Month: October 2016

Just saying…


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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…

Firstly I’d like to point out that blogging makes me feel a little bit like a dentist who decided to perform heart surgery. (Obviously not half as intelligent or important) Why?  Because I am writing in a language I only started learning in my teens. On this note I would like to give credit to my clever sister in law Jo, who HAS to proof every word before it goes public. Occasionally (pssst… in every blog really) she makes a few corrections.

So I decided to make up for my linguistic short comings by writing about something I am familiar with, have knowledge of and am passionate about. Which brought me to the three F’s: Fibres, Fabrics & Fashion. I believe it was my second blog in which I admitted to get a lot of information from Google. Honestly, Google is actually guiding me through life and so far it is doing a pretty good job I think. However all those slightly boring fabric facts I put in my blogs are in fact knowledge I gained many years ago. I just use Google to make sure that I get the facts right, the translations correct and my memory does not play tricks on me. However I do feel a bit like the “fabric version” of a trainspotter so future blogs might be about things other than fibre lengths (cotton is  between 1cm and 5cm long, anything smaller is lint!) and shapes (silk is very smooth, almost perfectly round!).

Then there are all those other words in between all the fabric talk. They are just random thoughts from my head really. There is a lot going on in there and after doing an intense filtering process I usually find a few words that are acceptable for the public.

And then of course – how could I not – every now and then I just have to share a little bit about my children. Because out of all my creations they will forever be the best – and the only perfect ones. (Credit to my husband as well. The kids were a bit of a collaboration).
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Me, one of my two perfect creations and a lot of wool (eating grass in the backround)

As for the sewing (that sort of gets advertised through my blogs)… I still remember the very first time I got to do some sewing. My mum introduced me to her Bernina sewing machine. An old mechanical one (the best ones Bernina ever made) that only did the basic stitches. I got to make pillow cases. I loved it so much I believe I may have covered most of the couch with my creations! (That was in the 90’s… and the cushions were accordingly hideous). After that I was taught a bit more at school, then had a job where I had access to all the beautiful crafty fabric things imaginable… But really, it was just a bit of passion that helped me learn and improve my sewing skills. As with everything I try to learn, I think of the clever words of a former French teacher of mine: “On apprends nager dans l’eau et pas a cote de” (or something like that). Which means as much as: “You learn swimming in the water, not next to it”.

Lastly – I never thought that I would ever write these words – I have to give credit to Jim Carrey, the Yes Man. I am anything but a fan of his movies (I find that he overdoes the funny a bit and I don’t quite get why his face does what it does) but ‘Yes Man’ inspired me to give things a go… Like blogging… Thanks Jim.
And honestly the older I get the less I worry about what people might think of me (it’s so liberating) which gave ma that final bit of courage…

Thanks for reading,

a bientôt

Andrea

I AM A HYPOCRITE

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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