Japanese Drawing Books

Some time ago I fell in love with Japanese Drawing Books. They teach you how to draw cute pictures. I had to buy two and they are so lovely. And there are great ideas what to do with the drawings, for example use them for a scrapbook or calendar.

And of course I had to try it myself and make a birhtday card for my Mom.

Another Cambie Outfit

Here´s another take on my Cambie Dress, this time a bit more normal (as normal as tentacles with candies can be).

 dress: selfmade * shoes: Irregular Choice * bag: H&M * rest: Etsy

Review: 18th Century Embroidery

I really love 18th century embroidery. I once saw some of it in an exhibition and it is amazing. I can hardly believe that someone made this all by hand. It´s so beautiful and neat. So of course I had to have this book about 18th century embroidery.

It´s no real how-to book. The author explains the different techniques that they used and talks about the history. In each chapter are sample garments with graphics. There are not so many photos, but the diagrams are also nice. I would not say, that you can embroider like an expert after reading this book, but it´s quite interesting to read about the techniques and how different methods where then.

Cambie goes Lolita

Today we had a Lolita meet-up here and I wanted to make a new dress. I bought this octopus fabric a while ago at Spoonflower. My plan was to make an underbust jumperskirt, but friday when I cut my fabric I couldn´t find all of the pattern pieces and then I thought maybe the Cambie dress I could wear more often. So I changed my plans and made another Cambie (my third, because before the soccer dress I already made one out of a great wool fabric, which unfortunately was too thin and everthing showed through).

Sewing was easy as always with this pattern and I really like the outcome. I combined the dress with my Innocent World blouse, Angelic Pretty shoes and the great Mini Tricorn I bought at Etsy. Add some pearls and ready is the Pirate Lolita. I am really excited that this pattern is so versatile.

It was a great day. We had a picknick in the park. Everyone brought delicious food and we took some photos and of course talked a lot. It was so nice to see all the people again after such a long time. All in all it was a very nice weekend. I really got some things done. I hope everybody had a nice weekend!

Cambie goes Soccer

A while ago, Tasia from Sewaholic released her sixth pattern the Cambie Dress and of course I had to have it. And even before it arived I had a plan for it.

Our company had its yearly summer party again and the theme was soccer. I was not very inspired by this. I am no great fan of soccer. Mainly I think it´s a boring sport to watch, but hey, it´s the number one sport here in Germany.

First I wanted to make something in our national colors black, red, gold (or yellow), but then I remembered I saw a special soccer fabric at an online store, which was patterned like a football. And I thought the Cambie dress pattern would be perfect. So I ordered the fabric and some green cotton.

Sewing this dress was so easy and quick. It´s so well constructed. And I really like the fit. I got many compliments from my colleagues. And I even make a matching piece for my hair (sorry you can´t see it well in the photo) with a little football patch in the middle.

I liked the Cambie dress so much I am already making the next one. Maybe I can show you photostomorrow.

Review - Everything Alice

I could not get past this. After I watched it for a while at Amazon and decided against it several times, my curiosity finally won and it found the way to my shelf.

And it was no disappointment. Maybe because I had a vague idea of the content from the reviews. Most of the projects are not stunning and I only have a few I want to make at the moment, but I really like to look through the book and enjoy the wonderful pictures.

My favorite project is the letter pillow, which you can also make into a bag. And isn´t this cake just adorable?

Congratulations to the Queen

I really like this year. Such a lot of opportunities to celebrate all things English (or more correct British). And one of the greatest shoe shops had a sale on some of my dream shoes. So I had to buy them. The shoes came in the most extravagant box I ever saw. Unfortunately they are a bit large, but I can fix this. I wore them at work on Friday. I think I would not survive a long day in them. But I love them nonetheless.

And isn´t this tea box specially for the Diamond Jubilee not simply adorable? I tested the tea today and it is delicious. Now I only need a trip to Great Britain to make things perfect, but I fear this will not happen in the near future.