Jul 7, 2014

Summer with the new Sew News


Dear readers, I haven't been a great blogger lately. I haven't posted anything for almost two months and I totally neglected Stepalica. This of course wasn't my plan, but life imposed the rhythm that dried out all of my energy and took all my free time. At the beginning of May we went on a vacation, after that the terrible flooding hit us, and at the same time I was overwhelmed by an intense work at my day job. There were days when I would either work or sleep, as there was no time for anything else. I didn't like living that way, but life brings us these situations as well, during which you have to put on hold all your hobbies and joy so that you can at least rest a bit.

But here I am, back to the old rhythm and ready to sew and write. Meanwhile I made several garments, and prepared few new tutorials for you, but I haven't managed to snap some pics of the clothes nor to write the explanations for the tuts. Along with that, whenever I make a big gap in blogging, I find myself thinking of whether I should give you an insight of what had been going on in my life during the break. There's also the question of the amount of details I am willing to share with you. I suppose you are interested to know what I am doing when I'm not sewing (some of you even sent me emails wondering if I was OK and asking when I would start blogging again - thank you so much for caring!), but I can never estimate the level of details that is OK to post in public. So, most of the times I'd rather skip writing than sharing too much.

Along with all this, the gap in writing can cause a blockade, when you have a bunch of ideas to write about, but do not manage to articulate any of them. I've been suffering from this type of blockade, and I've startesd writing several different posts in the last two weeks, but failed to complete or publish any of them.

A new article in Sew News is always a great excuse to write a new post, therefore, for breaking the blockade. The article was published a while ago, in the June - July issue of the magazine, so I am late with bragging about it, too. The article gives you instructions for drafting a pattern for a light summer dress, inspired by Spanish flamenco dresses. The pattern is really simple, which can be seen in the magazine, and the satin ribbons give it a more polished look. The art director of Sew News saw the dress as a great wardrobe for celebrating the 4th of July - the Independence Day.

Štepalica: Summer with the new Sew News

I made the dress ages ago, I think back in 2006, and for a while it was one of the most frequently worn dresses from my wardrobe. I made the dress just before I went to Spain, so the source of inspiration is quite obvious. At the time I had a favorite dress pattern, that I drafted myself, that I altered and re-designed numerous times, by altering the neckline, the skirt length or volume, etc. I made tens of dresses but this one is one of the few I still have.

However, I can't wear it anymore, as it's too tight for me now. At the time I wore it, this is how the dress looked on me.

Štepalica: Summer with the new Sew News

Leto uz novi broj Sew News


Dragi čitaoci, nisam bila sjajan bloger ovih dana. Gotovo dva meseca nisam pisala i zanemarila sam Štepalicu u potpunosti. Naravno, nije mi to bio plan, ali životne okolnosti su mi nametnule ritam koji me je iscrpeo i uzurpirao mi svo slobodno vreme. Na početku Maja, to je bio odmor, potom nas je zadesio potop, a paralelno sa njim je stigao i obiman i naporan posao u firmi u kojoj radim, i nedelje prekovremenog rada. Bilo je dana kada sam ili radila ili spavala, nije bilo vremena ni za jednu drugu aktivnost. Nije mi baš bilo po volji, ali život čine i ovakve situacije, tokom kojih ste primorani da žrtvujete i stavite po strani sve svoje hobije kako biste uspeli makar malo da se odmorite.

No, evo me nazad, u staroj formi, odmorna i spremna za šivenje i pisanje. U međuvremenu sam sašila nekoliko stvari, i pripremila materijal za više tutorijala, ali nikako da se nakanim da se uslikam i da sednem da pišem. Pored toga, kad god napravim veću pauzu u blogovanju, uvek se zapitam da li bi, i u kojoj meri, trebalo da vam opišem zbivanja iz svog života, iz perioda tokom kog je bilo zatišje. Pretpostavljam da vas zanima šta radim kad ne šijem (neki od vas su mi mi čak slali mail sa pitanjem da li sam dobro i kada ću se ponovo oglasiti - hvala vam na brizi i lepim rečima!), ali nikad ne mogu da ocenim koja je količina informacija koju je OK javno objaviti, i gde je granica preko koje se ne ide. Zato se uvek radije uzdržim nego što se raspišem o privatnom životu. 

Na sve to, dugo odsustvo i apstinencija od pisanja umeju da izazovu blagu blokadu, kada imate mnogo ideja na pameti, ali ni jednu ne uspevate da artikulišete. Slična blokada me i ovaj put pogodila, pa sam tako počela da pišem nekoliko postova u poslednje dve nedelje, ali ni jedan nisam završila, a kamo li objavila.

Novi članak u Sew News časopisu je odličan povod za novi post, a time i za razbijanje blokade. Zapravo, i članak je objavljen pre nekog vremena, u junsko - julskom izadnju, tako da i sa njim kasnim. Članak opisuje postupak pravljenja kroja za laganu letnju haljinu, inspirianu španksim flamenko haljinama. Kroj je izuzetno jednostavan, što se u magazinu da videti, a sa par ukrasnih satenskih traka ova haljina izgleda raskošno. Umetnički direktor Sew News je u haljini video odličan motiv za proslavu 4. jula, američkog Dana nezavisnosti. 

Štepalica: U susret letu, uz novi članak u Sew News

Haljinu sam sašila pre dosta godina, mislim 2006. godine, i jedno vreme je bila najčešće nošena haljina iz moje garderobe. Napravila sam je uoči puta u Španiju, pa je očigledno odakle potiče inspiracija za nju. U to vreme sam imala jedan omiljeni kroj za letnju haljinu, koji sam sama modelovala, i koji sam do besvesti modifikovala i pravila varijacije na račun dekoltea, dužine, širine suknje, i sl. Od desetina haljina koje sam u to vreme napravila, ovo je jedna od retkih koju i dalje imam. 

No, na žalost, više ne mogu da je nosim, jer mi je sada tesna. U vreme kada sam je nosila, haljina je na meni ovako izgledala. 

Štepalica: U susret letu, uz novi članak u Sew News