Summertime and the living is easy...

...fish may even be jumping... =)

I read somewhere that internet stress during vacation is a rising population health issue. Stressing about Facebook, blogs and so on prevents one from relaxing, resting and get the full benefit of a vacation. While I can understand the problem, it's one I have no personal experience of. My only stress was feeling bad about not being online, writing posts, commenting. Reading my mail... So even though I this year brought my swanky new computer (allright, maybe not so fancy, but compared to my 8 year old laptop, it's basically a spaceship) on the road, did I use it for anything else than installing needed software (thanks Dad!) and check public transportation info? No, of course, not. I was feeling a little teeny, tiny bit bad about it, until I read the article =) It's amazing how we can choose to give credit to newspaper articles when they fit into how we would like the world to be, and ignore them when they don't.

I've had a wonderfully relaxed vacation. Me and the mr went on a roadtrip through Sweden, something I haven't done since I was a child. We visited family and friends, totally driving approx 3400 kilometres (1 mile = 1.6 km). It was great to not have any fixed days for travelling, just go with the flow and have room to alter any plans whenever we'd choose.

Here's some of my favorite pictures from the past two months...

 Midsummer at Norrbyskär, trying to keep my balance and failing miserably =)

 Feeling like a giant in the minature houses at Norrbyskär museum.

Visiting friends in Hjo, a cute little town next to one of Swedens largest lakes. The shoes, hat, scarf and handbag were my go-to's this summer =)

 The lake was stunning, and we couldn't have asked for better weather!

 Hjo is an old town, with plenty of beautiful wood houses.

Back in northern Sweden, me and mom visited an old iron work. Thought you guy's might like this, it's the early 20th century workroom of the director.

To get power to run the iron work, they used the natural stream and altered it to get more force out it. This stream has been used in this capacity since th 17th c (with different iron works, and new machinery from time to time).

At the end of the vacation, we spent a few days in the Swedish moutins. Clear air, gorgeous midnight light (this is taken at 11.30 at night) and time for both body, soul and mind to relax.

And to sum this up - something sewing related! At a second hand shop I stumbled over this darling. It was set to such a low price, I opened the case mostly to study the broken 70s wreck I assumed resided inside. I probebly startled half the store with my screetch when I opened it and found a Husqvarna CB (they were made between 1903-1934, so it's from somewhere around there). The electricity actually works, and it sews, I tested it in the store. Now, despite it's beauty I was a bit hesitant. Would my boyfriend be ok with A) helping me bring it up to snuff and B) having a third sewing machine in the appartement, with the knowledge that there will be a fourth as soon as I can afford a coverlock? He surprised me in the best sense of the word with not only saying yes to the above but even gifting me with the machine!!!

So that's the quick version of my summer! Not a lot of sewing, I haven't been home eunough for that, but I have made a few garments. Right now my sewing supplies, along with everything else I own, is in a semi-organized chaos, also known as moving. In two weeks I'll be settled into my new place (I'm just moving within the city), and I'm sooooo looking forward to sewing again!

Hope everyone has had a great summer!
Love, Erika

Bloglovin and Google Reader and all that...

Just a quick little notice - due to Google Reader closing I'm connecting this blog to Bloglovin. You can still follow through Blogger, if you have a Blogger-account. There's also the option of following through email, very handy if you don't have Blogger or use Bloglovin.

I'll add the Bloglovin-button shortly, first I just gotta figure out how to claim my blog and how to link the two pages together...

Love, Erika

(Ignore this: <a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4142445/?claim=htrsc9tp243">Följ min blogg med Bloglovin</a>

Half-slips!

I fell out of blogging... again... Doing a major clean out after the builders were done renovating my appartement, having my sister here for a week... Blogging - and sewing - got left behind. Of course, having my sister on visit was great, and what's even better is that she's moving back to town at the end of summer! Yay! And the flat does feel better after that huge cleaning-affair =)

MeMadeMay got done all the way to the end, and I'll post a some reflections on a later date. To get me back into the sewing room (finally restored to order I might add) I figured it was time to adress this issue:

I made this slip 4 years ago, in a not very good quality lining fabric. Having yet to figure out invisible zips, and not wanting the bulk of a gathered waist, I inserted an invisible zipper like an ordinary, centered zip. This has actually worked out great, and even though I have a few other slips, this is the one I've always turned to. It's a safe bet to say that for the past 4 years it has been worn at least 250 days/year (the real number is probably higher).

This winter I first started noting it looked worn around the central backseam. Then all of a sudden it went from a little worn to what you can see above! Time to retire this workhorse, and make new slips.

While the zip has worked, at times it has also been a bit uncomfortable. At the same time, a traditional straight slip always makes me feel restricted in movement. So I drafted a pattern from my A-line TNT, widening the waist to eliminate the zip, while keeping a slightly flared hem. First up was this black slip:

I overlocked the inside seams, used an elastic with lace details on the top (underwear elastic) for the waist and made a rolled hem with the aid of my rolled hem foot =)

The result is ok, but the elastic could have been a little snugger around the waist. I wasn't pleased at all with the overlocked seams (and I had carefully adjusted the setting first, testing on scrap material) so...

On this nude version I made french seams on the inside, and this was way better! May sound trickier, but with the whole changing threads and adjusting the overlock, this was actually faster and yielded a nicer result. Both ways of course work!

I used a somewhat shorter elastic for the waist, and added a lace to the hem.

This whole thing came together mercifully quick! The second skirt took 2,5 hours to make, from pressing the fabric before laying out the pattern, to the last pressing of the hemline. I may have to do another one pretty soon... My jersey dresses are shorter than my woven skirts and dresses, and these new slips are too long for them! Luckily, I have just eunough left of the nude fabric to make a second,  5-7 cm shorter slip =)

Ever tried your hand on any kind of lingerie-sewing? Love it, or not a fan of sewing something that won't be seen?

Love, Erika 

Me Made May week 3 1/2 - summer is here!

I've fallen behind on posting my Me Made May-outfits... There haven't been a lot of time for blogging, and somehow the sewing post seemed more important (and fun) =)

We've had an unextecped change in weather, and the entire region seems to have skipped spring and gone straight for summer. Seriously, go back and check my pictures from the beginning of May and behold the snow and ice. Then we were gone a week, and the grounds turned emerald. Summer heat struck (which is 20 C in this part of the world), and one warm weekend later every tree and bush had leeves! Not too unusual, spring is always fast here. The unsual part is that it stayed warm. Loving it! =)

This is a long post, with outfits you've likely to have seen before, so why not check out the surrounding landscape, and see what happened during that warm weekend...

Summer SWAP 4, 5 and 6

While pondering 30s fashion, I've been sewing up more jersey-stuff... (the dresses has already been featured, in the MMM on holiday-post).

1) V-necked top. This fabric was a nightmare! It didn't seem to have selvedges, more like cut edges. The printed pattern was parallell to the edges, but the grainline was maybe 20 degrees off. Laying out the pieces took ages, and I still think most pieces are slightly off grain. Pieces of this top will undoubtedly twist during washing. It has very little lengthwise stretch, so the underbustseam is higher than on the floral top from last week.

The whole point however was to test the pattern in a V-neck version. The neckband is not sewed on perfectly, but I do like the style. Not sure this top will survive long in my wardrobe, but it was good to test the V-neck pattern alteration =)

2) I had planned to make a dress in the horrible, off-grain fabric, but after discovering all the problems outlined above, I figured it'd be a waste of time. So I rushed out and got a turqoise viscouse jersey on sale at Ohlssons...

The floral dress was nice, but apart from me messing up the elastic in the waistseam, the entire waistline was too high. Very strange, since the pattern is drafted from my chevron dress that sits great at the waist. Then I got to thinking: the shoulder seams on that one has a tendency to wander backwards. Maybe the surpluce in the front bodice (the one I reduced for this later pattern) was divided between front and back to make the whole bodice longer?

Anyway, I added length a little bit here and there on the dress bodice pattern, altered the sleeves to be loose and half-long, slimmed down the skirt top to reduce the gathered effect, and changed the gathers in bodice and skirt into small pleats, more visible here:

However, this was still just a testrun for...

3) V-necked dress in the lovely jersey I bought at Stockholm sewing expo last fall. This fabric is wonderful! It has drape, a heavy fall, excellent recovery, is not thick and yet it has a bit of body so it doesn't fall all over the place. It cost a dear coin (twice the cost of the turcoise above), but I have a feeling it will last more than twice as long and see a lot of wear.

For me, this is a summer evening dress, or a winter dance dress. It'll be perfect for bluesdancing!

And that concludes the fast and easy part of my summer SWAP =)
Love, Erika