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......... 

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!

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.

Lotus and the Beach

Yoga in progress

My newest challenge is Bound Lotus. I have avoided Lotus in general the last years as I was either too fat or not flexible enough. But now the Baby-fat is fading and this summer had a good aspect as I had nothing else to do at night than doing my Yoga Set, every day. So Lotus is possible now, Bound Lotus still a big mission though. But I must say after 11 minutes with lots of props and some suffering, I feel really good afterwards, just wondering when will I enjoy 31 minutes without too much pain.....

Meanwhile my Hand stitched Yoga Tunic in natural Organic Cotton Bamboo Jersey is finished. The seam is at the front this time, as it might bother me while practicing kriyas on the back. Also, it is neither too wide nor too tight as I want to be able to do inverted postures without showing my belly. I enjoy being aware of my body but do not want to be trapped like a sausage, so I chose the middle way. 

As you can see on the picture, I took it on an outing and this Tunic is really fun to mix with blue and grey. The material is fantastic to wear (Bamboo!) and with the Yoga Bra, the white feels even better, as it breaks the brightness.

The second Top of this special Hand stitched Yoga collection is also about to be finished, already thinking of variations with different seam colours but I might add some coloured versions anyway, as I am not sure to keep it all white....

I love big projects!

Breath is My Music

Picking Plums

The boys are out and this gives me a moment of inner silence which I love. Not that I do not accomplish this otherwise but it has a different quality to it. Somehow motherhood is connected to being there non stop and only stops with physical separation and still then there is a chance that a lot of thoughts and concerns are still with the boys.

Not knowing when they are back I started with my Yoga Set. The last weeks I am doing a pelvic balance set which is quite short but very intense. I am also back to Aqua Running after a long Summer Break and was really surprised how easy my return was. So I guess I finally made a huge step. I would not mention this but I have to admit it is a (my) BIG mission to get rid of a baby body (; 

Additionally I can stay in the wheel position and this took years hahahaha. That is one aspect of Yoga that I really love. I keep doing the same thing over and over again often struggle and then one day something has shifted and I can do it. And then the experience can still change by further repetition. I still remember one night, in my past life, I was out dancing and noticed a change of my hip-spine coordination which was due to spinal twists I was practicing at that time. This might sound weird but it is a great feeling for me to be flexible.

If you haven't seen this short film I post it here again. I really like watching it. Not only because Yoga in a dress looks really nice but also because it shows how normal Yoga is. I do not think she looks particularly fit from a glance....... And the poses do not seem to be great effort for her. And the good thing about Yoga is that there is no limit to age or gender or constitution or condition. It requires comfortable clothes which is nice to wear every day anyway (... i can cu) and some practice. And it all comes with the Breath.

(and I recently had the chance to watch the changes in a 70 year old lady, completely new to Kundalini Yoga, that went from swearing to moving quite smoothly in days, and that with acute spinal issues.)

They are back now.

Cross action (DIY cross stitch)

Cross stitching practice

You never know when you will need this gorgeous cross stitch - 
it might be very soon ;) 
So if you have a moment give it a try.

To sew a Hand stitched top or to mend jeans this cross stitch is versatile and an eye-catcher and stretchy!

You need: 

Material of your choice pinned, a needle (sharps#4), buttonhole thread and embroidery/fabric scissors.

THE KNOTS

Take about 2 arm's lengths of your thread or whatever length feels comfortable and thread your needle. 

Make 1 knot at the very end (about 2mm away from the edge) to prevent fraying.
And then about 1cm higher make 2 knots in the same place to fixate your thread at the start and end.
(The double knot in the same place might take a bit of practice)



For the cross stitch create 2 imaginary lines and let the cross stitch run along them. I usually choose to hold the fabric like shown below, with the seam folded upwards. (If you sew from the edge start with making a loop around the edge like shown at the infinity scarf project here: http://icancu4more.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/diy-hand-stitched-infinity-scarf.html)

THE CROSS STITCH

Come up on the top (after the loop if you sew from the edge) and make the first bottom part of the cross stitch while moving a cross stitch width to the right.

The top part is exactly the same as the bottom part but moved to the right and then the next bottom part is again exactly the same as the top part moved to the right, the rhythm is determined by the width of your stitch.

Keep your top and bottom parts of your cross stitch in a line so your stitch looks regular with a nice rhythm.

KNOT OFF
End as you started (if you sew from the edge end by creating a loop from the back, around to the front and back again right next to the last stitch) and knot off using first the double knot. Slide the first knot of the double knot with your nail close to the fabric but do not pull the thread while doing this. Repeat for the second knot of the double knot. Followed by the single knot about 1cm away, trim.

Sometimes it can take a while to create a nice rhythm but start at a non prominent place.

And now you can watch The movie to learn the Cross Stitch:

If you enjoyed watching this movie, please don't forget to like and share it, thank you!