WGT 2018

Whew – we went to WGT and it was incredible!

This year I managed to enjoy quite a few bands despite not stressing out over how many date clashes occur (since that happens every year).

 

Thursday started with an early flight, dropping off our luggage at the hotel, having copious amounts of breakfast and joining the others who had arrived the day before.
We went on a boat tour in the afternoon. Slowly cruising through the little channels that weave through the area was an amazing experience since one gets a unique view of lavish gardens and historical industrial buildings. Our captain/tour guide filled the 90 minutes with lots and lots of information on the history of the channels, architecture, economics, society, and current and historical states of affairs.

In the evening we joined the others to celebrate Blaue Stunde. This year we were early enough for the first time to actually see the sun set and the first stars appear.

 

On Friday we dressed up and went to listen to Koraktor at Sixtina. We got to hear their interpretation of Todesfuge, which was very intense.

The picnic (alternative picnic, not the one in Clara-Zetkin-Park) afterwards was cancelled due to bad weather, so we went to Agra and did a bit of leisurely shopping there. I got a brooch/pendant from Manufaktur Herzblut.
In the evening we managed to wedge into Stadtbad to see Ash Code, and the day ended at Kuppelhalle with some gin and tonic… I guess :)

 

Saturday was an opportunity to dress up for another picnic, or rather fancy get-together at an actual castle :)
To contrast the afternoon experience, we changed and went to Agra to see 3Teeth, and later at night a special concert by Wardruna – a magical experience.

 

Sunday was noise day at Täubchenthal: Greyhound, then a stopover at Felsenkeller to catch Dool (which I had missed at Metal Meeting), then back to Kiew.

 

On Monday we managed to get into Heidnisches Dorf which had been too crowded the days before, and I bought a cover for my ebook reader.

In the evening we met the others at Vodkaria for a last round of drinks and talking about our  festival highlights of the previous days.

Tuesday – WGT blues day – started with saying goodbye to the ones that left after breakfast. We went to the zoo for a few hours and spent a pleasurable afternoon. The evening plane took us home.

I do wonder if the blues feeling would be less pronounced if the festival lasted a few days longer…

Die Schatten des WGT

Laut Wetterbericht werden es wirklich schattige Pfingsten mit wenigen Graden, juhu!

Zuvor aber haben wir noch eine etwas anders gelagerte Veranstaltung besucht

(Spaß mit Gutalax, Nifelheim, Obscura, Tiamat und Abbath).

 

Und pünktlich zum WGT habe ich zwei Outfits fertiggestellt:

Gruftitarn (wenn mal wieder zuviele Fotographen umherlaufen) und streifiges Absinthkoko für den Göttertanz.

Hiding in black

This WGT’s picnic was haunted by people with cameras (and not even the real ones, they used phone cams). So for next year I’m going to camouflage myself a bit better, using:

I am planning a dark twin to the snowcoco gown, possibly with a short and a long skirt to go with. Maybe a zone gown like this one would be nice – here’s an historical example: zone gown, anyone? This two-colour gown is also pretty.

Post will be updated!

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Tribal in black and bling

May I present an outfit I made for a show in April: pants, red skirt (bought), a fabric belt, a black bra, and a shrug (bought). The self-made items are the interesting ones, so:

It’s my first tribal bra, so I hope the next one will be better. I found many good tips here, and I browsed a lot of dancers’ pictures to decide how I wanted it to look, and to glean their little secrets. The before:

bfr

I cut off the straps and promptly doubled the remaining back/horizontal straps with pretty velvet because they were very stretchy. I also added some fabric to the sides of the cups to keep everything under control there.

addition
I then added D rings and new shoulder straps made from soft batiste (4cm wide, so they would be comfortable, and 110cm long to leave enough for tying in the back) and tried it on to see how the straps tied in the back  – this is the look I was going for.

When I was satisfied with the fit, I started sewing on stuff (below: some examples of stuff).

bling

And more stuff. And some metal pieces I got from Melwen.

And some more. And then some. Until:

april

The belt I made did not match the others’ outfits, so I borrowed one for the show, and I made a set that’s more oldschool later.

The pants that are worn underneath are made from 2m of teal fabric with a diamond pattern. I managed to picture it like its sister fabric, in the lightest shade of blue:

should_be_teal

but it’s very teal, really.

The making of is easy: take fabric, cut two rectangles – if the pattern allows for it, the fabric width is leg width, so the height is determined by leg length. Fold rectangles in half and cut quarter circle to accommodate your buttocks. Sew leg seams, then sew legs together. Attach waistband and add elastic band. Tada!

clowns

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Accessories

I have a strange habit of buying too little of pretty jersey, but here’s a solution: loop scarves (howtos for one colour, two colours). The flowery one is actually made from two fabrics, but the black jersey is not as interesting.

 

loops

The violet one is 160cm long, which makes for comfortable wrapping around. The other loop is only 140cm long which is almost too short (and no, my head size is not the problem).

And a small bag like this one, made from black twill with pretty lining

68_poso_g14_299

I don’t add tote straps because I prefer using the shoulder strap. Also I’ll create the inner pockets from folded lining fabric to achieve a sturdier construction (more layers -> less floppy)
The bottom gets boxed corners.

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Skirt experiments

After reading some tutorials I came up with a simple recipe for bubble skirts:

  • take jersey fabric and sew a waistband (about 3/4 of hip circumference, for me it’s about 75cm wide, and  20cm long, to get a 10cm wide waistband)
  • take a rectangle of about 100x200cm, so you get a finished skirt with about 50cm length and a seam of 200cm
  • sew to a tube at 100cm side edges
  • start the skirt seam: fold one end of the tube to 120cm (a very generous measure of my lower hip)
  • add pouf: take 3 layers of tulle (I just folded 1.5m of tulle to get 3 layers of 50cm length) and pin it to skirt
  • fold skirt fabric tube in half
  • fold remaining raw edge of tube to match the skirt seam (for me it’s 120cm again)
  • pin waistband to skirt seam
    • you have to stretch it to match skirt seam
    • I rotated the two folded seams 90 degrees because I hoped this would give the skirt more volume
  • sew skirt and waistband together using a straight stitch
  • voilà

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No. 1

skirt

No. 2 is a bit longer, but with narrower hem  (140cm), and rotated 180 instead of 90 degrees, which resulted in a tulip shape

two

And something completely different: a recycled men’s long skirt cut down to match my body

 

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Everyday sewing fortnight

Just like the historical sewing fortnight (HSF), I made an everyday wear list for myself. I like comfortable clothes, and my colour palette is mostly limited to black, greys, and berry colours, sometimes shades of green.

Some outfits are half-done and need some editing, others are in the planning stage.

 

#1 The sheath dress: I have a nice Burda pattern for that, and the fabric as well.

#2 Wardrobe update: way back I made a simple skirt from wool and some heavy upholstery fabric. And I made a very big jacket with Victorian overtones which is half-finished. And now I don’t like the jacket very much anymore, which calls for a creative salvation process.

#3 Wardrobe update: a red skirt. No, it did not die. It just refused to come together in an outfit until now (see also #8)

#4 Skirt: I have no warm little black skirt (LBS), but I have the fabric. And inspiration such as this felt skirt.

#5 Wardrobe update: there’s a shirt and a green skirt which are done, and plans for a jacket, but I’m no longer sure how I want it to look.

#6 The grey skirt: there it is. I haven’t worn it since the wedding, so it clearly needs some styling.

#7 The night out: I have fabric for these leggings.

#8 The black jack(et): yes, I need one.

#9 The irritating case of making trousers: I really need to make a simple pattern for trousers.

#10 Wardrobe update: a green dress is being revived.

#11 The dark mori: simple and comfy.

#12 Wardrobe update: a maxi skirt.

#13 Dark mori layers: this shawl/poncho looks easy enough, but this one has a better shape..

#14 Romantic pullover. Knit for knat…

#15 Dark mori layers: striped grey knitwear for a sleeveless dress/tunic thingie.

#16 Accessories: loop scarves and a bag, small but nice.

#17 Dark mori layers: voluminous skirt (doubles as petticoat)

#18 Dark mori layers: sleeveless (under)dress with lace seam. Useful also for hot summers.

#19 A quilted vest: a vest like this one, but made from wool/felt.

#20 Wardrobe update: a maxi dress.

#21 Recycling: I turned an XL men’s long skirt  into a me-sized short skirt. Bonus: it has pockets!

#22 A coat: I like this one als well as this coat pattern.

#23 skirts: DIY bubble skirts and a stripey skirt I only sew because I want to test a theory.

#24 a piece from Pattern Magic: Stretch fabric.

 

 

 

Wardrobe rescue: a crotchet maxi skirt

On sale a whim, a few years ago I bought a beautiful layered Lip Service skirt. I rarely wear it because I am not sure about styling it to its best effect – it is high-waisted, and the high waist is styled as a wide off-white – cummerbund? that is tied at the back or at the sides. For my taste it’s too much fabric, so I simply removed the high waist and shortened the zipper.

Here’s the cummerbund-thingy after the operation:

cummerbund

I added several rows of lace at the skirt bottom seam, for good measure (skirt was a bit too short for me :) )

Tadaa:

 

skirt

Isn’t the crochet lace just beautiful?

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Ghawazee coat

As I try to keep the contents of my clothing containers to a sane level, some creativity happens whenever I find something I made years ago, cannot/do not want to give away, but will not wear anymore.

Among other things, there’s a fantasy dress that falls in this category of clothes.

red

It would be really easy to turn it into a Ghawazee coat. At least that’s my theory. I cut the dress up in the front, next step: shaping the top seam.

 

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