torsdag 12 oktober 2017

Sewing plans (slightly on hold)

I would like more nerdy but useful everyday clothing like this star trek jacket I made earlier. Please ignore slightly overdone attempt at smiling for the camera.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have not been doing any sewing lately, nor have I been thinking about sewing. My main sewing plan when I get my sewing room unpacked is to make some modern blouses that I need. I would like to make at least one of the more romantic kind, a white blouse with high neck and lace insets. Hopefully this will be useful for both everyday wear, paired with jeans, and steampunk when pared with a skirt and lots of accessories. I would also like to at least one inspired by futuristic wear from sci-fi. Marked shoulders, angled and piped seams, perhaps an overlapping front. And high neck :-) And perhaps one more nerdy jacket as well - the star trek jacket has become quite a favorite of mine. Let's just see if all this modern and useful is going to happen - I vaguely recall saying "I should do some modern sewing" every now and then for the last ten years...


"Some" unpacking left to do before I get to sew...
Sewing machine - I know you are hiding in there!


And yes - another reason to look forward to the unpacking of my sewing room is the fact that I bought a new sewing machine a month ago! I finally decided to replace my 40 year old Husquarna 2000. I know they are considered very reliable and tough, and I have been telling myself that I don't need any of the functions that a modern machine could give me, but when it needed professional repair for the second time in a year I decided that automatic button holes, up/down needle stop, built-in thread cutter and better light actually would be very nice. I did not go too far however - my new Janome DC4030 is indeed new, but of a model that have been produced for a number years. And it is electronic, but not very computerized - I want buttons on my sewing machine, not a touch screen, WiFi and the potential for software malfunctions! Maybe I am a bit conservative for my age in that regard? I have only tried it very briefly before I put it back in its box for the move, but I really liked what I saw (and felt and heard - quite smooth and definitely less noisy). So now I only have to fix the floor, walls and roof in the room, before I can start finding all the fabric I used to cushion frail things with when packing... Somehow I get the feeling it might be a while until I have to think about modern vs historical sewing! 


torsdag 5 oktober 2017

Sewing on a train

Since SilwerSteam a month ago, I have not had time to even think about sewing. I have been busy getting a house, preparing for our move to another town, and have also changed to a new job (which is great this far). Also new for me is that I will be commuting 40 min in each direction by train. That is considerably longer than the 7 min bike ride I was used to. The positive thing is that I think I will enjoy hand sewing things on the train ride, and if that proves to be true, I will get quite a lot of time for sewing each week. I just have to unpack my sewing room and come up with some project that is suitable. So far, "suitable" means 


Safety!
-Not too likely to make me stab person on the next seat

[picture me sewing, very concentrated, waving wildly with the needle, unaware that the person next to me desperatly try to lean as far away as possible]


Practicality!
 -Not requiring me to get indecent trying on a toile (On second thought - no trying on at all!)
 -Not too many pieces that can be dropped on floor or lost 

[picture me, hair in disorder, triumphantly crawling out from under someone else's seat holding a tiny but crucial piece of fabric ]


Brain-dead-ness (yes that is a word - I just used it!) 
 -not needing too much thought (sewing after work means sewing with tired brain!

[picture me as a zombie - hair in even more disorder, pale and staring, mumbling and moaning, and contently embroidering brains on a tea warmer ]


Currently, I don't have much on my want to do list, and nothing that fills these criteria. I guess knitting would be a classic on the train, so maybe I should try that. As long as I stick to very simple projects - I would prefer to not end up shouting "shut up, I'm counting!!" to the loudspeaker on the train announcing that the next station is the one where I live.

Also, I realize that nalbinding (?, nålbindning in Swedish) should be even more perfect on the train than knitting. Only a single short and blunt needle. I think I would need to actually poke someone in the eye with in order to do any harm, so the safety criteria should be well passed. Also, just one strand of yarn, and it can not even unravel, as in knitting. Alas I have no desire whatsoever to make warm and sturdy naahbound mittens. I guess that would be too useful... 

As I write this, on a boringly delayed train, I realize that blogging is also suitable. Maybe you should expect more posts and more words but considerably less actual content per post in the future?