Why I should be doing a class “Internet for the generation 60+

Once again, it has been a while. My excuse? Obviously there is no excuse for not posting. There is an explanation at the best. As someone who really doesn’t understand how Internet and all this modern stuff works (cookies are something to ear, right?), I blissfully ignored for months the warnings about the new European Data Regulation. Don’t get me wrong, I think there should be much stricter laws for the big companies. But not for tiny blogs with no readers like this one. Anyway, finally it began to dawn on me that my blog would be illegal. Unbearable for someone who doesn’t even go against the one-way with the bike. So, I started to do some research. Lots of words in a strange language that I didn’t understand and I actually ended up taking a class “Dos and Don’ts of blogging” with a lovely lady who mentioned that she is also running classes for the elderly. Which sounded just right for me. But anyway, her tips about Data Protection Policy made it sound very simple, like a couple of words only. Whilst I am not at all convinced, I finally managed to update all this legal stuff (hoping that even my lawyer followers would be too lazy to even read it) and needed another break of several weeks to recover from all this.

The lovely lady also gave us lots of advice on how to write articles. Catching title, short sentences, well researched facts,… I was wondering what she would think about the nonsense I keep producing.

So, now that the legal stuff is done, I can finally think of the perfect project to post about for my come back.

Should I just start with a random selection of a few cute things I have produced over the last months?

like a couple of onesies for both warm and cold nights….

pattern: Klimperklein Babyleicht, Babyanzug, fabrics: Lillestoff, Stoffonkel, Lillestoff

a few quick and simple skirts …

patterns: 1 Ballonrock by Lybstes and lots of Rock’n Rolls by Klimperklein, fabrics: mostly Lillestoff

a selection of incredibly cool shirts….

patterns: Paul by pattydoo with a neckline with buttons, after a tutorial by Hamburger Liebe, Pia by pattydoo, Knopfshirt by klimperklein, Luise by Fritzi and Schnittreif and hoody Leo by pattydoo. fabrics: mostly Lillestoff Glueckspakete and a few old basics and numbers bought at Biostoffe

or a few tiny cute things for tiny cute people …

patterns: all by Klimperklein: Knopftunika, Knopfshirt, Babyhose (all from Babyleicht) and Raglankleid (tunic version), fabrics: mainly Glueckspakete and other remnants on sale plus one fabric I actually got as a gift from a friend. 

Note: These are only a few examples… Looks like a lot. You might be wondering who is actually wearing all this stuff. Well, some my children, some my nephew and nieces. But as there aren’t quite enough to satisfy my need of wearers (especially no cute little girls anymore) I have turned into a slightly weird person making things for random people…. some would probably call them friends and neighbours. My favourite people are actually under 1s. They are great for using up left overs. They will still get something nice for their birthday and then I drop them like a hot potato and start looking for new victims.

But as nice as this selection might be, it really doesn’t qualify as come back post so I will have to find something better for my first post….

 

 

 

Still no fitting top but a joyful trilogy of tunics

I have been busy trying out new patterns  to make a few tops but so far no luck. I am starting to wonder if it is the patterns fault or mine. It might be easier to do some sit-ups and eat less chocolate rather than trying to find a pattern that suits my fat tummy needs.

To cheer me (and you) up, I thought I’d show you a trilogy of tunics for a set of soon 3 sisters. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to use some of the Susalabim Dschungel stripes – three stripy fabrics with changing main colour but same base.

Here we go:

3…

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2…

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1…

DSC_0448pattern: Traegerkleid by Klimperklein, fabric: Dschungel Kombistreifen pink by Lillestoff, design Susalabim

So, the pink version for the 4 year old, as she is currently in that phase where any other colour would be an offence.

DSC_0452pattern: Raglankleid by Klimperklein, fabric: Dschungel Kombistreifen blau by Lillestoff, design Susalabim

The blue version for the 2 year old. Because she doesn’t care about colours yet.

DSC_0450pattern: Knopftunika by Klimperklein, fabric: Dschungel Kombistreifen orange by Lillestoff, design Susalabim

The orange one for the yet to be born, because this was the third colour left.

And just because they are so nice and cheerful, all three again

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Oh, and I have been playing with the different stitches on my new machine.

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In all three cases, there had been a machine-eats-fabric moment but in the end I made it. I still wonder what the problem was though.

I am rather pleased – three different tunics/patterns for three individual girls but still a lot in common. And still enough fabric left for some more mix and match. Possibly for a top for me?

Speaking of cool…

I had totally forgotten to show you the items worn by the one person who I consider to be the coolest (clothwise) in the house.

It is the master of leggings and slim fit trousers.

DSC_0196pattern: Leggings Lilly by pattydoo, fabric: Lillestoff (Glueckspaket)

DSC_0280pattern: Canelita by bienvenido colorido, fabric: freezing penguins by Lillestoff

I so wanted to buy this fabric but decided not to as the little one really did not need anything. And then the 6-year-old chose this particular fabric out of a million fabrics online for his new trousers! What good taste.

 

Not sure, if you can actually recognise it but this time I even made pockets at the back.

The girl has grown, too, so here are her trousers.

DSC_0278pattern: Canelita by bienvenido colorido, fabric: Rebekah by Lillestoff

 

And last but not least, I made another attempt in being cool by upcycling the carneval costume. She was dressed as a witch and we made a black dress for this purpose, already knowing that it would be altered afterwards.

DSC_0201pattern: Raglankleid by klimperklein, fabric: black sweat, purchased at biostoffe.at

I cut the fringe, made an normal hem, pink cuffs and ironed on some stars that I had cut out of plot foil to add some colour to the plain bl.. bl… it is really hard for me to say that…. black dress.

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To be honest, I don’t think it is cool at all but what do I know! (Nothing, in case you were wondering)

That’s if for now, it looks like Me Made May is around the corner, so I quickly need to get ready and jump on board in an other post.

 

How to be cool

First, let me just say how happy and proud I am that you came to me to learn about coolness. Clearly, this means that you are, unlike my daughter, convinced that I am a really cool person. I keep telling her that my lack of coolness is the new cool. Well, not everybody seems to agree on that. So I was a bit stressed out, when I made clothes for my nephew and nieces, as some of them are… lets just say…. in a critical age.

Well, I guess, my oldest nephew is actually rather easy to handle. He is fine with stripes and only stripes. Stars? No thank you? Maybe some abstract pattern? No. So, stripes then. Yehes. So since years he gets a stripy hoody but I went out of the pattern comfort zone and went for a sweat Toni by schnittreif rather than the usual jersey Leo by pattydoo.

DSC_0176pattern: Toni by Schnittreif, fabric: Lillestoff

The 6-year-old nephew who is usually only into really manly stuff, like pirates, vikings,… anything armed really, happened to visit when I was about to make something for him. I naively showed him the few fabrics that I considered to be cool. He dismissed them all and chose two fabrics out of my stash and that’s what I made out of them:

DSC_0177pattern: Leo by pattydoo, fabric: bought for myself, years ago

DSC_0178pattern: Leo by Pattydoo, fabric: Lillestoff (Glueckspaket)

I guess it was a bit silly to make the short-sleeved shirt with hood and the long version without but I had already cut out the hood when I started to look for a suitable fabric for the sleeves and I simply hadn’t had enough of the black and white for long sleeves.

The hardest coolness problem to solve was certainly my 10-year-old niece. That one really made me nervous.

DSC_0181DSC_0182pattern: Pia by Pattydoo, fabric: “Mannequin” by Lillestoff, design Susalabim

This top needed to be made out of two parts as when I had ordered this fabric, the pattern repeat had been cut wrongly with the girls on top and lots of grey at the bottom. So by making a yoke out of the fabric bottom piece, I have been able to move the girls at the bottom of the shirt.

I have also made a Pia for my daughter, out of the left over of a correctly cut repeat, so no need for a yoke:

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but for a different back fabric (it looks like this post actually qualifies for Scrap Sunday, doesn’t it)

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Once finished with those two cool T-shirts, I started doubting again. Will a 10-year old find this cool? Especially if actually an 8-year old finds it cool? (Yes, my daughter did find it cool)

Nevertheless, I made another one. Mainly because I had already cut out the main pieces. And because I so wanted to try out a thing that seems to be called “destroyed negativ applikation”. In German though. It is cool to use English terms, you know.

DSC_0179pattern: Pia by Pattydoo, fabric: Lillestoff (Glueckspaket)

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How cooooool is that?!

My daughter found it silly. I took it as a good sign.

So, when my nice came to visit, I was really nervous. Because up until now she thought I was some kind of super hero thanks to my sewing skills. And I didn’t want to lose this position.

And before the suspense is killing you, I can reveal that she found it coooool!!!!!!