Why Ileana? A second pattern option!

‘Maybe you can explain why you picked Ileana as a name for your new pattern’ Mss. Boevenbende wrote to me in an email. And she reminded me that I do have a small story to tell… Thanks!

It might sound strange, but Ileana is a name I picked to close the Romania period in our lives. Ileana is our host when we stay in Breb, Romania. The sweetest lady ever!
Can you remember us wanting to buy a house in Romania. Well we did actually. But at the time Bjorn went back to search for a piece of land (we had to move the wooden house) there seemed to be another owner that didn’t want to sell us the house anymore. So in the end we got our money back. Last Easter we went to Breb again, but finding a piece of land seems impossible. The village is just too popular with foreigners (read is became too expensive for us). So we kind of stopped dreaming of this plan (for now). Maybe one day we will start looking for a house again, but at the moment we’ve decided to keep focussing on the (paper) patterns. Something we couldn’t have done when living in Breb (with hardly any postal service!). So my very first pattern was called after a river in Maramures, Romania and this one is a 2nd pattern name related to our amazing experiences in this area. But for now, we kind of feel like exploring new regions and will be heading towards Bulgaria, Greece and maybe drive to Istanbul in August. If the kids cooperate! ;) I’ll keep you posted.

But let’s first focus on the Ileana again. Today I’m showing you a 2nd pattern option. The raglan bodice with a half raglan sleeve. I have a full raglan sleeve option too, but that’s for later…

This sleeve stops in the middle of the raglan curve and is fully lined. Mine is yellow on the inside…

This time the button placket is longer then the bodice. It’s just a small detail, but this long faux button placket is my personal favourite option.

A more triangular shaped collar that doesn’t stop at the shoulder seam, because there isn’t one! ;) And Lisa demonstrates it in an elegant way: no circular skirt this time, but a half circle. This option needs a bit less fabric. I like twirly dresses, but my bank account doesn’t!

For this version I got my fabrics from Julija’s shop in Antwerp. Known for it’s wool but Julie has an amazing selection of fabrics too (I bought some amazing Nani Iro in her shop). I love this color block version of the Ileana a lot. My personal favourite one… although I have two more dresses to show you.

Bjorn and I both took some pictures this time, so I couldn’t make a small selection. Sorry! Do yo mind that I just add all of them? This time it’s Lisa showing the Ileana by the way. Do you see the difference? I do. :)

Oh and I felt a little bad after going through these pictures. My little girl looks so tired on these pictures. :( The two first weeks of our holiday they did a lot of activities and she still has to recover from it. I think she needs some time together with me and Bjorn urgently! But I’m desperate for holiday too. 11 days to go and we leave. Finally!

5 different buttons! Did you spot that already?

A typical fake Lisa smile to end this blogpost. Hope you liked it?

And guess what? I have some great news: I can launch the pattern a bit earlier then expected. On Wednesday the 29th of July (in exactly 1 week) it will go online. Thanks to my quick printing office. Yes!!