Weekly musings

Perfumes this week were Scherrer, Niki de Sainte Phalle, Fidji (a blind buy that i really love! A tropical chypre! And cheap as chips!) twice, Iris Rebelle, Doe in the snow and Choc de Cardin

some food, a handknit cardi and an old firefighters ladder, horsdrawn at our local firefighters may festival

On my plate i had salad from fennel and oranges, which i really came to love, asparagus and fish steaks, pasta with broccoli and anchovis, chicken with eggplant and potatoes, salted lemons and ras el hanout and a nice birthday dinner for the boyfriend at our local greek. I had the baby calamari above, they were perfect!

I managed to go to the gym twice, as is my plan, once for yoga, because i am feeling really stiff and once doing weights. Sunday was spent at home sewing. I made a Fehrtrade Duathlon legging and a Cashmerette Brattle top, because i wanted some new workout clothes. It feels a bit silly, but those things motivate me to workout. I hope i can post some pics later.

Weekly musings

Perfumes this week were Sens & Bois, Narciso for Her, Cafe Tuberosa, Eau Sacree, Agent Provocateur and Cleef and Arpels First EdT

On my plate i had a christmas feast with arancini, lentil soup, salmon, mozzarella sticks and cake of course (everybody brought something for the feast at work), i made a big pot of red cabbage with balsamico and rosemary, served with truffeled salsicchia and gnocchi and some soup with leeks, minced meat and cheese. Sunday was a big pot of gochujang bolognese sauce with melted raclette cheese and penne. And i made enough leftovers for the next week too.

Winter has finally come to southern germany and we had lots of snow and low temperatures, but this will melt the following week, as the temps will go up to a more spring-like 11Celsius. So i hope to get at least one bike commute done next week.

I finally made my christmas dress this weekend. I chose the Designerstitch Camelia dress, because i was attracted to the faux wrap front and the assymmetrical overlay. I used a black and silver lurex ponte fabric i got cheap on Driessenstoffe. After a bit of looking at the pattern pieces i lowered the bust dart about 1,5 cm ( as gravity and age are taking their toll) and graded from a size 5 D-cup to a waist 6 and back to size 5 hips. Plus a small forward shoulder adjustment, because…. age again. These small changes made a really nice fitting dress. I never made one of Designerstitches patterns before, but i have some other still unsewn but printed out. I think i will tackle the Shardee wrap dress next, because i have bought fabric for this last winter (and have not made it yet).

I also made some quick fingerless mitts for the boyfriends from Drops Nord Alpaca yarn. The moths got the last pair. This will hopefully teach him not to leave wollen mitts laying around in the open during the whole summer. At least he is happy with his new ones. The socks for my mother are nearly finished, so i can now concentrate on my 1940s cardigan, there are still 1,5 sleeves to knit!

Weekly musings

This weeks scents were Womanity, Batucada, Gucci No3, Eau de Lancaster, Aromatics Elixir (which seems to get my signature scent), Dryad, which was perfect for a rainy early autumn day and Meet Me On The Corner.

Cutting on leopard print shorts and a wearable muslin of the Anning Dress

On my plate this week was lentil soup, Tiramisu (that i ate too much of, but it was good! a coworker made it…), sausage salad, pasta alla Norma, tomato and mozzarella salad, minestrone from all the veggies in the frigde and a Poulet au Riz, from a french cookbook,

I biked to work thrice this week, so i put in another 135km. Friday we had a summer party at work outside on the roof terrace with a barbecue catering, and i was totally stuffed afterwards. Saturday i spent watching the last parts of Stranger Things and have now begun The Sandman.

I finally finished my first try at the Marilla Walker Anning Dress, but this one came out a bit big. I did a Full Bust adjustment for my measurements, but this is really roomy. Next time i either do a size smaller or simply use the B-Cup drafted front. I would like to make one for winter in a fine blue needlecord.

Weekly musings

This weeks scents were Chanel L´Eau, Niki de Saint Phalle. (such a beauty), Womanity, Chanel No19 EdT from my vintage pressurized bottle, Fille en Aiguilles and later Fils de Dieu, Givenchy III and Paloma Picasso. Sadly the modern Givenchy III has a really short longevity, so i really use 6 sprays to be able to smell it for longer than 2 hours, i had a sample of the vintage, that was holding up much better….

icecream on sunday and a view from my bike commute in the early morning

On my plate i had tomatoes! Again! and lots of them. Plus a nice Gyros in pita bread at the music festival, fried zucchini and feta, a homemade pulled pork burger, lentil soup with parmesan rinds and a turkey curry with coconut milk and spinach. And a big icecream at the icecream parlour.

I had a friend over for a visit at the weekend, because she wanted to sew with me, so we made a pietra shorts for her in a nice blue and white vichy checkered fabric. As she is a blonde, this reminded me a bit of Brigitte Bardot. I also cut a hopefully wearable toile of the Marilla Walker Anning Shirtdress, I hope it comes out nice, because i have plans for a winter version in fine needlecord. Otherwise there was just regular business with nothing special happening.

Weekly diary plus MeMadeMay

Perfumes this week were a bit uninspired, as i had to use some decants i have at work, because i don ´t want to take a whole flacon with me on the bike. So i wore Perles de Lalique, Meet Me On The Corner (which is lovely by the way), Tommy The Girl (sadly discontinued, such a good office scent), Chanel L´Eau, Fiore dell´Onda, Batucada and i finally thunked my decant of Bronze Goddess Azur, which started to grow on me a bit. Maybe i will buy a used bottle of Bronze Goddess this summer, hoping that it is not as sweet as Terracotta, that i sold last year….

Pasta with broad beans and trout, memade outfits and a great pinsa romana

On my plate i had a great homemade pinsa romana. The dough is a bit more rustic than a normal pizza dough and has a different bite, no wonder, because it also contains rice flour and chickpea flour. We had baked cauliflower with cannellini bean hoummus, pasta with leeks and chorizo and also with broad beans, miso, bottarga and trout. Asparagus is in season, so there was also asparagus in vinaigrette with omelet stripes. Sunday will be a giant pork chop with braised fennel and a caipirinha for aperitiv.

I did a big batch of sewing this weekend, starting with a white cotton Melody Dolman Blouse pictured above. I tried a first muslin of the Isca Dress by Marilla Walker, but this will have to get another try… Sunday. i made a Camp collar shirt for the boyfriend, a grey leo print steeplechase leggings and another Mayfair dress in a white and cobalt blue pattern. I really like it, if i use the same patterns for more outfits, i like some standard dresses for work, so i don ´t have to think about what to wear. A dress also needs nothing to combine with it, just find some intact pantyhose and shoes, and you are good to go!

Weekly diary

I did not have time to blog last week, but this week i made time again. Soo…

Perfumes worn were Scherrer EdT, Pour La Belle, Cafe Tuberosa, Mitsouko EdT (finally a Mitsouko i can love), Empreinte, Tea Rose, Lovely Sheer and Roma for a sunny sunday.

Views from my week, Gemista, Snoopy boxers, bikewear in progress and some selfmade bikewear i wore this week

On my plate this weeks cooking was a bit erratic. Some asparagus frittata, cole slaw with pulled pork, gnocchi with chard, pancakes with herbed quark and a big greek gemista with bellpeppers and rice.

I biked to work three times this week, so 135km in total. I was quite exhausted after this weeks biking, i even rode on friday in the rain and felt quite proud of me… But it helps with getting fitter and loosing some more weight (and gasoline is very expensive too at this time, so its a win in all categories).

I also took some time for sewing. I promised my boyfriend some new boxer shorts and he chose a Snoopy print! So i gladly (and with some silent giggles) i ordered Snoopy fabric and finished the first two boxer shorts plus one in checkered jersey. I have three more to finish, but this is at least a fun project. I am always happy, if i can sew something for him, but mostly he is content with his wardrobe.

I also made another set of biking clothes, this time a spring set of long leggings and a longsleeved shirt in turquoise and grey leopard fabric. If i knew that activewear is so easy to sew i would have started this much earlier! I can really recommend Activstoffe.de in Berlin, they have a great selection of quality fabric, mostly fashion industry remnants for a great price. In all i sewed three sets of bikewear (shirt and leggings) for a whopping 80Euro in fabric, and there is some left to do more…

Sewing sportswear- finally!

Since my friend Petra gifted me a book about Sewing Activewear i contemplated on sewing my own sports clothes, especially because most of the bike clothes do not really fit me. it seems, that every woman on a bike has to be very slim and small-busted. Most of the ready-to-wear things often do not even come in my size, which is really frustrating. And mostly i have problems to fit my D-cup sized bust into normal clothes.

I started with the basic pattern of Melissa Fehrs „Sewing Activewear“ book and first did a muslin of some leftover swim fabric, some bike shorts and a longer legging. As this all went well and without problems i ordered some interesting fabrics from a German seller called „Extremtextil“. I bought a very nice and thick stretch with merino plus some thinner fabrics for summer shirts and shorts.

As i wanted a raglan top, because this fits often better in the shoulders i finally bought the „Surf to Summit Top“ from Fehrtrade plus the Rouleur leggings for biking base clothes. The leggings were made from the base pattern of the book. For the top i first made a muslin with a thin t-shirt fabric to wear under it, then i finally cut into my good warm fabric.

Basic leggings and the Surf to Summit top plus my trusty ebike

I printed out the pattern at home and had no trouble to assemble it, all fit perfectly. Also the sewing of the different parts is really easy and the pieces fit together well. There were enough notches for putting together and the sewing part took maybe an hours time. Instructions were good, with text and pictures and easy to understand.

The only thing that i changed was the collar opening. I thought about inserting a zipper, but with the bulky fabric i did not like the idea after sewing a mockup on a fabric scrap. So i just cut the front part not on the fold, sewed it together leaving a slit and did a contrasting collar lining, that i folded under and stitched in by hand.

All things considered i am quite content with my new bike clothes. The sizing of the pattern is a bit on the looser side, so if you want it tightfitting, maybe size a bit down. I did cut a size M, although i am a 14US or a 16UK size, so even a bit more curvy ladys have the chance to make nice fitting workout clothes with Fehrtrades patterns. Plus- Melissa seems to be a really nice person too. I had a problem with my order and she sorted it out in just a few hours (on Easter weekend!).

My psychedelic wearable muslin of the basic leggings

Weekly diary

This weeks perfumes were a bit of a mixed bit, because the weather was very april-like. It started with warm weather, so out came Patou Joy and Cabotine, then it got really cold and it started to snow on saturday, so my cold-weather scents got an outing. It was Sens & Bois, Fourreau Noir, Dzing!, Vanille Absolument, Calligraphy Saffron and Theo Fennel.

Blossoms in spring with and without snow

As i had time at home, because of a bad case of laryngitis i could not really speak at all and therefore could not go to work, i had more time to cook. Thankfully i felt not bad or sick, just lost my voice and was not allowed to speak. This was something my boyfriend found really funny, i am sure he enjoyed the silence!

On my plate i had bulgur patties with broccoli, a greek Avgolemono-chicken soup, a soup with Maultaschen plus an old-fashioned potato soup with sausages. I made some Japchae, greek filled bellpeppers with rice and miso noodles with broccoli and salmon for sundays lunch.

I also spent some time at my sewing machine and made a long warm bike leggins from some very nice polar stretch with merino, which i hope will keep me warm on my bike. I also finally tackled the Metra Blazer from Lovenotions in some pinstriped ponte, that came out very nice and also made a matching skirt. No pictures yet, but i will post some later..

Weekly diary

Perfumes I wore this week were vintage Zen, Aromatics Elixir, Bottega Veneta, Ambre Russe, Fils de Dieu, Scherrer EdT, and Rochas Femme. Sunday I wore Fourreau Noir, which was fitting for a cold and grey day.

Donkeys at the farmers shop, pumpkin and my new made clothes

On my plate I had Greek Gemista, some burgers at work, Brussel sprouts with Miso and sausages, stuffed pumpkin with rice and a big batch of beet salad with salmon

I finally finished my socks and cast on some new ones for the boyfriend. I also worked a bit on my shawl, while watching Chicago Med. I really don’t know why I love medical series so much, because it’s the same I do for my living. Just all this medical personnel has so much time for their private life, which I don’t have. Maybe I am too old and just lack the energy?

I spent the Monday sewing and made some nice Ponte pants and an a-line shirt plus a grey raglan shirt from a grey knit fabric. They all turned out great and fit really well. I think there will be more of these in the future.

Weekly diary

Perfumes this week had the theme from NST – wear something you would not have worn pre parfumista days. So I wore Amazone, Cabotine, Memoir Woman, Agent Provocateur, Chanel No19, L Air de Rien and Dzing for Sunday. Before getting into perfumes I mostly wore something like Petit Chérie or Eau d’Issey, mostly something lighter and floral. Now I am more into Chypres or something animalic or incense. Because the weather was really cold for August (I even wore panty hose!), I could put on some of my cooler weather scents.

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Luna lounge wear

On my plate I had sausage salad, turkish lentil soup, Tortellini salad, bento with meatballs and surimi, indian chicken in pickling spices with rice, plum cake. Plus we met with friends at the Thai restaurant and had some duck curry.

I made another Love Notions Luna Lounge wear night shirt to take with me in the holidays. It’s a nice and relatively fast sew and can also double as a beach dress. I also started sewing a swimsuit, the Rhonda from 5out of 4 patterns. It’s not completely finished, but I will have something to wear for the beach in Toscana.

Weekly diary

I missed last week, but this week I am back to the blog

Perfumes of this week were Eau de Lancaster, Aromatics Elixir twice, Chanel No5 L Eau, Memoire D Une Odeur, Scherrer, Terracotta and Batucada for a hot summer evening.

I made lots of asparagus, because it’s near the end of the season, so I made quiche, baked asparagus with meatballs and asparagus en vinaigrette with fried salmon. I made a bavarian sausage salad and added kohlrabi kimchi to it, which was an instant hit with my boyfriend. Plus lots of Hummus and cold sandwiches. And not to forget a nice bottle of wine on our balcony.

I finally finished my second bra, after tweaking the pattern a bit for a better fit and now I am quite content. I think there will be more bra sewing in the future. The next one will be with a bit of lace.

I also made a summer linnen and rayon sack dress, the Adeline from Style Arc. I cut a size 16 and it came together nicely. Plus I did some cutting for another dress and a Denim jacket from scraps and some old jeans of my boyfriend.

The next week we are on staycation holidays, but we will visit a friend and hopefully do some cycling along the Neckar River.

Weekly diary and a shopping spree

Perfumes of this week were Cabotine, Adam Levine, Untitled, which I finally thunked, Vert de Fleur, Scherrer, Tea Rose, Zagorsk for meditation day, Cardin Choc and L Air de Rien on Sunday

I went on a bit of a perfume shopping spree and bought lots of cheapies, but goodies.

A big bottle of Scherrer and Scherrer One Love, Cardin Choc and Paradoxe, Verveine Cedrat and not pictured perfumers workshop Tea Rose. The Cardins were blind buys, but I really like them. The One Love is not too much my style, but a nice scent nonetheless.

I did not too much of cooking, but we had savoy with brats, swabian lentils with spaetzle and sausage and a tray bake with chicken legs, potatoes and asparagus. And because I hopefully gets warmer now, I made a big batch of Hummus.

I started working on a new dress, but it’s not finished yet plus I tried to make some woven joggers style pant, that came out ridiculously big and made me feel like a clown. This will take some weeks, before I try again, because I am frustrated.

At the moment I am watching Gotham on Netflix. I am not a marvel fan, but this is really entertaining and the villains are the best!

Weekly diary

Perfumes this week were mostly more of the chypre kind, because they are great for spring. So I wore Orange Sanguine, Amazone, Scherrer, Azurée. Friday was spring flowers day on NST, so I wore Cabotine. Saturday was grey and cold, so I put on Absolue pour le Soir and sunday was Untitled and later I wore Cabochard

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I did a lot of cooking this week, so we had beef cheeks I need wine sauce, Vietnamese summer rolls with omelet. I made salmon with fresh spinach and gnocchi, a cream of broccoli soup and a Udon noodle soup with shrimp, cabbage and miso. Later oven baked chicken legs with aubergine and sunday a kimchi spaetzle bake with cheese and fried onions.

This week I took my new Brompton out for my first commute, that finally worked out okay after encountering a dead end because of works and a much belated train because of problems with electricity. Still it was nice to finally get to cycle again. I am still not fit, after my Covid infection, but it got a bit better in the last two weeks.

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My folded bike waiting for the train to come

And because it’s MeMadeMay, I started another project with the Stacker jacket, a design from Papercut Patterns. It’s coming along nicely, hope to finish it tomorrow.

Weekly diary

Perfumes of this week were Roma, Pour La Belle, Empreinte, Covet and Salome for the cleaning community project on NST, as I chose the glamorous take on cleaning via a maid, but this sadly did not happen… I wore a mix of Avon Nearness plus Arpege on Saturday morning and Theo Fennel in the late afternoon. Sunday was lots of vintage Chanel No19.

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On my plate I had Maultaschen in soup and later fried with eggs. I used some of last week’s spiced butter to fry some eggs. Saturday I used the last of the spiced butter for a pasta with asparagus and salmon and turmeric yogurt. This was a bit improvised, but really good… The boyfriend made Sauerbraten frankonian style with special Lebkuchen for sauces and potato dumplings. Sunday I did a bit of baking and made banana bread plus something called Quarkschnecken, pictured above.

I finally got my new car, a Skoda Fabia Combi in red. Now we can take our bikes to vacation, if we are allowed sometimes in the hopefully near future.

Amd I finally made all the buttonholes on my denim jacket and on the Gilbert top. So I now contemplate what to do next. Maybe the Stacker jacket….

Weekly diary

Perfumes of this week were Scherrer (worn twice), Vintage Opium, Black Gemstone (good, but not something I like to wear), Fils de Dieu for Friday, Occur, Calligraphy Saffron and Vintage Miss Dior and later Narciso white cube, because they share the gardenia note.

Nina Lee dress, one pot pasta and the persian Nowrooz meal.

On my plate I had some Indian chicken legs with rutabaga puree, that was really nice together… I made Khoresht e Karafs, a persian stew with celery and meat plus lots of parsley and mint on Nowrooz. On Sunday there was one pot pasta for lunch, because we were hungry and I just wanted some simple pasta. The boyfriend made beef cheeks simmered to perfection in its own juices. We nearly ate this with a spoon. And we had a great red wine from Montalcino to accompany the meal. Plus I baked egg nogg cake, for the weekend.

I finished the dress from Nina Lee patterns and like it a lot. Sadly it is too thin to wear now. I also made boxer briefs for my boyfriend and started the Gilbert top from Helen’s Closet.

Sewing underwear

I made two jersey boxer briefs for my boyfriend in the last days. This is the John boxer briefs pattern from Pattydoo, and I have made them before. They fit really well and are quite easy to make.

You need just half a meter of jersey and some elastic. The front of the briefs is lined, so it does not scratch the skin.

This time I also sewed them on request, because he really likes to wear them. Sadly he did not want to pose in them, so I have no pic how they look worn…

Weekly diary

Perfumewise I started the week with Zagorsk and Covet. I am on the last drops of Tommy The Girl, but it’s still not thunked. Wednesday I wore L Air de Rien, Friday a combination of Rose Flash plus Coriandre to make the rose less jam like. Saturday was lots of Roma, because it’s such a no brainer for me. Sunday started with Eau de Lancaster and later What I did on my holidays.

Easter cookies, the old shoe factory, the grain mill I shop at and a new Rivermont dress I made

On my plate I had pasta with spinach and Gorgonzola, homemade burgers, marinated pan-Asian chicken legs with cauliflower, sausages with savoy and spaetzle and on Sunday I made Seelen, a svabian bread roll, Persian rhubarb Ragout and a cake for tea.

Svabian Seelen, which means Souls

I did a lot of sewing and cutting out fabric and finished a dress from Nina Lee patterns, the Mayfair dress, that I plan to wear to work tomorrow

Mayfair dress

Weekly diary

This week the NST project was Absinth, so I wore some absinthe related scents like Niki de Saint Phalle, Chypre Mousse, Jil Sander No4 and Memoir Woman. I also wore Evoke, Perles de Lalique, Cabochard, Dzing, Ambre de Merveilles and tested Lebretons Grimoire today. I like cumin, but this was a bit much.

Kuku with broad beans and a Denim jacket

We did cook a bit and made pasta con le sarde with saffron and raisins, some homemade pizza. Saturday was Kuku, a sort of persian frittata with broad beans and parsley and today I am still in the process of making pork shanks with a nice crust plus savoy and potatoes.

I finally nearly finished a denim jacket that I started last summer. The pattern is from Itch to Stich and it’s the Atenas jacket. Now it only needs some buttons and I need warmer temperatures to wear it….

And I got new summer ballerinas. I think this color is a neutral, goes with everything! And very comfy too.

Weekly diary

I tried starting work again, but was sent home after 2 hours. So I spent more time recovering and of course wearing perfumes. As the weather was mostly sunny and springlike, I was craving fresher scents. So I wore Covet, Roma, Eau de Lancaster, Margiela Untitled and nearly thunked Tommy The Girl. Friday I wore Meet Me On The Corner plus Niki de Saint Phalle in the evening. Saturday was lots of Empreinte and today I wore SJP Lovely Sheer and Cabotine in the afternoon.

Covet, a part of my Saturday walk and my Sunday dinner

On my plate I had chicken with Ras El Hanout on savoy cabbage with Kurkuma and barberries. I made bavarian cabbage with oven potato chips and spicy brats and a sheet cake with sour cream and apples, which turned out nice. Sunday I made Koresht e Rivas, a persian beef Ragout with saffron and rhubarb. This sounds a bit strange, but is delicious. And I like the smell and taste of saffron. Plus I baked a grain and rye bread. Usually my boyfriend does the bread baking, but he mostly make French style country bread and I had a craving for a dark rye.

I was still very exhausted at the start of the week, but got better on Friday. I even managed a 6km walk with the boyfriend without needing to rest on the sofa. And today I felt like my old self again, maybe a bit more tired, but I got things done like vacuuming and sweeping the floors. I even got a whole dress cut and finished today, it was not a very complicated one, but nevertheless.

After five weeks of being sick, it will be nice to get to work again tomorrow. I hope this time I will cope.

Weekly diary

As the community project this week at the NST blog was yellow or gray, I wore some grey scents like Full Incense, Fourreau Noir, Attaquer Le Soleil and mb03 by Biel plus some yellowish scents like Eau Duelle and Felanilla. Sunday I had a craving for something more citrussy, because we finally had some snow and put on Lovely Sheer and later Cristalle Verte.

I did not have too much time to cook, so it was a big batch of chicken paprikash, baked pumpkin with Feta Creme and Hummus and salmon with Miso butter pasta and steamed broccoli. And I made congee, to see if this could be something to eat for breakfast.

I spent a lot of the weekend on my sewing machine and made a pinafore for a friend who loves to cook. I also cut and finished a wearable muslin of the cashmerette Harrison shirt with short sleeves. It was not as complicated as I thought I would be. Maybe it still needs some minor corrections after a test wear.

Weekly diary

For the week of Christmas I wore mostly cuddly scents, so Rose de Petra, Ambre de Merveilles, Absolue pour le Soir, Fille en Aiguilles for Christmas eve, Kenzo Amour, L Air de Rien and Calligraphy Saffron on Sunday.

Because both of us were on holidays, we had more time to cook. So we had loup de mer with spinach, stifado with a puree of potato and rutabaga, pizza with radicchio, lardo a d Gorgonzola, homemade pasta with mushroom sauce, pumpkin soup with meatballs and a great ossobuco with risotto milanese for Christmas dinner.

We spent Christmas at home and did not visit our parents, because of Covid and a lockdown, but it was not bad, because usually we have to drive at least 8 hours to do our rounds, which is a bit stressful if you have to do this in 4 days… Instead we had a quiet celebration for two with good food and wine and watched ‘Love Actually’ afterwards. It even snowed at midnight.

I also finally finished my corduroy Ellis skirt and another Rivermont dress from a fun lipstick print.

Wardrobe by me – Tropical Shirt

Nähen für Männer ist ja nicht immer einfach, schon alleine, weil die Herren ihre ganz eigenen und meistens nicht sehr modischen Vorstellungen haben. Nachdem ich meinen Poloshirt-Träger zu Sommerhemden überreden wollte, fand dieses Schnittmuster dann doch Zustimmung.

Die Anleitung ist von Wardrobe by Me, eine Indie-Schnittmuster-Firma, die übrigens noch diverse andere hübsche Anleitungen hat. Vernäht habe ich einen dünnen Seersucker, damit das Hemd auch schön luftig ist. Schöner Nebeneffekt: muss nicht gebügelt werden. Das erste Hemd hat schon ohne Änderungen recht gut gepasst, hier habe ich die Schulterpartie minimal verschmälert.

Vom Nähprozess her war die Anleitung wirklich sehr gut und übersichtlich, unklare Beschreibungen gab es eigentlich gar nicht. Sogar unterschiedlich grosse Brusttaschen für verschiedene Grössen waren im Schnitt angegeben, inclusive genauer Platzierung der Taschen.

Stoff für ein drittes Hemd habe ich schon daheim, diesmal in einem dunkelblauen Karo…

Sewing for men is not easy, mostly because they want functional clothing and nothing fancy. I managed to persuade my guy to try some summer shirts instead of his usual polo shirts and he really likes them and WEARS! them.

The pattern is from Wardrobe by me, an indie pattern company. I made it from seersucker, because it is light and airy and doesn’t need to be ironed – always a plus! The pattern was well constructed and the instructions were easy to understand. It even had different sized breast pockets for bigger and smaller sizes! 

The pattern fit quite well without alterations. For the second shirt i made a small narrow shoulder adjustment, and now the shirt fits even better. A third shirt is in the making. 

Weekly statistics

Getragen/Worn: Jil Sander No 4, Chanel Cristalle Eau Verte, Guerlain Terracotta, JHAG Oil Fiction, Keiko Mecheri Soussanne, LAP Batucada, Hermes Eau de Merveilles Bleue.

In the Kitchen: Chicken in Pickling Spices, Pasta and Zucchini, Kimchi Fried Rice, Shakshuka (von eigenen Tomaten und Paprika /from homegrown bell peppers and tomatoes), Zucchini mit Burrata, Nudelsuppe mit Rind /homemade beef noodle soup, Tafelspitz mit Bratkartoffeln und Meerrettich /boiled beef with horseradish and fried potatoes, Tomatensalat, Zucchinibrot/ Zucchini bread.

Gelesen/Gesehen: Das Mammutbuch “A little life ” von Yanagihara ist endlich durch. Die gut tausend Seiten haben sich echt hingezogen, vor allem weil die Story insgesamt doch sehr deprimierend ist und man gar nicht länger am Stück lesen mochte. Dass sich die Zentralfigur am Ende umbringt, war wirklich nicht überraschend. Trotzdem war es gut geschrieben und eine interessante Leseerfahrung. Fertig gesehen habe ich “Dark Mirror” auf Netflix. Wer auf Dystopien steht, der ist damit gut bedient. Neu angefangen: “River”.

Read/Watched: Finally i got to the end of “A little life”, a very depressing and a bit disturbing read. I couldn’t read long passages, because it soon got too much. I wasn’t surprised, that the hero took his own life in the end. Still an interesting story. On Netflix i finished “Dark Mirror”, which is fine if you like dystopic fiction. Now i started “River”.

Kreativ: Zwei weitere John-Unterhosen für den Mann sind fertiggeworden, diesmal in blauem Jersey mit Sternchen. Ausserdem ein Hemd von Wardrobebyme, nämlich das Tropical Shirt. Das zweite ist mit einer leicht schmaleren Schulterpartie bereits in Arbeit.

Creative: I sewed another two John underpants for the boyfriend and finished a short sleeved shirt. Pattern is by Wardrobebyme, the Tropical shirt. I am sewing a second one at the moment, this time with a slightly narrower shoulder.

Retro-Shorts John

Von der John Retro-Unterhose habe ich inzwischen schon zwei Stück genäht und es sind noch mehr in Arbeit. Der Schnitt von Pattydoo ist wirklich recht einfach zu nähen, das einzige was mir immer noch zu schaffen macht ist die Burrito-Technik, weil ich die Schnitt-Teile gerne mal falsch zusammenstecke. Nach ein bisschen Nachdenken und Kopfkratzen geht es aber wirklich sehr schnell.

Ich nähe die Shorts immer mit eingezogenem Gummiband, dann sitzen die schön angenehm, und kein Gummi kratzt auf der Haut. Die Säume werden einfach mit der Zwillingsnadel abgesteppt. Das geht sogar auf meinem 30 Jahre alten Nähmaschinen-Schätzchen….

Die Passform ist echt super, der Mann trägt die Dinger tatsächlich freiwillig. Zumindest solange ich mich mit der Stoffwahl zurückhalte.

This is the second pattydoo John pattern, that i made for the boyfriend. The pattern is really easy to make, only the burrito method of sewing together the padded front makes me think long and hard. After that it is sewn together really quick. I do a a tunneled elastic, so nothing scratches. The legs are just finished with a twin needle (even my old 30year old sewing machine works with a twin needle!).

The fit is really good, the boyfriend is wearing them without complaints and lets me make more of them (as long as i choose the right fabric design ….)

Kirschenstoff

Zum Nähen wollte ich schon seit ewigen Zeiten wieder anfangen, aber nun habe ich es wirklich geschafft etwas vernünftiges zu produzieren. Mein zweiter Kleiderschnitt, den ich getestet habe, war von Cashmerette patterns – der Pembroke-Dress. Eigentlich weitgehend ein gering tailliertes T-Shirtkleid mit grossem rundem Ausschnitt und angenähten Gürtelteilen, die vorne gebunden werden.

Den Schnitt habe ich als pdf-Datei gekauft und zum Plotten geschickt, weil ich keine Lust habe über 50 Seiten zusammenzukleben. Die Anleitung war gut geschrieben, die Schnitt-Teile haben ebenfalls gut zusammengepasst. Lediglich die vorgeschlagene Art des Halsbündchens habe ich nochmal abgetrennt und anders aufgenäht.

Cashmerette bietet zudem den Schnitt in verschiedenen Cup-Grössen an, was vor allem für Frauen mit mehr Oberweite praktisch ist und hat sich generell auf grössere Grössen spezialisiert. Bei mir wurde es die kleinste angebotene Grösse in Cup C bis D.

Alles in allem bin ich mit dem Kleid recht zufrieden, vor allem weil es auch noch eine Rollkragen- und eine Tunikavariante davon gibt, so dass man das Kleid mit langen Ärmeln auch für den Winter nähen kann. Nur Taschen fehlen mir noch, dann wäre es perfekt.

Aus dem Rest vom Stoff gab es sogar noch ein Kindershirt, das verschenke ich dann bei Gelegenheit an meine Nachbarin.

Finally i found the time to start sewing again, so after some experimenting, i ordered the Cashmerette Pembroke pattern. Its a Shirtdress with a scooped neck and ties, which are knotted in the front, to give a more fitted look. 

The instructions were clear enough, the only thing i had to rip out was the neckband. I redid it with a different technique and it looks okay now. I am pleased with the outcome of the dress and think i can wear this a lot. There is a funnel neck and tunic variation of the dress too, so this could also be made suitable for winter. The only thing it lacks are pockets. I even had enough fabric left to sew a tiny children shirt, which will be a gift for my neighbour.