Monthly Archives: F Y

For Japan

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As I was in Japan for almost four years and still have friends who live in Japan, I’m very affected by what’s happening there lately. At first I felt really helpless, I wanted to be there and help my friends and this country I love. I’m sure there are other people out there who feel the same, who would like to help. That’s why I decided to list all the ways I know through which people can help. I didn’t want to write a very very long post, and I wanted the list to be easily found again if you need, so I’ve created a dedicated page. You can find it here: http://amelienomori.wordpress.com/aider-le-japon-help-japan.

If you feel like you can’t give a lot, maybe you can try to create a little something for a grouped charity sale, or buy a tiny item at such a sale. And if you really can’t do any of that, please talk about those events around you, so more people know they can do something. I’m not Japanese, but I’m happy to see that so many people care and are trying to help as they can. Thank you to all those nice people!

New friend

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Look who got here last week-end:

I was really happy! After years longing for a dress form, I finally have it! And it’s an adjustable one! It’s was a gift promised some months ago, which was delayed due to various reasons (among which our moving). We finally ordrered it a few weeks ago. It’s funny that it arrived especialy this week-end, as it was our japanese-wedding anniversary. :) Nice coincidence! I really like the simple color and the wood parts as it makes it quite a nice and decorative item. It fits just right in our working corner.

You can also see my lovely new fabric cabinet, which contains way too many fabrics…

The only drawback of an adjustable form is that you have to adjust it. Which means you have to take all your precise measurements. You’ll think I’d have all my measurements by this time. And you’d be right. But I’ve never made pants or a tight skirt or dress. Which means I’ve never used my hips circumference. Of course I measured it, some time ago. And on Saturday. I knew I had grown a few inches in that part lately, but knowing and having figures to prove it are two different things! It was a little depressing… ^^;

Now that I have such a wonderful (I hope) dressform, I have to use it! The good news is that lately I’ve been able to put aside some time for sewing. I’m organising slowly and trying to find the perfect schedule for my week. The downside of this is that on the free time I get, I sew, so I don’t blog. Still some work to do on that schedule.

Crochet!

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I told you last time about my recent love for crochet. I was very lucky to receive what I needed to start learning crochet for Christmas from a family member, along with a live demo of the basic stitches. It’s very easy to learn when someone is showing you how to do it! Crochet seems much easier to me than knitting. With a few basic stitches you can make cute and useful things. Plus you don’t need much space, so I can bring my crochet and thread with me on the train when I commute to/from work, which is great! And I really like the repetition of movements, it’s sort of soothing and funny. Here are some of my first crochet creations:

Sources: Marie-Claire Idées’s “250 points de crochet” and this flower tutorial at Attic24

Ok so I still have some progress to make so that my stitches look really pretty, but I think it’s a good start. I then went looking for online tutorials. I decided to try Creative Yarn’s triple hairband.

I’ve had something similar in mind for some time and I was wondering if a chain stitch would work ok.  The answer is yes. I guess I saw the band on a blog (probably at Eolune’s, who made it with a flower) and it stayed somewhere in my memory. It’s very easy to do and I really like the result. My husband loves how it looks on me. The only thing is that I seem to have a big head, because the ends were too short, I couldn’t knot it. I added a button and made a loop with the remaining of the thread on one side, and voilà !

Now I have to make some more in different colours so that I can match my outfits. I’ll try to make them longer so that I can make a knot or shorter so that the button is centered. Good thing there is a yarn shop not very far from my new place. :)

L’aiguille en fête

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Hello! I’m writing today with some good personnal news and lots of pretty things to share. First, I’m happy to announce that our Internet connection works perfectly! o/ And my little sewing corner in the appartment is close from being done. I still need a few things to tidy things up and above all, I need a new iron. I don’t know about you but even if I don’t iron all my clothes all the time in “real life”, I can’t sew without an iron nearby! I can’t wait to have one and start sewing again. ^^

So I you can guess the pretty things I’m about to share are not things I made myself (although I do have some simple crochet to show you later, finally managed to get a few pictures last week). I was able to spend some time at the sewing event I told about last time. Not as much as I would have wanted (couldn’t see much of the booths), but enough to want to get better organized next year, and to snap a good number of lace pictures from their exhibition. Here is a selection.

You can find the rest of the picture in their Flickr set (along with some bigger size versions). I’ll add other pics as soon as I find the time to resize and upload them, so check back regularly!