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! 

Highlights, Lowlights, Obesession & Bra-less

Happy New Year!

We did our Highlights and Lowlights of 2013, it seems very short this last year - very busy, a lot of experimenting, set backs and successes. I am happy to let go of 13 and stand tall for 14.

I had to post this new, old project again, sorry about that. But the bra issue is a very important one to me and I think I might have solved it, but I cannot promise not to continue to experiment in this matter. 

No impact fashion means that I do not feel what I am wearing. The first time I noticed the opposite was when I felt sick of wearing jeans as they squeezed my tummy. Not only that but I found the seams bulky and painful on the body. I could continue with shoes and so on... My conclusion is I do not want to feel anything I am wearing at all. Fashion should gently sculpt around me and support my body if required and look good, preferably in an organic Cotton or Bamboo Jersey.

So the bra saga needed to be continued, as the last one, the bratank could not maintain position while exercising. To solve this is quite a task as I still refuse to use an elastic band to hold the position. I tried darts but apart from not doing anything they disturb the simpleness and do not add to good looks.

So this approach is completely different. The straps are cut in an angle and I subtracted the darts that would be in the front on the sides and additionally also on the back which gives this Hand stitched bra-less a strong V-shape. The length is the middle way between bra and bratank, long enough to include strong movement. 

The V acts as elastic band as the slight tension helps keeping the position. Still only one seam at the back, I decided to fold the hem over instead of adding it in form of a strip of Jersey.

Much more sophisticated but also simpler than all versions prior to this one, this bra-less is in test phase and feels perfect. As I said, I might not end my bra journey here but this is it for this Year.

Happy New Year, thanks for reading, supporting and participating.
Peace.

Au Revoir Bra

French Movie

The days are too short! I am not talking about the season or the weather but lately I love to distract myself with movies. This winter obsession started living on a Remote Island. I am still sort of remote and feel drawn to french movies at the moment. I might have improved my french but it also makes more sense to me to watch a french movie. The last one was not really typical also because it did have a relatively good ending. It was all about Coco Chanel and although I might recognize her style I have not been familiar with how she started in fashion. One sentence in the movie was quite accurate to what I am working on at the moment, something like Don't you want to breathe? 

I am still holding my breath once in a while and I often find myself adjusting a breathing pattern. I am currently also trying to stop coughing as I remember having pulled a muscle which is very painful and I am about to repeat this. And then I keep finding discussions about bra yes or no online and whether the support would be actually greater without one. 

All personal stuff and I guess there are preferences. Since nursing children is part of my past I started questioning the comfort of bras and also developed a Yoga Bra which is very comfortable. But as I am spoiling myself with comfort I have to move on to higher comfort. The result of the last week's impressions is this Hand Stitched Bratank. It is made of Organic Bamboo/Cotton Jersey which contains a small percentage of elastane and is very very nice to wear. The stretch is strong enough to support but gentle enough not to feel wrapped up. The Bratank is in test phase and I will see whether this is it or I still need to watch more french movies. 

Can I ever watch too many?

bra in progress

Rusty

It has been a long time... I am back on the Island and have to find out that my favorite cardigan has blown away. I aired it before I left for the airport and forgot to take it with me, the other option is of course that it shows up again in 3 weeks time or so, a special quality of the house I am living in at the moment.

The other thing I notice being away for so long does something. It changes perspective but also, it takes a while to get back into a routine. Saying that I spent the last days in a cloud and slowly made my way out, mainly by sleeping and doing nothing. But yesterday I had to do it: I worked on a sports bra.

I love the summer even when it is boiling hot like it was on the continent but also because I can wear the thinnest materials or hardly anything. The bikini top I made was really nice to have with me wearing it non stop. 

But it is getting cooler now, the materials need to be thicker and layers drape over layers, so straps and ties are definitely in the way. Also, for my Yoga routine I cannot have anything bothering me on my back or anywhere else...........



Still some supersoft Organic Bamboo Cotton fabric left I hid in my studio for some hours and started to develop my Yoga sports bra. I am not a fan of bras and never found one that was comfortable and nice looking. And the elastic always bothers me and wires?? Anyway I made this first version especially for Yoga. It has a simple T-shirt cut with one seam at the back and a wide elastic band sewn between 2 layers of fabric. 

I will test it and adapt it for the day version. 

So far: very nice and comfy.