A Fashion Foray into Antwerp (featuring some fancy French floof!)

In May, the Belgian city of Antwerp became the destination for our latest mother/daughter mini-break.

We travelled by Eurostar from London to Brussels then took a local train, arriving at Antwerp's magnificent art nouveau Spoorwegkathedraal, or railway cathedral, as the beautiful station is known.

It was a joy to wander around the safe, clean and compact city centre, taking in historic sights, fountains and statues as well as quirky architecture, colourful graffiti and the famous boy and dog sculpture of Nello and Pastrasche, wrapped in a blanket of cobbles outside the impressive cathedral.

Whilst the Danes are famed for their pastries, Belgians also love a baked good or two with waffles smothered in chocolate a treat we just had to try.  

However, the main reason for our trip was to visit the exhibition currently showing at the MoMu Fashion Museum Antwerp entitled The Antwerp Six.  It celebrates the 40th anniversary of the international breakthrough of six iconic Belgian fashion designers who all studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and put the city firmly on the world fashion map.  The wonderfully curated exhibition placed the designers Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten,  Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs and Marina Yee into a visually entertaining contextual timeline then showcased their respective designs whilst highlighting their individuality.

But no holiday to a new city would be complete for me without a visit to a yarn shop!  Less than five minutes walk up Nationalestraat from MoMu is Julija.

With a door at either side of the shop, light is able to flood into the airy interior.  Inside, it's spacious and laid out in such a way that the yarns, threads and fabrics, needles and notions are uncrowded and clearly displayed.  I loved that so many samples were on show, from adult garments to cute crocheted amigurumi animals.

At first I was drawn to Julija's own hand dyed yarn and chose this soft blue, green variegated hank of aran weight merino.  It will undoubtedly become a hat.

Then Maddy spotted the perfect pink to match her hair!  Soft clouds of mohair and wool around a strengthening core make up Fonty Ombelle, and I bought one ball from Julija herself, whilst pondering which pattern to knit.  The French brand, Fonty, was known to me but is seldom seen for sale in the UK.

Julija at her lovely yarn shop in Antwerp

There's been a trend in the knitting world for some time to hold a strand of wool alongside a strand of mohair yarn to make garments and accessories.  The combination creates a warm, yet lightweight, fabric with a gorgeous fluffy halo, but double the yarn can make the cost of a project rocket.  As Fonty Ombelle already combines the wool and mohair into a sport weight yarn, it can be held single and still create the same desired effect. 

I checked out Instagram to see what other knitters had made with Fonty Ombelle and, with Maddy's approval, settled on the Djohnny Cardigan by French designer Mauriciette C.  It's simple but elegant with a round neck and cleverly fashioned button band that you knit as you go along.  Once we'd chosen the pattern, we popped back to Julija's yarn shop to purchase the additional five balls of floof I reckoned I'd need.

Djohnny cardigan pattern by Mauricette C.

As soon as we returned from Antwerp, I knit my gauge swatch and got cracking!  The cardigan took me a month to knit and the pattern was well written and easy to follow.  I chose size XS for Maddy and knitted it pretty much to pattern, but with slightly longer sleeves, as I'd additional yarn left after completing the body.

On a trip to Fife in June, I found these pretty wooden buttons at The Woolly Brew in Pittenweem.  Maddy rather liked the idea of them being mismatched.

Here's the completed cardigan.

I'm so pleased that we were together in Antwerp to choose the materials and pattern for a garment Maddy wants, and that I was able to use this wool so soon after purchase.  However, with the heatwave continuing in London, where Maddy lives, there's no saying she's going to be wearing it anytime soon!