View from hotel window in Barcelona

Just have to show the fantastic view I had this week in Barcelona - unfortunately it was a very short visit...

Not just sewing....
Thought it would be fun to do something else than sewing for a change, so I looked in my drawers if I had anything I could play with - and was lucky to find material for a necklace:

I bought the material several years ago at the museum shop at the Louvre Museum in Paris - think it was actually meant for kids to play with but I think it's pretty OK like this!

Summer preparation continues...
So, the summer clothes are slowly coming together, just finished off a tunic in a red cotton fabric with white dots.

I have to admit that I am not fully convinced about the pattern. It was Burda again, number 6/11, and the arms was difficult to get to look nice - I prefer round armholes, not square.

Think it will still work though, and the color is great.

Browsing Through Tender Buttons, on the Upper East Side

Browsing Through Tender Buttons, on the Upper East Side

Have to go there!

(Pictures from the great blog New York Portraits)

Paris is calling...


As always at this time of the year I feel the need to go Fabric shopping in Paris...


It is time to book a trip!

Finally some free time
After a couple of busy weeks - at last I had some time to get going with my sewing projects again. The first thing to do was to finish off two projects that had been lying around for the last weeks, starting with a sleeveless tunic for the summer, made be a red really heave linen fabric.

 The pattern originally had small sleeves, but it was not really comfortable so I decided to remove them and finish off with these nice bands instead.

 After the tunic was ready it was time to move on to a pair of trousers - made of a lightweight corduroy in a blue/green color (the pictures does not really show the color correctly). I used the pattern I had recently used for my Barcelona trousers and it worked very well also for this fabric.

 Now what I need to do is to go pattern-hunting, would really like to find a nice tunic-pattern for the summer...

Continuing the Scottish theme
Since I was visiting Stirling, Scotland, this week I though it would be nice to continue on the kilt theme...

Not a lot of sewing...
Neck and shoulder pain together with a heavy schedule at work for the coming 2-3 weeks...there will not be any time left for a lot of sewing I guess...
Luckily there are lots of interesting films to watch on Youtube, so as long as the Internet works in the hotel I should be fine....

Harris Tweed

Wikipedia - Harris Tweed

Waiting for the waistcoat lining...
It is getting busy at work so the planned trip to the fabric store to get lining for the "restoring of waistcoat"-project did not happen yet, unfortunately. In the meantime - let's dream of summer, even if the weather outside is a bit too grey for my taste - although not as bad as in my hometown in Sweden, where it has been snowing in time for easter!

This dress I prepared for last summer, and it is a navy-blue cotton fabric. The fabric was bought at Frau Tulpe in Berlin, a great shop if you like colors and patterns.

 The pattern is from Burda 7/2011 (yes, I do use a lot of Burda patterns), and although I was a bit worried that the fabric would be a bit "stiff", it worked out very well.

Now I can only hope that the weather gets better so I can start wearing it - why not when sitting on my already "summer-ready" balcony?

I want to visit this basement - I just have to find a tailor to join me....

Londons best basement

Restoring an old waistcoat
This is an old waistcoat that my father bought when he was young, it must have been sometimes in the 50's. 

Sometimes in my teens I started to use it, but when I moved out 25 years ago it was left at my parents house.

When I visited Sweden recently I found the waistcoat again and decided it would be fun to restore it to its old glory, and my father was so kind to let me take it with me. This is how it looked before work started:

The first thing to do was to remove the lining and open up all the seams. 

It was then pressed and the parts were used to make a pattern out of it - I plan not only to cut the new lining from it but I might also make a totally new waistcoat out of it!

Next step will be to find lining - have been thinking of several different colors, but I start to think that a kind of beige / light grey lining (they way it was) is actually the best solution.

Sometimes there are better things to do than sewing....

Sölden, Austria

Quick visit to Edinburgh
I am on a quick work visit to Edinburgh, Scotland, and passed this shop earlier today:

"Ede and Ravenscroft", bespoke tailoring on 46 Frederick Street - ede and ravenscroft. I really want to get in here and look at the inside of the clothes - to see how it is supposed to be done!
Unfortunately there was no time to stop here today, but there will be more work trips here in the coming months, so next time this shop definitively will be visited!

Time  for pants 2
I got my Marlene pants ready for Barcelona! And not just that, they were ready 4 weeks in advance - not really sure how that happened...

The pattern was of course pretty easy, and since I removed the pockets and moved the zipper to the side (which makes it quicker to sew) work went really smooth. 

I have plans to wear some nice, large belts with the trousers so I made the belt loops large...9 cm.

 In order to make it symmetrical I added a button on the left side as well, although it has no function at all...

Front side of trousers, with small pleats - when I do trousers with this pattern again, which I definitively will, I will make these ones larger.

 Now, I do have a blue fabric which I planned to make a dress of, but I am  thinking...maybe another pair?