Zwillings-Stillkissen-Bezug

 Seitdem klar wurde, dass wir Zwillinge bekommen, habe ich immer wieder neu diesem Stichwort gegoogelt, weil viele Tipps und Baby-must-haves für uns eben doch nicht so selbstverständlich waren ("Babybett Zwillinge", "Stillapp Zwillinge", "Stillkissen Zwillinge"). Deshalb der etwas umständliche Titel, vielleicht landet ja Mal jemand in einer ähnlichen Situation hier und profitiert von meinen Erfahrungen. 

Wir hatten das große Glück, viel Ausrüstung von der Verwandtschaft gebraucht geschenkt und geliehen zu bekommen, so auch ein großes, klassisches Stillkissen (welches mir übrigens in der Schwangerschaft als Seitenschläferkissen den Schlaf gerettet hat, nachdem der Besuch zu groß wurde, um noch auf dem Bauch zu schlafen), leider war es zum Tandemstillen von Zwillingen für mich vollkommen ungeeignet, da es sich zu leicht verformte. Auf Empfehlung meiner Hebamme, mir ein "amerikanisches Stilltablett" zuzulegen fand ich nach längerer Internet Recherche schließlich dieses hier von my Brest friend, welches ich immer noch sehr gerne benutze und mir zwischendurch die Hände so frei mache, dass ich beim stillen häkeln konnte. Leider ist es aber so groß und sperrig, dass es unpraktisch für unterwegs ist. 

Nach einem vorzeitig unterbrochenen Spaziergang, bei dem ich 40 min auf einer Parkbank mit nacheinander stillen verbrachte, während meine Mutter das jeweils andere (schreiende) Baby durch die Gegend trug, brachte sie mich auf die Idee eines aufblasbaren Stillkissens. Ich habe sie zunächst ausgelacht, dann aber doch gegoogelt und wurde fündig, dieses hier auf Etsy (Luki Luke von Anihappykidsshop) erschien mir am vielversprechendsten. Die Reviews monierten zwar fast alle die Rutschigkeit des Bezugs, aber ich kann ja nähen! Der mitgelieferte Bezug war tatsächlich zu rutschig, sobald Gewicht auf das Kissen kam, rutschte es vom Körper weg. Aber die Form war super und es gelang mir auch (mehr schlecht als recht und mit Hilfe) das Kissen mit einem langen Tuch so um meinen Bauch zu binden, dass es nicht weg rutschen konnte, und siehe da, ich konnte super damit stillen. Ein Bezug, der nicht so rutschte und den man hinter dem Rücken zubinden könnte, würde alle diese Probleme lösen.

Das tatsächliche Nähen war relativ straight forward: ich faltete das luftleere Kissen in der Mitte, zeichnete den Umriss etwas größer auf Pappe und hatte mein Schnittmuster. Als Stoff habe ich einen schön gemusterten Kissenbezug genommen, da er nur 40×80cm groß war musste ich auf der Vorderseite etwas stückeln, aber das fällt nicht negativ auf. Die Unterseite öffnet mit einem Schlitz, damit man noch ans Ventil kommt (und den Bezug nach dem Nähen auf rechts drehen kann), die Bändel gehörten Mal zu den Reißverschlüssen der Kissen. 

Das Kissen ist wirklich sehr praktisch, da man es sehr klein zusammenrollen kann, natürlich ist es für die Mädels nicht ganz so bequem wie das große Kissen, aber für unterwegs Gold wert. Jetzt überlege ich noch, ob ich mir ein zweites kleines Stillkissen mit dem Schnittmuster nähe und mit Füllmaterial fülle, um ein kleineres Kissen z.B. für den Urlaub zu haben. Ich weiß nur noch nicht genau, womit ich es denn füllen würde 🤔

Pants & Pyjamas

Was passiert, wenn lemonfairy feststellt, dass ihre Wohnung im Sommer viel zu warm zum Schlafen ist und sie gerne Pyjama-Shorts hätte? Richtig, sie schnappt sich Stoffreste (übrig geblieben von diesem Kleid, den Stoff habe ich eigentlich für ein anderes Projekt gekauft, weshalb ich immer noch davon übrig habe), ein Tutorial von VeraVenus (dem ich mal wieder nur zur Hälfte gefolgt bin) und näht sich ein paar Shorts.

What happens when lemonfairy realizes that her apartment is way too hot for sleeping in the summer and that she'd very much like to have some PJ-Shorts? That's right, she takes some left-over fabric (from this dress, the fabric was bought for another project that didn't happen, so I still have some left over), a tutorial by VeraVenus (that I, as per usual, only followed about halfway through) and sews herself some shorts.

Schritt 2: lemonfairys Mutter sieht, was lemonfairy für eine tolle Schlafanzughose hat, und wünscht sich zu Weihnachten auch eine. Und weil lemonfairy lieber zu viel als zu wenig Stoff kauft, hat sie genug übrig, um auch noch ein Oberteil zu nähen, und weil das Motto "wenn schon, dann richtig" gewesen zu sein scheint, häkelt sie auch noch die Träger und Verzierungen für den oberen Rand.

Step 2: lemonfairy's mother sees lemonfairy's pretty PJ-bottoms and asks for one for herself for Christmas. Since lemonfairy prefers buying too much fabric to too little, she has enough left over to also sew a top, and since the motto seems to have been "if you're gonna do it, you might as well do it right" she also crochets the straps and trim for the upper edge.

Schritt 3: lemonfairys Mutter verrät ihr, dass der selbstgemachte Schlafanzug ihr Lieblings-Schlafanzug ist, und wünscht sich noch einen zu ihrem Geburtstag. Diesmal ist er aus Viskose statt Baumwolle, aber unglaublich weich und leicht waschbar, und rechtzeitig zum Geburtstag per Post nach Hause geschickt.

Step 3: lemonfairy's mother tells her that the handmade Pyjama is her favourite and that she'd like to have another for her birthday. This time, I made it from viscose instead of cotton, but it's still incredibly soft and easily washable, and I managed to get it home in time for her birthday by mail.

Schritt 4: lemonfairy nimmt zu und passt nicht mehr in ihre kurzen Hosen. Ups... Da ich mit dem Shorts-Muster so gute Erfahrungen gemacht habe und sowieso schon länger den High-Waist-Look ausprobieren wollte, habe ich eine wunderbar weiche schwarze Viskose besorgt (ich wollte ursprünglich eigentlich ein dunkles Rot, das gab es aber nicht und der schwarze Stoff lag gerade offen da und hat sich so toll angefühlt) und dann prompt ein, zwei Wochen liegen gelassen. Während dieser Zeit habe ich den Schlafanzug genäht und mich mehrmals umentschieden, wie die Hose denn letztendlich aussehen sollte. Am Ende habe ich mich aber für ein Design entschieden:

Step 4: lemonfairy gains weight and can't fit into her shorts anymore. Oops... Since my experiences with the shorts-pattern had been very positive and I'd been meaning to try the high-waist-look for a long time I went and got a wonderfully soft black viscose (I wanted dark red initially, but they didn't have it, and the black fabric was just lying around in the open and felt so good) to promptly leave it lying around for one of two weeks. During that time I made the PJs and changed my mind several times as to the design of my pants. In the end, I settled on this:

Gumizug hinten, Paperbag/Bundfalten vorne. Da ich gerade keinen schwarzen kurzen Reißverschluss da hatte, schließt das ganze vorne mit einer verdeckten Knopfleiste.

Auf den Fotos ist die Hose noch nicht versäumt, da ich heute erst dazu gekommen bin und die Hose seither nicht mehr ausgezogen habe (so bequem!) um Fotos zu  machen. Schwarzer Stoff ist sowieso schwer zu fotografieren. Gesäumt endet die Hose kurz unter meinem Knie, der Saum ist 10cm breit. Da an mir die Öffnung etwas aufklafft, habe ich das ganze mit einem Gürtel (*hustHaarbandhust*) gestylt, im Moment arbeite ich an einem längeren Gürtel aus dem schwarzen Stoff.

Für einen ersten (und hochgradig improvisierten!) Versuch ist das ganze meiner Meinung nach ein ziemlicher Erfolg, und ich freue mich schon darauf, die Hose häufig zu tragen und mehr Variationen dieses Musters zu nähen. Habe ich schon erwähnt, dass sie unglaublich bequem ist? :D

Elastic in the back, paperbag/folds in the front. Since I didn't have any short black zipper at home it closes with hidden buttons.

The pants aren't hemmed in the pictures since I only got to that today and haven't taken off the pants in order to take pictures of them since (so comfy!). Black fabric is hard to photograph anyway. The hemmed pants end shortly below my knees and the hem is 10cm deep. Since the opening gapes a little when I wear them, I styled them with a belt (*coughhairbandcough*) and am currently working on a longer belt from the same fabric.

For a first (and highly improvised!) trial I think it's a pretty success and I'm very much looking forward to wearing the pants and sew more variations of this pattern. And did I mention they're incredibly comfy? :D

Spaß mit Hemden

Ich weiß nicht genau, was es über mich aussagt, dass inzwischen alle aussortierten Klamotten meiner Familie erst über mich gehen, bevor sie in die Altkleidersammlung kommen, aber so bin ich vor einer Weile an einen Haufen alte Hemden meines Vaters gekommen. Da mein Vater relativ groß ist, sollte mir das in der Theorie relativ viel Stoff pro Hemd geben, da in Praxis ich auch relativ groß bin, stimmt das leider nur bedingt. 

Auf jeden Fall hatte ich heute Lust auf ein kleines, einfaches Nähprojekt, und habe aus einem alten Hemd einen Rock geschneidert.

I'm not really sure what it says about me that by now, all my family's discarded clothes go through me before being donated, but that's how I came by a bunch of my father's old shirts a while ago. Since my dad's kinda tall, there should technically be a lot of fabric per shirt, but since I'm kinda tall also, that's not that true.

In any case I felt like doing a simple small sewing project today and made a skirt out of one of the old shirts.

Zwei Nähte links und rechts, um die Armlöcher zu begradigen, eine Naht für den Gummizug + ein Knopfloch und dann war der Nähmaschinenteil schon wieder fertig. Den Knopf habe ich per Hand angenäht. Ich hatte keinen Faden, der farblich zum Stoff gepasst hätte, also hab ich einen mit etwas Kontrast genommen. Wenn schon, denn schon ;)

Two seams left and right to straighten out the armholes, one seam for the elastic waistband and a buttonhole and that was it for the sewing machine. I attached the button by hand. I didn't have any thread in a matching color, so I used one with a little contrast. I think it's fun :)

Ich bin mir noch nicht ganz sicher, ob ich mit der Passform glücklich bin, also mal schauen, ob ich den Rock auch anziehe. Spaß gemacht hat das Nähen auf alle Fälle.

Außerdem trage ich schon länger die Idee für ein neues (Fasnets-)Kostüm mit mir herum, und hab es heute mal aufgezeichnet. Da es Stickerei beinhaltet, dürfte es etwas aufwändiger sein, aber bis zur nächsten Fasnet ist ja noch ordentlich Zeit. Ich dachte mir nur, dass es ziemlich lustig (und passend!) wäre, als tapferes Schneiderlein rumzulaufen ;)

I'm not sure if I'm happy with the fit, so we'll see if I actually wear it. Sewing it was fun, in any case.

Additionally, I've been carrying around this idea for a new (carnival-)costume for a while, and ended up sketching it today. Since it incorporates quite a bit of embroidery, it'll probably be a bit more work, but there's still a lot of time to the next carnival season. I just thought it might be fun (and fitting!) to walk around as the little brave tailor ;)

Hemdblusenkleid

Dieses Jahr war die Erste Februarwoche voll mit Deadlines: während ich mein Kostüm für den 08.02.18 in einem anderen Post beschrieben habe, war vom 08.-12.02.18 in München Rock that Swing Festival, wo ich a) unbedingt hin und b) ein neues Kleid haben wollte. 

Da das ganze relativ teuer werden kann und ich sowieso nur einen Tag Zeit hatte, habe ich mir kurzerhand Karten für das Dance-Camp und den Ball am Samstag gebucht, nicht ohne jedoch vorher meinen Bruder samt Freundin und noch ein befreundetes Pärchen bequatscht zu haben, mit zu kommen.

Ich wollte sowieso schon länger ein Hemdblusenkleid machen, das war auch einer der Gründe, warum ich ich vorletztes Jahr das Schnittmuster für die 30er-Jahre-Bluse erstellt habe. Dieses Muster habe ich auch wieder rausgeholt, die einzigen Änderungen waren ein anderer Kragen und der Bund mit Rock. 

The first week of February this year was full of deadlines: while I have described my costume for the 08.02.18 in another post,  the Rock that Swing Festival in Munich was from 08.-12.02.18; and I really wanted to go and I really wanted a new dress to wear to that. Since the whole thing can get quite expensive and I only had one free day in any case, I quickly bought tickets for the dance camp and ball on Saturday, not without talking my brother and his girlfriend and another couple I'm friends with into attending.

I've been wanting to make a shirtwaist dress for a couple of years now, it was my initial motivation for drafting a shirt pattern for the 30's inspired blouse some years ago. I used the same pattern, the only alterations I made were another collar and to add the waistband and Skirt.

Weil die Zeit knapp war, habe ich zwischendurch kaum Fotos gemacht. Ich habe versucht, ein wenig mit dem Streifenmuster des Stoffes zu spielen, ich finde, das ist mir gut gelungen.

Because of the lack of time I hardly took any photos of the process. I tried playing around with the striped fabric, I think successfully.

Das Kleid schließt mit einer durchgehenden Knopfleiste und hat einen Gürtel zum Binden. Die Verzierungen und Gürtelschlaufen bestehen aus einem aufgesetzten, dunkelblauen Band. Das Kleid eignet sich sowohl zum Tanzen, als auch als Sommerkleid, und ich bin sehr zufrieden damit.

The dress closes with a full button-down closure and has a belt to tie. The trimming and belt loops are made from a dark blue ribbon. The dress was perfect for dancing as well as a nice summer dress, and I'm very happy with it. 

Dirndlbluse

Fragt mich nicht, warum, aber irgendwie hatte ich dieses Jahr Lust auf eine hochgeschlossene Dirndlbluse mit geraden Ärmeln. Vielleicht als Gegenpol zu den riesigen Puffärmeln der ersten Bluse, die ich zu meinem Eisbonbon-Dirndl genäht habe?

Auf jeden Fall habe ich den Sommer über Pinterest nach schönen Dirndlblusen durchforscht und mir, wie so häufig, ausgesucht, welche Elemente ich haben wollte. Schlussendlich habe ich mich für einfache Biesen und ein bisschen Häkel(?)-Spitze, die von einem anderen Projekt übrig war, als Verzierung entschieden.

Don't ask why, but for some reason I felt like having a high-necked blouse with straight sleeves for my dirndl this year. Maybe as a kind of antithesis to the gigantic puffed sleeves of the first blouse I made to go with my candy-wrapper-dirndl?

In any case, I spent this summer browsing pinterest for pretty dirndl-blouses and selected which elements I wanted to include. Eventually I decided on simple pintucks and a bit of crochet(?) lace, that I had left over from another project, as trim.

Der Stoff ist weißer Baumwoll-Batist, der noch von meinem Circular Gallifreyan Shirt übrig war, plus ein wenig weiße Ikea-Baumwolle für die Druckknopfleiste. Als Schnittmuster habe ich meinen gewohnten Oberteilblock genommen, den Seitenabnäher vorne nach unten verlagert und knapp unterhalb der Brust mit Gummizug gerafft. Den Ärmel habe ich entsprechend der Maße gedraftet, dabei aber zu wenig Spiel im Oberarm gelassen, was dazu führte, dass ich in der fertigen Bluse die Arme nicht über 45° von meinem Körper abspreizen konnte. Ich konnte das Ganze mit einem in der Unterarmnaht eingesetzten Zwickel(?) beheben, und da dieser Fehler bei mir häufiger vorkommt, heißt das wohl, dass demnächst auch meine anderen selbst-entworfenen Ärmel überholt werden müssen :)

The fabric is white cotton-batiste that was left over from my Circular-Gallifreyan-Shirt, plus some white Ikea-cotton as backing for the snap-closure. I took the pattern from my trustet bodice-block, moved the side-darts to the bottom and gathered the bottom hem right underneath the chest with an elastic. I drafted the sleeves, but didn't account for enough ease in the upper arm, which led to me not being able to lift my arms above 45° after setting in the sleeves. Luckily, I could fix that by inserting a small gusset into the underarm-seam, and since that mistake tends to happen to me frequently, I guess I'm gonna go and fix all my self-drafted sleeves some time soon.

Ich habe zuerst die Biesen genäht, und dann das Muster ausgeschnitten. 

I first sewed the pintucks and cut out the pattern afterwards.

Die Spitze wurde von hand angenäht, und der Verschluss sind wie gesagt Druckknöpfe. Ich persönlich muss sagen, ich finde die Bluse sehr gut gelungen! Sie war sehr bequem und hat wegen der kleinen Ärmel auch gut unter meine Strickjacke gepasst. Ein voller Erfolg!

I attached the lace by hand, the closure consist of snaps, as I mentioned before. I have to say I think the blouse turned out very well! It was pretty comfy and because of the small sleeves, I didn't have any trouble wearing my cardigan on top. A complete sucess!

Christmas presents

For some reason, I decided some time in october/november last year to gift my family knitted christmas presents. I had just moved to a new city that was a four hour train-ride away from my parents, so I figured I'd have enough time on my hands for that. Also, moving to a new city after the start of semester meant that I had neither friends nor many courses to take up my time, so knitting three different projects in two months seemed doable.

The other thing that certainly helped was that I found three projects that seemed perfect for the three respective family members I wanted to make them for, which is also why I didn't make anything for my father (yet) - he doesn't like knitted garments.

So, in order of their finishing, here are my three handmade christmas presents:

• Gradient cowl for my younger brother. I really liked the subtle colour change in the "sweetgrass palette" (scroll down a little on that link), and after I googled what seed stitch was it seemed like an easy and quick project. Mind you, I didn't actually order that bundle, but went to my local yarn store and picked out some colours that I thought would work well together (and got asked if I was expecting, because I chose a soft baby-yarn....). After that it was just a question of deciding on an order, a width and using my mother's kitchen-scales to know when to change colours.

This was the order I decided on in the end. The best part: my younger brother went away over new year's eve and forgot the cowl at my parents', so my mother took to wearing it. She liked it so much that she's currently knitting one for herself, albeit with a slightly different colourway ;)

The actual cowl. Couldn't get my brother to model it for my, though...

• Hilda Mittens for my mother. I didn't strictly follow the pattern (when do I ever?) and, again, used some very soft wool - I know that my mother doesn't mind, but I can't even wear normal sock-wool, because it feels so scratchy. The red base of the mittens is a bit tight, but wearable, and I ended up making them a lot longer than in the pattern - which in turn meant more repeats for the lace-pattern on top, but that worked out just fine. The important part is, my mother likes them, and has already worn them :)

Once on my hand and once flat on the table. They're kinda thin, I think, for the temperatures we've had these past couple of weeks, but should be good for early/late winter.

• Mountain Range sweater for my older brother. I stumbled across this pattern on tumblr, and really liked the idea of it. Not so much, however, that I'd be willing to pay 12$, especially considering that I'd have to find the yarn and needle size and so on to get the gauge right for the picture chart.... Instead, I used this pattern on how to knit a top-down sweater, and my trusty knitPro web app to turn some black and white mountain drawings into a knitting chart. Lo and behold:

It's all in cotton to make the washing easier, also, it's too short. My brother prefers long sweaters, and I couldn't ask him to try it on before christmas (naturally), so after christmas, I took it back and am currently lenghtening everything. Well, you live and you learn, I guess :)

Also: so many ends to weave in!

Well, these are the christmas presents, while writing these up I realized that I'd recently finished another sweater and a poncho for myself that I've written nothing about so far, plus I bought fabric for and am in the ealry stages of two different carneval costumes. Look forward to these as soon as I am done with my exams ;)

Lady Bug Costume

Carnival season is back, folks, and it's gonna be a long one this year. So I think it's fitting that I decided to make not one, but two new costumes this year!
I've been wanting to make a lady bug costume for ages (they're my favourite animal and I used to have a really cute lady bug costume as a toddler), but I never knew how to make one that would look different from a store-bought costume and still be kinda cute. Well, recently I got inspired and drew this:

It was an idea on how to do the wings, because that's the most important part, and for the rest I could just put on a black dress or shirt.
This week is finals week, which meant that I had exams on Monday,  Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  So of course I had to go out and buy the fabric for the wings on Wednesday after the exam (5pm) and use my study breaks that evening to start making a pattern for a small bolero - my genius idea for how to make the wings wearable. (You'll notice there's no such thing on the drawing - even while in the fabric store I figured I'd mount the wings on some grosgrain ribbon and fasten that with safety-pins,  it was only when I couldn't find a suitable ribbon in the store that I began to think about alternatives).
On Thursday,  I wrote my exam, went home, ate lunch and did some revision for the exam the next day. When my head really couldn't take anything in anymore, I started sewing. (Well, I did bits and pieces during my study breaks before, but that was only 5-20 minutes, so it doesn't count).

Bolero pieces in my study break.
The wings are made of red polyester satin and white organza, 1m each. The bolero and the dots are made out of that great black fabric I got from my brother years ago - it truly is a gift that keeps on giving.
I bag-lined the bolero and fixed the wings in the shoulder seam of the outer layer. Other than the fact that I sewed on one of the front pieces back to front and couldn't turn the front pieces after bag-lining, because my visual-spatial imagination abandoned me today, it went together very well. I ended up opening up the side-seams to turn the front pieces, then closed each piece with top stitching and finally closed the side-seam again with a big zig-zag-stitch. No-one's gonna be looking under my arms in any case.

I used my sugar-bowl-lid as a template for the dots. Another great attribute of the fabric: it hardly frays, especially not when handled carefully.

I used fabric glue to fix the dots to the red wings, and I think, that's already it! Here'so the finished result (on my dressform, because none of my mirrors are big enough to take a decent costume-selfie).

From the back...









...and from the front. It's a bit tight around the arms, but other than that, I really like it. It was a nice way to take my mind of finals :)
Wish me luck for my exam tomorrow!

30's (inspired) blouse

I finally took out my sewing machine again, and made - a laundry bag. Not very exciting, I know, but I recently moved and needed one and it seemed like a quick and easy project to get back into sewing - remember, last time I did anything on my sewing machine was way back in january.

So after that was done, I felt confident enough to move on to a bigger project, one that has been on my wishlist for quite some time now: a blouse. I have quite a collection of plaid button-down shirts and always liked the idea of a simple, white blouse that would go as well with jeans as with skirts or more formal pants, I just never found one that I liked the fit and/or the fabric of. 

Also, over summer, I toyed with the idea of a shirtwaist-dress (not one that I've given up on just yet, either, it's just right now way too cold to be thinking of summer dresses ;) ), so the obvious solution was to get out my (mother's) trusted pattern-making book and make my own, basic blouse-pattern.

The town I moved to has quite an active Lindy Hop scene, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and make my blouse the first part of a danceable outfit, hence the 30's (inspired) title.

I started by looking at a google-images search of 30's blouses (mostly pattern-envelopes, I think) and noting down which elements I liked and felt fit the theme. Then, and this is kinda new for me, I made a sketch I actually liked!

You can see the list of pattern-elements I wanted to include, an idea for fabric and the fact that I mean to pair it with a skirt that is still very much on my wish-/to-do-list. The elements are:

• A Yoke
• Puffed Sleeves
• Button-down closure
• Round collar (I think they're called Peter-Pan-Collars in English)

After rummaging the well-stocked fabric store here in town and getting excellent help from the employees, I decided on an off-white viscose fabric and square buttons. The viscose mostly was a dream to work with, and if I had a bigger table, I think I could scratch the word "mostly". As it is, I ripped the fabric into smaller rectangles according to the size of the pattern pieces to prevent it from slipping off my table all the time. It should also be noted that the viscose wrinkled very easily, but was just as easily ironed, even without steam (but on the highest heat setting).

I'm afraid I neither took pictures of the pattern making nor of the assembly, so I'll spare you the lenghty write-up. I did however use some new-to-me techniques, so here's a list of them:

• Button-down closure: the drafting, the construction, all new
• Drafting and attaching a collar (and, to be perfectly honest, I'll try a different way of attaching it next time)
• Drafting Sleeves and altering them to puffed sleeves

I also never worked with a yoke before, but I found the concept pretty straight-forward, so there's that. Here's the finished blouse on my dressform:

Final thoughts:

I'm pleasantly surprised at how well this project came together. Other than the fact that it's a bit too see-through for my liking and ended up shorter than intended, I really have nothing to complain about, and while the former is easily mended by wearing a top underneath, the latter doesn't signify much since it's still cute as hell when worn. The viscose feels amazing and is easily washable, so that's another plus.

I kinda wanna make another one, with some variations (long sleeves, puffed differently; lower hem; shaped sides instead of straight ones, maybe even waist darts or -gathering; collar attached differently) but I still have the fabric and pattern for a 60's style dress and I have to finish all my christmas presents before, you know, christmas. But I'm definitely glad my reintroduction to sewing went so smoothly and will keep you  updated on what I do next :)

Until then - 

Hello world

Look, I'm back! I'm sorry for being off the grid for so long, but I put myself under the obligation not to sew (or rather: bring out the sewing machine) until I had finished my thesis, and that (unexpectedly, I might add) took until the end of August. In order to stay sane during those long months, though, I did a lot of knitting (which did involve some handsewing for finishing, I admit). I still have the problem of getting things properly photographed, so here's a list (and sometimes, blurry photos) of things I worked on/finished in the last 9 months.

• finished the Ramona Mittens in January

• The green-metallic sweater spontaneously gained some lace sleeves (the medici pattern again, by now I can do it by heart) and was finished sometime in early April. Here's a not quite finished picture:

• Started and finished the Sofia Shawl, I'm pretty sure it took me less than a month or so and was finished in the middle of August. Here it is being blocked (excuse the beachtowel beneath, I didn't want to get my parent's couch wet)

• And, last but not least, I am working on a cardigan to go with my dirndl , using yet another of Nadelspiel's patterns - slightly modified to be worked in rows instead of rounds. It's only missing a sleeve, which is currently on the needles, and some kind of closure.

There's some more projects I'm still working on, or tried and abandoned, or simply didn't take any pictures of, but all in all this is my creative output over the last 9 months. Considering the struggles I had writing my thesis and the fact that I started a full-time internship in June, I still think it's pretty good. My life is slowly getting back to a more settled rhythm, so I think there'll be more time and energy to sew in the future - it's not like I haven't had any ideas in all this time ;) 

Well, it's been a while...

... although I assure you, that has nothing to do with my unproductivity (considering I have a Bachelor's thesis to work on, I've been way too productive textile-wise recently), but with the fact that I can never seem to find the time, inclination or help to photograph my projects. So here's what you won't get to see properly until I get the time, inclination or help to properly photograph it:

• Nadelspiel's Medici-Socks in white, knee-high, already wrapped and given away because I might not see the person they're intended for again before Christmas. Once she's got them, I'll ask her to photograph them, though.
• White and blue Ramona mittens in double face, with a beautiful slow colour change in the blue. The white is what's left over from my first pair of knitted socks. (I also just realized that I'm talking about the exact same mittens in the post just linked to. I've gotten a lot further ;) )

• A sweater made out of some shiny green metallic yarn that I bought using a gift-card I had gotten for my birthday. Pattern self-drafted (cross your fingers ;) ). I'm thinking about going back and buying a ball of the same yarn in silver to knit in some patterns. We'll see.

• And, last but not least, I tried out VeraVenus's skirt drafting tutorial (if you follow that link, scroll down a bit) to make a pencil skirt. Ever since watching Suits for a couple of seasons I fell in love with the pencil skirt and wanted to have/make one, and since I had some black denim left and another rockabilly concert coming up, I drafted the pattern and made it up. Pro-tip: forget what you were taught and don't measure with ease (the pattern has you add two centimeters to the hip measurement anyway), especially when your fabric is a bit stretchy. I ended up taking in the sides for about 3cm each, which absolutely nixed my plans for pockets. Ah well, next time, I suppose. At least all the darts fit pretty much right away :)

I know it's blurry, but it shows best what I ended up wearing. If you wonder about the sneakers and t-shirt, I knew that there'd be a lot of dancing, and dancing jive is a full workout. Happy to report though that dancing (excepting one jumping figure where you kind of have to straddle your partner for a moment) works surprisingly well in such a tight skirt. Only don't wear tights. They're only gonna shift and move downwards as soon as you take a step. Stockings work perfectly, though :)

For now, there's a Masquerade coming up on New Years Eve, dresscode Cocktaildress or Eveninggown and I'm considering giving VeraVenus Little Bias Dress a try. Have to see if I have enough fabric, though... Until then!