Completed: a doll for my 2y old

In my parenting philosophy I feel strongly that I don't want to limit my children by forcing them into a shape decided by society, but I want them to be who they really are and pursue interests of their own choices. To do that, I want to offer them everything, not "dolls for girls and cars for boys".

I also try to be a little more protective with the kids in terms of chemicals and substances that may interfere with their hormones, which has lead us to remove a lot of suspicious materials from our house, such as most plastics. This makes the toy department quite limited. Have you been into a regular toy store lately? Try to find 5 things not made from plastic. Oh, and good luck with that by the way...

Anyway. We have managed to sniff out toys made of wood and metal for most things, but we hadn't "solved" the doll thing. And then it hit me, why not SEW a doll!!! I men, duh?!?!? I can't believe it took me so long to crack that one! Said and done. I spent an hour on Pinterest and pinned all the waldorf doll sewing tutorials i could find and off I went!

May I introduce..... - The first homemade doll of my life!!!!

She is made from organic cotton jersey, stuffed with wool. The hair is croched from mohair yarn, and then dyed with tea to make it more off white (than white). Ain't she cute?

A little belly button and cute little toes!

A little bottom to sit on ;-)

I then made some clothes from vintage fabric scraps I had around the house:

And then I sewed a matching tunic for my daughter...

Now, let's hope she likes it!!! We'll see this weekend.

/Alexandra

No poo update - Switching from CO to WO!

About a year ago, i wrote a post on soon being ready to switch from Conditioner Only method to Water Only. Well, it took me another year to take that step for some weird reason. I guess it came down to that i was starting a new job, hence being weary of coming across too much of a hippie (I'm a management consultant). But NOW I've done it! Yay!

Why am I doing it? I want my life to be easy and uncomplicated. I don't like the idea of relying on "products" and I in general like to strive to achieve some balance in what is natural to my body. The ideal outcome of this would be that I can do WO a couple of times a month, have beautiful, healthy, fresh and manageable hair with minimum effort. Plus, what can be more organic than this? So let's see now if this can be achieved or if I'm back to CO in a little while, shall we?

I though I might do a monthly update if anyone is curious about how I'm getting along.
Here we go!

 My hair routine goes like this:

On wash day: 
Massage my scalp thoroughly for a couple of minutes. Brush entire hair with a BBB (Boar Bristle Brush) for about 15 minutes to try to move as much sebum as possible down to the ends. Then jump in the shower. Massage entire scalp in the shower in hot water (helps removing excess oil) for about 5 minutes and rinse thoroughly for another couple of minutes. I try to pay extra attention to my areas that tend to get oily more quickly: the fringe and the back of my head (opposite point to the chin).
When I'm done I wrap the hair in an old t-shirt for like 20 minutes and then comb through with a wooden comb. Air dry.

Between washes - in the evening:
Many people suggest you should "scritch and preen" which means you should massage your scalp with your finger nails to loosen up the sebum and then pull the sebum down your hair with your fingers. I have tried this, but haven't got the hang of it. It rather feels like I'm tugging on my hair and causing it stress. Also I don't think any oils are really moved. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I have now ditched that method.

Instead I gently massage my scalp for a couple of minutes every night and then I use my BBB on SMALL sections of hair until I have brushed all of it. It may take me 15-20 minutes, so I do it in front of the TV before I go to bed. When this process is done, the hair often looks kind of gross, because now you can see the sebum on your lengths! When I wake up in the morning it looks great though - all the sebum is absorbed and now naturally protects my hair.

The last thing I do EVERY DAY is to clean my BBB. I use this method and it works great! This process is easily done while I brush my teeth and such. I don't think it is a hassle at all, actually.

I also braid my hair before going to bed to avoid bed head. Just for precaution, it has never really been a problem for me.

Between washes - in the morning:
I quickly brush my hair with a wooden brush (not the BBB). That will detangle and smooth the hair and I am ready for the day.

---  ONE MONTH REPORT  ---

How many washes:
I have during my first month (February 2015) washed my hair with water only 4 times, i.e. once a week.

General review:
I am very impressed that this actually works! My hair gets very shiny and has much more body than before. My transition period seems to be kind to me. Maybe due to the gentle CO washing I was used to? My hair feels much less greasy around day 5 (when it is at its worst) than with CO or shampoo. I've also noticed that around day 6 it sort of swings around and becomes less oily again. I think I could go longer than a week between washes quite easily, but for now I think I'll stick to it.
I have asked my husband to really smell my hair at various stages to see if it in any way would seem gross and he thinks it smells clean. I think that too - relief! It both looks and smells clean - yay!
I have also noticed that my hair tends to get slightly wavy, whereas I've always had very straight hair before. I wonder what will happen with that going forward.

Reflections for improvements:
My hair gets VERY clean from the washes. I actually think I should wash less thorough, because it almost feels too clean after the wash. Weird. I need to play with different temperatures during the next month I think.
Another reflection. I expected my hair to become suuuuper soft (I've read that is to be expected in WO) but that is not really my experience. Maybe for the first 2 weeks, but now after a months I don't think it is super soft at all. It is not super stiff either, but it has more hmm structure? than before. I also start to notice that my ends are becoming more dry (you can almost see that in the pics below. So maybe I need to experiment with adding some hair oil or aloe vera or something to the ends.

Results of the first month:

One week WO - BEFORE wash.

One week WO - AFTER wash

Two weeks WO - BEFORE wash

Two weeks WO - AFTER wash

Three weeks WO -AFTER wash

Three weeks WO -AFTER wash

Four weeks WO - before wash (and before BBB)

4 weeks WO - AFTER wash
(before wooden brush, only air dried at this stage)

4 weeks WO - AFTER wash (and brush)

Star Challeng #9 - The HYGIENE month!

Isn't it funny how we try to eat organic food, lower our carbon footprint in all kinds of ways and be good people in general - but we don't hesitate for a second to smear poisonous goo all over our bodies many times a day, and then at the end of the day, shower it all (well, what is not absorbed by our bodies) right out in the ocean. Not so clever, is it?!

This month may scare you, because there is a long list of things to deal with. Do your best, anything is better than nothing!

This month's challenge is to make hygiene a friendlier task to both nature and ourselves.

*
Complete the following:

1. Toothpaste: Select one that do not contain triclosan or parabenes. Also, if you need to replace toothbrushes, choose wooden ones if you can.

2. Schampoo and Conditioner: select brands that does not contain parabenes, silicones or PEGs. Or if you dare - go 'no poo'!! (That's what I do!!)

3. Skin care: select products free from mineral oils and PEGs. For many people a regular vegetable oil is doing the job beautifully.

4. Anti Lice: Fall often means lice if you are a family with kids in the primary school age. Drench the hair in olive oil and put on a shower cap for a few hours and they will choke to death.

5. Make-up: Try to limit your use of make-up and only buy replacements when you run out (don't buy new products). Select organic where you can. Use vegetable oil on a cotton pad for make-up removal.

6. Soap: Choose hard soap instead of liquid soap. Aleppo or African Black Soap are both fantastic, non-drying soaps that can be used for the entire body including hair and face. They can also be used for shaving (for men also).

7. Try to avoid nail varnish completely this month.

8. Try to avoid perfume completely, this month (perfume very often equals ftalates).

9. Kids: Try to avoid using "products" on kids altogether. They are more sensitive to chemicals than we are.

10. Deodorant: choose versions without Aluminum and Alcohol.

11. Feminine products: choose reusable cloth pads instead of disposables or choose a menstrual cup instead of tampons, if you can.

If you manage this, you'll receive a star and 10 points.

Good luck!

Note! If you are a newcomer who wishes to jump on board the Sew for a change challenge, then you'll start with 33 points instead of 75. Check out all the rules here. Welcome!!

The coolest thing EVER - Bee's Wraps!!!

As this month's challenge is about detoxing my home, and I have done almost all I can think of before - I have been searching long and hard to improve the situation even further. One thing I couldn't get my head around was how to get rid of cling film. Although I try to use glass containers for most things, sometimes the convenience of that plastic is just too great.

But, stubborn to find a solution for this, I have indeed been googling my behind off and I came across the absolutely GENIUS Bee's Wraps!! They are simply cotton sheets covered with bee's wax and jojoba oil and the heat from your hands will allow them to form around any item you wish to wrap. And present a perfect food preserving environment! And are reusable again and again and again!

The not so genius thing was the price. Dead expensive if you ask me. There must be a way of making them myself! Again, google was my friend and I found other people that had already come to the same conclusion and found away of making their own!

So, to the works!!!

1) I cut some leftover cotton sheets that had been washed many times. I did a range of sizes since I want to have options :)

2) I put organic bee's wax granulate (that I happened to have around from making facial creams) on top of it and then shoved it in the oven on low temperature until it melted and the cotton had soaked up all the wax.

Out and let dry - it literally takes less than a minute - and they are ready to use. And they cost me close to nothing. THAT, I say, is genius!!!

I just love when things are both clever AND pretty. That brings me sick amount of satisfaction.

Star challenge #8 - The HOME DETOX month!

This month we will focus our energy towards the environment of our homes and making it a less toxic one in which to sew ;) More and more research prove chemical substances to be the most likely armageddon of mankind. And this worries me. The human species has already severe problems in the reproduction department and to be honest, we can be as much eco friendly as we like, but if we aren't able to reproduce in a couple of generations it is game over anyway. We need to protect or children in particular! They are exposed to multiple times more chemical substances every day than we were, growing up in the 70s (smoking mothers during pregnancy included). Of all the challenges so far, this is my personal favourite.

This month's challenge is to raise awareness to what we surround ourselves with in our homes and try to change as much as possible for the better.

*
Your 3 improvement areas of the month:

Plastic is not fantastic 

Learn what the different plastic numbers 1-7 mean and go through your home and find+replace the worst ones. Eg plastic shower curtains, food containers, kids toys (throw away all plastic toys made before 2007 and all plastic toys made outside EU), vinyl prints on clothes etc.  

Avoid poisoning your food 

Make a kitchen inventory and replace teflon/non-stick coated pots, pans and trays. Replace cooking utensils out of plastic with wood or metal. Especially if they are made of black plastic or melamine. The old ones can be used for something else than cooking. Plant flowers in them, dig in the garden or whatever - but avoid mixing plastic+heat+food. Try to avoid using plastic bags for food storage; cotton bags, glas jars or bread bins go a long way. Avoid buying food in metal tins (they have a plastic coating with BPA on the inside). Maybe even try to avoid getting your fruit and vege in plastic bags? Buy reusable fabric "produce bags" or sew your own.

Sit nicely 

If you are buying new furniture, be a difficult customer and demand information regarding flame retardants (shall be avoided at any cost!). They are impossible to break down and they are everywhere in the environment now, in the fish in the deep sea and in newborn babies to name a few. Be suspicious of most soft furniture, even mattresses. This is actually an area where buying second hand/vintage is not always best. Many of the really scary flame retardants from back in the day are now banned. 

If you manage this, you'll receive a star and 10 points.

Good luck!

Note! If you are a newcomer who wishes to jump on board the Sew for a change challenge, then you'll start with 40 points instead of 75. Check out all the rules here. Welcome!!!

Sew for a change - August results

This month's challenge was to make 3 improvements to the way you handle recycling!

The three things I decided to do:

1. Talking with the kids about recycling and up-cycling and helping them make stuff out of worn out clothes:

My ten year old needed shorts - a pair of unfitting jeans were cropped to make these:

Then my 7 year old wanted to make a pencil case of the left overs from the jeans and a recycled zipper.

My ten year old were then feeling creative and made this tunic by combining things from a worn out bra, a worn out top and a scarf with holes in it, this is all her own design and doing!!!

She also made a stuffed animal (a dog) out of a worn out hoodie that she really loved and wouldn't give up for recycling.



2. Making it easier to recycle in other rooms; in particular the sewing room. Before the challenge all kinds of bits and pieces went in the same bin, making recycling hard work (nearly impossible at the end of the day. Now I have 2 bins - one for pure textile bits (to be handed in for recycling) and another one with the stuff that needs to go in the trash (such as broken needles, tape, vlieseline etc).

Ok, this pic is a bit messy but the pile of white stuff on the right side of the plastic bag is what would have kept all of the fabric scraps in the bag from being recycled. Oh my, what a waste! Really glad to have made this improvement.

3. Handing in textile for recycling: Larger pieces - given to my youngest kid's daycare to be creative with. Smaller/tiny pieces - given to Hemtex and H&M.

My original plan was to start a new compost. Our current food scraps are being picked up and turned into heat, but since we have a garden it makes more sense to keep it ourselves. We have now started such a compost at our summer house, but one at home is on the todo list.

I think I deserve 10 points.

Now to the spending side.... *cough*

1 pair of cotton trousers (6p)
1 pair of viscose trousers (6p)
1 organic cotton top (3,5p)
1 swimsuit (6p)
3 wool socks (3p)

= 24,5p spent, yikes! (which is now more than I have left....)

A freestyle top that turned out pretty well after all....

A while ago I bought some super soft and lovely organic cotton jersey in a pale lavender sort of color. I had a cowl neck top in mind and since I didn't have a pattern I thought I'd freestyle it. How hard can it be, really? Very, it turned out. At least if you do it late at night, a little stressed and sleep deprived :D

This is roughly what I had in mind:

But I didn't spend more than, say, 20 seconds before I was at it with the knife and it didn't work. Instead of a loose drapey thing I got a choker. So I tried to rescue it by making a more regular top (again without pattern) and I ended up cutting the neckline way too wide.... What on earth to do now????

At this point I got a little stressed out. The fabric was expensive and too good quality to be wasted, plus was bought abroad (i.e. no way of getting more in a flash). Gosh, now I REALLY had to switch on the upper department and do some thinking.

I decided to buy some contrasting fabric - similar colour but different texture. I found some nice woven fabric with a slight sheen to it and then I just went for it. I freestyled a new neckline and sewed it on and voilá - a GLAM top was born!!!! Pretty fine rescue if you ask me!

Learnings: Don't try to freestyle without a rough pattern when you are tired.

/Alexandra

Completed: Cake Espresso Leggings x2

Since my purchases is highly restricted by the Sew for a Change Challenge, I simply cannot put too many points into buying nylons and stockings. The ones I have now I treasure like inherited jewellery  and I basically only use them at work. But I like to wear skirts casually at home too and I don't like my legs to get cold. The solution? Leggings!!! So much more hard wearing than nylons - and so many options on fun colours too!

The problem was to find the perfect pattern though. And I TOTALLY DID!!! Leggings loving people - look no further! All you need is Espresso Leggings from Cake Patterns!! If you want the perfect, truly customised pattern, then this is the shit! Based on your own measurements you connect the dots to your own perfect pair. I so wish I bought this pattern earlier.

I have made two pairs, so far. Both from fabulous organic jersey from Strömming. The first pair (blue) I made slightly too low rise, which I corrected for the second pair (red).

Planning the crops

We have a garden and we love to grow our own vege, fruit, berries and herbs.

Last year I was completely occupied with being pregnant and then I was stuck in the baby bubble for a while, so hubby did it all. "Your turn" he said with a grunt a couple of weeks ago, but then he got into it anyway :-)

2 weeks ago he ordered all the seeds that we didn't already have and also brought up all our 30-something geraniums from the basement winter sleep and repotted them!! Look at them all sprouting fresh baby leaves!!

Spring is in the air, finally!!!! Yay!

/Alexandra

The first purchases are made

First - I have gotten a new job!! Wohoo!!

I feel very excited as this is a real dream job for me. The job, however, requires smart clothes of which I don't have enough. I plan to make some plain but versatile tops in the next week but what I cannot make myself is stockings and socks.

Since 'Sew for a change' will only allow for very few purchases this year I need to make sure the quality is very high. I have googled a lot, and with a tip from Malin (my Sew for a change companion) I decided to try the Swedish Stockings since they are both organic and recycled and are meant to be very durable too. I got 2 pairs, one black and one nude. They are costing me 7 points in total.

Picture from Sewdishstockings.se

I also need new socks badly. I have sweaty feet, so after some research I've decided that bamboo will probably serve me better than wool, which was my other option. I use wool socks for running and that is great, but they can be a little warm sometimes. I bought 5 black pairs of bamboo socks (costing me 5 points) from Greentex. The only thing that bother me is that they were rather cheap, which makes me question the quality... We'll see. I 'only' bought 5 pairs, so I'll test them for a while before I go crazy.

Picture from Greentex.se

So, my spending is now up to 12 points, which will then set me back 2 points if I make this month's challenge and earn 10 points. That's not TOO bad.

/Alexandra

Organic on the inside

This may be a tad too personal, but I'm gonna write about it anyway. Consider yourselves warned :-)

Since being pregnant and then nursing a baby for many months I haven't had my period for over 1,5 years. That was NICE! Those days are now over, however, and since I have never been a real friend of either pads (give me fungus) nor tampons (always leak for some reason) I had too look into what else is out there.

First I tried some cloth pads. They are seriously comfy and no itchy business going on. But - they don't stay in place whatsoever. Which is bad. I'll see if I can attach some non-slip something to the back to improve them, but in the mean time I've googled for the world!

...and found the menstrual cup! People (women) are raving about them!! Seriously, I have never heard/read a single bad word about them! This must be it. "Have your period, without the mess. You won't even know you have it..." is what I keep hearing. Gotta try it.

I ordered 2 "OrganiCups" and now they are prepped and ready to work their magic. I have to say I'm a little intimidated but I'll be a brave girl and give it a go! If it works out, this should be all I need for the next 10 years to tackle my period. You're welcome, environment!

/Alexandra

Some fluff for a newborn baby

One of my dearest friends just had a baby - an extremely cute one - and they have planned to cloth diaper the kid, yay!!. What better gift than some fluff for that tiny tush?

Our favourite cloth diaper for the first 2,5 months were made from the Baa Baa Baby newborn pattern. They have a lovely snug fit and never leaked one single time. I thought I'd make a couple for the baby and fingers crossed, they'll fit their child just as well as they did our's.

This is what I made with a great deal of love.... hope they'll like it!

Two "fitteds" with snap closure 

outside: stretch terry
lining: bamboo hemp fleece
snap-in soaker: top layer of stay-dry micro fleece and core out of thick terry cloth.

These will, based on my own experience, have just the right absorbency for a newborn.

Inside of fitted diaper with snap-in soaker.

One "pocket" with snap closure (the one with elephants)

outside: waterproof, breathable PUL
lining: stay-dry micro fleece
insert: 2 layers of bamboo hemp fleece and one layer of thick bamboo terry sandwiched between them.

Pocket opening with hourglass shaped insert.

I also decided to make 6 baby wipes, made from organic jersey in 2 layers. We love our cloth wipes and hopefully these ones will come to good use too.

Note to my friend: E, if you read this, sorry for outing the present :-D
Hope the baby bubble keeps you so busy there is no time for reading blogs. Love you and see you soon!

/Alexandra