Soft winterdays

Today it's grey and cold, a very unpleasant combination. I figured I would cheer myself up with some pictures I took two weeks ago. It was cold, sunny and just gorgeous. A week prior the temerature had risen to above zero (very unusual for the time of year), then it just dropped to -15 again, and stayed there. So the frost grew on every single little branch of the trees, and covered every brick on the buildings. When the snow came it caught on the frost and... then the sun came.
It was beautiful.

On my way to work at 7.40, the sky began to lighten along the horizon. 

The view from my officewindow a little while later. 

 The pink horizon glimting thorugh the branches.

Love how the sun hit one tree full on, making it glow light pink in contrast to the shady white of its neighbourghs.

During my lunchwalk... 

Sky and snow-covered river

Sewing? Oh, yes, I've done a bit of that last weekend, but none during the workdays. Too many evening-meetings =( I'm happy to say the sweatpants are finished and I'm halfway ready with a blouse. Hopefully I'll feel a bit more energetic tomorrow, and I'll be home during daylight-hours, so pictures will be taken.

Have a great weekend!

Love, Erika

Why am I drafting trousers? And a weird fitting solution

Seriously, this past weeks I've been asking myself a number of times why I'm drafting block patterns for a pair of trousers. Why is this a mystery? You see, all I really wanted was a new pair of sweatpants... (Are you as confused as me right now?)

My favorite home-wear is a comfy pair of sweatpants. Please don't kill me now I've admitted that! Of course there are lot's of days when I'll wear a cute jerseydress/skirt instead, but somedays just calls for sweatpants, couch and TV. After many years of appreciated service, my only remaining pair of sweatpants is barley in one piece (workout-wear is not included here, I don't wear those around the house. Except after working out =) ). I need a new pair so I can answer the door without changing clothes!

I've thought about just buying a new pair. Then I found a lovely, cheap, heavy sweatshirtjersey a few years back and I thought "Hey, I'll just sew a pair!". But I haven't, and it's finally dawned on me why. I have patterns aplenty, somewhere in there I must have a basic sweatpants pattern. Or mom def has! However, with all other patterns I've tried, I've had the exact same fitting issues as I have with RTW. Wouldn't it be prudent to assume the same would be true for sweatpants? Meaning the groin would be a bit too tight, the entire pants would either want to climb up to my natural waist or they would be huge, the waist would be very uneven and the front higher than the back, making the pants unbalanced.

What has been the best answer to my previous fitting issues? Block patterns! Solve the fitting once and for all, and then the hard part is done. For good. The rest is just style alterations =) This is where it's still - despite the story of how I got to this point - a bit bewildering: so in order to sew sweatpants I'm drafting a pair of fitted trousers. Que?! Still not sure what I was thinking about...

It's exiting though, as it's my first attempt at making women's trousers! I've been reading up, and isn't it amazing how complicated trouser-fitting is? Legs - they go straight up and down, don't they? Apparently not... =)

I traced the block pattern by hip measurment and altered the waist to fit.

First toile, worn over dark thights for decency's sake, short as I knew there would be huge fitting issues. Problems: waist to low, groin seam too short, pants pushing against the front thighs.

An image of the pattern alterations made after the first toile, they're hard to see on the actual pattern. I've raised the waist, added to the fronts groinseam to accomodate my thighs, added to the back groinseam to accomodate my hips and added a wedge in the center backseam at lower hip level. I've also made the outside seam on both front and back a bit wider over the thighs.

I knew I would need to compensate for my inwards-slanted knees so I shifted the lower part of the pantlegs 1,25 cm in.

Second toile, after changes. I'm getting somewhere, but maybe with the addition to the groinseam I hadn't needed to raise the waist.

The black area was removed, the blue added.

New patternalterations: The waistline back to where it started. The backcenter seam was now a bit tight, so I scooped it out at the curve and added a wedge to the back groin seam where I deemed it most needed =)
The front is starting to look pretty good, at least to my inexperienced eyes (tips and suggested corrections are most welcome!). Or as good as pants in a boring colour and an unflattering style can look =)

My main issue now was these huge diagonal pull lines from the outside of the thigh to the inside of the knee, combined with the center front being off-center with 1,5-2 cm. I tried all sorts of tricks, until I finally was so frustrated that I grabbed hold of the fabric and started lifting/pushing/pulling the fabric around until the fabriclegs hung straight. The solution is one I haven't seen mentioned anywhere, but it looked like this:

The black shaded area is what was removed.

I took out a wedge, 1,8 cm at the inside seam tapering to zero at the outside seam. Tha wedge is at a straight angle to the straight of grain. Done on both front and back, and it worked!

Sorry no pictures of this, but I've altered the pattern to sweatpants, the fabric is cut and I'm finally set to go!

The last pictures shows the difference between the original and the final block pattern.
Hopefully back soon with pics of comfy homewear =)

Love, Erika

P.S. I've made some changes to the blog layout... Using a new, wider template, added pages for finished projects and a longer "About me"-text. Please let me know if something's not working correctly or if takes forever to load!

Sewing of 2012

At the end of a year I tend to wonder; what on earth did I actually sew during this year? So I figured I'd do a little re-cap in pictures of 2012's sewing! I've grouped them together in types of garments, without consideration to when each piece was created. There are links to the original posts, however; some of these were never properly blogged, only mentioned during process.

The wovens:

 Floral blouse

Polka-dot rayon blouse (and re-made skirt)

 Green wool skirt

Red rayon dress

 30s wedding-ensamble in rayon

Only the dress from the ensamble

The jerseys:

 Red top in medium weight jersey, first pattern attempt

Top in lightweight jersey, second pattern attempt version #1

Top in lightweight jersey, second pattern attempt version #2

Green jersey top, 2nd pattern, version #3

Jerseydress #1

Jerseydress #2

Wow! I knew I'd been more productive this year than previous years, but seeing it lined up like this was really fun! I like that the projects spans different categories, materials and seasons. There are some pieces I really wish I had finished during 2012, but I'll have to take them with me to 2013 and make them a priority.

The big New this past year was jersey sewing. Jersey is fast to sew, easy to care for and comfortable to wear. I can only wonder at how long it took me to gather up the courage to try it! Seeing as these pieces are extremly wearable (save the first top, that I'm considering throwing away) there is a bunch of jersey sewing planned for next year =)
Besides sewing more jersey tops and dresses, next year I also hope to delve into lingerie sewing... Slips, tap pants, bloomers, knickers... I'd also like to sew with silk (yup, have been gathering up the courage there as well), and maybe do a couple of tailored projects as well. And sewing bags of different sorts! So many ideas! =)

Happy Sewing 2013, to all of us! =)
Love, Erika

A finished project! And happy new year =)

December... Wow, it went by fast! It's one of my favorite months; the decorations, the smells of cinnemon and saffron, candles and small lamps lightning up the darkness. I had grand plans (as always. I'm sure that one day I'll learn to have reasonable plans, but now they're always grand) of making two blouses and a dress for Christmas. Naturally, it didn't happen. =) However, I'm quite proud of myself that I didn't start them when I knew I wouldn't have time to finish them. Instead of creating one more thing to stress about, I decided to just relax into the holiday-spirit and enjoy seeing family and friends.

But I have finished a project! It was a while ago, but I've been lazy in taking pics of it =)

Ta-da! The first of the two green t-shirts I cut out some months back. I did some changes compared to the last version, I gathered the top to the waistpiece under the actual bust, instead of centered in the mid-front and then spreading out. It, mostly, solved my old problem of pooling fabric between my cups!

 

This fabric proved to be a nightmare to sew. It's very thin and very slippery, at one point I spent 3 hours adjusting the tension, differential feed and pressure on my overlock, and the stitches still won't form without stretching the fabric if I'm sewing a single layer. To counteract the light fabric, I interfaced the bands at the neckline and the sleeves with fusible knit. It made the fabric less stretchy and causes some ripples, but it also keeps the bands from collapsing so I'm happy.

The back. Some ripples due to the angle of my arms, but look how little fabric-pooling there is at the waist! My RTW-tops are always a mess of horizontal pleats there.

Also, this is by far the best ever pictures taken of my favorite everyday skirt. It's made of surpluce military wool, meaning thick and almost never wrinkles. It might be some blend, though, as it has a nice luster that washing, steaming and pressing hasn't dimmed. This skirt was my second modern wear project ever, made the months before I started this blog. It's versitile and easy to style in different ways, which is good as I wear it at least four days a week all through the cold season... It has been very hard to photograph though, it always looks too dark, or the shape get's totally lost (as here).

The previous attempt at jersey-top, where the pooling-between-the-cups-problem is quite visible. Also, A glimt of another project I finished long ago (before Stockholm sewing expo, to be honest) but I've failed to take pictures of. It's a half-circle skirt, with a lapped side-zipper (first seen here). Quite nice, and I'm happy with it. Great to have another skirt to wear at winter besides my blue... ; ) However, I forgot to pack it after Christmas celebrations at my moms place, so now I'm not sure when I'll get it back so I can take proper pictures of it =(
Eventually, it will be done ;)

Happy new year!
Love, Erika

Shoppinghaul from London

As promised in my last post, here's the shopping haul from London!

Let's start in Notting Hill... I spent eunough at What Katie Did to get a complementary shopping bag... So cute! But best is still the goodies inside of it =)

A Glamour corselette and chocolate fully fashioned 45 den stockings! I happen to know my boyfriend also walked away with something from WKD... Can it please be Christmas soon?!


A fast hop to Gold Hawk road, and the staggering number of cheap fabric shops, all within 5 min walk of each other. Few of them accepted cards, but that was ok, as a tourist I came with plenty of cash, and oh boy did I put them to good use! All but the last are jerseys, and I doubt there's a single natural fibre in any of them, but they're lovely to touch, have a beautiful drape and a decent recovery. They were 4-5 £/metre, a bargain in my book =)

From right to left: a green dress (for me or for Malin, if she wants it), two red tops, a brown dress for me and a t-shirt for the mr, wool-like heavier patterened blue for a dress, black jersey with black lace for a fancier but comfy dress (blues dancing, work parties etc) and last a polyester silk-like fabric for a slip (test-run before cutting into real silk, and good to have a machine washable version).


Let's hop on to MacCulloch and Wallis on the corner of Oxford street and Dering street! They have an amazing collection of haberdashy, equipment and fabrics of all sorts. The store is divided so the fabric is on the groundfloor, most of the haberdashy and equipment is on the 1st floor, while the trims and so on are on the 2nd floor. While the girls on the fabric floor was angels, the people upstairs were... not so serviceminded. Now, I'm Swedish. I'm polite, patient and don't want to make a lot of fuss. But I still find it unpleasant when a clerk rolls his eyes when I ask for a band being cut. Yes, I wanted 20 metres of it, but still - rolling his eyes? Not so nice. I was very, very happy I had spent a few hours at their website and therefore knew what to ask for, as the store was pretty hard to navigate and not so well-labeled (most things were not labeled at all, actually).
I don't recommend against the shop, not at all! But I do recommend coming with a good idea of what you're looking for and be prepared to be ignored or sighed at when you ask something (they did answer my questions, though). Most important, I found some stuff that just can't be bought anywhere I've seen in Sweden... and def not to those prices! So I'm happy =)

At the top: Gripper waistband. Below it: 20 m of piping cord. At the bottom of the picture: designer tape, wax for handsewing, basting thread, kicktape (brown + black) and two twin needles.


Now, the fabric departement and the lovely ladies who worked there... Totally different experience! No fabric is left laying around in the store, instead huge sample pieces hang on clothing racks. Easy to browse through, cut a piece, feel the drape etc. I had of course a million and one questions about the different interfacings, the lady answered them all, came with suggestions, and ran off to the basement for my fabrics.
In the last minute - like 5 min before they were closing - I asked for a shirting with some specific qualities. She showed me the row of shirtings and I felt a a moment of pure panic. Five minutes and all of those to browse?!!! Then she took one out and said "This one is the one I think best fit's the description you gave...", and it was perfect. Relief! I didn't even glance at the other fabrics =)

Not much to look at like this, but am I weird to find this the most exciting photo of them all? Perhaps =) To the left, interfacings of different sorts (sew-in, fusible, horse hair, hair canvas, chest canvas etc). To the right, pocketing and the aforementioned shirting (a lovely cotton mix with beautiful fall and body. There's a small weave stripe, maybe 2 mm apart).

Leaving the world of sewing and lingerie, I found some books that just had to come home with me =) I had planned to not buy any books, the suitcase get's so heavy but... The gorgeous coffetable book about the Hollywood costume exhibition in Victoria and Albert museum I just had to have. I loved "How to be a woman" by Caitlin Moran, so I of course had to buy her new book. While searching for it at Waterstones, I stumbled over the little "How to be a welldressed wife" by Anne Fogarty and then... =)

This and that. The scarf and the coaster I picked up as we walked along Portobello road towards WKD. I loved the deep chocolate colour on the scarf, and I have a similar coaster that it'll be easier to use when I can also provide a retro-humour coaster for my guest =)

The tie is... a bit hard to see, but I didn't want to remove the protective plastic. It's dark brown with a diagonal weave, and it matches two of the three shirts the mr bought. It's going to look stunning!

That was the week's haul! Or rather, the haul from monday to wednesday, as we just danced during the weekend =) Hope you enjoyed the peek!

Love, Erika