 euro (exclusief verzendkosten)
http://www.quiltwebshop.nl/
Of je kunt het kopen tijdens één van mijn show-and-tells.

Ben je geïnteresseerd in een show-and-tell van mijn antieke quilts neem dan contact op via de email: caroline.dijkerman@gmail.com

Interested in one of my show-and-tells please contact me by e-mail: caroline.dijkerman@gmail.com

Feedsacks - voeder/voedsel zakken

Jeltje from the 100 roses in Deventer looks also lovely in this apron

Feedsack betekent letterlijk voeder/voedselzakken. In de jaren ‘30 tijdens de depressie in Amerika waren deze zakken zeer populair. Er ontstond een ware competitie tussen fabrikanten, wie had de leukste stofjes. De labels werden van de zakken afgeweekt en zo konden ze gebruikt worden voor kleding, schorten, droogdoeken en natuurlijk quilts. Feedsack stoffen zijn tot in de jaren ’50 gemaakt, toen ging men over op papieren zakken voor suikers, meel, varkensvoer etc. Het patroon is nagemaakt van een schort uit de jaren ’40 gevonden tijdens één van mijn speurtochten in de USA. Heel veel plezier met het maken van de schort.

During the depression years in the 1930s in the USA feed sacks were very popular. There was big competition between the mills to see who had the best designs. After washing off the labels, feedsacks were used for clothes, towels, cushions and of course quilts. They made feed sacks until the 50s, after that they used paper bags for sugar, flour etc. I found this apron whilst travelling in the USA.  I hope you enjoy making this apron as much as I did. 

Instruction in english 

-          Fabric 1m35, width of fabric 1m10
-          Biaisband 4 metres

The pattern has 8 – 10 parts (see patroondelen). The orginal pattern shows that the skirt is made of 3 parts, you can also choose to make the skirt in one part. The reason for this is that feed sacks were a certain size, so there was not enough fabric to make the whole skirt out of one piece.

The pattern includes seam allowances. You can easily make the pattern smaller or bigger depending on your height.

Cut out all the patterns and put them down on the fabric, look at the cutting scheme.

-          Start with the skirt and sew the two extra feedsack at the skirt. 

-          Sew a biaisband at the top of the pocket. Fold the side seams and sew the pocket on the front bodice. 

-          Sew the front bodice and skirt together. Sew a biaisband at the front over the seam. 

-          Sew the shoulder part at the front bodice. Sew a biasband at the front over the seam.

-          Sew the shoulders in the middle together.

-          Sew a biasband along the bottom of the skirt and the neckline.

-          Sew seams all around the apron.

-          Make two buttonholes on the backband, or sew two strings. If you do buttonholes use extra fabric to make it more sturdy.

-          Sew a  seam all around the backband.

-          Sew the backband in the middle at the shoulderpart.

-          Sew the two ties and then sew them on to the apron.

Werkwijze

De schort bestaat uit 8 delen, de rok kan ook uit 1 stuk worden gemaakt, maar het originele patroon laat twee zijstukjes zien. Dit had te maken met het feit dat een feedsack een bepaalde afmeting had en ieder stukje stof werd gebruikt.

1.       Leg alle patronen op de stof en knip deze uit met 1 cm naadtoeslag.

2.       Naai de rok met de twee zijstukken (feedsack extra) aan elkaar.

3.       Werk de zakken van de bovenkant af met een biaisbandje. Stik de zakken op het bovenlijf.

4.       Stik de rok en het bovenlijf aan elkaar.

5.       Stik het schouderstuk aan het bovenlijf. Sluit de halslijn en stik deze vast.

6.       Stik een biaisband langs de zoom van de rok, langs de binnenkant van de halslijn. Stik het biaisband over de naad van rok-bovenlijf en bovenlijf-schouderstuk.

7.       Middenachter: maak twee lussen of twee knoopsgaten. Het oorspronkelijke patroon heeft zelfs twee gepaspileerde knoopsgaten. Stik een zoom rondom. Naai het smalle stuk vast aan het midden van het schouderstuk. 

8.       Werk de rest van de schort af met een zoom.

9. Stik de schortbanden, en zet deze vast aan het bovenlijf. 

 If you have any questions please email me: caroline.dijkerman@gmail.com

Checking the draft of Caro's apron

Almost time to pop the champagne, we're getting closer. The first draft arrived by mail today. Tomorrow I'm going to make the apron again. What an exciting life ; ).

 

Caro in France

This summer my friend Emma moved from The Hague back to France. It's such a shame, I miss her.

Lucky she isn't living to far from the Belgium border. Sunday morning at 7.30 I took the car and drove to Vendeuil. It's 'only' 370 km, but the first time on my own driving through three countries. Even more excited because how it would be at the border, because of the terrible attacks in Paris, they said  they would  'close' the borders. Well not to much troubles, I think my sewing stuff and dutch food seemed pretty harmless. Although I felt a little bit uncomfortable with the soldiers, police all around.

Emma and I spend some lovely days together with lots of talking, sewing, walking Bailey, shopping, going to the french bakery and visit San Quentin. It's amazing how much you can do in a few days. We really have to plan our next visit. And I know it sound a little bit stupid, but I felt very proud that I did it, driving all the way on my own.

Here is an impression of my days in France.