Umeå Dance Festival 2010

It's been very quiet here for a while, but for a simple reason: Umeå Dance Festival 2010! An entire weekend of workshops, dance-introductions and shows. And not just lindy! This is a cooperation between all sorts of dance societies, from capoeira and oriental dancing to folkdance, medieval dancing, to tango, salsa, lindy etc etc. Oh, and I didn't just participate, I was in the planning-group. (Above: Swingum Lindy Hoppers, aka me and my friends, performing)

I held an introduction to medieval dancing, did two shows (one lindy and one in the medieval gear) and attended some classes. Above is me and my dancepartner, Per, warming up for the lindy show. Johannes and his darling cute daughter Alva ended up in the bottom corner as well. I think Alva stole most of the show this weekend!

And me and Per in full swing...

...and some more swinging! =) Look at the skirt, it really twirls. It's a full circle skirt my mom made for herself about 25 years ago, and has now passed on to me. The fabric is gabardine, and it has a great drape. The skirt is actually a bit much for a crowded social dancefloor, one gets in the way of other dancers. For our smaller social dance scene it works great though. And for shows, of course! =)

Both Friday and Saturday there was social dancing to live music, great bands both nights. Here's me just come home from dancing on Saturday evening. As you can see I went with the sailor dress...

...and my favorite hairdo...


...with a little bow in the center back.

For the weekend, wonderful dance teachers Hanna Zetterman and Mattias Lundmark came up to hold some classes with us. They gave us lots of really useful things, both for lindy hop and authentic jazz. The weekend ended late Sunday afternoon with a class in acrobatics (aka "air-steps"), and it was so much fun! Since I was a bit busy flying thorough the air and trying to land properly I didn't get a chance to film or take photos, but hopefully we'll master some of those "acros" soon, and incorporate them in a lindy routine I can show you.

All for now! I hope I'll get back at the latest this weekend with an update on my sewing (all the crafts has been in the background while I've been working with the festival).

Love, Erika

Snow sculptures and lindy

Past Saturday was a busy and fun day. We had a small lindy hop-show in a mall at town. It was "pay-weekend" (first weekend after pay-day, which is the 25th for most Swedes), so there was a lot of people out shopping, hence a fairly good crowd that stopped to watch us dance. Fun! Since it was indoors and we were dancing I'm afraid I don't have any pictures to share with you =(

I recentley realised I haven't really said much about the outdoors here in Umeå lately. The reason is simple: it's been dark, cold and snowy. Snow is great, but not when it's falling or when I'm riding my bike to work... I love winter, but this winter has been a bit too winter-y. Now we're starting in on the best part of winter, though. To kick off the "spring-winter": some pictures from the snowsculpture contest downtown past Saturday! It's an annual competition, where ordinary people participate. We were very happy it wasn't a week earlier, as the temperature then was -28C, and past Saturday it was only -8C and snowing. Basically spring ; )
Ok, the pictures:

It's an ogre! With a mountin on it's back! Oh, and me in front of it of course.

My sister Kajsa and the creature on the cute frog-snow-mobile.
Loved these shoes! Please excuse the old-lady style outfit, it's tricky to protect a hair-do from falling snow.
Isn't it amazing what they can do with snow? This one was called something along the line of "people in the world". I could see right through the globe!
The back of it, with Kajsa imitating the sculpture =)
The last one was a baby in a womb. That's the umbilical cord that run's up from the sleeping baby (not a very good shot, I'm afraid).
So much for Saturday at town! At the evening we had a Lindy Hop Live, with a great band playing, a good crowd of dancers and a very nice evening it was.
Here's Karolin, modeling her stylish outfit for the evening. Loved her skirt! Her mom made it about 20 years ago and now she has given it to Karolin. The pattern is a bit blurry in the small picture, but take it up and you'll se the fine checkers-print.
Kajsa was so cute for the evening. She isn't really very vintage, and since she has such a youthful look she sometimes looks a bit like someone dressing up in their granny's clothes when she's all vintage. I like this style on her, it's cute, colorful and suits her, I think. Modern and young with a just a vintage twist.
And the two of us, happy after a nice evening with lot's of dancing and almost as much cookies and tea =)
Love,
Erika

A wednesday surprise

Wednesday my sister kidnapped me for the evening. First we had dinner at her place and then we went out to take the bus to a for me unknown destination. Turned out she was treating me to a night at the movies! How sweet is that? We saw "Sherlock Holmes", that I've been wanting to see for ages.

I'm not sure it's supposed to be a comedy, but me and Kajsa sure laughed and giggled the whole movie, so for us it was a comedy. With a little bit of exitement, romance, pretty clothes and wonderful eye-candy in the shape och Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr.


In my early adolecence I was a huge fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and I've read almost every Sherlock Holmes mystery there is. This new pair of Holmes-Watson was quite far from the novels, for those of you who haven't seen it: think The league of extrodinary gentlemen meets Jack Sparrow. Great fun and wonderful photage =)

One thing I found interesting was the combination of magic and technology. It brings to mind an earlier era when technology was new and it seemed possible anything could be done with it, when magic was seen as an extension of technique. I did like that they gave a logical explanation to almost everything in the end (I can ignore what they chosed not to explain), it feels very Conan Doyle.


Perhaps they felt the need to make Holmes a bit more lovebel, and thus set the movie in a time before the first novel. Downey's Holmes is not yet a morphine-adict, he's active (a boxer!) and he's still a bit interested in the world around him. Jude Law's Watson is far from Doyle's married, rounded, shy man. No, there's nothing rounded or a bit timid about him when he battles villains with superb fighting skills =)

I liked that they included Irene Adler, the only one that ever outsmarted Holmes and who we never get's to meet in the novels. Making her Holmes lost love actually makes sense, since the novels carries within them a tragic love story that's never really spoken of (if my memory serves me correct).


Not a movie that will change my life, but one that gave me incredible joy and fun for an evening, and one I'll see again in the future.

Have you seen the movie? Or read the novels? What did you think?

Love, Erika

Lace-mania

I det här inlägget berättade jag om min nya passion: knyppling! Det är ett otroligt kul hantverk där lite lingarn förvandlas till vacker spets. Jag har haft så mycket jag vill göra på sistonde, jag vill träna, sy, sticka, blogga, fota, baka, men ändå varje förmiddag före jobbet (min mest kreativa tid) så har idéerna forsat genom huvudet, jag har tittat på knyppeldynan på bordet, och på något vis hamnat där. Kan i och för sig bero på att solen äntligen är en regelbunden gäst på himlen, efter evigheter av gråhet. Ljuset är som synes på bilden nedan, lite kallt men klart och vackert. Så jag gör en kopp te, tittar ut genom fönstret och låter knypplingen och ljuset absorbera mig. Underbart!

In this post I spoke of my new passion: making lace! It's a really fun craft where some linen threads are transformed into beautiful lace. There's been so many things I want to do lately; I want to work out, sew, knit, blog, take pictures, bake, and yet every late morning before work (my most creative hours of the day) I've somehow found myself sitting by my lace pillow. It could be because the sun is finally a regular guest in the sky again, efter an eternity of grayness. The light is as you can see above, a little cold, but clear and beautiful. So I make myself a cup of tea, look out the window and let the lace weaving and light absorb me. Wonderful!


In my lace class, we start with nine practice laces (making about 10 cm or 4 1/2 inches of each), they hold the basics and teaches you how to read a pattern. The ones above are the first two.


A variation of the first lace, plus my current favorite for now: lace #3, wood anemone (vitsippa).


And where I'm now, in the middle of lace 4, "braid lace" (Flätspets). I haven't really gotten the hang of the braids when done to the left, so don't look too close =) Hopefully you'll see some of the lace, even with the needles still in (the needles aren't so close to each other in this lace, so it should work).

All for now!
Love, Erika

(P.S. Sorry if the mixing of languages is a bit confusing. It's just that some things I want to write in Swedish as well, it's about the forming of the words. But I promise that everything gets said in English as well! And sometimes only in English... =) )

Vintage for everyday

Last week I was going through all my outfit posts in an attempt to find the perfect dress for the work-party on Saturday, and I realised that I've mostley posted about "the special" outfits. Inspired by the discussion on Gertie's blog about what vintage style one applies for everyday wear (http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2010/02/im-done-done-i-tell-you.html), here come's some photos of my favorite vintage-inspired outfit and hair.


The hair is teased at the front and sides, and then folded in, pinned in place and harisprayed. The hair in the back is twisted into a knot at one side of the neck, and secured with a whole lot of hairpins. This was for dancing, so a bit more pins and spray were needed than for a day at town. It was all done in 20 minutes, without any preparation at all.



The skirt is a simple dirndl-skirt, just square pieces folded against a waistband, all made by me =) The shirt is from H&M, the shoes are my beloved dance shoes, and the belt is true vintage (my grandmother wore it in the 50s/60s). Sorry about the slightly rumpled look, I always remember after a couple of hours of dancing that I'd brought along my camera...


I know for some people this isn't really vintage, but for an everyday wear it's the perfect combination for me; something homesewn, something vintage, something modern =)


For me, wearing vintage means different things different days. If I save the full vintage garb (suspender belt, stockings, elaborate hairdo's, no modern RTW etc) for the special occasions, then those special occasions will feel more special becuase of my outfit. So that way I can chose to make an ordinary shopping day special by upping the outfit. I still feel pretty in my everyday wear, but then I can feel extra pretty when I chose to =)
Somehow I believe that while my oufit may not be period all the time, the intent of saving the extra effort and the best clothes for special occasions, is period.
What do you say? Do you wear period vintage (down to the underwear) everyday, or even at all? If you like to dress more vintage inspired, what pieces do you prefer to keep "genuine" vintage? (For me, it's definitley the accessories)
If you like to add vintage pieces to a more modern outfit, check out the guest post on Gerties blog by Sal from Already Pretty http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2010/02/guest-post-vintage-for-everyday-wear.html for some great tips on styling.
I'd love to hear your views and personal experiences on vintage for everyday wear!
Love, Erika