Now or never, for MEN only

Once upon a time...

It has been a long time and I only have a minute! 

So ATTENTION this is a new Hand stitched Top available for MEN, made of Organic Bamboo/Cotton Jersey. The photo shows the vest but it would not be a problem to add sleeves. The classic version is black or white, colours can be ordered on demand.

Made to order, the pattern is ready for size S, any other size requires grading, which would only mean the production takes a little longer.

The material is very soft and due the sewing by hand only the spoiling effect is enhanced drastically. Easy to care for and breathable, which means airing is often enough.

PS You don't have to be a Yogi to wear comfortable clothes ;)

Rusty accident, New Moon & a New Top!

New Moon on the wrong day ....

Why is that? I have a moon app and I was really very sure that New Moon was yesterday. I even did my Moon fast yesterday. But then this afternoon I read weird posts on facebook concerning the moon and checked my app and had to find out that New Moon is today, never mind.

A good timing for this post. I worked on a new order, a men's vest and because it is still school holiday I had to squeeze it in somewhere and found a gap. So I developed the pattern and checked and double checked and then when I was happy I started cutting the fabric, wow, this is running smoothly.

Pinned and stitched I put it on my tailor's stand, which is not accurate because it is a men's vest but as it is for a size S, I could at least see its shape and collar. It looked nice. Good that I had a similar vest to compare sizing because it was far too wide.

How did that happen?

I haven't done a top all summer, so I might be a bit rusty but intuitively, I added a bit to the pattern being used to making ladies clothes. I know my patterns and know when I need to cut a bit wider so there is more room for drape and change and fine tuning, so this might be why it happened. 

This vest has a similar cut like my Hand stitched favorite Tank top, just with a men's shape, as in smaller armholes, smaller cut for front and back neckline, and it is a bit less tailored at the waist. 

So no chance for adjustment here unless I changed the pattern and create instead of a one-seam top a 3-seam-top. But the really comfortable thing about this one seam is that it feels fantastic on the body, because no seam is bothering you anywhere and the one seam that holds it together and gives the shape is on the back. So the answer was no, I had to check the pattern again, make sure that the pattern was super accurate and then concentrate to cut it at the line without adding anything.

There was enough fabric left, I started again. 

And what to do with the unusable top? I tried it on had to find out that it looked really nice on me. I never thought of using these differences on a ladies top. That is why I probably like it. The neckline is a bit higher than I would normally go. But because men have wider shoulders there is more space at the sides of the neck and this makes the whole décolleté very interesting and loose. And as men's waist is less accentuated than women's it floats nicely down my sides without touching and comes to an halt at my waist where it drapes. 

I shall finish it and take a pic.... Nice to have a new order and a new top for myself at the same time!

Happy New Moon!
x

breaking the silence and an alien

time time time ....

I have been waiting and waiting to receive some pictures of the latest onesie order and now look at the date of the last post!!!

It is summer and I am tangled up in childcare - this involves saving an alien that has been thrown up to the attic door and as I washed it just the day before, it stuck there and did not move for a whole day, no matter what we tried.

I keep forgetting that there is hardly any me time in the summer holidays. What I always remember though and love is that there is only our rhythm and the kids turn into happy and relaxed little beings - even with the house full of children and them running wild!

So no news on the sewing front but as always ideas brewing. One of them is a new triangle bra version, another a cardigan and I found a new organic fabric source selling hemp...... which might make a nice Kundalini Yoga collection being white!!!!

More later, when there is more time....

;) x

210 days of Bound Lotus and the Hand stitched Onesie

Harvest time

You might think I have started expanding my work and specialize in toddlers clothes. No I haven't. Although I would not mind it at all designing a girls dress or a baby jumpsuit or any children's clothes, really.


This time I worked on an Hand stitched Ladies Onesie. The request was to replace a range of jumpsuits with the mission to be more attractive at home. Also wearable all year long, with and without any other layers to wear, and very comfortable were included in this order.

I must say I am very happy to have been approached. It is nice to have my work noticed. And I love this kind of approach. Can you make me...is my favorite.


I would not have designed a onesie in near future, so it is nice to have expanded my collection. But now as it is accomplished I would not be upset at all if the customer would not like it, as I fancy one myself.

It is the ultimate of comfortable so far! The cut is very feminine but there is enough drape to feel good if you know what I mean. The waistband is looser than for the Hand stitched Yoga pants as it should just gently sit there, which is also an important factor for hot summer days. The legs of the pants only touch at the very end so the only points of contacts are on the shoulders, a touch on the waist and at the bottom of the legs. The conic shape allows to pull them up higher when you wish to have cooler ankles.

I have the feeling she might ask for other colors once she received it and will not wear it only at home. I guess I can start making another one ...... ;)

I called this post harvest time. This onesie was quite a challenge as it has a lot of folds and must really sit perfectly. And looking back I can tell now how much I have progressed with my work. 

I recently had a similar experience with my daily Bound Lotus practice. I noticed a shift before but now I can see the difference. It is hard to explain but this posture seems to be part of my body now, in way. I am still far from reaching my toes but I feel comfortable and notice what this posture gives me.

The warmer days seem to be more frequent and I am thinking of shorter and airy......... 

Time to make Dandelion Honey and a Hand stitched Jumpsuit (Ladies)

Oh DEAR

I just looked at the date of my last post. It has been a month! And where has time gone? And what have I been doing this last month?

Anyway it is May and I am happy for some sunshine. My kids are still coughing and I wish we could see the sea more often, not only because it is my favorite place to be but I would love to get some sea breeze into their lungs. Instead, we went to the park, whenever it was not blowing a gale or raining, and picked lots of dandelions before they are gone and made some honey.

I guess time also vanishes as our youngest son has to be taken to school since Easter. This makes three journeys to school each day, as he only attends half a day.
 
I experimented on rare occasions of having a working day or two on a Hand stitched one-piece top made of pointelle (ajour) which I loved already when I have seen my nanny wearing it. At that time it was rather used for vests. I found some white organic cotton ajour and it turned almost into a tunic. I also extended the short sleeves (t-shirt) of the one-piece top with white organic bamboo cotton jersey and I love to wear it.

Now I have an order to design a Ladies jumpsuit and I am looking forward to this. 

It is really nice to see that finally some people around me start to notice what I am doing. And also that they get interested in wearing it themselves.......

After the Blue Phase

Time

I hope I have finished the Blue Phase now! 

Winter is fading so I dare to believe and the light has changed, and to fight dullness I made a range of blue Tops. I don't really like to wear black. Although people still associate this colour with me probably because I had a very Black Phase a very very long time ago, it stuck to their mind. Even though it was followed by a White Phase and then a very colourful period.....

I seem to start working on my working days and as soon I am busy time is over. I understand that I have to corporate with my family life but it is like everything in my life at the moment. There is a thought or I start something and in a blink I am taken out and have to do something else. Normal for this stage of life, I still struggle with it and it keeps me feeling fragmented. A good challenge to still get things done, time efficiency is required and concentration. Which brings me back to my Blue Phase. I lack all of it. And chocolate is one of my dearest friend at the moment...oh.

There are only 2 more unfinished tops waiting to be made which feels much better than a pile and I decided to do some other very practical things today. Starting with a hairband. You might think that is boring.  But to wear your hair all day long with an uncomfortable hairband only leaves you with headache and a very bad mood. And although I went through my whole workspace and did a spring clean at the same time (actually quite efficient!) I cannot find my one and only so comfortable hairband anymore. Ridiculous, it takes about 5 minutes to make and I only had one? Made of the edge of lycra - I love using leftovers - it is very elastic but still maintains enough stretch to keep my bun where I want to have it all day long without headache or broken hair.

Next on the list are undies and a bra but I won't go into anymore detail....... Ready for a long long Easter Holiday.......

Comfortable drop crotch pants and a one piece T-shirt

I am ready for spring!

Where have I been? Weeks have past by but it is still not spring.
I could not care less as I am completely into spring and absolutely denying that I am freezing cold. I also had to fight a bad cold which made me even more ignorant to cold!

But, but, but I progressed in my comfortable Hand stitched 
T-shirt project. The last version posted was a drapey one with one seam at the side. This drape was not very comfortable and also not tummy-friendly so I worked on a legere version, which is fun to wear and comfortable, very. Might post pics of this one later.

But now I have moved away one step. This Hand stitched top is made in one piece, meaning I folded the fabric at the shoulders and cut a hole for the neckline. Consequently there are no seams on top of the arms either. This way the jersey is gently hanging on my shoulders. Again words seem not to be able to describe what I mean. Compared to a normal sleeve, the lack of seems in this area makes an enormous difference.

The side seams have only a touch of batman wings. This gives more freedom of movement to the arm but also relaxes the armpit.

I chose Organic Cotton/Bamboo jersey, which feels gorgeous.
This prototype is short but works for layering with a tank top, but I started already a longer version....

Now to the very comfortable Hand stitched Yoga Pants.
I have posted the white version earlier. 

I have made the experience that wearing white only works if I feel comfortable. So I started to design my Kundalini Yoga outfit. I started with leggings, as it was winter and the need of layering required a simple cut for the pants. But now the layers are about to be reduced or vanish, so I could experiment with the shape of the pants. Saying that this drop crotch version is so comfortable that I might stop wearing leggings!!!!! I wish you could try for yourself. The no impact comfort makes such a difference. Additionally there are 4 tucks on each side, which is a nice element and again adds to the comfort.

So I am switching between designing for Yoga and adapting for urban life or designing for everyday life and creating a white Yoga version......

As I did with the grey Valentine's cardigan ....there is now an off white Yoga Version.


Well I am ready for spring.
Actually skip spring, I am ready for summer.

Look, what I found in my mailbox...

Retreat in Northern Cyprus

Sometimes I love receiving emails. A friend informed me about her new retreat, have a look......
Villa Sophia is waiting for you!

Enjoy a special week of yoga and meditation at this beautiful villa within the olive groves of Northern Cyprus.......

Valentine's Cardi

Love to you - Copy and Paste 

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

We do not do this Valentine thing as according to my dear love it is a consumer thing. Honestly I am lucky if we do birthdays or Christmas...... But I DO THIS, so I woke him up with a cappuccino made with extra love and shared my love to him as well. The answer I got was: Ditto, copy and paste. Well I guess it was early and he might have been still dreaming.....

The day itself did not start too good either, even before that, I spare you the details of kids and making a mess, but somehow I am in a very good mood.

Probably because it is my working day today and I have done already so much as I started working last night. Sometimes I have so much in my head that I cannot stop standing by my doll (tailor's dummy). I love creating live and enjoy that I have learnt so much already. So only a few hours later and I designed a long sleeve top, a T-shirt and a cardigan. I mentioned it before I cannot have too many cardigans, especially because my favorite got blown away and I haven't made a new favorite until now......(actually that is a lie, this hooded cardigan was my dearest companion for the last freezing weeks, ah months)

The grey cardi is made of a wool mix in grey, a very light fabric. It has one seam at the back. At the front it is closed with two upcycled mega press studs. It has a hint of a cowl neck collar which looks quite interesting. The cut is figure fit, not too tight and as the studs are somewhere in the middle, the bottom of the cardigan drapes open. The contrasting seams are red. I love it already!

Love.

New Grounds - Drape & Shape

How you do it, it's right!

The other day I made my son a sandwich and he came back to the kitchen crying to break hearts. When I asked him what's wrong he said I did not make a sandwich as in half it and fold it on top of each other. I am sure if I would have done exactly that it would have been wrong as well. I am not questioning this behavior but I also can't blame him as I am not very different. 

I need things to be my way. Or maybe that is not true, I just don't want to feel uncomfortable, and sometimes things need a long time to be reduced to the max. When I had an outing to browse the High street I could find nice clothes, but looking closer or trying them on I could only find issues. The material was wrong or seams uncomfortable, it might have looked nice but it was hardly wearable and so on. I had to leave it and cannot call myself a customer anymore, even if I try very hard.

And now I am designing my own clothes I am not different at all. I might be very pleased with a new design but I need to put it to the test and only if I still like it then it will be part of my collection. This might be a too different approach as we live in a throw away society. But I always loved the garments worn to death the most and even when they were beyond it. 

The collection is completed and I am up to new grounds. In the collection I worked a lot with one-piece designs. The idea is that it is more comfortable to wear and a challenge but looks very different too. This time I wanted to drape more. This is even more of a challenge as drape and one piece is not easy to solve.

The top has one seam on one side. The other side drapes. Not too much as I still prefer plain cuts but enough to be a decorative element and shape around the body differently. The leggings are even more comfortable than the Hand stitched Yoga pants as there is hardly any contact to the body. 

Now in test phase and still only a first attempt in a new direction I am sketching and designing already more.....

In Training

New year

It seems that this year is everything else than superficial. I found already great music, geared up my Yoga props and changed my daily practice. Up somewhere around 4 am I start the day like in a cloud or dream. It is not really hard to get up at this hour for me, I am perfectly trained after two toddlers who still venture in my bed nowadays. 

The most challenging is to keep the time. I am slower but also this practice is much longer than anyone I had so far...... I try to finish before everybody is up but mostly end up with a little boy or two lying on my tummy or a demand for breakfast. 

It goes very deep to dedicate this golden hour to turn inside. And as a consequence during the day I feel sort of minced and incredibly tired. I notice it is getting better and the day does not seem endless anymore but I still have a long way to go before I fully integrated this routine into my life.

That does not keep me from designing new outfits. My head is bursting and I am looking forward to spend some time with the doll (tailor's dummy) over the next dew days......

ps:
I had some lovely feedback on my new collection, wearing it on a Yoga course I was attending. In a random conversation some ladies mentioned they could not find any nice Yoga Wear and where I got mine from, thank you!

The New Collection on the Beach

Finally ready to let go of 2013 . . . .

I am soooooo tired - But it was a good day. 

The last weeks I did nothing else but finishing off my NEW Collection - BASIS - and today I was ready to take all the pieces with me to the Beach to take some pics. Obviously it was freezing cold but the sun was out and we chose a rather sheltered corner. So filled with my excitement of being at the Beach - home! - but also because I finally can show the collection and offer it in my shop, I felt almost warm.

Just after a couple of hours I could not feel my toes anymore and we had enough shots captured and could drive back home, where we shot the rest of the details and voilà: my first listing is online!

The collection is the Best of ONE year work. There are Yoga pants, three different styles of Long sleeve Tops including a Tunic and a Tank Top and ALL pieces are Hand stitched. I offer size S, M or L and the fabric is either Organic Bamboo/Cotton Jersey or Organic Cotton Jersey in black, white and colours. (I will show the colours available but will have to order them on demand according to availability.) For the seams there is a choice of contrasting Red, or a similar colour to the tone of the chosen material and you can state your wish at the check-out.

There is still much more to do but I can feel a chapter is finishing and I am ready for the New of 2014! 

100 days and The Lotus

Experience of a daily practice

I do not want to blame all on my kids but it took me an incredibly long time to find a routine in my new life. Not so much caring for the kids but meeting my own needs. Sadly it included a vast amount of energy to make all the family members take their share, not sure but it might have been easier to accomplish this with female household members, saying that, my oldest son complained this morning that the kitchen has too many things lying around and it was impossible for him to get some more breakfast (being 4 and a half he is climbing everywhere to get what he wants).

I never have stopped with my yoga practice but I have been drained for a long time mainly due to sleep deprivation. But combined with Aqua Running and 3 weeks on my own with the kids (where I had nothing better to do in the evening than doing yoga) I could gather a lot of stamina that I do not wish to loose again.

It has been almost 100 days since I have started with The Bound Lotus. As so often I do not know how things make it into my life but there it is and I am very fond of this practice. 

I must mention at this point that also this practice challenges me a lot. First I had to practice the Lotus position as I have been avoiding full Lotus for the past years. So part of the warm-up set now is to stretch my legs to achieve Lotus easier. And it is working. I manage to sit without props in full Lotus. My hands are still far away from grabbing my toes (after crossing them on the back) but I think I will emphasize on this stretch from now on. Also the head does not touch the ground yet, but I approach this while sitting in Bound Lotus, and I get closer, every day a bit more. But there is still much more stretching to do for Lotus and arms, so this might take a bit longer.

As the practice only counts if you do not skip one day I had to discipline myself to start the day with Bound Lotus. So no matter what conditions I will warm-up and stretch and do the Bound Lotus before I start anything else. Because from experience I know once I have started the day there is no stopping and a day would feel wrong without Bound Lotus at the very beginning. 

And here I am 100 days later, happy to have found this practice as it replaces meditation for me at the moment. Because to sit still in mediation will require another quarter of a lifetime.
Practice on.

More about Bound Lotus here.