Category Archives: projects

A story about explosions on my bottom and why I really need mustard tights

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As you may have noticed by now, I do have a mild addiction for Lillestoff fabrics. Back in September, they announced this beautiful fabric which I absolutely needed. 3 months later (yes 3!) they finally released it – Can you actually “release” a fabric? But anyway. In a moment of shock I ordered 3 metres and quickly changed it to 4. I was planning big things and those fabrics sometimes sell out within hours, believe it or not.

When it finally arrived, I was understandably very nervous. With trembling hands I put it in the washing machine and with still trembling hands (lots of tea got spilled in the meantime) I hung it on the laundry rack. And then, finally, it was time to cut it. But I couldn’t. I was far too nervous and suddenly I had doubts about the main project and how it would be received by others. Would they like it? Or find me ridiculous? I decided to make a pair of leggings as a warm up.

My son was fascinated and kept staring at my legs from various angles and asking questions about it. Resulting in: Mum, why are there two explosions on your bum? What an unexpected question! What was I supposed to answer? What would you say:

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This is how I see it:

DSC_0165pattern: leggings Lillian by pattydoo, fabric: Experimente by Lillestoff, design by Susalabim

To be honest, the intense interest by a 6-year-old, who really kept examining the design, made me wonder a tiny bit if it was actually meant to be a design for grown ups.

So, to compare age groups, I made two pieces for babies for friends of mine who happen to be a chemistry teacher and a pharmacist. The friends, not the babies.

DSC_0067DSC_0065Babyshirt from Kinderleicht by Pauline Dohmen (klimperklein)

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DSC_0069Knopftunika and leggings from Babyleicht by Pauline Dohmen (klimperklein)

Okay, okay, I know this looks cute. But seriously, have you ever seen a set of baby clothes that did not look cute? That doesn’t actually mean that the fabric is not initially meant to be for grown ups and very mature persons. I could show you zillions of examples, I just don’t feel like it right now.

Since I am usually dressed very elegantly, I wouldn’t be able to wear the leggings anywhere outside the house. That and the fact that I still had about 3m of fabric left made me overcome my doubts and go back to the initial plan to make a beautiful, elegant and yet comfortable dress.

DSC_0140pattern: Gloria by Milchmonster

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The darts at the back make it a bit too tight. Only time will tell if I am going to lose that pound or the darts. And it is not cut badly out of the grainline I just haven’t pulled it down properly plus the dress has a A-line skirt with a round hem.

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As you can see in this picture, I did manage quite well to match the stripes (which vary a bit in width unfortunately), however, as said before,  the stripes aren’t ideal for a round hem. But it is certainly not a reason not to combine the very flattering and practical Gloria (breastfeeding friendly) with this fabric made for me.

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So, I am really happy with my combination of fabric and pattern, even though there will be ignorants people who wouldn’t consider this to be the perfect match.

If only I had mustard woolen tights to go with them… Or should I just make myself a pair of mustard leggings? But will I win that direct competition with the cute baby girl? Hmm.

But for now over to RUMS, to share and see what others have made.

 

When you go to bed with Captain Kirk, dream about Jean-Luc and wake up with Data (or even worse Worf) or How I lost an interesting blog title

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In one of my many Glueckspakete (Glueck meaning luck and happiness at the same time) by Lillestoff I had found the perfect fabric for pyjamas for the young man who only owns one piece that actually fits and has no holes in it). Except that it was about 5cm too short. So, I angrily through it into a corner but then I thought, no, there needs to be a way around it. I meant to make a onesie and after considering a second fabric for the lower legs or some kind of belt-like stripe of contrasting fabric around the waist, I decided to go for a contrasting yoke and once it was finished, I really liked the look of it. I will definitely make more of these.

DSC_0119pattern: Babyanzug mit Knopfleiste vorne in Kinderleicht by Pauline Dohmen (klimperklein), fabric: Lillestoff

I hadn’t planned it but I immediately thought, this was probably what Captain Kirk was wearing at night.

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and I was already planning a funny blog post about it. Only to realise that actually the Original crew was wearing plain coloured uniforms, the yoke was in the Next Generation. So Jean-Luc Picard, even better! But no! He had been wearing red. Who had the mustard uniform then? Right. Data. And Worf. Not great to fantasize about. So lets just forget about the whole thing and talk about something else.

Oh yes, I meant to show you another piece made of a Gluecksfabric. Again something, I would never have chosen in the shop. Dark blue with a little bit of grey and silver. But then I took the opportunity to make a grown-up hoody in grown-up colours. I actually went and bought some grey sweat for the sleeves as there wasn’t enough of the main fabric. Imagine, I stood in the shop and compared forty-eight shades of grey (with a second of considering mustard or cinnamon – I guess I was hungry at the time)! And voila a totally grown-up hoody in grown-up subtle colours. No sillyness to be seen. Honestly.

DSC_0084pattern: Frau Toni by fritzi & schnittreif, fabric: Natthimmel by Lillestoff and grey sweat bought at biostoffe.at

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DSC_0086What? Oh, just leave me alone! I did try my best.

Back to December

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No, I haven’t forgotten the posts I had been promising you back in December (my December not everybody else’s) Remember? I owe you two posts about choosing the perfect gift. And ta da, today you’ll get the first as I finally had to edit all the pictures involved for another exciting project. (which means that this blog and its readers were apparently not important enough for me to sit down and get it done. Sorry.

Prepare for some self-praise and braging as I am really rather impressed by my own cleverness in this one.

So, the task was to find a gift, that shows on one side how grateful I am for what the team in question has done without, on the other side, ignoring the fact that I am not actually special for them, just one out of many. Whatever gift I can come up with won’t be kept, realistically. So a cheap and non bragging item that can ideally be used up or is a useful item in everydays life without taking up any space. But still having a personal touch. Obviously.

So, what could tick more boxes than an individual cotton tote bag with goodies for all sorts of situations: mandalas, sudokus and cross words (including a personal one) to kill too much waiting time, a bit of coffee and tea for keeping awake and relaxing (whatever is needed), a piece of chocolate for comfort and a silly joke for when you need a laugh. And a card with a few personal words. So, the content doesn’t cost much and will get used up. Nothing embarrasing will take away space on someones shelf. The individual cotton bag will remind people of the crazy sewing lady and her family. In Austria, cotton bags are a huge thing. You know, recycling and sustainability and all that stuff. Plus it can be used as a stylish accessory. But if people choose not to use their gift bag, then never mind, it is just a cotton bag. So, I can honestly say, I could not have come up with a better idea than that. Really. I did underestimate the workload a little bit and I do have to admit that the rather monotone work did get a bit boring at some point. But it was well worth it, that’s for sure. But enough talking, here they are:

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I know, that one picture is rubbish, you can’t really recognise anything.

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Do you want to see another one? Yes? Ok.

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Another one? Really? Okaay.

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Ok, I just show you the whole lot.

“Technical” details:

I have used a mix of classic application (secure zig zag) and freestyle machine embroidery.

I have chosen the fabrics for the “2A” for particular reasons, some as a reminder of my family, some because I knew of a particular interest or hobby of the future owner, some just because I thought the person might find it pretty.

The pictures in the top left hand are symbols for the profession of the presentee.

As I said, I am for once totally happy with the outcome of the whole project. It ticked all the boxes and I think, it was also very appreciated.

For the last remaining “perfect gift” post, I can not yet give you any details, pictures have not yet been taken so it might take forever a while. It is very likely that I’ll show you other exciting projects first. For example the secret of this box:

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Shiny and even shinier

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Right, three more posts to go to have sort of caught up and I am actually already staring at the next completed project – a set of … oh well, lets not spoil the surprise about something that I will most likely be ready to post about in 4 months or so.

Todays project is about sequins. Yes sequins. I don’t know if you know reversible sequins (I am only guessing the English name here) but they are a big hit around here. At least if you are under the age of 10 I guess. Sorry, if I have just offended anyone.

If you don’t know them: They are like magic. if you gently stroke them in one direction they show one side – therefore one colour, if you stroke them the other way, they will flip and change colour. You can spend hours and hours going over and over again with your little hand. It allows you to dream, the little rustling noise will take you to the windy sea or to the top of a high mountain. Sure the teacher will call you absent-minded but she is just jealous because those T-Shirts don’t come in her size. (That’s what I would assume at least)

Apparently everybody, I mean everybody has got a shirt with reversible sequins. So we finally had to get one for the girl. With some kind of unidentifiable animal on it from one of the high street fashion brands. I am rather pleased with the motif as it is not too girly or inappropriate agewise.

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And as there is at least one high street brand that has a wide range of reversible sequins on boys clothes, the big boy got one, too.

And I finally started to get intrigued. Because there is a rather big difference in quality of sequins. Who would have thought. In the girl’s one, each sequin has one colour per side so if you flip them you get a neat picture (but not many different colours). The boys motif seem to have been painted once they were mounted so each sequin has a white / non painted part where it was covered by the next layer. And obviously if you flip them, you will never be able to position them perfectly so the whole picture is interspersed with white dots. So, while the motif might be more interesting, it actually gives you a headache to look at it.

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It obviously ended with me thinking that I should do it myself. Before you start getting worried, I do not mean that I ever had in mind to stitch every single sequin on by myself. There are ready-made application patches or rolls of fabric. Both seemed hard to get in Austria and I even called the fabric shops in Vienna and eventually found some at Komolka, the big shop in one of the high streets.

I felt really good after this very succesful shopping trip and was also very pleased with the final garment.

The fabric is a simple stripy sweat by Lillestoff, so it is actually organic and ethically produced in Europe. I do wonder if that is the right fabric to put sequins on or if I should be in a moral dilemma. I can only hope that these days they are stitched on by machines and not by little children.

I have used the klimperklein Traegerkleid pattern with hood and I really like this combination in its simplicity. But back to the shiny sequins.

So, there is a black heart …

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and the most amazing iridescent green-purple side.

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And by the way, I made such good use of the fabric that I actually had to cheat a bit, but don’t tell anybody.

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So, one might think, a huge success – we have already been thinking about manly applications for the boy, maybe a shark or some kind of big machine, like a digger. But even before the first wash, quite a few sequins came off and in the first wash we lost a couple more. I am not sure why, if it is the fabric or if I did something wrong. She can still wear it, one could even read some meaning into the broken or bleeding heart but I am a very disappointed. Obviously this dress comes easily in the top 3 of my daughter’s favourite mum-made items.

I would be more than willing to replace the heart with a new one, I have still a big piece of the sequin-fabric left but only if I knew that it didn’t happen again.  I am currently heartbroken! so I haven’t tried yet. I guess I need a break but I will definitely do a few tests on the sequin fabric to see if it is worth to give it another go.

PS: And in case if you wonder about the mess in the background of the pictures:

If you know me personally: Why are you wondering?

If you do not know me personally: These pictures are carefully designed and each and single item is placed there carefully to add a natural and likable personal touch to professional fashion photos.

If you are my mum: Yes, I know I should tidy up, at least before taking pictures to put online but there was no time before the dress gets worn to school and comes back covered in all sorts of colours.