Pink ribbon 2016

I´ve been writing about our Swedish  tradition that a celebrity design a pattern that are printed on them. This year the design that are waves is designed by Alicia Wikander, our Oscar winning actress from earlier this year for her portrait of Gerda Wegener.

 

 

Classic shirt Burda

 

I had a white shirt in my plan for fall but felt that it was not really what I wanted so I found this black shirting at Stoffdillen in Copenhagen. Stoffdillen is located in Ishöj center and if you plan to visit Arken; the artmuseum it´s very Close. They sell end bolts and 30 danish crowns is the common price, maybee 4 dollars a meter They also have zippers, lace and other stuff in a very not organized way...

I bought the Archer shirt pattern when I was in London earlier this year but after tracing it and saw the looong sleves and remember some issues with the collar I decided to go Burda instead, but I used the hemline from the Archer and my own placket and this is really the kind of sewing that I enjoy and I´m really pleased with it and will be more pleased after a date with the iron and a scissor to snip of some ends

 

 

ZickZack Scarf times two

About 2400 scarves have been posted on Ravelry from Christy Kamm´s zickzack scarf and it´s an easy pattern that should be knitted in a stripy yarn as the light one to the left, the effect is very Missoni, the right one is knitted in two more variagated yarns, beautiful but in a different way, two skeins of about 100 g each makes a 1,7 m long scarf and I would say that it´s a good scarf size. Winter is coming!

Black tops times two

I did some sewing today , finished two tops from the wonderful rayon knit I bought in Toronto, When we where shopping Connie had a top with a tulle neckline and I stole that idea straight up and added it to sleeves and neckline on both tops. Basic black tops are so boring to sew so I have to think about if that is something I should do in the future...Used two patterns from Ottobre that where very basic and since I´ve traced them I might as well use them again. Tracing Ottobre is not my favourite!

Fabric shopping in Toronto

 

 

For some reason Toronto has been on my list but I aways thought that I should go there in the winter.

It happened in July and officially I´ve been there before, but honestly it was only in transit. I remember Pearson Airport as a nice place to lounge between flight, but no longer....If you go to Toronto it´s very easy to take the train into the city it takes about 25 minutes and the railwaystation is beautiful!

 Toronto has a lot of neighborhoods with different approach, very much like Malmö, There is a Chinatown, and since San Fransisco I love to go there to get a good meal, Toronto Chinatown was not an exeption, there was also a Koreatown and a Little Italy there I got mý mandatory Cannoli ( I love those things....) and a lot of artisan beer, try the steam whistle but skip the tour!

 Most of Torontos fabric stores are on Queen street between Augusta and Palmira and I suggest you explore every one of them! I bought off white cotton shirting in a very posh store and grey denim in the basement next door. I also found Americo yarn here and did they have the good stuff and on sale since they where moving, I also did some shopping on Romni Wools

 Toronto has a lot of nice museums like the Bata shoe museum, the Textile museum and the fab art galleri of Ontario showing Leslie Harris ( If I ever get rich I will start collecting his work!)

 A lot of victorians around the Town, I stayed in one on Shuter Street in the Garden district via Airbnb, 20 minutes from Eaton center

 Yes I did go up there for the magnificant views of the town

 No I did not step on the glass floor!!!!

 manicure at the aquarium

and I visited Niagara falls a long time dream!! Fantastic!!and I will go back and visit the american side one day....
I did some more shopping, One day I meet up with Connie who is a friend from PR and Sue who I knew by name and Connies grandkids who tought me all about cheerleading. we Went fabric shopping at Fabricland who is the canadian kind of Joann but without the 1 dollar patternsale. I bought two fabrics there, one winterjersey and one according to the reciept; malycraknit a rayon elastan knit that are so yammy I regret not buying 3 meters of all colors

Help I have nothing to wear!

We have a fashion tv show in Sweden! Yey! and it´s a good one too! there has been 4 episodes so far and the concept is that someone who has problem with there wardrobe ask for help and the help is Carolina Gynning, She is besides Viktoria Silversteth the most glamourous Sweden has to offer, she is also an author and an artist, and a good one! The other host Li Gadd Dackås is head designer at Ellos, a Swedish mailorder company that has been around for ages....
What makes this program so great is that they let the "victim" discover her new look by giving her choises and as Liv said in one show; there´s a differense between dressing up and dressing out.
The show gave me curage to cleen out my closet on a lot of things that´s not me like clothes in odd colors and tops with prints.
Off course you can buy all the clothes at Ellos but they also keep what´s wearable in the original closet and bring something to the showroom to discover new ways to wear it.
And of course there is hair makeup and champagne at the end!

Wardrobe planning

Today I´ve bee doing some thinking about my closet  as I was reading and thinking about it according to Colette´s  wardrobe architecture. I´ve been thinking about my silouettes, my choise of patterns, my colors, and a lot more, I already decided to toss some things....
I live in a climat that can be very cold in the winter...or not...and can be very hot in the summer...usually not... and I work in a poorly air conditioned place that has 3 different climate zones. and then I like to travel....and also add that I´m 55 and have some issues with side effects from my anti cancer pills that I will take for another 5 years...and I´m very thankful for that,sligtly sweathy but thankful!
I like layering! Cardigans are my best friend! I also like to wear leggings but I don´t think they do anything to an outfit but they keep me cosy on the coach and warm while getting to work an also cosy during night shifts.

Sarai seperate the colors in neutrals, almost neutrals, statement and metallics.

I decided that my neutrals are:
Black
Grey, all 50 shades...
Off white
Navy ( an almost neutral according to Sarai, but since it´s an important color to me I treat it as a neutral
Warm tan

Almost neutral:
Denim blue
Burgundy
Dark green
Dark Brown ( stepping away from this since I fell in love with black...)

Statement
Pink! Everything exept the lightest shades and as a breast cancer survivar I have a right to everything pink and I even own  the pink SMEG refrigirator!!!!....
Burnt orange
Teal
Purple, dark purple not the lilac kind
Lime
I have to edit here and add red, I don´t like red clothes but adore red shoes....

Metallics
I actually prefer gold and bronze but on the other hand I like to do silver smithing

Then it comes to prints I basically like everything that´s adult looking and my real love is a good texture, linen has a nice texture but wrinkles....but there are other weaves that are interesting. I´ve been looking at Linton tweeds and decided to buy a meter and make myself a skirt and I´m going for pink and want to match it with a Bohus cardigan, a Chanel suit is not for me....

I was in Toronto last week and my fabric purses was actually very good; i bought an off white shirting for a blouse, a black rayon for two basic tops, a grey denim becourse I read that that´s what french women where wearing and a navy "winter jersey" for a skirt. ( More on fabric shopping in Toronto later.....

Camilla Thulin at Dunkers Kulturhus

If you are in the neighborhood before october 9 or it´s actually a reason to travel....I Think you should go to Dunkers Kulturhus in Helsingborg, this is in the very south of Sweden so f you are in Denmark take a trip over Öresund. Dunkers are showing an exibition of the work of Camilla Thulin, She is a favourite of mine and most of this pictures are actally from when the exibit was showing in Stockholm earlier, the only reason I needed to take a daytrip by train...
Camilla does costumes for theatre and movies and she has a huge collection of vintage clothes  from the 50:ies and she collects folklore, in Sweden she is well known for her lingerie design and strong opinions on womens bodies, she did all the clothes for Army of lovers and thís exibit is a combo of everything

GBSB From Stitch to Style

 

I´m a big fan of The Great British Sewing Bee and since it´s not airing in Sweden I watch on Youtube ( what did we do before we had Youtube???...) I think it was a good season, a nice mix of sewers, Esme was fun but I prefer Patrick´s wardrobe and Claudia is such a good host. Did the right sewer win, Yes! probably...but not based on what she did in the final episode...

I´m really impressed by Jade who has been sewing for 4 years, what a potencial to became a great sewer, I really liked her style and with some more experience she will be a really good sewer.

I bought the first book but sold it and when I saw the Bunka skirt I knew I had to buy this book. It´s a really nice book that I will keep! the patterna are on sturdy paper and in a seperate envelope and the sizes are up to size 20 ( the measures are for the finished garment and for the Breton top it´s 140 cm over the bust.

 

There are varations of the patterns and even though most of them are for women there are patterns for kids as well as men ( like the shirt in the final )

If you read this blog you know I´m a huge fan of YSL and I´ve been fashionated by the Mondrian dress for years but it was first when I saw this show and they used other colors that the urge to make one for myself came. I decided that cotton satin with some stretch would be a good fabric ....but so hard to find....until last week when I went to Copenhagen and visited ITA fabrics. They had like 20 colors! I bought these:

there is black, grey, a dark red and a teal and they are washed and ready to be cut, I bought 1 meter of each and planning to make a Mondrian skirt or something else from the leftovers. In the book they have a variation of the dress; a top using only 2 colors and it´s really cute!!!!

Sewing with a plan for fall

I used to have a really nice black wardrobe before I went towards navy and grey and for fall I decided to update my black basics and this plan is a good start...

 

 

I´m going to make a slightly flaired wool skirt that I will line, I have a fabric with a very nice drape and some diagonally kind of weave that I bought in Paris a couple of years ago. The black and grey stripe for the dress is from Tom Ford and bought at Skipper Stoffe in Copenhagen last week, I will use a pattern from Ottobre that I already made two dresses from and absolutely love...

 

 

 

The fabric for the jacket is this panel that I bought in St Petersburg, It´s only one panel but since it´s double weave I think it´s enought for the bomber jacket 

 

and the very basic part of this is leggings, the best layering piece of cloth ever invented and then I want one short sleeved and one long sleeeved top in a basic shape but in a thicker quality of rayon knit with elasta in it, I still need to find this fabric....and then I do I want to do tops in navy, grey and offwhite too. I have had a lot of basic tops over the year that are out of grain, see through and really not has a good finish

Alabama Chanin again

I really like my AC skirt and top and have thought for a long time to make a dress, this time my plan is to add some sparkle aka pearls. I find it quite easy to do the stencil using stencil plastic and using some quilters glue to attach it to the papers with the pattern printed on and a rotating knife to cut

I used two spraypaint fabric dye first one aqua and then a grey shimmering over that and the result is a glittery mermaid greenish blue pattern, the fabric is light blue, the same color as the local football team use...

and to tone it down I´m planning to use grey pearls and maybee some grey embroideryfloss as well as some light blue thread

For the love of fabric

 I really love this fabric! It´s a cotton batiste from Italienska modetyger outside Gothenburg. I can´t resist a nice borderprint and I did a wonderful job if I may say so myself...and since it´s my blog I may! I also found the perfect red match for a detail, it was a silk blouse that I started so long ago so I don´t remember then, but everything failed at the end  due to the fabric was too stiff for the pattern of choise so I had to rethink and changed the plan for a dress to one for a skirt and a top and then there where suddenly nice weather...

No maxi for me

I live in the south of Sweden and as a swede I want sun more than Everything.. we have a saying that "the Swedish summer is wonderful, this year it was a tuesday...."
I measure summer with how much tan my legs get by showing the white parts where my sandals is...and I wear sandals as early as I can...I even wear them with socks just becourse I can!....There is no way I´ll be wearing a maxi and the wonderful Ilse Jacobsen maxi will be shortened... I don´t get the hiatus of maxis and summer!

Carolyn PJ

I liked the look of Carolyn PJ from Closet case patterns and it is really a nice pattern with a Classic manly look that I understand is actually really hot as a day look according to some magazines I´ve been reading lately.
I used quilters cotton from my stash and bought some bias binding for the top.
Do I like it? Yes and No!
No I don´t like to sleep in it , maybee course I´m used to sleeping in cotton jersey and I don´t like the blue color of the pants, I might toss them away or try to dye them in a darker shade and something I dont like about the pattern is that the seam allowances in the collar and neck area is to big, I prefer 1 cm here.
Yes, I like my shirt very  much and intend to wear it as a blouse and yes I like the pant as a pattern. It´s a very good pull on pant with pockets and elastic waist that I can see myself wearing in a both viscose, linen and cotton, I might even make a couple of shorts from it, and while I´m writing this I´m thinking of making a day PJ in a nice fabric to wear this summer...

Oh shit! That is a lausy picture, I really don´t know how to get a decent selfie, thought the pillow was cute (due to lack of teddie)

MMMay 2016

It´s my first MMMay but not the last....
May can be kind of tricky weatherwise where I live, It can be cold so you want a warm jacket and it could be georgeous summerweather, this year was OK and with my Nice weekend I got use of some of my summerdresses too. Even thought I missed some of my RTW I found some old clothes that I have not whore for years and the most fun was the flowery skirt that I never whore but now felt that I actually like a lot...
Looking at other peoples closet was fun and I think about adding color even thought I really like neutals .
I wear denim skirts a lot´...and I must like peasant tops becourse I have a lot of those...all RTW and I have to do something to make my selfies look a LOT better....

My goal to not bye any RTW this entire year is still on and still going strong

...and now off to plant the plants I bought yesterday for my balcony....

Fabric shopping in Nice

I spent last weekend in Nice and had a wunderful time, I ate too much and drank a lot of champagne and rosé, but I also walked a lot and went up and down 74 stairs to get to my airbnb room, perfectly situated in the old Town.

I looked and toutched a lot of nice clothes at Gallerie Lafayette and I also went to some cool vintage stores at looked at Chanel bags in a wide array of fabrics and sizes, all TDF ( I have an obsession for these bags...)

 

All my breakfasts looked like this!

And over to the fabric situation: I did a google search before I left and got adresses for stores that when I got there did not exist any more. I found two stores that existed , the first one is Toto

 

 

Toto is on 26 Rue de France and is an ordinary fabric store that has a little of everything but nothing special, they have a store on 14 av. Malausséna, I just passed this one but what I could see from the window it was more into drapes than fashion fabric.

 

When we have Wunderland Tissus.....on 6 rue doct Jacques Guidoni and it´s a little heaven of nice fabrics.....They have basic wool jersey, other jerseys and really georgeous couture fabrics

 

 

Both these stores are located very central and the last one is a really great store!!!

A plan for summer

 

I also have a plan for summer, I was not sure what to sew at first, but when I whore my flowery skirt I decided to do a plan around it and add the summerblack dress we all need, mine is actually ready and I whore it today, its another Karen dress this one slightly tighter and in a rayon jersey.

The other items here are the green top that I found the matching fabric at Ohlssons, the broderie anglais is a remnant bought in New Orleans at a fabric store called Promenade at 1520 Saint Charles Ave , it was lost for a while but now it´s found, the orange is a sweatherknit that I got at an ugly-fabric-swap and I´m not used to do sweatherknit so I really dont know what to do with it

MMMay Onion 2031

I love this dress and this fabric! One of my favourite designers are Nygårdsanna, She does classic things inspired by historical pieces and uses only natural fibers, always a Libertyprint, her linen is TDF ( to die for)  and her designstudio is in Linköping and twice a year she has a clearance sale there when she sells fabric too, and I fell in love with this pattern when she made her collection of it so last time when I was at the sell out I grabbed what was left of it, I still has a piece and I don´t know if I want to make a top or a skirt from it or just pet it ( that´s normal?! right!?) It´s a cotton sateen with some stretch and the colors and pattern are lovely!!!!

 

 The pattern I used is this  and it´s the third time I used it , I omitted the split in front and added pockets the Nygårdsanna way;big so you can put your hand into it! I´m very pleased with the way the flowers ended up, not on any "focal points" I think the neckline is just the right size and the elastic on the sleeves is such a nice detail. The sleeve is kind of strange just under the elbow but I´m very fond of them.

 

Onion is a danish company and I buy them when I go to Copenhagen. That´s just 40 minutes by train and I go not as often as I used to, have to do something about that....If you live not so close to Denmark there are some dealers who has a webshop. I´m a huge fan of their patterns!!!

 

Gerda Wegener

A while ago my dad told me about this fab danish artist that he never heard of before and whos work
Arken, a danish artmuseum outside Copenhagen was having an exibit, He also told me that her husband was a transvestite and she painted him as his alter ego; Lily. 
So one day that I was not working I took my car and drove over the bridge ( as in The Bridge) and at the museum I realised that her husband was "The danish girl" .
The exibit shows different types of her work as fashiondrawings, erotic illustrations as well as portraits, not only of Einar/Lily. There are some painting by Einar too and there are motivs that both Einar and Gerda painted, but in different ways.
The exibit also told the story of Gerda´s life, and it differs a little from the movie ( that I loved also!)
If you google Gerda Wegener you get a lot of pictures, some from the movie but also a lot of her work
I picked a few to show here:

At the end of the movie there´s a textline that says something like "Gerda continued to do paintings of Lily" She might have done that, but she also remarried, moved to Marrakech and did some wonderful paintings there too! No danish museum bought any of her work so I´m thrilled that this exibit has been a success!! I´m going to go back and see it once more and since they have decided to prolong the time it´s showing until januari 7 2017, there´s plenty of time!
And I recommend that you do too!
The museum shop had some books on 1920 fashion, drawingbooks as well as 2 posters( I think) but not of her magazine covers and fashion drawings...

I sew with a plan!

My drawing skills are minimal but I found Gertie´s sketchbook and it helps me a lot. The background kroki sketches are like shadows and they are normal in height and have 3 different sizes.
We have a Facebook group in Sweden there we make 4 plans with 6 items (more or less) we precent our plans on our page and then the result, in between we chat alot and we actually meet to sew for 4 days(and nights) in a row.
The picture above is my plan for spring and below are the fabric and yarn to the left and to the right the ready items - the skirt




The flowery fabric is a silk I bought in Italy a long time ago, a nice silk that I did not like on me so I never finished it.
I had plans using a Seamwork pattern called Onaka but ended up using an old favourite from Burda that I have made more skirts than I can remember from




I think the magazine is from 2002 and when I saw the new pattern; Selene from Colette I decided that I would never buy it but I´m hoping for a lot of inspiration from people who do.
This time I made a fake wrap skirt by making two frontpieces and letting them open up. The fabric for the skirt is from Joann´s , bought it in Seattle almost five years ago, I like it! It´s shiny and has a little stretch.
The blue and green leafy jersey is from a fabric shop in Gothenburg, I bought 2,5 or 3 meters and that was enought for a dress and a topp, used the same pattern Onion 2047, a knit dress with some gathering on top of the sleeves and split center back. A favourite of mine!

MMMay continues

Left in my hallway with my knitted Siri cardigan and to the right I found a skirt I sewed a couple of years ago and never used due to I´ve considered myself not beeing so colorful. The top is a bought top never used either and both garments are really strays since this is the only match they have. After wearing the outfit for two days I have to say that I like it and my plans for a summer closet is to add things to it. And I think I´ll start with a white jacket, first I was thinking Jeans but Now I´m leaning more towards a bomberjacket...
The flowery skirt is an old sligtly A-line skirt from an ooold plus size issue and probably the garment I spent most time on sewing and used silk organza for stabilizing the yoke, the zipper is really well done and the skirt is lined with rayon lining, the outer fabric is a cotton sateen bought locally in a store that no longer exists. The photo is taken in my dads bathroom and as you can see that light is much better there.
We have had a really nice and sunny weekend, visits from relatives and good food