Polkadot blouse

Before the summer I made this cute little polkadot blouse. It's a variation of my usual blousepattern, I closed up the front, skipped the collar and made fabric covered buttons down the back.

It turned out ok, but it has an unfortunate tendency to wander back, so the neckline climbs up, the shoulder seams move a bit out of place and the back becomes very blousy-saggy. Any idea of what I could do remedy this on a future make, save raising the neckline? It worked on the dress (see previous post), but then of course the bodice was attached to a skirt...

From the front. There's a bustdart to create room without adding bulk to the waist. The necline is faced. (A sidenote: That little building in the background is the in reality quite big outdoors dance-floor we use a couple of times during the summer)

The skirt is actually even better than new: it's an old make that needed some small fix-up's, and I've finally done them! I made this skirt in December 2009, over two years ago, for a Christmas danceperformance (the colour in the old post is very different from the one in this post - the truth lands somewhere in between). It was a last minute-no-time-for-finesse sewing project, so I didn't have time to let the skirt hang before hemming. A short while after it looked like this:

I put it on my dressdummy, measured a new length, cut and re-hemmed and voila! A usable skirt =)

Also, I was a little bit slimmer around the waist and hips two years ago, and the skirt came out on the tight side from the start. I had done a very dodgy waistband, which now had the benefit of being easily adjusted. I had to wrestle down my instinctive desire to remove the entire waistband and sew one on properly. But seriously, this skirt clings to everything, it wrinkles for nothing and while it was well worth the time to re-hem and adjust it a bit in the side, it would have been overkill to make a proper waistband. Even though my sewing-conscious is writhing, I'm trying to learn that it doesn't have to be perfect every time =)

I love this blouse and skirt combo! It feel very 50s college-student, esp with the keds and the ponytail. Quite fitting for this going back to school time of the year =)

Love, Erika

30s ensamble: I did it! Sort of...

So, I had this grand plan to make a dress and jacket in 7 weeks, during which I'd be travelling at least 3. I got inspired by some pretty fabric, and I desperetly wanted to make a 30s outfit to wear to a friends wedding. I made it! Sort of... I didn't have time to line the jacket but as long as we don't tell anyone it doesn't matter, right? (So why did I go around and show this to my sewing-friends at the weddding?! Or admitting this to the world on the blog?! Hmm... not so smart, perhaps ; ) ) In the last minute, I just basted the facing hem and sewed on the buttons, it worked for the day, but I will of course make it properly now after the wedding.

Dress and jacket.

Just the dress, with the cute little 30s handbag I bought at Tradera.

The wedding was in an old chapel at Gammlia outdoors museum. In between the guided tour and waiting for the newlyweds to get back from the photoshoot, me and Linda, who generously helped me out with taking pictures (Thank you!) found a 40s boat in one of the few museum buildings at Gammlia. We had fun... =)

It was a wonderful day; a beautiful wedding, a delicious dinner and a fun party.

Congratulations, Johan and Amanda!

I'm glad I made the outfit, but was again reminded that me and deadlines don't go together very well. Esp when I set them up way too tight!

I you want to see details shots and read some construction notes, just click on the blogtitle...

Otherwise, thank you for reading this far =)
Love, Erika

Herräng - what a week!

Me and my sister Kajsa outside Folkets Hus, The Lindy Hop Shop in the background

When the world's biggest international swing dance camp is hosted in Sweden, it's quite natural that it's a given part of a Swedish swingdance enthusiast's summer vacation. This summer was no exception! This year was very special to me, as it was the first year my sister attended the camp, and the first time me and the mr were there together. My friend Elin was also there, and the four of us had a great week!

What to say? The classes were fun, the teachers great, our fellow dancers inspiring, the company the best. The social dances in the evenings a delight. The tea hot and the cookies warm =) Only bad was that the weather had shifted back from past two years glory to normal swedish summer, unfortunatly.

Me and Kajsa the last day, shivering in the not too warm evening air during Friday night party. We wore really cute outfits beneth the jackets, promise... I had cought this year's Herräng flu, hence the glasses.

Herräng is a 24/7 activity, with classes, evening events, social dancing, and lot's of eating to have energy for all the dancing =) Some snaps of everyday life at the camp:

Removal of tape after glueing the sole back on. It's a hard life to be a dance shoe...

Lunch at the Blue moon café

Brushing out pincurls on Kajsa for the evening dance

Wendenesday there's cutural activities in the "morning" and no classes starts before three in the afternoon. A lot of people take this as an opportunity to sleep, as they went to bed very, very late (or early, depending on if one refers to the evening prior or the day that had started) after Blues night =) This year Kajsa and I guided our mom and grandmother around, as they came to visit to see what all the fuss was about =)

Kajsa and Gran

As I said, the weather did not co-operate for one bit, two days in a row we even had serious thunderstorms with heavy rain and pea-sized hail!

Storm clouds coming in, one can almost see how they push away the blue-sky-and-fluffy-white-clouds-weather we had had earlier that day. It was a gorgeous effect!

However, while it of course is better with nice weather, a little rain was nowehere near eunough to spoil our mood. Herräng, it was a lovely week, and I'm looking forward to seeing you again next summer! =)

Me and Kajsa with our camp passports

All for now!
Love, Erika