The Late Night Sewist

Hi from Estonia!

Yes, this is the huge change in my life that I mentioned in my previous post! It is hard for me to write about it, without sharing too many personal details, but I guess I owe an explanation, why the background of my photos will be somewhat different from what you would expect from someone living in a Mediterranean country like Greece.

I think everyone has heard at least something about the situation in Greece, since it has been a hot international topic for the past few years already. I have lived in Greece for the past five years, seeing the situation worsen year by year. I am actually a physiotherapist by profession, but during this time, have only been able to work as a volunteer, because the Greek authorities have been extremely slow in the process of my diploma recognition. By now, even the recognition would not help much, because the (official) unemployment rate is 25%.

I am not exactly a stay at home mom type, so this time has been quite tough, although my fiance has been extremely supportive. Nevertheless, when I was offered an interesting job back in Estonia and considering the outlook of Greece, we made a common decision, that I have to go. There will be a lot of travelling, Skype conversations and missing each other, but we will give it a try, hoping that it would not last too long and that we can live under the same roof again soon.

For now, the title of my blog will become a misnomer, but I have decided not to change it or move to a new address.

Travelling with 150 kg of luggage was an experience, but things went very smoothly and I hope to be more or less settled in my new hometown by the end of the next week. I also brought my sewing machine, which thankfully fitted perfectly into my hand luggage, but unfortunately had to leave my dressmaker´s dummy in Athens for now.

As I said in my previous post, I haven´t been able to keep sewing due to the packing and moving process and since I will be working full-time, probably will not keep up the pace as I used to. Until then, I am pulling out a few items from my closet, that I have made prior to this blog, to keep you entertained 🙂

As I woke up in my parents´ house today, the weather was something of a winter wonderland – blue skies and thick fresh white snow that all came down during 24 hours after my arrival to Estonia. It is this years first snow and a tad early, normally the first snow falls in November.

It was a nice chance to take photos of the faux fur vest, based on Burda Easy Fashion AW 2009 issue vest pattern, for which once again I only have a photo to show (when I open the box that contains my pattern stash, I will be able to provide the technical drawing as well).

AN UPDATE:

I cut my vest way shorter, hip length and also added wooden toggle buttons and sewed loops between the fur and lining of the opposite breast of the vest. I think it is my first garment with lining and although maybe not the easiest due to the fur, it taught me a lot.

The pattern itself is very easy, but the fur makes the sewing process quite exhausting – the material is thick and if you make a mistake, picking out the seams is not exactly fun. When I cut the material – on the wrong side, using a razor – it looked as if we had a sick cat in our house, the tufts of fur were all over the place. At first I wasn´t sure that anything could come out of the whole project, it seemed too messy. But here it is:

Due to the mild autumns of Greece, I have worn it quite a lot and enjoyed it very much. I got lucky with the fur, because it feels very nice and luxurious, I haven´t seen anything comparable in the fabric stores anymore. I think it is best worn with a belt, otherwise it can create a somewhat boxy figure.