As my friend Ki said : ‘This is the kind of music I wish I was making, sweet soul laced with broken hearted bitterness and a little tongue in cheek…’

Incredible record.

Anyone got any recommendations of German music I should be listening to?

I thought I’d use this edition of German Wednesday to talk about my sewing course at the Volkshochschule (community college).

It’s been really enjoyable so far, though I am moving at a snail’s pace, or so it seems! I’m creating View C of Butterick 6582, and I think it’s going to turn out cute! Things I’ve learnt so far:

• That copy paper exists. (Seriously, I had no idea what it was or what it was used for, this  discovery makes things SO MUCH EASIER)
• That tracing patterns is annoying, but useful. I found that it made me think about the construction of the garment more.
• Matching a floral pattern on the fabric I’m using is HARD, but I don’t care because I’ve never bothered matching florals anyway. Hell, as my teacher was trying to do it yesterday, I looked at the floral skirt I was wearing and noticed that it didn’t match on that either, so I feel justified in not caring now! Obviously plaids are a different story…
• Basting a garment together beforehand is a useful exercise and shouldn’t be skipped in the case of the garment above. Here’s my bodice basted together :

Had I not bothered to do that, then I wouldn’t know that a) the front is too long and needs to be shortened and b) the bodice itself is too big for me and needs to be taken in at the sides in order to create that ‘nipped in waist’ effect that the pattern has going on.

Has to be said, I love the way in which this sewing class brings together the two main elements of this blog; sewing in German is difficult due to the vocabulary, but it’s done wonders for that and also my describing skills. When you don’t know the word, describe it et voila!