I've been travelling

And when I came home there were little orgies going on all over the place.

However - it's all sorted out now. And I have a lot of things to show you, please bear with me.

Teaser: I'm crocheting my friend S, Bebé Dragon has gotten a set of brand new kitchen tools, I'm starting up a sewing club. I made a baby hat. And so on. Bought a new book of crafting in Sweden as well. Lovely.
Hang on, it's all coming soon. Come back in a day or so. Kisses until then.

Too big pants

I made pants for my son or daughter. Right now he or she is approximately 25 centimeters tall, but won't need pants until he or she has doubled in size and come out in the cold. But then some pants will come handy. The lovely rabbit fabric comes mostly from jny design.

I thought size 62 would be a useful size, but something must have gone terribly wrong. Ottobre, my source for patterns, are well known to provide too big patterns. But how would I know exactly how much too big they are?

I'll put them in the "do not open until 2011"-box for now.

Origami Cabbage Worm

Animated tutorial here

Flowery wallet

Finally I found a usage for this wonderful, very small piece of fabric from my mothers collection of "odd and tiny pieces from the 70's."
Very simple construction - you can kind of see exactly how it's made. (If not, ask me.) I covered the backside of the fabric with transparent duct tape (Silvertejp) before I sewed to make the wallet more durable. Let's see how well it works out. I'll start using it tomorrow.

Kusudama flower

Tuesday evening fun

Bib prototype

Last weekend I produced a set of bibs. (Dreggellappar, as we also known them.)
This is the first prototype made from an old t-shirt and some left over pieces of jersey. Fleece on the backside - apparently good since it keeps the chest of the kid of getting wet.
Hawk doesn't care so much about the function, he is much to well behaved to spill on himself. He just likes the look of it.

Tissue covers

Perfect usage of all the small left over pieces. And perfect to send by mail to friends with a flu.

Näsduksfodral alltså.

Tidying up

I bought a 50's cupboard on eBay. Finally my fabrics have a place where they can live.

Tea experiment nr 3 - Disaster!

I had a cotton fabric in a very sharp yellow tone that I wanted to make a bit duller. I also wanted to dye a piece of this white fabric more beige.
I put them together into a bowl of strong tea. Stirred, waited, stirred, lifted up, rinsed.
The result was horrible. The white fabric you see here: Brown spots.

What about the yellow fabric? It became yellow-brownish with the same brown spots. Kind of like a mix of pee and poo. I threw it away.

Conclusion: You never know with tea. But it might be worth trying. But not on your favourite piece of fabric.

Hot guys at the Louvre

I can't help being very found of the Hugh Grant-type of man. And look- he existed for some time!


This guy has been silently watching you from the other side of the café. He slips a note on your table on his way out- it has a poem on it, but no phone number. You didn't notice him before, but now You have to go to the café again and again, to see if he is there. He's not. Who is he? What's the thing with that statue he carries? Perhaps he's just a weirdo, but suddenly you can't help daydreaming about him.


He's just a guy in your class, he's nice and serious and quite smart. Not your type. A bit of a geek (seriously- the haircut!), but he could become a good friend. You and he need to finish this team work this week, but suddenly you realize that every time your eyes meet you get all warm and fuzzy inside and you forget what you just were about to say.


He's taking such good care of his daughter every time you see them in the park, she is always well dressed and seem to be such a sweet girl and you can't help but being impressed by a father who can make braids. Is the mother dead? Did she abandon them? Is there place for a new woman in his life? He never meets your eyes, though you always try to make him see you.


You're at a party, you and that guy are sitting in a corner. You want to talk, hoping to snoggle, you want more, but he's a Guy With A Guitar. He plays song after song - at first imitating his heroes, but then he plays you a song that he's written himself, it's terrible and banal and he has his eyes closed and you realize that he is not even trying to impress you, he is just in love with the image of himself as a guy with a guitar and a girl with sparkling eyes listening to him. You excuse yourself when the song is finished, he's looking up, surprised and annoyed, you run to the kitchen for another glass of wine and someone who can rescue you.

I'm not dead

I'm sewing and sewing and sewing both this weekend and last weekend. And I've got a new cupboard that I'd like to show. Unfortunately my boyfriend seem to have brought the cable to my camera with him on his weekend trip. Once he's back, I'll upload some more pictures. Promise.

Tea nr.2

Encouraged from the success of coloring with tea, I made another body with tea colored bias. This time the end result was more let call it batique: spotty. Especially the edges turned a bit too dark. It's kind of OK:ish and hopefully it goes away a bit after washing it.



But it got worse....

When underwear escape

My bras escaped from the washing bag yesterday. When I took out the laundry it was all tangled up into one single piece. Quèl bordel!

Coloring with Tea

I made a little body from the lovely giraffe fabric and I wanted it to have a matching edge. But I only had bright white jersey bias tape. What to do?

Make a cup of strong tea. This is Assam from Harrods, didn't like it very much. Put tape in tea. Wait. Rinse. Dry.

Sew. Ta daa!
I really like the color! And I'm quite excited to see how well it lasts when I wash the body. I'm not very worried, I can't imagine it will ever go back to ultra white again.

Presents for girls

A friend of mine just had a little girl and I really wanted to send a welcome present. So in front of Lost one evening I began crocheting a ball, which turned into a handle, and so on and soon I'd made a rabbit rattle. Which turned out so nicely that I immediately made another one, carefully writing down how I did it. So that I could post it as a tutorial, I thought. Then I lost my post-it with the notes. So whenever I find it, or when I make a third rabbit rattle, I will post it. If you are interested?

Also made baby a romper and a hat. This pattern is from Ottobre magazine, and I heard rumors that they are kind of big in size. Let's see whats fits and what doesn't.

And finally *ahem* it seems like I will need a romper like that myself - well, not for me*, but for someone who will show up in april or so - so I made another one while I was at it.




*I would LOVE to have one for myself

When I was a little girl

I made a myself needle house. Or was it for my mum?

One door for small needles, one door for big needles. All you needed then.

A notebook

I took a cover from an old book of prayers for children. Very beautiful.

Then made a mix of nice papers , cheap papers, papers with holes, blue papers...

Some nice pictures, some kind of akward. I scanned petals, photos, hair, a dishcloth, sketches, toys, candy wraps. Surprises everywhere.

Then i bound it all with silk string and glued it into the cover.

Done! Ready for notes.

The Market

This is the last station on my way to work and the first on my way home.

Right now, it's wonderful. Flowers, fruits, vegetables, cheeses, oil, bread...

This morning I had a freshly squeezed orange and carrotjuice to go. The only question that rises is: Why don't I every morning?

I'll have another one tomorrow

My weekend

My sewing machine is back from the repairman! And I'm back home after summer with so much inspiration I can't explain it. Hence I've spent all Saturday and most of Sunday indoors, sewing and crocheting and knitting. And making nettle soup and macarons. Macarons turned out a disaster, the rest more or less good. I'll charge my camera and show you. Please be patient. (Preview: I made a couple of rompers, three hats, a bunny, a hippo, an owl and probably some other things as well.)

Aargh, I have so much I want to make still!

Toxic Jeans - remake instead

Big headlines in Sweden about allergens in jeans. As if we didn't know it, right? We just keep on forgetting it... at least I always need to be reminded of how bad the textile industry is.

It is just yet another good reason for re-making your old, washed out cozy pants into new, small pants. It's fun, they become one of a kind, all chemicals are washed out and you feel SO clever! And it's not even difficult - all the cool seams and pockets are already there for you to reuse.



(These are not done yet. Mainly because my male friends were very skeptical. I think they're kind of cool though.)

Amigurumi portraits

More Amigurumis from the past:
Last Christmas I crocheted mini versions of my boyfriends very adorable nieces.





Once you get a hang of this type of crocheting, you can improvise as much as you like. Love that!

Amigurumi time

I am back from vacation. Back to working full days and sitting close to my boyfriend in the sofa watching Lost in the evenings. We never saw Lost when all the other people saw it, and it's terribly exciting.
And like every time I sit still in a sofa, I feel a big need for *doing something useful* while I'm sitting there. So yesterday I realized that I would like to do another bunch of amiguramis.
I'll start tonight. Mushrooms, rabbits and key rings to start with. Let's see.

Here are two guys I made last time I was amiguraming. A fluffy bird and a sheep.

Tiger wrap shirt

This is a detail of a baby wrap shirt that I made a while ago. After finishing it, I found it a bit boring and decided to spice it up with a free hand embroidery.
My boyfriend is usually let's say, mildly to moderately interested in my sewing, but this shirt somehow melted his heart and he loudly claimed it was the cutest shirt he'd ever seen!
To bad he's too big for it. Or - no, that's a good thing.

Speaking of doll's clothes...

...and since I don't have anything self made to show still:

If I could have one thing in the world, I would like this wardrobe made by Martin Margiela. He used the wardrobe of a 60's Ken - Barbies ex boyfriend as you know (yes, they broke up) - and scaled it to human size. Including rough fabric texture, big fat seams, clever solutions like sewn-on ties, and wonderful, wonderful coaster sized snap buttons!

More from the cradle of a fashion maker

More fashion for 30 cm tall people:

I can't believe I've made this jacket? I probably got if from someone. The skirt is very home made. Denise looks stunning in a springlike city symphony of pink and red, of course with matching lipstick.
Update: Ooh, and she's holding a wallet full of 1.000.000.0000 bills. Go spend it, girl!



A wonderful chiffon tube dress with a matching chiffon hat is flattering for anyone and suitable for a day at the horse races.



For the summer weddings: A pea green velour dress, with a crochet oversize vest thrown on top for those cold summer nights. A marvellous beaded headpiece makes you queen of the party.



Gloria doesn't have a body anymore, but as long as you have your good spirits there is no reason not to be fashionable. A wonderful princess crown, made of lace and pearls, makes even a single head stunning. To avoid the too-cuteness, a bold hairstyle with strikes of color in it will make you princess of punk rock.



Poor Anne has had a hard time (No hair, hands or feet anymore) and is spending her days in a very good hospital for dolls with mental instabilities. A comfortable, soft sweatshirt combination in ice cream pastels is perfect for enjoying a quiet moment in the sun.

The cradle of a fashionista

In a box at my dad's place, I found some of my first trembling attempts to create fashion. What else could I have done but dress up dear old Denise again, just like in 1988?!


We start off with a romantic denim skirt which goes really well with a bold, two color sweatshirt top. As cherry on top, a flashdance bandana.



Here we see a variation of the denim skirt. Matched with a leopard top and a summery sonnenschierm, Denise is ready for a trip to the city as well as for a summer picnic on the fields.



If the weather is unsteady, why not dress for the cold but leave a brave open chest as a surprise? Tailored jacket and ear muffs with hearts.



Finally - an Indian flirt for an Indian summer. Beads and embroideries makes this felt top something very, very special. Matched with a knee long starry skirt in the same material, Denise looks like the European dream of the American girl.

For your full scale doll house

Hi, I'm cheating. I was supposed to just show my own productions here, but I'm not producing anything really since I'm on holiday and I just ran into these wallpapers by a (- what else -) Dutch designer called Pip. So lovely!
The top, baby blue one has a cross stitch pattern made from kind of foam. I couldn't stop touching it in the store...

Lazy days

Hi, sorry, I won't blog very much these days because I'm not producing very anything and have nothing to show really. I'm just reading (about vampires and bonjour tristesse ) and drinking fruit drinks with different types of berries in them and walking around in Stockholm gazing at all the wonderful little houses.

And besides, there are little people sunbathing in my sketchbook. They'll hate me forever if I tell them to leave.

Please be patient.

My book

I have a couple of books in my pipeline. Two of them are books for children. Two are the kind of books you would buy at some kind of artsy bookstore - you know, pointless but witty. I once also figured out an entire crime novel. I remember it was quite good but I've forgotten the plot. Anyway, my hope is that I'll get at least one of these books down on paper and out of my system before I get tired of them. So I'm painting...slowly...slowly...and hoping that soon all the pieces will be there, I'll get it finished, I'll get it published (No worries there - it's good, so they'll publish it right away)and before I know it I'll be polishing my August Award. And they all lived happily ever after.

But not today. We're heading off to gaze at the Fortress of Boden. Secret tunnels excite me more than anything else!

While the cat was gone...

...the rats made a cozy mohair nest in this baby sweater, knitted by me in like -89.
I probably made it without a pattern, or at least without paying too much attention to it. Therefore it's a lot wider than long and would only have fitted a very squat future daughter of mine.

Note the little home made, cat head shaped buttons. Ouch!







I don't really remember why we were knitting all these baby sweaters at age of 12. Perhaps for the same reason I'm doing the same thing today: It's fast, fun and could come useful some day.
Not this one though. I trashed it without feeling to sad about it.