saladin

It’s no a secret that my new blogging / sewing venture is best described as mildly successful. But simply so much fun (at least for me) that I decided, for now, to just keep doing it! In fact, I decided that in this blog I will elaborate why I share my words with you…

Honestly I think that five years ago I would have never labeled myself a hypocrite – but having children and wanting them to grow up to be their best possible selves makes you realise some truths about yourself. I spent the past five years teaching them right from wrong and of course I expect them to only ever do what’s right… But guess what? As soon as they’re in bed there’s wrongs left right and centre! It feels a bit like leaving a dinner party and finally being able to open the button of your jeans to let your belly relax! It’s so good! Limiting screen time and sugar intake for other people while constantly telling them to share is hard work. Binge eating chocolate, not sharing the really tasty stuff with my husband and turning on the telly when the kids shut their eyes gives such freedom! Just what will I be like once they reach the legal drinking age..?

 

Anyway, here I am after having written many words about environmentally friendly fibres and all that blah blah green stuff (which I am still promoting and believing in), only to confess that I have fallen in love with a range of polyester / polyamide microfiber products. That’s right, man-made fibres that have been produced with the use of petroleum, coal and other things. A friend has been praising these cleaning cloths for a while and told me how awesome they were. Naturally I was skeptical until she gave me one to try. I mean, microfibers have been around for a fairly long time, I used to own some but really they were just another cleaning cloth to me. Then I tried my friend’s and I was wowed! I tried to convince myself that despite the fact they’re synthetic – these products are okay. It worked. Actually I didn’t just convince myself, I’ve even learned that these clever little bits of fabric clean without needing chemical cleaning products. I have to say they do an excellent job! Plus they are basically self cleansing and don’t need to be machine washed nearly as often as your ordinary cloths. That makes them rather green… right? Awesome stuff I am telling you.

Then, turning my thinking cap on, I realised that I have never owned a cleaning cloth made of natural fibres (apart from the odd old t-shirt that didn’t even qualify for the “donation-station”). This is because their characteristics are the exact opposite of what I aim for when I clean. They soak up water, take ages to dry (a paradise for germs and the exact reason why togs are always synthetic), and they smear dirt around instead of lifting it off the surface. So I guess it’s a stand-off between using natural cloths with lots of chemicals or chemical cloths with only water… Hmmm… It’s all about compromise – I think if I can make these cloths last for a long time they might just be the greener solution for me (because there is always a lot of cleaning happening in my house!). Plus the quality of cleanliness is just unbelievably impressive. And wait, it gets even better – you can return your old cloths, they get recycled).

So in between the pitter patter of rain drops I will try out my new window cleaning cloth… For once I’m a actually bit excited about cleaning windows! In the meantime I shall keep myself happy and warm with all the fantastic fabrics nature gives us, a microfiber clean house and chocolate ‘after hours’!

By the way, fibres with a diameter of 1/6 of a human hair are called microfibers, they are always made syntheticly. The ones that wowed me are 1/200 of a human hair. That’s very thin! Synthetic fibres usually start out in liquid form and get “pushed” through tiny holes to produce threads as long as you want them! The thinnest of the natural fibers is silk.

A bientot

Andrea, an honest hypocrite

One minute it’s here… next minute it’s gone! Spring, my second favourite season! I get excited when I can start peeling layers of clothing off to slowly get ready for the hot summer days. Since moving to NZ the excitement has slightly – let’s say “changed”. While winter is not as long or as cold as it is in Switzerland it’s just a bit bleak with the lack of Christmas lights and carnival confetti.

For NZer’s the change of season usually happens at the start of the relevant month. The 1st of March, June, September and December mark the beginnings of the seasons. But I like to wait until the sun has traveled to it’s next mark (I am aware that the earth circles the sun) and so spring for me does not start until the sun reaches the equator on the 23rd of September. Maybe it’s just a me thing. Maybe it’s a Swiss thing. Maybe it’s a European thing. I remember visiting my sister in law in Italy one year in October. There was this short curly haired Kiwi waiting for us at the train station. Sandals on her feet and shorts on her legs she stood out in between all the Italians dressed in their winter clothes (because it was October you know. 20 degrees, but still October!) I guess you can’t blame the Italians with their gorgeous leather boots and fancy clothes. One has to showcase!

My husband and his friends were always amused by how Swiss followed their unwritten rules (any Swiss reading this will be in denial). Clothing being one of them. If it is 20 degrees at the beginning of March the fact that it’s March outweighs the temperature thing and boots and jackets are what society wears. Not skirts and shorts.
At the same time in Florida you find people dressing their hands up in socks to fight of the few chilly mornings. And the sock in flip-flop thing I believe might be the official winter boot for Floridians. Clever, inexpensive and easily adjustable should temperatures rise. These are both totally acceptable winter outfits. Yet during my high school year in the sunshine state my student planner was filled with not one but at least two pages of dress code rules. We were not allowed to wear pajamas (Pak n’Save stick man if you are reading this feel inspired, make your shops pj free!!!) Tummies had to be well hidden under clothing. Sweatbands (you know, for the sporty people) were a NO as they could suggest that you belong to a gang and so on. While in New Zealand kids go to school wearing uniforms and are even restricted in the size and style of earrings they accessorize with (I am not sure if it’s the same in every school…) Well that suddenly makes those unwritten Swiss laws seem crazy relaxed!

Anyway I believe I got a glimpse of spring the other day. I felt it. I even put sunscreen on! And you know, throwing my swissness overboard and completely ignoring the fact that after months of hiding under pants my legs are so pale they are borderline see through – I did it. I put on shorts. IN SEPTEMBER (and September translates to March in Switzerland!) If that does not make me quailify for an NZ passport..? And then bam! Just like the ever returning Monday morning winter came back in full nastiness. Cold, windy, rainy, yucky. So with legs still pale, shoulders free of sunburn and those happy feelings spring brings still in hiding I will patiently wait for the 23rd of this month, or actually make that Labour Day!

See you then spring.

A bientot

Andrea

Beeswax wraps – the bee’s knees! These little pieces of cotton covered in beeswax are just another awesome old thing that has become “fashionable” again. I was introduced to them a couple of years ago when visiting friends, and of course I embraced the idea of a substitute for cling wrap. However, it wasn’t until my son started Kindy that I had a go at making some myself.

 

One of many things I love about my son’s Kindergarten is that it is an “Enviro” Kindergarten. As such it promotes litter free lunch boxes – which gave me the perfect excuse to experiment with beeswax wraps! The easiest option – obviously – would have been to buy one or two. But as I am not currently earning an income, I take it as one of my jobs to save money by making things myself. So I jumped online and found a great tutorial (check out www.myhealthygreenfamily.com) that sounded simple and straightforward. I have been making these wraps for a good year and a half now and use them to wrap up my son’s sandwiches – rubbish free lunchbox, tick! (Alas while I proudly announce that I have successfully managed to keep my son’s lunch litter free I realize that driving him to and from Kindy has very much undone any good the beeswax wraps have done).

 

The first wraps I made did not last as long as I hoped, but I can put that down to little mistakes I made:

• Mistake 1: The fabric I used was too thick. You want to use tightly woven, thin cotton fabric. Hemp could possibly be an even “greener” alternative – but I haven’t tried it out yet.
• Mistake 2: I cleaned the wraps using a kitchen brush. Very silly as I scratched the wax on the cotton. These wraps should be washed using cold water (NOT hot water as that could melt the wax), a mild dish washing liquid and a soft cloth.
• Which brings me to another important point: Don’t use them to wrap up meat, as you can’t “sterilize” the wraps with hot water. I am lucky that my son loves bread. Just bread. To turn his sandwiches into actual “sandwiches” (well I believe they qualify…) I just smear a bit of butter between the bread. While “a meal without meat is incomplete” – according to my husband – I refrain from putting meat in my son’s lunchbox and that saves me the worry about bacteria. (Obviously if the meat is wrapped in bread snug as a bug in a rug without touching the beeswax wrap it should be fine).

 

Another thing that I very much love about my son’s Kindergarten is that parents are encouraged to get involved, help out and share talents. I don’t have any talents. But I am a maker of things and so I decided to pop in one morning and make beeswax wraps with all the fabulous little people. Frankly, there is not much they can actually help with in the making of the wrap. But I have brought some beautiful plain and natural cotton fabric that the children can turn into masterpieces using fabric markers and then melt beeswax onto. Also, because they deserve it, I decided to snoop around the Internet a bit more to find out why a lot of people add jojoba oil and tree resin to their wax. I had to do a lot of snooping as it seemed impossible to find straight-forward answers as to why and how. I read that apparently the resin helps the fabric cover bowls better and actually stay in place.  Also, according to one source it has an antibacterial effect. Some people think that the resin makes all the difference and love it while others didn’t like the smell (I believe that also comes down to the exact type of resin used). As to the jojoba oil – well I still don’t really know the reason why it is used for the wraps. If you can add information about the resin and/ or jojoba oil please post a comment.

So eager to give this “fancy” beeswax wrap with the resin and jojoba oil a try I started looking for the ingredients. While I had no trouble finding jojoba oil I could not find the resin anywhere. I ended up contacting a company selling beeswax wraps hoping to be able to buy some resin… But as that is exactly their point of difference – understandably- they refrained from sharing their source with me. If you are really keen to have a beeswax wrap made with resin you can buy these at
www.honeywrap.co.nz or
www.beewrapt.co.nz (just to name a couple)

Alternatively the resin can be importet from the U.S.

If you are keen to make some for yourself (or someone else), here a few tips:

Materials needed:

• Thin, tightly woven cotton fabric. Cutting the fabric with zigzag scissors makes the end product look nicer. You can make them any size you find useful.
• Beeswax. I buy mine from Arataki honey. Apparently it is a slightly seasonal product so beware that they run out of stock occasionally. You will need to grate the wax. If you drop some on the floor be sure to clean it up straight away as it’s a big job once you’ve stood on the little flakes and they are properly smooshed in!
• Jojoba oil – optional. I find it a little bit costly. Available from Health 2000, Chantal.
• Tree resin – optional.
• Baking sheet. Once you use it for this purpose you will not be able to use it for anything else. I suggest that you get a cheap one from an op shop.
• Grater.  Same as above, support the Salvation Army!
• Brush.  Again same as above.

 

Be prepared to have your mind blown – this is all I do:

 

Preheat oven to 90^oc. Cut fabric to the desired size, place it on the baking sheet and sprinkle it with the grated beeswax. (If you are using it, mix the wax with the oil and resin then sprinkle the mixture over the cotton). Place the sheet in the preheated oven. When the wax has melted (takes about 5-10 minutes), remove the baking sheet from the oven. If necessary, brush the wax with a clean brush and hang the wrap up immediately. If it goes cold while still on the baking sheet the wax dries in clumps – not what you want. Just pop it back in the oven if that happens and melt the wax again.

 

The quantity of wax needed depends on the size of cotton piece – you might have to experiment.

 

And as a bonus tip, should you stumble upon wax sheets for candle making when out shopping… get some! Make candles with the kids – they’ll love it plus this year’s Grandparent Christmas shopping will be all sorted!!!

And of course if you’d like to check out my creations have a look at https://www.facebook.com/saladin.shop/

A bientot

Andrea

Yep I do have a tiny crush on fabrics, fibres and textiles. And I think it is so important that we spoil our bodies by wrapping them up in comfortable, breathable and gorgeous garments. I find it frustrating and disappointing when I discover the most beautiful outfit only to realise that it is made of cheap crappy fabric. The look might fool me but the touch won’t lie. And my armpits deserve more than being hidden in a bit of plastic that makes them stink. So here’s my fibrous blog:

The big world of textiles consists of natural and synthetic fibres.

Natural fibres as you can guess come from nature. Plants or animals. They are clearly my favourites. Natural fibres breathe. I mean you can’t go wrong with wool when it is designed for nothing other than to keep a sheep toasty and warm. Or on hot days – as I said, it “breathes”. And it gives us lanolin which does beautiful things to our skin. Sadly I am one of many people who find wool a bit itchy. Well you have to imagine the fibre looking a little bit like a pine cone with lots of scales standing out. That’s why it’s itchy. But it’s also why you can make great “loden” fabric with it. Which happens to make warm and beautiful winter coats. There are of course many different types of wool and other animal hairs that are used in the textile industry. And then there is fur. Personally, not something I am very experienced with and I’m only okay with it if it’s 100% cruelty free. Animals should not suffer for fashion. If we decide to walk around in sky high heels that make our toes curl it’s self inflicted cruelty. Just leave animals alone!

Then there are the fibres we get from plants. I am pretty sure that everyone reading this has got at least half of their wardrobe filled with cotton. From the comfort and characteristic point of view it is simply awesome! But having read a bit of literature about the “not so pretty side” of cotton I am not sure that my environmentally concious heart is still as big a fan. On the bright side cotton is versatile and can be used and turned into so many things. The fibre itself is a bit dull. Just a flat boring slightly twisted band. But you stretch that band et voila you can turn it into beautiful cotton satin. If you use the short fibres you can make a hardy pair of jeans. Obviously, a lot of the different types of cotton fabrics are being created with the use of chemicals. And some careless manufacturers use bad colouring. I remember unpacking boxes filled with new clothes at an old job and the smell that attacked your nose as soon as you opened a box was so awful. They would be boxes filled with cotton t-shirts and still the smell seemed synthetic and unhealthy. I doubt that anything in the box was made from quality.
One of cotton’s cousins is linen (flax), a smooth round fibre perfect for wearing on hot days. Some people dislike the way it “scrunches” up, but I find it a rather elegant little scrunch. Recently bamboo is spoken about a lot. While it is mainly grown organically in order to produce that beautiful soft fabric chemicals are being used in the production. So I am going to file it in my category called “criss-cross”

And then there are synthetic fabrics. Synthetics are made from chemicals And you know what? They are not too bad… for some things. They are actually great for swimwear and anything elastic and many other things (especially active clothing). But I sure am glad not to have been part of the disco era when brightly printed polyesters were the thing to wear… I guess on the bright side back then the cigarette smoke at the disco would have overpowered all the body odour the clothing created. Different synthetics are made to imitate different natural fibres. Polyacrylnitrile is the wool substitute (and while it does not itch it also does not breathe…). Polyurethan is used to imitate leather. To name just a couple of the poly family… The most negative factor about synthetic fabrics is that they are made through a highly toxic and wasteful process.

And then there are – as I call them – the criss-cross fabrics. Natural fibres (cellulose from plants) that are turned into fabrics through the use of chemicals. For example Viscose. I don’t mind Viscose. And I think that it unfairly suffers from a bad reputation as many people seem to believe it’s synthetic. When really I it is actually a super clever fabric. A great way to use cotton lint (the shortest cotton fibres measuring only up to 2mm) and wasteage from the paper industry. I am all for using up every itsy bit instead of wasting it. (Yes, the part where chemicals are used is not so great). Go and get yourself a viscose top for the summer. You won’t regret it.
As mentioned above bamboo (mostly) fits into the criss-cross category as well. While bamboo deserves being described as eco-friendly for it’s fast growing ability, it’s sustainability and the fact that it can easily be grown 100% organically unfortunately in order to create that wonderfully soft and silky fibre manufacturers use chemicals in the process. (I stumbled upon a Swiss factory that apparently manufactures the fabric just like linen – chemical free. However it is my understanding that the end product is not as soft as it’s chemically manufactured friend.)

You might have struggled to read through this rather dull and boring blog. Thank you for reading and also: You’re welcome, surely you would have learnt something.

A bientot

Andrea

A few weeks ago my mother in law, who, as a consequence of shoulder surgery was limited to the use of only one arm, mentioned to me all those little daily tasks – like getting dressed – that suddenly became well… gigiantic daily events!

Being her incredibly strong independent self (I beleive she may have actually invented the “can-do” attitude), not only did she tackle but of course successfully master all the taskes life threw at her – one handed. That led us to discuss how, talking to friends, she learned that apparently putting on a bra can be quite a challenge for middle aged, large chested women with a bit of “chub” (of which, may I point out, my MIL does not have any…). Even with two hands. I can safely say that I doubt I’ll ever experience that challenge myself as nature has designed me with a rather unimpressive chest that wears a bra not for support but instead to create the look of a need for one (get it?) (on that note: thanks to my children, who sucked even more life out of my already unimpressive chest, the proof sits right – no acutally quite a bit above my belly button!)

So where am I taking you with this you might wonder? Well have you ever thought about the evolution of clothing and fashion? To think that bras as we know them in fact are only just over a hundred years old (and clearly there is still room for improvement to better cater for women of all shapes, sizes and ages). Or that women did not always wear pants – while men in some cultures do wear skirts… It is a little bit fascinating, isn’t it?

From socks made from animal skins to slim fit jeans, fashion has changed many times already and seems to recycle itself every few decades. While some prefer practical clothing others like to dress comfortably (some possibly a bit too comfortable. Adult onsies should be banned*). Some are about fashion, others about style (yes there is a difference!). And there were those a little while ago that even went for life threatingly dangerous (women of the Victorian era lived life on edge wearing hoop skirts which were so big that they could easily catch on fire – remember no light bulbs just cndles -, get caught in carriages, and so on)

From fabric dyes made with a bit of help from urin, others made from insects to very poisunous chemical dyes. From natural to synthetic fibres and the ones inbetween – natural fibres processed chemically. From buttons made of glass to buttons made of shells, plastic, wood, deer antlers,… From eelsking wallets to snakeskin boots – clothing being one of our primary needs humans have surely made use of whatever they could access.

And while primarely covering one of our basic needs, clothing long ago has turned into fashion, symbolising who we are, what we like and for some simply symolising status.

And then most amazing of all there are places like Gloriavale. Yes, it simply amazes me that there are “societies” in the western world that are completely immune to fashion. (And apparnetly also to evolution). Feeling a bit blue just thinking aobut it. (Because all Gloriavale people wear blue, you know.)

Anyway, somehow my mother in law and I went from bras to balance and ended up standing on one foot each with our eyes closed. Get up, try it out.

A bientot Andrea

Remember how I was going to make this a child free zone? Mostly? Well here is one of those blogs that is not part of the “mostly”. (Already, oops)

A few weeks ago my four year old was in one of those annoying moods where he got something in his head – super heroes it was that day – and did not give me time to breathe until I gave him and his bloody super heroes the desired attention. Living in this modern world I tried to go down the easy road by looking for pictures of superheroes online (did you know that there are literally hundreds of different superheroes and villians? Well, my son assumed that I knew and could tell him about the powers of every single one of them. Clearly he didn’t realise that it took me many many years to figure out what Batman actually means. Really. Not exaggerating. Had he been called “Fledermausmann” in Switzerland little six year old me would have known. It just would not have helped further Batmans career in the German speaking world.)

So anyway we moved on to checking out costumes online. Foolishly I hoped that looking at them and possibly asking Father Christmas (oh how I love the power of the words “Father Christmas”) for one would satisfy the little person. Of course not. “I want this one! No I want this one! And I want this one too! When will it be here?”
And while I love spoiling my precious litte minis I am not one of those parents that just buys their kids whatever they want whenever they want it. (Alhough I do sometimes scatter chocolate chips all over the floor to get a 5 minute breather – a parenting technique that might not be much better but still one I am proud of!)

Anyways I did not have it in me that day to just say “no” to his big brown begging eyes… And so, five minutes later I found myself sitting at my sewing machine making an “Invisible Flash” costume which of course was followed by the “Love-Heart-Happy-Heart Super Girl” outfit for my two year old. And just like that half the day was gone.

 

But man it was worth it. To see those happy little superheroes running around all day – and the next day and a couple of days after – being super awesome, shooting people with happy hearts and really believing they were invisible. And while their super powers were not as real as they thought they were, putting a smile on everyone’s face who walked past us was just another kind of super power. So I decided that the world could do with more little, crazy, happy superheroes. And big ones. Of course I made one for myself, gotta join the fun sometimes – I am just not sure yet about my superpowers, suggestions?

Now if you’re keen to turn your probably already extraordinary kid into an everyday superhero switch over to my Facebook page and check out my creations for little people

A bientot

Andrea

The other day I went to a local op shop trying to find a “cheap” outfit for a costume party when I stumbled upon this huge warehouse filled with wool fadges. And the wool fadges were filled with old clothes. There were hundreds of them – fadges not clothes. I couldn’t help but wonder just how many garments there are in this world? How many are being bought and thrown out every day?

 

Being one of those people that ask Google just about anything, I went home and asked Google about the effects the clothing industry has on – well… just about everything. The environment, consumerism (and vice versa), the people designing and creating fashion and so on. And apart from lots of pretty pictures of beautiful garments (oh and how I love beautiful garments!) I did not find a lot of positive stuff. And I thought damn, I really want to write about this. But I also want to write something light hearted and this is just a bit serious. Hmmm, what to do.

So I sat down and ate leftover fried rice. And thought about my little dilemma. With all the information available I decided to share some of my favourite sources I found on the subject. Thought for food:
*An article about recognising the problem world wide and finding sustainable solutions.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2014/10/06/assessing-the-environmental-impact-of-the-fashion-world/

*The True Cost – a documentry about the fahion industry

 

*And a helpful website a friend shared with me

http://theregister.co.nz/news/2016/04/new-zealands-ethical-fashion-companies-2016-revealed-who-passed-test

 

I of course did try to see the positive in the fact that there is so much negative infromation availlable on the subject. It means that people are becoming aware of the terrible impact the whole industry has globally and are trying to make a positive change for the future.

And yet, even after learning about some not so nice truths regarding the colthing industry I still have to confess that occasionally I just can’t resist a bargain. The challenge for me lies in making my little shopping heart happy while being kind to the environment. And of course my wallet because sadly, the better and kinder the product the higher the price! I constantly remind myself to buy quality, not quantity. Try to shop local and locally made.

So far I can happily say I have disciplined myself when filling my shopping trolley at the super market. It’s time I care about what I wrap my body in as much as I care about what I feed it with. And you should too.

A bientot

Andrea