Wednesday 10 October 2012

A chignon and sewing funk


I want to keep a positive tone on this blog, but feel the need to admit I've been in a bit of a funk lately. (All right, now why is it hard to admit I'm only human?!) Maybe due to the lingering cold I've been trying to get rid of since forever, or maybe it's the days getting darker that's getting to me. I've been all inspiration and no motivation whatsoever to get anything done. Finally I grew weary with myself and decided to try to lift my spirits!


First up: for this seasons first Lindy Hop Live I decided to try out a hair-do tutorial by Brittany on Va-Voom Vintage (tutorial found here). I didn't have the time/energy to do a pincurl-set, and don't have hot sticks, so I used my hot rollers instead. The wave effect is a lot smaller, this would really benefit from a pincurl-set with standing pincurls in the front. I like the idea to use a wave in the front, though. Got to try it with better prep =)


The back looks totally different from Brittany's, mainly due to my hair refusing to be tucked in at the top. So instead I did a sort of flat roll in the center and a flat victory roll at each side. Not bad, but I do like the fuss-free classic look of a clean chignon so I tried an adapted version the week after. No photo's of that, I'm afraid, but I plan to put up a little tutorial in a few weeks!

My second attempt to get myself a bit more motivated was to finally treat myself to samples from an internet fabric shop, Sonjas Textilateljé. They only carry ecologial fabrics, and they're swedish so it's fast and easy (well, for Swedes anyway). No customs or staggering fee's, yay!

You want to see some pics, right? =) All in all it's around 150 fabrics...

Shirtings - mostly cotton but also some linen

Heavy cottons - bags, interior decorating, summer jackets

Jerseys - cotton, but also some linen, silk and wool. Love the mathcing single jerseys and ribbings!

Wool, silk and heavy linen. Not much to look at like this, but oh my! The quality of these fabrics is fantastic! The black suiting is just stunning.


Of course my fabric storage space is full to the brim, but it's always nice to plan, to dream... Also, I'm thinking that with these in hand I might be saved from too much "Oh, I love this fabric, what can I do with it? I'm not sure, but I like it so I'll get x metres and then I'll surely have enough". Maybe it will be easier to decide on what I want to sew, find the perfect fabric for it and just order the amount I actually need. All with good conscience, knowing my fabric to be eco-friendly =) (And yes, I know the problems with eco-fabrics, I know there's no guarantees, but it's got to be a little bit better than shopping fabric I know with absolute certainty to be an eco-disaster).

Right now I'm trying to finish some UFOs. Hey, maybe that's why I'm in such a sewing funk! UFOs are just so booooring, and I've been at it for weeks. I even thought I was ready with a plaid wool skirt, when I realised the zipper stretched the fabric. Quality time with my seam-ripper ahed...

Or I can just dream about fabric ; )

Love, Erika

5 comments:

Samia said...

I totally understand your comment about darker days.
Even though i'm a bit further down south from you (northern France), it's been 2 weeks that I wake up to a still pitch dark night in the morning, on work days. I hate it.
So far the sun rises around 8 :00 am and the night starts around 6 :30 pm here and I'm guessing it must be even shorter days for you.
I'm afraid going back 1 hour in october when we change our clock to winter time won't help.
Still I think that, since, human like us can't hibernate, we should be allowed to a little slackness in winter.
So, don't feel bad about slowing down a bit, it is still commendable that you are even thinking about the seam ripper at all !

J'adore ton chignon.

Hope you'll get well soon.
E.

joelle st-laurent said...

I am also in a bit of a sewing funk... my head is full of ideas and projects, but I just don't have the energy when I come home. Maybe it's the busier-than-usual days at work, or maybe it's the days getting shorter, probably both. So I'm trying to find smaller projects!
Love your hair, looking foward to the tutorial!!

Erika said...

Eurielle, thank you for your encouragement! I sometimes think maybe it would be good if we could hibernate =) You make an excellent point about not expecting too much when the sun disappears with one's energy. Thinking about that, I acutually stopped beating myself up over being tired.
Thank you for your insights and kind words!

Joellestlaurent, That's exactly how I feel! After writing this post I scratched the huge project I had planned to start, and started thinking about smaller, less demanding projects. That and some sunlight these past two days have actually given me a boost to sew this weekend (still way too tired to sew during the week).
Thank you! I'm hoping to have the tutorial up in 2-3 weeks

Witchcrafted Life said...

What a beautiful frock and hairstyle. I really like the soft, spring chick yellow hue of your dress, dear gal.


Wishing you positively and happiness,
♥ Jessica

M'lady said...

I like the green dress. wish I could do something like that with my hair but its too short and at the stage where I have to decide to grow it out or cut it again. Probably go for a 20's bob cut.