Running Problems. :(

In case you don't see my Nike+ posts on facebook, I have started running again recently. A year ago, I signed up for a 5k, and haven't stopped running since. A few months ago, I decided to up the ante and signed up for a 12k in November and a half-marathon in April.

Unfortunately, things aren't working out for me so great right now. My body totally rocked my first 10k training run, and I was able to keep it up for a couple of weeks. Then I started getting knee pain-- the same pain I got as a teenager after I joined the track team. Back then I was diagnosed with patella femoral syndrome (aka Runner's Knee), wore a knee brace while running and got physical therapy. It all seemed to help, but then again, that's about the same time I stopped running regularly, which could explain the relieved pain as well.

Coincidentally, around the same time I started getting knee pain again, my chronic ankle pain returned. Some research online pointed towards overpronation. My feet are arched when they're not bearing weight, but as soon as I stand, the arch flattens out. This leads to a funny gait, where my my feet collapse inward and put pressure on my joints in weird ways. The pain in my ankle corroborated this theory, since I only experience pain when I pronate my foot.

So I thought "ok, I just need some decent insoles to rotate my foot into the proper position". That's what all the websites said.

Well, I went running today with my new €35 insoles and made it 1k before I had to stop. The pain on the outer edges of my feet was so intense at first, I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to walk home.

I returned to Dr. Google and did some more research. Some websites say you should spend a week walking around with new insoles before using them for sports. Other websites say "SEE. THEY'RE BAD" and claim insoles should never ever hurt your feet and if they do you should ditch them. I'm kind of leaning towards the "getting used to them" avenue right now, if for no other reason than that I paid a lot for the new insoles and I wish so much for them to work. I guess it makes sense that my feet should hurt a bit when I suddenly change how they're bearing weight. If I were to start walking on my knuckles, it would hurt at first, too, but I'd probably get used to it.

My plan for now is to put the inserts in my old running shoes and wear them everyday to run errands. Next week I'll then go for a short 1-2k jog and see if they pain returns. Cross your fingers for me!

Totally Plain Denim Miniskirt

I *could* have just bought a denim miniskirt for €10, but then again, why buy for cheap what you can make for free?

I attempted, for the second time, to alter a pair of jeans into a miniskirt. The first attempt was years ago and I did it entirely by hand because I didn't have my own sewing machine yet. I wore it for a short period of time before chucking it. I decided to try again when I was forced to sort out a pair of jeans that had become too short. They were exactly what I needed for altering purposes: They had little to no distressing on the seams. 

See, when you sew the inner legs together to make a skirt, your new seam won't have the same distressing that the manufacturer put everywhere else. It looks awkward, and to be honest, I simply don't like a distressed middle seam on a jeans skirt. Why would your skirt be distressed there? The only answer I can think of is humping trees. And your preference for botanic intimacy is not necessarily something you want to be broadcasting with your clothing.

I'm going to admit, here and now, that I started altering these jeans about a year ago. And I started by hand because the sewing machine still scared me a bit. I also had to wait until I could use my dress form in New York to get the hem straight. I only surged the hem while I was in the states, but today I finally did the finishing touches.

Here's a picture of the finished product:

Yes, this my kitchen.

The distressing on the thighs looks a little weird the way it kind of just stops at the hem, instead of fading into it, but whatever. The hem is also a little wonky, but ironing helped a bit. I think if I ever make a denim skirt again, I'll make sure to use non-stretch denim.

So, what do you think of the burgundy paisley tights? I can't decide whether they're amazingly cute or whether they make me look diseased!

Home-made Traveling!

A week ago, I promised you little things, so finally, here's a summary of the little things I made during my sewing spree.

The first thing I made was a neck pillow. I have an incredibly long neck and normal neck-pillows that you can buy in stores just don't cut it:

I <3 NY

The reason my head is even stopped from tipping in the one picture is because of the anatomy on the opposite side of my neck holding it there. I may be touching the pillow with my ear, but the pillow is not relieving the stress on the muscles and ligaments in my neck.

So I got down and dirty with some old foam my mom had lying around. I cut it in a rough U-shape, wrapped it in quilt batting, then covered it with a tan cotton fabric. I used old backpack straps to make it close in front:

I realized on my flight back to Berlin that my pillow can be used in a few other ways as well. Observe:

Normal use of a neck pillow.

Side neck pillow-- great for pillow-cuddlers like me!

Can you say lumbar support?

And if I can find another buckle the same size, I'll make an extension strap so I can strap the pillow under my arms and around my back, so I have something to lean my head onto while sitting in an airport during a layover.

If only the strap were long enough!

Too bad I have to open it up again to remove a wayward pin I found while taking these pictures!

The other things I made were two eye masks to wear while sleeping. Berlin is about 10° latitude further north than my hometown in New York, which means the longest days of the summer here only have about 4 hours of darkness. That's why I wear eye masks the whole summer through. I based these ones off the masks my grandfather got from first class the last time he flew.

Fronts

Backs

They're just made of cotton quilting fabric, organic cotton batting and a thick piece of black canvas. I've really been loving them! The next version will have two elastic straps-- one high and one low, so they don't rub the tops of my ears so much during the night.

I go back to work this week, but hopefully I can keep up with my sewing and blogging!

H&M Copycat Dress

My second-to-last post claimed I was going to be beginning a sewing spree. The sewing spree is now over, but my next two posts will be chronicling the things I made in the last few days.

While shopping at H&M, I came across a really pretty sleeveless blouse dress I liked, but H&M only had it in colors that were definitely not "me":

Imagine this color on someone with skin exactly this color.

So, I decided to make a dress to resemble it. Can you guess what fabric I used? If you guessed rayon challis, you're right!

The flowers are 3/4"-1" across.

For the basis of the dress, I used a pattern my mom had on file that was similar, Butterick B5315:

I made a number of alterations. Among other things, I didn't put in any of the darts on the bodice, designed a new collar, left the sleeves off, and added elastic around the waist. I also came up with my own skirt pattern because I didn't like the way the Butterick one had a seam going down the front and back middles of the skirt. It took me about 3 days to complete this dress.

Here's the dress on a hanger:

The fabric does NOT photograph well!

I'm very happy with how the dressed turned out. The only thing I would change is the collar-- it came out a little weird. I took a lot of extra material out of the skirt as well. I probably should have taken a little less out.

Here's me modeling it. I couldn't find the belt I was planning to model it with!

The fabric REALLY doesn't photograph well!

Tomorrow I'll post about a few small things I made during the sewing spree!

How to get a perfectly tailored wedding dress with no effort...

... by wearing your mom's wedding dress!

My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this July. I really wanted to try on my mom's wedding dress for kicks, so my grandmother dug it out of her attic, where it has been since 1972. The dress fits me absolutely perfectly, it's unbelievable. 

FYI: No, I'm not getting married. I'm not engaged and a wedding is not in the plans for the forseeable future, so don't get your hopes up!

Here are some more pictures:

Nice hair. lol.

If I ever get married, I don't know yet whether I'll use my mom's dress. I wouldn't wear it the way it is-- I would definitely personalize it. For one thing, I'd try to lower the neckline of the lining to modernize it. I'd probably also add a fuller, flowy skirt.

If I can get my hands on a digital copy and can get my mom's permission, I'll edit this post and add a picture of her on her wedding.

My grandmother also dug out her dress from 1950, but since I don't have a 21-inch waist (even with a corset), I have no chance of being able to wear it!

And the sewing spree begins...

To begin, so sorry about the hiatus. It started around Thanksgiving last year when I made Thanksgiving dinner for a bunch of people and someone said "be sure to blog about it". And I wanted to. I really did. But then it was already so long after Thanksgiving that it would have been embarassing to post about Thanksgiving, you know, at Christmas. But I had difficulties posting anything until I posted about that stupid dinner. I did post about a bed. And now that I know that, like, five people I know actually read my blog when I post, I'm going to try to get back into the habit of it. But no Thanksgiving post. It was holding me back. Thank you to my small handful of readers!

Ok, so now to the sewing. So, I'm in the US right now, and in the US is where I have most of the materials I need to produce wonderful works of wearable art. Among other things, the dress form that is an exact replica of my figure is a real help. Which means.... I'm back to making things! My first project was to finish a skirt I started last time I was home. I was able to adapt it a little to make it pretty fashionable, and I fashioned it after these skirts (from Forever21):

 

I absolutely love rayon challis, so I picked a black one from my mom's stash, which is covered in pink polka dots and flowers. I decided to make my classic panelled circle skirt, which is one of my specialties, though you could just as easily make a normal circle skirt. The skirt might just drape a little differently.

I started by cutting 14 of these:

And then sewing the sides of them all together using the serger (my tool of choice when working with rayon). I also serged around the raw edge of the waistline.

Using elastic for skirt waistbands, I fashioned a waistband that is not stretched, but still snug, using the technique I got from this blog.

I attached the skirt to the waistband with a single line of stitching, then played around with it in front of the mirror until I decided to hem it at 16 inches. After marking the length of the skirt with dressmaker's chalk, I surged the hem then rolled it and stitched it into place with the sewing machine. The final product:

And, modelled by yours truly:

I'M ON A ROCK.

Because I made the elastic so loose, I can also wear the skirt around my hips, too. That way, if fashions change (and they will), I can simply adjust the way I wear the skirt. Wearing the skirt at my hips also makes it more work-friendly. I absolutely CANNOT lean over in this skirt. lol.

For your reading pleasure, here is a picture of me romping in my parents' yard in my new outfit:

I made the bed.

And when I say I made the bed, I mean I literally built the bed. Alone. Without any help. And I'm a girl.

It started like this: Our first bed was a cheap, €400 bed with an included mattress. Four years are not easy for such a cheap bed, and the Boy and I decided it was time to invest in decent mattresses. Then we decided, as long as we're investing so much money, let's go all out and buy extra-long mattresses (the Boy is over 6 feet tall and his feet hang off the end of a normal mattress). Unfortunately, extra-long also has this tendency to mean "extra pricey". I won't even tell you how much we spent on our mattresses and slatted frames.

Then we started looking at beds to hold our new mattresses. And would you believe we were considering this bed frame for over €600 without the headboard??

It's basically four pieces of wood with four legs attached to it. And it was the cheapest extra-long bed frame we could find. 

Which just wouldn't do.

I must admit, I didn't just dive into the idea of making a bed myself. One of my friends gave me a little push in that direction, and I was aware of another friend who had made his bed, which was encouraging. I played around with measurements and made the following drawing on google sketchup to make sure I liked the proportions:

I chose this design because I felt it would be the easiest to construct. After finishing this design (note that it also doesn't have a headboard), I ran across this bed online, which is from the same company as the expensive bed we were considering at first:

Now, doesn't that look familiar?? It's probably more in the range of about €1000. So, finally, here's a picture of the bed when it was nearly finished:

All the bed's parts, including the wood (solid beech), hardware, finishing supplies (sandpaper, wax, etc.), and transport cost just short of €300. So, I saved a lot of money. It took me two and a half weeks' worth of evenings to build. It weighs 60 kg and it stands 60 cm tall. The mattresses are even higher. It doesn't squeak, can be completely disassembled for easy transport, and is built such that two mattresses of different thicknesses appear the same height. The only disadvantage is that the bed seems to slide freely across the floor, despite the weight of the mattresses.

At some point I plan to make an upholstered headboard that hangs on the wall. It will probably end up looking like something from www.headybed.com:

As soon as it's complete, I'll post a picture of the completed bed and headboard! Should anyone be interested in more detailed instructions on how the bed is built, I'd be glad to share!