1/14/2014

A weekend full of sewing, laughter and amazing women



This weekend I have been in Bielefeld and can therefore state that this city exists! For all of my international readers: In Germanby there is a saying that Bielefeld doesn't exist, that it's just an imaginary city. Where that comes from? I have no idea, so whoever knows it, please share!

Bielefeld is also called the Leineweberstadt because it's the city where in the 19th century many flax fields were agricultured and then there were many textile factorys in the area. Still many fashion companys have their headquarters in the surroundings in Bielefeld.

Why I was in Bielefeld? It was the first organized sewing meet up for people from all over Germany who like to sew. And of course I had to be there to see what the sewing community is up to. And of course to finish my own project.

For a long time I dreamed about sewing my own biker jacket in a material mix, which will be great for all kinds of outfits. So for this weekend I prepared very well, cut all the pieces in December and got the supplies that were necessary.

On the weekend I sewed and ate, sewed and ate, sewed and ate and sewed some more. In the end the jacket was finished on Saturday evening and all I had to do on Sunday was to put in the push buttons. The jacket is still missing one button, because I messed up to many of the push buttons. But it's wearable and no one notices this mistake until I point it out.

Sorry for the bad picture quality, but my camera is pretty old and this was the only picture which wasn't blurry. A lovely new sewing friend made some better pictures, but I still have to get them.

 More about the sewing meet-up: It was organized by three very charming sewists, who proposed the meet up some months ago on their blogs. The community could then decide between two places in Germany and in a very democratic way Bielefeld was chosen as the place to be.
For two nights most of us, except for the locals, stayed in the youth hostel, which only mistake was the low- key supply in the rooms with plugs for IPhone and camera charger. But of course, in a youth hostel you are meant to communciate with each other and not the world.
Right after dinner and a short introduction of everybody in the sewing room, we already got to work and chat. Yes, we chatted a lot and shared our experiences, highs and lows, funny stories, memories and everything in between. Time flew by quickly and soon it was 11 pm and slowly the concentration began to drop. That's where the beer, wine and prosecco came in handy and on we chatted. I got around to bed at 2 am and got up at 7:30 am the day, which was a bit hard, but the thought of finishing the jacket kept me moving.
On Saturday we sewed and ate a lot, I finished the jacket and on Sunday I started a bag and finished the jacket with push button, that I bought on Saturday in a supermarket.

What will I remember about the weekend? There are more women out there, who are crazy about fabrics and patterns like me. Though I have to think that I'm not quite nerdy enough, because I mainly sew Burda  (the jacket is from 09/2004 so nearly a decade old) and don't know all the Vogue pattern numbers by heart, like some bloggers do.
We all have similar experiences about our hobby and most of us can not share our passion with the "normal" friends, so that's where the blogging is really filling a gap. You learn a lot of the experiences from others and blogging enables you to read about the problems that others had with a certain pattern and how they solved the problem. I know that I often don't share the full experience of finishing a project, so that's what I really want to improve.
I don't have all of the skills yet that are necessary to finsih all the projects, like I want them to be finished, so 2014 will be the year where I really want to improve my skills.

Blogging friends can also become real friends and I heard about lots of small groups in different cities where they chat about there experiences once or twice a month. I'd really like to do something similar in Hamburg, so Hamburg bloggers beware as I reach out to you!

The weekend ended with very exciting news! There will be another blogger meet up in Bielefeld and next year there will be another sewing meet-up weekend. I'll be there! Maybe one of you too?

Lastly I have to say thank you to the amazing women who organized the meet-up. Alex, Miriam and Susi, you are awesome!

3 Kommentare:

  1. Ah that sounds lovely, a whole weekend of sewing with likeminded people! And you've gotten a fabulous jacket out of it. It looks great and now probably has some good memories attatched to it!

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  2. Die Jacke ist richtig cool; vor allem die gewissen "Features".
    Das WE war wirklich klasse und ich kann Dich nur in dem Wunsch bestärken einen Stammtisch in HH zu gründen.

    LG

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  3. It was a pleasure to spend the weekend sewing with you.
    But I think the amount of pattern numbers you know by heart is not a benchmark for your nerdiness ;) I am very bad with numbers, I don't even know my own landline telephone number.
    Meeting other people who sew is always a lot of fun. So go for a regular meet-up in Hamburg! I know at least 3 amazing ladies in Hamburg, who sew.

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