There are certain details and things that can irritate the hell out of me and once I have noticed them there is usually no way for me to not notice them. In short, I like things to be lined up and logical. This has been magnified by the fact that my profession involves making user friendly software where everything is supposed to be logical and obvious. While I don’t do graphics myself I am getting more and more involved in critiquing that as well. Call it occupational hazard, I pretty much feel flooded by frustrations when I use any kind of digital device over all the things there that are just plain WRONG or stupid!

It plagues me in daily life as well. Take this for instance:

This is something I see every year when I visit my dentist. “Brukte skotrekk” means “Used shoecovers”. Are they supposed to be thrown on the floor? It is not really obvious that they are supposed to go into a trash bin is it? Gah! I bite my lip, curl my fingers and make sure to leave before I risk finding myself moving the bin into the right place. There is one thing worse than these mistakes in my head and that is anal people that correct them. Cannot be known as one of them 🙂 .

This hasn’t exactly made sewing easier. I see every flaw and usually nothing but the flaws. I tried to fix that issue by looking at store bought clothes but that was a mistake as well. Now I cannot look at them either without seeing all the mistakes and believe me, these poor souls slaving away making our clothes are making a lot of mistakes. Take any piece of clothing with stripes as those are in fashion and you will probably find that they aren’t all aligned correctly.

So to give myself a real challenge (and to guarantee my own dissatisfaction afterward) I made a striped baby bodysuit. It was initially meant as a casual match for the suit I made for my baby boy in the last post. I however realized right after I started cutting into the fabric that these two fabrics weren’t a match at all. The linen was too dark and the blue stripes were too dark and too wide.

I used a pattern from Ottobre 1/2014. Either I cut the collar wrong or the pattern was a bit off since it wasn’t long enough to fit the pattern description. Otherwise it was a decent pattern though a little bit wide for my little boy that isn’t skinny at all. The fabric is a Lillestoff fabric I bought at Uglemor. Beautiful shine on that fabric!

What I learned during this process is that there are quite a few places that the stripes need to be matched. Listing these for future reference.

– Upper and under part of the collar
– Side seams
– Underam seams
– Back seam
– Making sure the snaps are aligned correctly so the back opening lines up
– The cuffs on the arms both need to have the same color on the bottom
– The arm pieces needs to end on the same stripe color
– The underarm seams.
– The front edges of the collar need to end on the same stripe color and they need to be of even size.
– You might want to somewhat match the sleeves to the stripes on the bodice.

I made mistakes on some of these and I didn’t even attempt the last one. What I found was that it helped to pin every other stripe and make sure to pin on the edge of a stripe so you can check both sides to see if it is aligned correctly on both sides.

Believe it or not, I am somewhat satisfied with the result even if there are flaws. The stripes are quite well matched most places and I feel like I have learned something.

Hungry supermodel

No do not turn to this angle, there is a flaw *doh*

You tend to not talk much about the nicest people you know. You just talk about the people that are eccentric enough to be a good conversation topic. I didn’t understand this until my uncle passed away couple of weeks ago. He was one of the nicest man I have ever known and when he died I realized that I hadn’t told many people about him. I always looked forward to visiting him when I went home to Iceland. He was a good man that I will miss!

I recently read an article that struck a chord with me. It talks about how each time you move you leave a part of yourself behind. I did indeed do that when I left Iceland 16 years ago. I regularly make brief guest appearances in that old life of mine but when I leave again big parts of that life gets stashed away in a quiet corner in my brain only for me to see. Sadly a nice uncle isn’t an exciting conversation topic and hence I have only told few people about him.

He lived upstairs when I was a kid with his sister and his mom until she passed away. They had their own kitchen but the rest was shared (entrance, bathroom, TV etc.) I used to visit them upstairs all the time. He used to read for me and listened to me talk about all the strange things I was interested in no matter how boring they must have been for him to listen to. I got to eat cubed sugar and sit with them at their tiny little kitchen table when they had their afternoon coffee.

He did a lot for me. My parents didn’t have a car and as we lived on a farm I was pretty dependent on having someone drive me places if I wanted to join anything other than school. So my uncle would drive me and pick me up on his light green Lada Sport. Without this my life would have been significantly emptier of experiences. I regret never thanking him for all of this.

I remember him enjoying two things. Cars and music. He helped me with my car when I was old enough to own one. I played instruments when I was younger and when I got an organ to play on at home he would come downstairs and play all the songs he knew by heart. He had an old white/yellow accordion which he let me try. It was huge and heavy and I was never really able to play it but I remember wanting to try because I looked up to him. I enjoyed these times we spent together.

He was a patient man and would let me and my sisters hang out with him a lot. I never remember him being impatient. I think he would have been a great dad but unfortunately he never had any children. He didn’t find anyone until late in his life but I am glad he at least got to share the last years of his life with someone. The last few years of his life were sad. He got a stroke and had to spent the last years in an institution. The last few visits there were a bit difficult but being the man he used to be I still always looked forward seeing him even if he barely recognised me.

Now I have told you about Sæmundur. No intrigues or exciting details but he was a good man and that is really what matters. I think we should all be better at not only talking about the people in our life that make an interesting story but also the people that are just genuinely good people. One day it will be too late.

As my uncle was a real gentleman I find it fitting to show the little gentleman clothes I made for my son. I think it is sad he never gets to meet his great uncle. My daughter did and while she might not remember it I at least have photos of her with him. I just hope my son will grow up to be a gentleman like Sæmundur.

This suit is a linen suit made after the Emil and Anton Ottobre pattern from 1/2014 in size 74. It is not lined so a relatively easy pattern. Just be aware that the upper and lower part of the pants are of equal length. I found out after I had managed to sew one of them upside down. The straps are also a bit short so I would lengthen those a little bit. The linen is Kaufman Brussels Washer Linen Blend Espresso. The shirt is just a store bought one.

The gentleman

Exciting ceiling

The vest

The pants