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).

A little note on appearance

Today my baby and I took my new wool Noro hat for a walk. I pushed a pram along and one thing hit me. The second I put my hands on the pram handle i suddenly turn from potential hooligan to harmless, friendly, mother. Everyone I meet says 'hello' - EVERYONE. Compare this to when I walk without the pram (and the baby), even wearing the same outfit - NO ONE says anything.

So if you think for one second that people in general are not judging you from your appearance, well I'm not so sure...

Would you trust this person?!?! Devil or saint?
Tough call. Need to see where the hands are.

I saw another thing on our walk that made me a little sad. A small row boat stuck in the ice. Why didn't someone bother to take it out of the lake before winter? It's not like it's a trans-Atlantic ship they'd need to handle. I would love owning a little boat and this one clearly has no one that loves it. Poor little boat. Respect the boat.

/Alexandra

Completed: The Wardrobe Basic. Including tutorial for FBA on shoulder dart

The first garment of my spring SWAP is done; the "Wardrobe Basic" from Ottobre. Can I just say, what a quick, cute and usable pattern!! Or actually, not quick at all if you count more than 1,5 h of hand sewing to get invisible hems and facings. If you like topstitching it will indeed be very quick, but I love neat finishings and pretty insides of garments.

I think the pattern of the fabric turned out fun!

Inside trimmings. The bias tape has GOLD stripes!!!

Matching pattern on the sleeve too.

And the back. Nice fit, don't you think?

I LOVE pretty insides!

I love how it turned out. I did make some alterations, without making any muslin, but I just had a feeling it was going to turn out the way I wanted anyway. Luckily it did - phew! I am pretty certain I'm gonna use this pattern again. Imagine this as a summer jacket made from dark denim!! Want!

The fabric was a vintage scrap designed by Maud Fredin Fredholm. The pattern was quite intricate so it took me a while to decide how to put the pattern pieces so it wouldn't turn out too crazy. The leftovers will be enough for a couple beanies, an infinity scarf or some other accessory.

Sorry for not showing any live pictures, but I have a pajama-day with sick kids at home. Didn't feel like posing...


So, what alterations did I make?

#1 - FBA (Full bust adjustment)

I ALWAYS do an FBA these days. There is really no reason not to since it makes a world of difference to the fit. Don't be a lazy fart when it comes to FBA - it is always worth the effort, trust me!

This pattern already has a dart in the shoulder on the front, and I believe alterations like FBA should not have to change the design of the pattern. So, therefore, after having done the FBA you move the dart into the dart you already have on the shoulder. I thought I'd show you how it's done, but since I forgot to take pictures during the process and I don't have time to redo it, I'll give you a quick and dirty drawing tutorial instead :-)

Mark the regular FBA lines (blue) and slash the pattern. For more details on the basics go here. Spread the pattern your desired amount. Then it will look like this:

Tape in paper everywhere except in the new bust dart, which remains open. That is, within the blue dotted area:

Now, we don't want a bust dart because that alters the design of the garment, remember, so we need to move it! To do this we slash from the shoulder dart down to the point of the bust dart - but not all the way through! See red line:

Then we close the bust dart by pivoting the paper like shown by the arrow. Tape the dart closed and notice the shoulder dart wide opened. Continue drawing the shoulder dart legs until they meet (and make sure they are equal length) and there you have your new dart.

Tape in paper to fill the gap - voila! The green shape is the new pattern.

#2 - Reshaping the front panel

Since I knew I don't want to wear this cardigan closed I prefer the shape at the front to be more rounded. I simply shaved off a slice from the front pattern and did the same to the facing.

Hope this was helpful!

/Alexandra

Introducing: Sew for a change - the 2014 challenge!

  This challenge is run by myself and my partner in crime, Malin. 

If you prefer to follow this challenge in Swedish, 

please turn to Malin's blog Oh, my green darling! 

To be kind to nature (environmentally and ethically) should not give you a headache. In fact, it should be easier than not to. To be more environmentally friendly is not only about shopping more organic or fair-trade, but also to actually shop a whole lot less - and make sure you make good use of what you already have. 

Sew for a change is a consumerism challenge with focus on clothes and textiles. How many clothes do you really need in a year, and how many can you do just as well without? With inspiration from the awesome british challenge Wartime Wardrobe Challenge, that finished 2013, we now launch our own version. The Wartime Wardrobe rationing challenged you to not consume more clothes during one year than the real wartime rationing (starting 1941) of 66 coupons. The wartime wardrobe challenge was run by Nik and Meg, be sure to check out their awesome blogs here and here!! They have done an astonishing amount of great research we all can use!

Their challenge must have been an extremely tough one for most people and, despite very eye-opening, likely not easily maintained for any subsequent years. We want this challenge to change our ways permanently and find a level of consumerism that would be doable for the long run. Whilst using a value chart for coupons (or in our case 'points'), that Nik kindly let us recycle, we give you 75 points instead of 66 - and with a chance to earn more if you change other parts of your life too.

THE CHALLENGE

Between February 1 and December 31, 2014, you are given 75 points to use on clothes, fabric and yarn. The cost of points is stated in the Point chart. For crafty people you'll be pleased to know that sewing or knitting your own wardrobe will cost less than buying ready to wear (hence, "sew for a change"). 

All the Sew for a change information and material will be stored for your convenience under the Sew for a change page, found at the top of the blog. There you can download the different documents in various formats.

The star challenges

During Feb-Nov you are also given a monthly "star challenge" that can earn you 10 more points each month.  The star challenge is launched on the 1st of every month along with tips and tricks that will help you through it. The star challenges are by no means mandatory but hopefully you'll be encoureged or intrigued enough to give it a go.

The challenges will have different themes - not all sewing/clothes related. The point is to get us to try changing our ways during a short period of time. Hopefully some of it will work well and become something we'll take with us in our daily lives even after the month is up.

Reporting

At the end of each month we will report our current point status. There is a scorecard available to help tracking all the points. Find it here.

It would be super fun to have a lot of you joining in and doing this together with us! If you do, it would also be very cool if you let us know! And if you're a blogger, there is a badge for you to put on your page. Find it here.

We are so excited and can't wait to get started!!!! Let's stop shopping - yay! :-)

/Alexandra and Malin 

Taking on something BIG!

In the recent year I have thought a lot about how I live my life and how what I do affect the world around me. This has lead to changing a lot of things, which I am happy about. But the more you learn, the more you realize there is more to do...

Malin and I have a similar outlook on these things, as well as a joint passion for sewing, which has now lead us to cook up a brilliant challenge for 2014. It will not be easy, but hopefully a lot of fun!

The challenge will be presented in full at the end of January and the official kickoff is February 1. This is all I'm going to say about this now - stay tuned for more info.  Hopefully you will take on the challenge too!!! I promise you won't be sorry!

/Alexandra

A little note on respect for clothes...

In my slow fashion section I go on about reusing clothes that are not fit for wearing any longer. I thought I'd share examples of what I have done recently in that department.

When I was pregnant I wore this roomy, comfy, tunic (not actually maternity clothing).
Picture borrowed from Gudrun Sjödén.

I love the print, but to be honest, the color makes me look like I have a terminal illness. What to do... Well, why not turn it into leggings for my 6y old super hero? Yes!!!

Why is this brilliant? Because she gets pants that are unique? Because I don't have to buy her new pants? Because I still get to see this wild print? Yes. But the best reason is that she gets clothing with less chemicals!! The fabric has been washed a lot and most of the bad stuff is hopefully gone. Kids are more sensitive than adults to toxics so I like to be careful with the precious ones. Score!

Another thing I made the other day is a beanie for momma! :-) My husband had this green sweater but the delicate fabric was ripped in a couple of places. It was not mendable (because if it was, OFCOURSE that would have been my priority ;-) hrmm) so I simply had to think of something else.
I liked the row of buttons so they got to stay. Whattaya think?

 ->



And other stuff you could make, out of scraps even, is baby wipes! I promise your baby would rather have its a** wiped with soft cotton than some harsh drenched crap you can buy just about anywhere (yes, I have a strong opinion). Go on - ask your baby. If it responds with something along the lines of "gooogh", "gaaah" or "weeeeh", then you know I'm right. Pretty much any absorbent and soft fabric is suitable for this such as old t-shirts,  towels etc. Avoid microfiber though.


/Alexandra