Kategori: Thoughts

Things To Make and Do in March

2020-03-06
by Kristine

February presented some obstacles when it comes to sewing and it has been difficult weeks, not inspiring at all. Instead I’ve silently focused on styling during this time and its been a fruitful break from my regular schedule. Not that I haven’t been sewing this month but so much have failed.  I’ll get back to that in a later post when I have sorted my thoughts properly.

This month Im back with more energy and some newly learned tricks, ready to do serious work. So here is some of my discoveries and plans for this month.

Pattern fronts from Liberty Fabrics and Simplicity

It almost feels like the winter is over and I’ve been dreaming about wide legged pants for spring. A recent discovery in that line of thought is this brand new Simplicity 9097 from Mimi G. The jumpsuit version is abslolutely perfect. Im not able to get my hands on the pattern this month but its in mind. Another pattern Ive allready bought is the Liberty Fabrics Florence palazzo suit. It looks more complicated than it is and works for a wide rage of fabrics. Im thinking of making it in som kind of 70s Biba style eventually.

Willa Vest from Laela Jeyne and oilskin from Merchant & Mills.
Sketch is my own based on Willa Vest line drawing.

Sew My Style challenge have The Willa Vest from Laela Jeyne Patterns this month.  This is the one of the most interesting patterns this year, I think. Love that its somewhat fitted and have nice, classic details. Have a clear thought on what I want to make. I have been wanting to get a waxed Babour or Belstaff motorcycle style jacket for years. But they are heavy and seriously expensive so I decided to make a simpler version myself. Just ordered oilskin from Merchant & Mills and will have time to properly fit the pattern in waiting for the fabric. Im aware that this project could fail, there’s so much that could go wrong with all the details. But this is what I like the best, a real challenge. As usual it takes time planning buttons, buckles and lining. Just wondering, am I the only one dreading this part of the sewing process?

I have absolutely loved the Stitch Sisters, Sewing Spring Trends series during February. This one brought on an unusual polo shirt lust and I was surprised to almost instantly find the right pattern in Burda Style 3/2020. Thats how trends work in real life. Recommend seeing the whole series by the way.

Can’t agree more with Karl Lagerfeld and I’m out of trousers to wear at home. I bought the Pietra Trousers pattern from Closet Case Patterns and hope to try it as soon as possible. Must sa its annoying with trousers patterns that eats so much fabric as this does, I like 1.5 M/trousers sewing patterns. Still it looks like a really promising and Closet Case is usually worth the effort.

Have a fantastic weekend!

When Your Capsule Wardrobe Derails!

2020-02-20
by Kristine

Ive been working on my module for The great module seawalong for a while. The Kabuki tee from Paper Theory Patterns turned out great, the Burda skinny jeans from BurdaStyle 8/19 not so much. The fabric was too stiff and soft at the same time, very strange. I was ok with it, slightly worried that my module was too basic, dull and of course dark but fine anyway. As research for a blog post about it I looked into styling methods and came across Carol Tuttle and her Dressing Your Truth concept. Made the free analysis and must say, it totally derailed the whole project and my wardrobe with it. At first I wasn’t too happy about the result. It felt lame and containing everything I usually try to avoid, but why did I feel like that? Then I thought it would be a fun experiment to examine my preferences a bit.

Came across an old envelope with inspirational pictures I’ve gathered for another capsule project. The images in the envelope was what got discarded in the process.

Patterns from Jenny Hellström, DP Studio, Greenstyle Creations, Burda and Trend Patterns. Images from Vogue Runway.

There it was, the muted colors and curved lines I was supposed to wear! Everything doesn’t work but put together it looks fun and interesting. My finished capsule didn’t. Then I decided to have a look into a favorite resource of mine, a scrap book of fashion pictures made in the 80s and 90s.

There it was again, over and over!

Im writing this in the process of building another module for the sewalong, with some new patterns and new fabrics from my stash. Also making a new print for fabric to accompany the new colors and lines. Its early to say how this will turn out and how it will proceed, but I will continue this research and get back later.

Sewing Top 5 2019

2019-12-18
by Kristine

I haven’t done The Sewcialists sewing top 5 before, it is such great topic. The most notable sewing and others from 2019. In no particular order, and not five of anything.

The Hit

The most worn, loved selfmade garment this year is one being almost impossible to take a pic of. The Fine Motor Skills Elise t-shirt in black bamboo jersey from Tygverket. I altered the shit out of this pattern as seen, but it’s now my favorite t-shirt pattern ever. It was nothing wrong with it from the beginning, I just started to fit it to my shoulders better and couldn’t stop. As soon as I buy more interesting jerseys, there will be more Elises.

The Misses

As I recently got back to sewing there has been a lot of sewing failures. Pattern testing is not for the faint hearted. One of my longest ongoing failed projects started with a pair of ill fitting jeans that I carefully took apart to save the selvedge denim. The fabric was used for a vintage pattern that was shoehorned onto the pieces. It got sewn and looked absolutely hideous! After some thinking time it was turned into a vest, that’s a lot of sewing in one small piece of fabric.

The latest mistake is this front piece of Merchant & Mills The All State Shirt, its on my sewing table now. This is a common cutting failure that makes you feel very stupid. Luckily I had fabric left to make another one in the right direction. The fabulous Tintin print is from Tygverket.

The Highlight

I took a Vedic Art course in Öland during the summer. I was there to paint and run together with my husband. The artwork turned out all crap and running was exhausting in the heat, but we had a great time. It was a wonderful week! When the summer was over I run my first half marathon and then the season was over. Now it’s back to weight training again.

We run a lot this year, this is in Vilhelmina by the way, with a lot of mosquitos along the way.

The Reflection

I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to talk about this, but I’ll give it a try. Ive been sewing most of my life, 2013 I started doing it for a living parallel with illustration. It evolved to a sort of Gyro Gearloose shop where I got the chance to do all kinds of interesting stuff. It has been a great experience but also tough and all over the place. Some years ago I left it for teaching but now Im back.

It feels like I have a fantastic opportunity to share my work with more people. Not only my own designs but also some of the material I’ve collected and projects that I’m working on. But the problem is that talking about my work is hard and way out of my comfort zone. I do best irl, while working… silently. Nevertheless it would be great to overcome that fear of visibility and find new ways of expressing my creativity. Since I have to be a bit more mindful how I treat my body there is suddenly the time for it too. Not that Im sure how that should be done yet, Im moving slowly forward.

At least Ive set som sewing goals for 2020.

The 4 Goals

Im a fan of designer patterns. Some times I don’t know what really draws me to it, I probably want the experience of making them, getting inside the designers head. One of my favorite sources is Showstudio. They have a lot of patterns and all for free, just search Designer Download there. Ive decided to make all of the designer downloads Showstudio has published. It will probably take more than a year. Ive already started with the Martin Margiela pattern, tested here! Next up is the Gareth Pugh balloon.

Another thing I like is menswear, and especially denim and workwear style clothes. Im so happy that the popularity of that style has made it into the sewing community and that there is a constant flow of new patterns. How many workwear jacket pattern has there been this year? Don’t know, but my favorite looks something like this vintage one. I would like to make more things in that style this year.

Then we have my own designs and pattern notes. There is so much fun things to be shared. It starts on Sunday this week with my first pattern note, I’ll explain it on Sunday. Just wait and see.

I also would love to do more printmaking, a skill learnt in art school a long time ago. I already started wit tie dyeing. Here is a failed but interesting test using layers of color and bleach.

Thanks for following this to the end!