in 2020

Hello there! 

I haven't even looked at my blog for quite a while but I had to look at the last post here to realize just how long that while was... There are several reasons, some of them even good ones but I won't go into that right now. 

At the moment, I have a bit more time for things like blogging for the same reason many of you will have a bit more time on your hands right now: Covid 19. I would guess that is also the reason why my dormant little blog gained some new followers over the past month. So, I thought it might be time for a modest re-start. 

As I have told before, I live in the Netherlands. Here, we are not in complete lockdown but schools, sports facilities, restaurants and many non-essential businesses are closed. 

Since my current jobs are those of textile teacher at a fashion trade school and route setter at a local climbing gym, my work has pretty much stopped. We try and do a bit of online teaching but fabrics need to be handled to be understood... On the other hand, the school has teamed up with a hospital nearby for the production of facemasks. Using specialist materials are carefully controlled construction methods, we make masks which are suitable for hospital use. Volunteers from the school (some students but mostly teachers) and the hospital work on this together but never with many of us at the same time because we also have to keep our distance.

So, that takes up a fair bit of my time too. 

As for blogging, I don't think I will pose for a lot of pictures now but I thought I could show you what I'm working on at the moment. And do the occasional tutorial. I was thinking about showing you how to make my favorite retro-style t-shirt/sweater pattern using a normal, fitted, t-shirt pattern as a sloper. It's not difficult and I love this thing so much I have made six versions so far and I'm planning more as we speak... To be fair, I think I made the first one in the winter of 2018/19 but I still love it!

Other than that, I'm open to suggestions. What would you like to see from me for your sewing inspiration? 

Sewing tips (assuming I have any which aren't all over the web yet)? 

Vintage pattern tutorials? By which I mean actual "draft like this" instructions from vintage magazines. 

Do you want to talk Pattern Magic and other unusual pattern making techniques? In fact, I will definitely talk about one unusual pattern making technique soon but if I know I'm not the only one who likes that sort of thing, I will elaborate about it. 

Or do you prefer more pattern tutorials (for whole garment or for details) which are also suitable if you don't have (much) experience with pattern making? 

I won't promise to deliver everything anyone asks for though...