Stockholm weekend

Stockholm! Swedens capital, my old home town (my birthtown even) and where the majority of my family lives. Last weekend I took the chance to visit family and friends before the holiday madness kicks in. I was supposed to attend a sewing class at one of  the few more advanced sewing schools in Sweden, but the class got cancelled just a week before =( I anyway had the plane-tickets, so instead of a weekend of sewing I had a weekend of food, cakes and talks. Quite nice, and very relaxing =)

Saturday morning at moms place. We made scones and listned to the "music-crossword", a radio show that has aired for ages. My mom, aunt and paternal grandmother used to do this crossword every week, calling each other when it was something they didn't know. Everyone knew never to call between 10 and 11 on Saturday mornings =) Granny's been gone for 15 years (rip) but my mom and my aunt carry on the tradition.

Scones, tea, homemade marmelade, music on the radio and a dog sleeping on the bed in the other room. A very relaxing way to start the weekend.

Said dog on said bed. Love how she matches mom's new bed cover! =) Mom claims it wasn't intentional...

During Saturday Stockholm showed her best side, all sunshine and lovely colours. It's utterly bizarre to see green grass at the end of November! I took the oppurtunity to wear my favorite hat (it's a tad too cold for hats in Umeå now), teamed up with the new coat, red gloves and my trusty handbag.

Sunday was a whole other story - windy, dark and a constant drizzle. Brr! Here I'm the Old Town, Stockholms oldest part, after a long lunch and fika with dad and my aunt.

A new blouse! I've been working on it for ages (or rather, not working on it) as I'm not 100% happy with the pattern. The sleeves look ok like this, but with the arm relaxed a bunch of strainlines appear. Also, the shoulder seam falls back. I'll re-do the pattern before cutting into any silk, but I've decided that this blouse is ready. Just like that =) I'm not thrilled about it, but it's ok and I like the fabric, so while I won't devote any more sewing hours to it, I will still wear it and be happy about it.

How adorable is Elsa?! We're all sitting in the living room, celebrating my brother's 25th birthday, and she naturally wants to be a part of it. Sitting in the sofa, with one paw on Joakim's legs to ensure that he won't run away =)

It was of course a huge disappointment that my class got cancelled, and I hope there will be other weekend classes in the future, but am a bit hesitant to sign up if they're in the habit of cancelling in the 11th hour. We'll see... While it would have been fun to sew the entire weekend, I instead had a very relaxed weekend with family and friends. Just the thing to fight the December darkness!

Love, Erika

Swingin it with friends

There's been a lot more "in vintage" than "swingin' it" lately, hasen't it? Have you begun to wonder if I've stopped dancing? Let me lay your worries to rest, I'm still swingin' it! =) I have however been awfully bad at documenting these evenings, but let me at least give you a hint of the fun last weekend offered.

Last weekend Mattias and Lisette, two great international lindy hop teachers visited Umeå. They gave a two day class for my local society, Swingum, and we hosted two social dance nights (Friday and Saturday), with live bands both evenings. It was a wonderful weekend! It's always such a treat to take classes, and for such experienced teachers... The socials were great fun as well, lot's of talented dancers on the floor!

During class. We did dance stop, sooo much fun! Dance until the music suddenly stops and then freeze. Lot's of laughs during this exercise, I can tell you.

As great as the dancing was, one of the biggest highs for the weekend was Malin and Johannes coming to visit, all the way from Luleå. They brought the kids, and the whole family stayed at my place during the weekend. Turned out three adults and two kids actually sleeps very comfortable in my 2 rooms (that's 1 bedroom and 1 living room for the non-Swedes reading). It was just wonderful having them here! Above is a photo from Saturday night dinner...

...and Erik and Rita was also at the dinner, they also wanted to hang out with 2 year old Alva, and cuddle 5 month old Milo =)

On the dancefloor. Yup, the kids were there as well! They really are the easiest going children! Both evenings they slept in the stroller while their parents danced the nights away =) Here is Alva, she was up on the dancefloor for a while during Saturday night, before falling alseep. And the doll also wanted to dance =)

It's been a while since I was in the show group, my problems with my legs prevented me from practicing that much and that intense dance, plus I don't really have the time. But my friends in Swingum Lindy Hoppers have continued, and they've taken the group to a whole new level. I was awed during their perfomance, such great dancing! I mean, the style, the moves, the whole set-up! So watch, and enjoy! Erik, Elin, Jimmy, Mia, Henrik and Barbara, swingin' it! =)



Love, Erika

Tailoring a cut-on shawl collar

Thank you so much everyone for the amazing response to the coat! Sewing it this past year has been a huge project, but a very fun one. There are few projects that have taken so much time and so much head-scratching but that I've still loved the entire time (in fact I think this would have to be the only one...) =) I've learned so much, and I wanted to share the solution I worked out for the one thing I couldn't find the answer to in either the Tailoring book or Gertie's posts: tailoring a cut on shawl collar. The book, and Gertie, talks of sewn-on shawl collars, but cut-on presents a few problems with the order of sewing. So here's what I worked out! Heads up: long and very, very geeky post ahed =) All the pictures are in full size if you click on them, for clearer details.

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