Als je begrijpt wat ik bedoel...

I read on Trena's blog that she made the Knipmode Wrap Top that Melissa has been raving about for a while now. I just have to say that I am so very impressed with the fact that so many of you use sewing magazines in a language that is not your own! I assume most of you (very successfully) just rely on your sewing experience when tracing and putting the garments together, but thought I should offer the following anyway.

One English-Dutch sewing dictionary and another English-Dutch sewing dictionary; both dictionaries can also to be used Dutch-English by using Ctrl+F and entering your search term.

An English sewing dictionary (if not for you then for me!) , another English sewing dictionary, and lastly, an English sewing glossary.

And of course there is the sometimes very funny BabelFish translation site to help, but if you have any other ones that you can recommend, please let me know!

How fitting

The dress form (Miss Patty) fit in the drum bag and she is now set up in my front room (we have a temporary lodger, so my sewing room is occupied). Miss Patty (short for Patience; she has to wait around a lot when I'm sewing) is currently dressed in a white T-shirt with the pin stripe skirt that I made over the weekend, but don't have a picture of yet. I'm quite happy with the end result, and the pinstripe wasn't too much of a challenge.
Now, what Miss Patty has, I lack: Patience. I only measured the paper patternpieces at what I thought would be the most important bit (my hips are quite wide), started cutting my pin stripe, and the sewing could begin! Everything went like clockwork until I tried to put the skirt on, and found that my waist has grown to a size that I can't even find on Miss Patty... Time for some drastic weight loss action!

Anyway, after taking out the two outer darts from the back I was able to squeeze myself into the skirt, and was actually quite happy with the results. I think it was really smart to start with the skirt before moving on to the jacket and/or trousers: a nice easy piece to get used to the pin stripe, and to remind myself to measure, measure, measure. Pics to follow!

Tried and True it is!

My WM and I are off to Holland for a very short weekend break tonight, so I will not have time to sew this weekend. I was at McCulloch & Wallis for about 20 minutes this week, and managed to pick up a shedload of thread, shoulder pads, invisible zippers, buttons, fusable interfacing and even a few patterns, so I'm ready to sew next week! Now that I have the thread I can finally make the button holes in my linen jacket, even though I'm not going to wear it anytime soon...

My pin stripe project will start off on Monday, and I will be making the trousers from the Tried and True Burda pattern, because I didn't win the Jalie pattern. I'm sure I'll try that one sometime soon though, as it seems like a great pattern for both leisure and "business" wear.

I've also had my eye on the Vogue 8543 for a while now and was very happy to find it at McC&W. I've never used an "envelope pattern" before so I have to remember that the seam allowance is already added, but if I manage to that: I think it will look great in the cashmere wool I bought a few months ago.

I'll be bringing back my dress form from Holland (I'm hoping it will fit in the bag that we bought for the drum we brought back from the Gambia) and hopefully some more pattern paper as well, and maybe even a Burda or two, if I can find time to shop (it's my parents' 40th wedding anniversary, so there will be a big party). More news next week!

Pants!

Ah, so this is what happens when I say I won’t post for a while: I start sewing! Good news, I started on a few different projects last weekend (why can't I just do one at a time?). Remember the gorgeous fabrics I bought a few months ago? Well, I decided to finally start cutting, and found I have enough of the pinstripe for a complete work outfit of a jacket (KNIPmode October 2008) and a skirt (an old KNIPmode) ánd a pair of trousers (an old Burda, pattern numbers to follow). Unfortunately the pin stripe doesn’t marry up over the full length of the fabric, so I have cut the fabric into manageable pieces (no, I don’t pre-treat my fabrics, I start cutting and sewing right away: goes with my impatient nature), and will now face the challenge of matching the stripes and not go mad (again, my impatience...).

Anyway, I was looking at the TNT trouser pattern that I was planning to use, and found that I was really quite bored with it. However, I had not been able to find a new pattern that excited me enough to try it. Until this morning, when I read Stacy’s blog and found that not only did she show a pair of trousers that I really liked, but also: she decided to give the pattern away! Must be karma: I entered in the prize draw, and will let you know the result when it comes in: I will either be sewing my usual trousers (which you haven’t seen yet), or I will be using the newly discovered Jalie 2561.

Sew sorry

After having been back from our brilliant trip to The Gambia for well over a month now, and still not back to blogging, I think it's only fair to let you know that I probably will not be posting much in the near future either, unless spectacular things happen in my life.

At the moment, blogging does not seem to be a priority, so I'm "allowing" myself to sign off for a while. I'm sure I'll be back, I just don't know when. And don't be mistaken: I'm still reading all of yours!

Take care,
Houkje

Button up, love

Okay, so I finally finished my garments. Well, finished? I still had to do the buttonholes and ran out of thread; how silly is that? I've had no time this week to buy any, so I'm off to the Gambia with RTW stuff instead of any of the things I was working on. Too bad, that's what you get when you plan too many things to do in a week...

My WM and I are off for two weeks of bliss in a small family-run hotel, and with the malaria pills we have stacked, I'm hoping to report back to you early October! Take care and talk to you soon! X

Simply Supreme!

As I've mentioned before, the Victoria & Albert museum is currently hosting the exhibition "Fashion V Sport", and I thought I should check that one out. First, there was an entrance fee of GBP 5 for this exhibition - I'm not used to paying because practically all museums here are free - and then the lady at the counter was friendly enough to also point out the "Supremes" exhibition that is currently showing (for another 5). Oh what the hey, let's do them both!

Fashion V Sport did not give a lot of background information, and although (some) the models on show were interesting, there's only a certain amount of time I can look at a pair of sweatpants with only the designer's name and "jersey" on the descripion panel, when there must be so much more to tell about the actual design. I think in total there were 30 to 40 outfits on show in quite a small area, but I was not allowed to take pictures (I did manage to snap one), so you're just going to have to see for yourself. I then went on to the Supremes exhibition. Oh! The sparkles! The sequins! Sleeves so long you could trip over them, great music in the background, and: a bit of information about politics and racism in the 60s to put the success these ladies had in perspective. All in all a more interesting exhibition (in my eyes), and: I was allowed to take pictures!


After seeing that next door at the Natural History Museum they're getting ready for London Fashion Week, I went on a walk to Chelsea Harbour to have a look at the shops in the Design Centre. According to the online phone book that I used to create my map of London fabric shops, there should be loads of fabric shops there. And there were! All interior design though, and all of them only showrooms, so no chance of bringing anything home. I did see some beautiful fabrics and got a few ideas for future use, but was afraid to ask how much they would cost me...

Measure twice, cut once

Fabric Widths
Originally uploaded by Houkje London

One of the challenges I faced when I moved to the UK, was figuring out how inches converted into centimeters and the other way round. Rule of thumb: 1 inch = 2,5 centimetres. Brilliant, I knew that! However, when I asked the guy at the fabric shop last weekend how wide the fabric was and he told me it was 59 inches, I drew a blank. It was probably the excitement of looking at the gorgeous fabric that left me at a complete loss as to how much that was in centimetres. When he told me he didn't know either, I was a bit surprised.

If only I had remembered the conversion table that I had in my bag, it would have been a lot easier (especially since even though he had no idea how many centimeters we were talking about when we were discussing the width, when I asked him to cut off 4 metres for me, he did so without hesitation). Makes you wonder. Well, me anyway.

So I thought I'd better share the following information with you, although I don't know if there are more people out there suffering from brain freeze as soon as numbers come up in the fabric shop (I always feel a slight black-out at the check-out counter, for example...)

Let's have a look at the yellow example in the top line. Suppose you want to make a skirt, and because you're used to buying 150cm wide fabric, you knew you would need 1 metre (= 100 centimetres, I LOVE metric!) for that. Now you're in the fabric shop, and you see the most gorgeous fabric, but it's only 90cm wide. Before you let panic take over, a quick look at the conversion table would tell you that you would need 160cm (=1.6mtr) for your skirt! Cool eh?

We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue!

Last weekend I managed to "inspire" my friend Vanessa to join me in a ridiculous weekend plan. Friday night: Dinner and a few drinks, Saturday: go to New Covent Garden Market very early in the morning, and then see what else we want to do later on in the day (maybe check out the new exhibitions at the V&A?). The market's website stated they were open from 3am until 10am, so we were smart and went to sleep reasonable early to be able to get up at 7 and be at the market on time. Normally I'm not one to get up early if I don't have to, but the prospect of visiting the largest fresh produce market in the UK somehow got me excited (I miss the farmer's markets from home). After drinking quite a lot of coffee (and me finally realising that Vanessa's clock was 20 minutes early, not just 2), we walked to the market. When we got there it was around 8 and very quiet; a few people were cleaning up...and one of them told us they had finished "half an hour ago". The market starts at 1 am and finishes at 8 (!!). This obviously hadn't been altered on their website yet. Duh! And a good morning to you too!

We decided to make the most of the fact that we had got up so early, and went home for another coffee before setting off to Brixton Market: Meat and fish stalls, fruits and vegetables like I'd never seen before (I actually had to ask what some of the stuff on display was!). In Electric Avenue and Atlantic Road we found not only the market stalls, but also a few fabric shops (see my map here). Of course I couldn't resist to go in, and in the second shop, S&S Textiles, I found some gorgeous suiting: a wool navy pinstripe, and a brown cashmere. Yes I did. And at £10,00 per meter I couldn't leave it there, now could I? Now all I have to do is finish the Irish linen set (trousers done, jacket almost done, skirt cut), and I'll be ready for some Autumn sewing. That is, if I completely overlook the two tops I still have to make that will go with the linen set, but who would blame me for wanting to get my scissors into that cashmere?

KNIPmode monthly overviews

I'm still trying to get my KNIPmode delivered in London, but for the moment it's still being sent to my parents in Holland. They were visiting last weekend, and brought me the September copy.
I was not very impressed with most of the patterns, although I did like the felt jacket (#1). But maybe that's just because you don't need to finish the seams...

Have a look trough the overview pages that I have so far. I will be adding more as I receive them. Should anyone have a July '08 issue available: I would like to buy it from you, if you let me!

EDIT: I was made aware of possible copyright problems, so I have had to remove the link to the files. Apologies for any inconvenience caused!

Purple rain!

Wow, I finally managed to not only create the correct link, but also post it! So, without further ado, here is my map of the London Fabric Shops!

As I mentioned yesterday; Please have a look, and let me know if you would like to see anything added or removed. I have not had the chance to visit all of the shops of course, so your help will be greatly appreciated. Also, please note that the list of shops is not yet correctly alphabetised, so it may be easier to try and find your shops by location on the map than by name on the list. I'm hoping to sort that soon, but that feature of Google Maps is very slow, so it will take quite a bit of time.

I've tried to organise the mess by creating:
purple place markers for fabric shops,
yellow place markers for haberdashery shops, and
blue place markers for "other" shops (such as fashion magazine shop, museum)

Oh, and I've added "NTS" to the address descriptions of the shops, meaning "Nearest Transport Station". This could mean either train or underground. So there. Go shopping!

Take them to the cleaners!

Last (UK Bank Holiday) weekend I finally got some real sewing done: The KNIPmode trousers are done! Pictures to follow; I want to have them drycleaned first. I did not pretreat the fabric (linen, call me silly), because it frays so easily and I couldn't fit all of it in my washing machine in one go, so I will only dryclean this set of clothes. I'm hoping the drycleaning will get rid of the stiffness of the fabric, so that I can wear the trousers and not look pregnant (coz I'm not, but that's what it looked like to me). Anyway, next project: the jacket.

For the last few days I have also been working on creating an updated map of fabric stores in London (thanks to Melissa letting me know how to use Google Maps) , and a printable list of those same stores. The map and list will be updated from time to time with short reviews, and as soon as I find out how to publish them on my blog, please have a look. Should you know of any shops, markets or other information that you think would be useful to others, please let me know and I'll add them.

Håndtaske

The first thing I did today was repair the handbag I bought years ago in Covent Garden. I always take that bag with me when I go on short trips because it folds up small enough to fit in my handluggage when I'm not allowed to bring both a handbag and carry-on luggage on a flight, yet is big enough to hold all I need during the day. Last Tuesday I left for a 3-day trip to Copenhagen to visit my friend Marlene who moved back there after having lived in London for a number of years.

Unfortunately Marlene had to work during the day, but another friend of ours, Vanessa, was also visiting, so the two of us wandered around town to do some sightseeing and try all the wonderful food and drink Denmark has to offer. I even managed to squeeze in a visit to a little fabric shop we happened upon, and was very surprised to see that the fabrics they sold came mainly from Liberty's (most of which is not my style), and even though the Udsalg was on (50% off almost everything), I came out empty-handed.

During the 3 days I managed to completely wreck the zip of my little bag, and because I couldn't find a new bag I liked, I decided I'd have to repair the old one. Yeah, right. I almost had to take the whole bag apart before I could put the new zip in, and am not happy with the result, but it will have to do, I guess. Due to that project not going too well, I decided to leave my sewing machine alone for the rest of the day, and finish my book instead.

Keeping my eyelets open

Walthamstow market is open from Tuesday to Saturday, and - like any market - is full of people milling about, trying to find the best deals on anything from apples to zips (20p!). My WM and I walked up and down the mile long market for about an hour, and met up with a friend for lunch afterwards. I went specifically to find fabrics that would go well with the gray linen I bought at the Curtain Factory Outlet a few weeks ago that I'll be using for trousers, a skirt and a jacket, although of course I kept my eyes open for other fabrics as well.

Interestingly, I ended up buying fabric at the shops along the High Street, not at the market. At Fardin Fashion Fabrics (I couldn't find it anywhere online), a shop selling mostly beautifully colourful Indian sari fabrics, I found a light cotton "feather" fabric, and at the Textile Centre I bought a pink/grey/white eyelet.

The eyelet will be the short sleeved NewLook 6704 and the "feather" will be the top I saw in KNIPmode June 2008, with a bit of contrast fabric left over from the linen.

Puzzled

Yesterday I did some more pattern tracing, and I used an older KNIPmode (2001) than the one I used last week (2008). Firstly, it struck me that the colours on the 2001 tracing sheet were different: only light blue and red were used, whereas the 2008 sheet used green, red and black. Also, the way of finding the correct pattern part to trace seemed not as straightforward as I had just experienced with the newer issue.

This made me remember some of the really funny "mis-traced" parts that I sometimes ended up with a long time ago, so I went and had a look through my stack of KNIPmode (when it was still called Knip) and I found a coat pattern I saved from 1987. Yes, I know, ridiculously old, but a great pattern, and as the Dutch saying goes "Wie wat bewaart, die heeft wat" (ehm: don't throw it away, you may need it someday?)! And, to no surprise; in the "old days" the sheets were even more complicated! Have a look at the picture and spot the differences...it's ridiculous how complicated it was, and great to see how much improvement has been made over the years!

Anyway, after all this tracing I still need to get a load of fabrics so I can actually make something, so I'm off to Walthamstow market now!

Things to do and people to see

Last weekend my WM and I visited a friend who lives close to Leeds, and on Sunday we managed to find some time to visit the textile town of Bradford before heading home again. We went to the textile mill and workers' village called Saltaire. The textile mill is a beautiful building that is on the UNESCO World Heritage list and has been converted into a contemporary arts center, containing a number of different art galleries and also restaurants and shops. I was surprised that their fabric collection (hidden in the basement) was a bit limited.

Yesterday I finally sat down at the front room table (it's just too cold and wet outside to use the table tennis table) and traced a few patterns.

On in London:

Until 4 January 2009 the V&A is hosting an exhibition called "Fashion v Sport". This exhibition explores the creative connections between the two worlds of fashion and sport and sounds like a fun idea for a rainy afternoon to me!

Liberty announced the relaunch of the Liberty sewing school. They're offering a range of special craft, knitting and sewing workshops from August to October for £35 per person per session.

How you Bedouin?

Friday night WM and I went to Makro to buy a party tent because the weather forecast said it would rain, and on Saturday afternoon we were very glad that we’d done that! It only rained for about 20 minutes, but we were nice and dry under the tent, and the effect of the cushions with the tent (and later in the evening the added burning candles and lanterns) gave the whole garden a bit of a Moroccan Bedouin tent-idea; magic!

We had such an amazing, fun, wonderful party that I needed a few days to recover. The BBQ started on Saturday at 13.00 and lasted until Sunday morning 08.00! It was great to see so many of our lovely friends, and we ate, drank, danced and chatted the night away.

We took many pictures with our new camera (yes, it finally arrived!), but I had to delete quite a few because of poor quality: we need to learn how to use the different settings. Trial and error will get us there in the end, so bear with me for the time being.

I’ve still not started on any real sewing projects yet, but my tracing paper did arrive with Esther’s parents, and WM and I thought we may actually keep the party tent in the garden to form an outdoor sewing room (I can set up the table tennis table and leave it there for me to work on whenever I want). The green stuff would probably die, but since there’s more weeds than grass in our little patch of green, maybe that’s a good thing…

Cat-astrophe

The 12 cubic foot bean bag refill we bought last weekend is meant to be used for a number of different shaped cushions, so I've been quite busy sewing them up in the past few days. There's a roll, a sweet-shaped cushion, a few square meter big ones, the lot! The pile-of-pillows (photo link added later) is growing on a daily basis, and I actually think I have (and have had) almost enough now.

The only project that I have not yet been able to finish is the cowchair, but that's because of the hundreds of upholstery nails that need to be removed before I can start building it up again. By doing a handful every day I've already taken out more than two-thirds of them, but that still leaves many to be done. And then the reupholstering! I think on Saturday I may actually just put the chair in the garden with the fabric thrown over it, and do the actual work after the party, when I have time to do it right.

Whilst sitting in the garden yesterday, doing some preparatory work on a little pouffe that needed to be filled still, I heard a noise inside the house. Since WM was not at home that struck me as odd, so I went to investigate and found the neighbours' cat in our kitchen (so much for trying to air out the house by opening all doors and windows)! The cat, as startled by my entry as I was by it being there, jumped out of the kitchen into our hallway, ran like a flash through my sewing room and out the open door into the garden, where a large plastic bag full of white little polystyrene balls was waiting. Not for the cat, but for me, obviously. Cat merely ran past it, but the bag, already open for me to use, tipped over (have no fear, that stuff weighs nothing; no animals were hurt in this production). A little gust of wind decided to show up right at that moment and carried thousands of tiny white balls into the air, creating a little typhoon. It was a party for one, and a few days early, oh well! Although I can't imagine this stuff being really environmentally friendly; I'm NOT going to vacuum the garden. No darling, I'm not.

Spilling the beans

My WM decided that -even though I said I'd use the table in the front room- I do really need a drawing and cutting table, so he bought me one! It's huge. I mean, it's really, really big. And it's green. And it has white lines on the table top. And it has wheels, so I can move it around. Any guesses yet? Right, a table tennis table! But it's a great table, really. I can't wait to get started. Even though it will have to be in the garden, because the thing is just too big for my sewing room. Good thing I'm in the luxury position of having the garden right outside of it!

After the initial excitement about my table subsided, we went to Pentonville Rubber on Saturday to buy some bean bag filling, a foam roll, and maybe some other soft materials for me to cover, so that our garden will almost be like little Morocco for the BBQ party. We found loads of different foam matresses, bean bag refills, rubber mats, fiberfill and lots more, and the Pentonville staff were very helpful. In the end we only bought a bean bag refill, and the salesman told us to go to Chapel Market market around the corner if we wanted cushions, which is exactly what we did. Behind the market stalls I found a little shop called the Sewing Center (17 Chapel Market), where they sell all kinds of cheap haberdashery, as well as second hand sewing machines and sergers. We then went on to visit a few fabric shops in the area, and first went to Bargain Center on 93 Upper Street. In my mind this would be a large shop full of very cheap fabrics, but it turned out to be quite a small shop, chockful of gorgeous suit fabrics and lining. I will definitely go back in the fall (it's just too hot to think about suits now) and check out the bargains. From there I went on to Sew Fantastic on 107 Essex Road, which I really didn't find so fantastic; mostly fake fur and fleece, very colourful, but just not for me. I did however buy some curtain lining, which was cheaper than unbleached calico. I have to say I'm getting a bit discouraged about finding fabrics that I can use for clothes, and I'm starting to think I may have to resort to the internet.

Oh, and we have ordered our camera, it just hasn't been delivered yet. Picture mania to follow as soon as it has arrived!!

Pillow Talk and Musical Chairs

WM and I will be hosting a BBQ in early August, and we're hoping for the summer to arrive before then so we can just put loads and loads of cushions in the garden instead of have people sit on chairs (of which of course we don't have enough, but more on that subject later)! This past weekend, after shopping around for -but still not buying- a digital camera on Saturday, we went fabric shopping on Sunday. The curtain factory outlet once again proved to be the perfect place: we came home with meters and meters of fabric for gorgeous cushions; all very different in style, and all very colourful, some beautiful, some truly ugly, but fun nonetheless. I would of course have posted a picture if our hunt on Saturday had been successful, but now you're just going to have to wait.

Immediately after our decision to host a party, the subject of seating arrangements came up. We used to have quite a few chairs around our table in the kitchen, but mysteriously they started to break down one after the other (it must have to do with WM's great cooking). My WM wouldn't be a WM if he didn't find a solution: two pink chairs sitting outside a bar that was being refurbished. So now we're lounging at the kitchen table! A few months after, he found an armchair on the pavement and decided that it would have to come home with him. Fact that it was too dirty to sit on was not a deterrent, and once I got used to the idea, I actually started liking the chair. Of course I have my own idea of how to make this chair part of our interior: it will have to be dressed up as a cow (mooooh!). Hopefully I can get this done before the party, but I'm not entirely sure of that; it's quite a project. If not, then maybe the chairs WM found outside a few days ago (which are an exact match to the chairs we used to have in the kitchen before the pinkies moved in), will come in handy...

Seek and ye shall find

I found my brag book; I’m over the moon! It only has 12 pages (= 24 pockets), so it will fit in my handbag perfectly! I quickly made a cute cover for it from the copper/gold dupion silk that I want to make a dress out of, and within a day the book is in full use. In the front pocket I’ve put a summary of the SWAP (stage 1: make 11 garments, the idea is almost enough to make me faint…). In the following pockets I’ve put a technical drawing on the left hand page, and a swatch of the fabric I want to use on the facing page. I even put a sticker on the swatch stating how many metres I have; I’m a sucker for efficiency.

I’d love to show you pictures, but unfortunately it won’t be until today that WM and I will be working our way through hundreds of options to find the perfect little digital camera. Fingers crossed that we manage to agree on which one to buy, and that it is actually in stock!

I still haven’t really started sewing, though. Not for lack of fabric or inspiration, or even kindly offered assistance, but unfortunately I am used to tracing my patterns, and I will have to wait for another 2 weeks before Esther’s parents bring over those wonderful rolls of tissue tracing paper from Holland. Yes, I know there are other ways of tracing your patterns, and there probably is other paper available, I just have not been able to find it in London. I can’t use newspaper or brown paper and a tracing wheel because I’m afraid to damage the antique table and I remember only too well what happened to my parents’ table. After a few years of my mum’s handiwork, my dad tried to sand the table down to get rid of the millions of tiny holes on the tabletop, but the top layer wasn’t thick enough. They ended up buying a new table and of course new chairs to go with it. And then they decided to give the whole room a make-over. Wait, perhaps I should start using a tracing wheel on the table: I could end up with a new room!

Sewing With A Procrastinator (SWAPminus)

A few months ago, my Wonderful Man and I went to Holland to visit my family and pick up my Husqvarna 1140 sewing machine that has been lovingly taken care of by my mother for the past two years (don't worry, I made sure she got a new one). We also took back with us the wooden case that once held a Magnum bottle of wine but that I transformed into a sewing box, and that is now filled with all kinds of sewing goodies. With the expert help of my WM I built a desk for my machine in the guest room (that I secretly call My Sewing Room), set up the sewing machine and -after doing a few minor repair jobs that were waaaaaaaay overdue- just left it sitting there.

Then, some weeks ago I went fabric shopping at The Curtain Factory Outlet with my friend Esther. As well as buying some gorgeous dark brown velvet for curtains, I bought some lovely grey Irish linen that I was planning to make into a suit for work. And a dress. Or a skirt. And a top. I didn't make anything, but I planned to do so. After that, WM and I decided we will go to The Gambia for two weeks in September, and with nothing to wear for that climate and culture; I started thinking I also need to make at least one long-sleeved blouse. And trousers. And another dress. Then I remembered that two weeks before we go to The Gambia, we may be going on a trip to Champagne, France, with WM's colleagues. So what to wear there? How about sewing a few nice tops for that weekend, to wear with my jeans? And of course something a bit more dressy, for when we go out to dinner (with champagne, of course). And, and, and...You see where I'm going with this?

Right, erm, don't panic. Aaaaaaargh! Too late. Okay: I need to find patterns, tracing paper, fabrics, and all sorts of notions (okay, I don't need them, I just really, really want them, as I'm sure you recognize). Lorinda wrote a great tip on how to make a brag book to prepare for shopping for fabrics, and instead of getting my patterns and stuff together, I'm focussing on finding that little book first now. Because I know I already have one. I just can't remember where it is.

Meanwhile, WM is asking when I will repair the hem of one of his suit trousers. Well, darling, as soon as I have built the large table I designed for drawing and cutting in the guest room! Too bad my design has so many flaws that the table could actually be a danger to the guests that do occasionally stay in My Sewing Room. Oops, I mean: our guest room. So today I will admit that, if I pull out the leaves of the antique table in the living room and cover it with a heavy plastic table cloth to prevent it agains my violent drawing, that might just work. Sounds like one problem solved. Sigh.

So now all I have to do is find my brag book. And heavy plastic table cloth. And patterns. And tracing paper. And fabrics. And, and, and...

Sew, where to start?

I first started making dolls, their clothes, and all sorts of bags, when I was about 10 years old. My mum used to make clothes for my 2 sisters and myself, and I just loved to see her at work in her sewing nook in our living room, busy cutting and sewing (usually with a few pins sticking out of her mouth): I wanted to do that too! She taught me how to use her machine (what a brave woman!), and from then on there were times she actually had to ask me in a stern voice to "step away from the machine" to let her do some sewing herself.

Although I was usually consulted on both choice of fabric and style before my mum started sewing, I found that sometimes I just wanted to wear something else than what she had in mind for me. When I got a bit older, with her help I started making my own clothes from patterns in KNIPmode. Never mind my first attempts (thank goodness there are no pictures), but since then I've made many, many garments, usually using KNIPmode, Burda or, occasionally, Vogue. Some of them I wore for years, and some of them were only for one night (prom dress) and many of them I gave away without ever wearing them. What a waste!

In addition to that, I suffered from the well-know disease of buying loads of fabrics without actually EVER using them (and sometimes even stealing from my mum's stash with the same poor result), or even knowing what I wanted to do with the stuff when I bought it. Before I get into that routine again: I will from now on...(drum roll)...Sew With A Plan! And even though I know that following the exact rules of the SWAP may be a bit too much for me to start with, at least I have to promise myself not to buy any fabric without knowing I'm going to make with it. Wish me luck!