one big capsule wardrobe // summer 2015

Do you remember the winter capsule wardrobe I posted at the beginning of the year?
It was working really great until I got an internship, moved to Munich and my wardrobe needs changed completely.
I went from a very casual student wardrobe to a 'OMG I'm working for a big company and everyone looks so fancy' wardrobe within a matter of weeks. Which meant I traded comfy yoga pants and dresses for blouses and dress pants. My HR department is fairly casual compared to other departments but it's defintiely a different dress code than on campus.

Some notes:

• for this capsule I chose 60 (OMG!) pieces. That sounds like a lot (and it is!) but it covers all my clothing needs. I have fancy pieces for job interviews and business meetings, semi-casual office clothes and casual clothes for the weekends. I should also note that my outfits depend on whether I ride my bike to work or whether I take the subway (which makes wearing maxi skirts manageable). 
• some of these pieces are pretty worn out and I'm looking to replace them. When I find a replacement I'll donate the old piece. There are also a couple classic pieces I'm looking for, like a high-quality trench coat and a white blouse that is not see-through (impossible to find in Germany!). These will be added to the wardrobe if I ever find them.
• some of the basic tops are just for layering and my shirts double as sleep shirts because I usually just but PJ bottoms. If I didn't count them I'd only have about 50 pieces. Doesn't sound as bad anymore, right?
• not pictured: clothes worn exclusively at home like PJ bottoms, rain gear, sportswear and two fancy dresses for special occasions. Oh and I also wear underwear like all normal people ;)
• I marked all the items I wear exclusively at the office with one * and all the pieces that are for job interviews/formal client meetings with two **

TOPS: lightweight gray pullover, 3/4 striped top, striped baseball tee, navy v neck, Roots sweater, sheep t-shirt, Lululemon scuba hoodie, navy 3/4 top*, Life is Good "summer starter kit" tee, loose navy tanktop, navy v neck, loose striped top,  navy tank, purple tank, striped neutral tank.
 
MORE TOPS classic fit blue blouse*, charcoal-gray blazer*/**, gray waterfall neck top*/**, light blue striped shirt*, cable sweater (similar style, different color), 3/4 sleeves top*, plaid shirt, light pink waterfall neck**, gray top*, striped tee, jeans jacket, gray tee, navy striped tee, striped linen shirt, 3/4 sleeves cardigan, lacy cotton pullover*, 3/4 striped blouse, lightweight coral pullover.

There are lots of neutral colors in my wardrobe. It makes matching clothes and getting dressed in the morning super quick. You might also notice that there are lots of stripes in my closet. Having lots of tops makes layering very easy. Although it gets pretty warm during the day it is usually rather cold in the morning (around 11°C/in the low 50's F) when I go to work. Thus my sweaters get lots of wear.

TOPS & BOTTOMS gray merino cardigan*, white tank*, beige maxi skirt, red maxi skirt

These two maxi skirts are kind of my wildcards. I love maxi skirts but I usually just wear them on holidays when I don't need to drive, ride my bike or walk many stairs. I've worn the red one in the office a couple of times and got many compliments for it. And there are so many people out there wearing maxi skirts while driving, chasing toddlers, etc. Maybe I just haven't figured out how to handle long skirts correctly?

BOTTOMS skinny jeans, navy linen pants*, well-loved jeans, natural chinos*, red chinos, navy dress pants**, floral dress, coral skirt, jeans shorts, beige shorts, navy shorts*, gray shorts.

My bottoms are the pieces of my wardrobe that I'm least content about. My favorite pair of jeans is falling apart and I haven't found a worthy pair to replace them yet. The linen pants are super comfy but I can only wear them with high heels - which is the opposite of comfy. So they don't get as much wear as I had hoped they would.
My jeans shorts also need to be replaced by a pair that is more flattering. I bought them right before a vacation 5 (6?) years ago because I was in desperate need of a pair of shorts. But I have failed to replace them with a more flattering pair although I've been looking for several years. Finding affordable jeans shorts that aren't destroyed, faded, high-waisted or having pockets poke out are impossible to find. If you have a recommendation on where to find wearable shorts, please let me know!

SHOES suede pumps*/**, black pumps**, gray suede oxfords*, brown leather flats*, sandals, birkenstock arizona(my slippers that I end up wearing more outside than at home, thus I listed them here), gizeh birks, gray sneakers, toms, minnetonka moccasins, Timberland boat shoes.

I have a confession to make. I love shoes. Especially leather shoes. It's a rather expensive addiction (though I don't remember the last time I bought a pair of shoes that was not on sale) but I just can't help it. When it comes to pretty handbags and shoes I'm a typical woman ;)

Oh speaking of handbags, I'm planning to share my accessories with you once I find the time to take pictures of them.

PS: Please excuse the not-so-perfect photos. I live in a tiny apartment and the only possibility to hang the pieces was in the rather dark hallway, thus the limited amount of daylight and the lack of a wide-angle lens made taking these pictures rather difficult.

frogged designs studio tour

I have lots of projects in the making but basically no time to photograph any of them. But I have a couple of pictures that I took after cleaning my 'studio' last week. I present you... my sewing room!

Short history of the room:
The room is located in the basement of the apartment building I live in. My grandparents built the building in 1969 and used the room for throwing parties, playing pingpong and it was also my grandpa's workshop where he would store all his tools and repair things that broke.
When my grandparents moved the room was turned into a storage room for old furniture they didn't need anymore. Then my mom & uncle inherited the building and stored even more furniture /unwanted broken items in there. Old furniture former tenants left behind? Just throw it in there and forget it even exists.

So after I got rid off all the trash, sold a lot of stuff on the German equivalent of craigslist and donated lots of furniture, I was finally able to remove the wallpaper.

Instead of adding new paper, I decided to simply paint it white. This is what the room looked like with just the primer painted on the bare walls.

Isn't it amazing how much difference white walls make?
I think my parents thought I was nuts when I told them I wanted to renovate the room. Tearing down wallpaper and painting the room white is rather easy, but what to do about the hideous floor??

Also, the room was very dusty and had the typical basement smell. Removing the wallpaper and all the old stuff helped a lot.

What it looks like today:

When you enter the room, you see a door that leads to a tiny room where the old oil tanks are. The house is heated via gas so the room is no longer needed. I plan to add a curtain to cover the door
The couch is Julia's and it didn't fit into her room so she conveniently 'stored' it in my sewing room :)

The entire wall is one big closet that my grandpa built. It's full of my grandpa's tools, my grandma's old coats, my mom's old toys, cleaning supplies, etc. I was thinking about painting the sliding doors white but it would've been too much work because they're varnished. The ceiling is still on my 'paint white if I ever end up with a lot of free time on my hand' list.
The cabinet is the only piece of furniture I left in the room. I didn't keep it because I think it is pretty but it keeps my packaging supplies dust free. In there I store business cards, envelopes, stamps, tape etc.

There is a big dining room table in the middle that I found in the half-price section at IKEA. It's super sturdy and perfect as a cutting table.
The green carpet is from one of my mom's friends. He's a booth builder and had tons of carpet that I could choose from. When I saw the green I knew that it would be perfect - easy to keep clean, it's bright and cheerful yet not boring.

The famous IKEA expedit shelf used to be in my bedroom. It hosts (almost) all my fabrics, some sewing books, fabric scraps, etc.

I exchanged the drawer knobs for mismatching ones that I got at anthropology years ago. They were $2 each so it was a rather cheap but very effective makeover.

The room has three windows so there is a decent amount of daylight considering it's in the basement. Unfortunately, I can't use the heating because it would be ridiculously expensive because of the size of the room. I have a small electric heater that I use from time to time. Other than that I just wear thick hand knit sweaters and wool slippers and hope I don't freeze to death ;)
The rocking chair was another great thrift store find - 5€! I want to make a nice cushion for it. One day...

Next to the rocking chair is my desk. My Juki TL 2010 Q is my workhorse that I use 90% of the time.  The Juki HZL F600 is the machine I use for sewing in zippers, zigzagging and it has a very neat quilt guide that I often use for sewing knitting needle cases. The free arm is also very hand for sewing bags. You simply can't live with just one sewing machine... right?

I found the 'aim high and dream big' wall art at a store a couple weeks ago and just had to buy it. Having stuff on the wall makes a room so much more comfortable!

In the middle of my desk I store all the tools I frequently use. Plus the cute alpaca plush my friend Sam made for me. It keeps me company whenever I spend half the night finishing orders ;)

The bulletin board's main purpose is to cover up lots of wholes in the wall. Eventually I'll buy more paint to finish painting it. Until then I just pin whatever I find on it. I imagine that it could be useful to keep track of custom orders. I really need to figure out a better system than writing everything onto post it's and sticking them everywhere...

Last but not least, I have a biiig ikea shelf that my uncle didn't need anymore. It holds everything from unfinished objects to my entire yarn stash, scrapbooking supplies, a printer I need to fix, a vintage sewing machine, my inventory, etc. Several of the boxes in there are empty but empty boxes are prettier than an empty shelf. I'm considering adding a curtain to the shelf because it looks rather messy. Luckily, dust is not an issue in the basement so the curtain would be for purely aesthetical reasons.

And we're back at the door. (I still need to return the remaining carpet...) Thank you for reading and I'd love to see your creative space :)

wiwo wednesday vol. 14

First of all, thank you so much for your feedback on my last post. I really appreciate your comments and you, my dear readers, are the main reason why I enjoy blogging!
But let's not get all cheesy. What I'm Working On this week is a mix of Christmas presents (most of which are not shown here, duh.), organizing my craft supplies, decorating my studio and some mindless knitting (99% of which is done during lectures).

I've been dreading organizing my knitting supplies because I just have so many! When did I accumulate all those needles?? And how come I have hundreds of stitch markers but whenever I need them I can't find any and have to use scrap yarn?
I've been keeping all my knitting notions and empty project bags in a big box in my closet. Whenever I had to find a needle that would mean rummaging through all that stuff for minutes. Naturally, whatever I was looking for seemed to be at the very bottom.

It's kind of embarrassing so sell needle organizers to others yet have a very unorganized needle situation at home. So this morning I emptied the box on my bed (that's how I usually trick myself into cleaning; if I really really want to procrastinate I simply sleep on the couch and clean the stuff up before going to bed the following day.) and organized everything into little piles on my couch table.
Next, I divided everything up into the little pouches, needle organisers etc as followed(from top left):

• big needle organizer: all my DPNs, notions I don't use often
• bird zipper bag: measuring tapes & buttons
• patchwork 'envelope' bag: T-pins and spare stitch markers
• wooden box: tapestry needles, safety pins, etc.
• sheep pouch: most important tools that I take everywhere (row counter, tapestry needle, scissors, stitch markers, ...)
• interchangeable needles organizer: all my gazillion circular needles

And the biiig We Are Knitters needles that are impossible to fit into any organizer / pouch. Whew, so much better than before! I'm gonna come up with a pattern for a knitting needle organiser for all my DPNs that's a little more... portable than the big one I use right now.

Please tell me I'm not the only knitter with so much stuff.

And since most of my knitting projects right now are rather secretive (less than two months until Christmas!) I'm only gonna show you this Halloween-inspired pair of socks I'm knitting for a relative for Christmas. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know this blog exists so I should be fine showing them on here. I can't wait for Christmas Eve so I can bombard you will all the stuff I'm working on!

What are you working on? Anything Halloween inspired? I really wish it was more of a thing in Germany. The only Halloween stuff I found was red-fleshed apples and purple kohlrabi!

52 craft projects // daily planner cover

I've been using the Moleskine daily planner (pocket size) for four years now and I'm really happy with it. I use it to keep track of appointments and school deadlines, to jot down ideas for craft projects and recipes and my daily to-do lists. This year I got the magenta version which I love but the cover is plain so I thought why not add some linen goodness to it?

I went through my scrap bins and found a bunch of echino (and some other kokka) scraps of various sizes - perfect for a patchwork book cover!

Even the backs of the covers are pretty!

The deer with glasses that's on the back is probably my all time favorite echino fabric - so happy I got to include it right next to some sheep and a camera!

I've been using the cover for the past days on my 2013 calendar and it's awesome how easy it is to find it - I used to empty half my bag because small planners tend to be at the very bottom of bags but with a colorful cover it kind of flashes at you when you open the bag. I'm exited for a colorful and well-organised year 2014!
This is project #42 of 52 craft projects I'm attempting to complete in 2013. You can see all the other projects I've complete so far here.

long-term annoyances

Ever since I moved in over a year ago I had some things that annoyed me but they weren't actual 'problems' and didn't need immediate fixing. Of course I tackled all the high priority items on my to do list first, like installing a kitchen etc.
But 14 months after moving in I finally checked off two of those 'long-term annoyances' from my mental check list:
1) finding a place to put all my school stuff, like binders, books, etc.
and
2) organize & clean the basement.


I got a billy bookshelf at ikea that I put next to my closet. Our vacuum cleaner used to be there but for the time being I put it behind my door; it's less visible but still not perfect.
I dedicated the two lowest shelfs to all my binders. Once classes start these two shelves will be packed, I'm sure!
I used the remaining shelfs to put my books somewhere visible. They used to be all stacked in/on the little tv stand thingy next to it. It was neither pretty nor practical. I'm not sure what to do with the tv stand yet - my dad found it in the trash I 'borrowed' it from him; all my makeup and cosmetics are in the little drawer unit on top so I'll just leave it like that for now.

The basement project took a little bit longer; when we moved in, we just threw all the stuff in there that we didn't have a place for upstairs in the apartment; it was fine for a while but lately it's been hard to even enter it so I decided to finally get it off my list.
We're fortunate to have all the main fuse box and all the cable tv cords in our basement 'room' so we have electricians/cable tv guys having to access our basement from time to time. It doesn't hurt to give them easy access instead of having them crawl over boxes and boots, right?

We're lucky to have some built in shelfs on the one wall. At the other wall we have a small shelf that a previous tenant left here, a drawer unit that I used to have when I was a kid and a large ikea shelf to store moving boxes, etc.
The tiny shelf is filled with Christmas decorations & mugs. The drawers are filled with our shoes(two girls... what can I say?) and the big shelf holds outdoor gear, our smokey joe and moving boxes filled with tools.

We also have a wall cabinet that didn't fit into our kitchen that we use to store groceries like flour, sugar, tea, etc. that we buy in bulks but don't wanna store in our kitchen.

There are still many things on my 'long-term annoyances' list, like

• hang art/photos
• get a wall shelf for the bathroom
• install plinths in the kitchen

but I probably won't worry about them until next year :)

my craft space

The picture above shows the usual state of my desk - a (creative?) mess. I usually clean my room/purge my school supplies before uni starts. My classes start in two weeks so I guess it's about time to get organized again...

This is an overview of my 'craft space'. You could also say that it's my entire room because the only two corners you can't see in the picture accomondate my bed and closet (which is also mainly filled with craft supplies... not to mention the bags full of old clothes for sewing projects underneath my bed...). So basically my craft stuff has taken over my entire room. Which I don't mind at all...

I love this shelf/desk combination from ikea. The table's leg broke off due to a little kitty incident so I got the alex drawer unit instead. I love it because it holds so much stuff, the quality is great (made in Germany - yay!) and it's much more convenient than the original leg.

The drawers hold all my craft supplies that have to be kitty safe like my knitting needles, my pin cushion, sharp scissors, glue, etc. It also holds all my craft books, my camera gear, cat food, paperwork, etc. On top there are my rulers, steam iron, yarn for wips and the white wooden box hosts the yarn for my upcoming projects. The desk is my sewing and cutting table, as well as one of Lina's favorite spots to hang out.

I got the two tealight holders at a thrift store in Denmarkt. I love them! I filled them with tiny scrap yarn balls :)

My second desk hosts laptop, printer, wips, school stuff, etc.

All the clear boxes underneath/next to my desk are samla boxes from ikea. They hold scrapbooking stuff, fabric scraps, Christmas gifts, and all kinds of little bits and pieces I collect. I use this desk for homework and studying, scrapbooking and everything I do at my laptop. This is also the corner where my current knitting projects are stored so I can knit while watching a movie/tv series online.
The calendar is from here. My printer is usually barely visible because I stack all my school stuff on it. I reeeeally need to get a shelf to put all my books and binders for uni.

This chair is my favorite 'reading corner'. Nowadays 90% of the things I read are for school but it's still a fun place to be. I usually turn the chair around so I can put my feet on the radiator and watch the birds and squirrels outside. Unfortunately Lina also thinks that it's a nice place to relax. She often occupies the chair so I have to sit on the window sill... spoiled kitty.

[This is her typical face when she's afraid I might be thinking about stealing her sleeping spot.]


That's the view Lina is enjoying right now. My mom had a couple of trees cut down(no worries, they were conifers that weren't native species and took lots of sunlight because they were huuuge. We're planning to plant more apple trees and a plum tree.) so that explains the big brown spot. It also revealed the rather unlovely patio of the apartment underneath. I'll probably yarn bomb the rain gutter so I have a more colorful view during the winter months.

It goes without saying that my craft space won't stay as clean as it is in the pictures above for more than half an hour; as soon as I make something the creative chaos will be back... ;)

Have you shared pictures of your studio/craft space? Please share a link - I'd love to see them!

craft supplies storage

I never considered the content of my closet as 'weird' or 'not normal' until a friend of mine saw it the other day and couldn't believe a woman can own a big closet and not fill it to the brim with clothes. Well, I guess most crafters could think of a much better use for a closet than storing clothes: storing craft supplies!
Of course I have to put my clothes somewhere so I had to make some space for them but I'd say about half the space in my closet was taken over by craft supplies.

My (ikea) closet has sliding doors so it's kind of split into two parts. This half is closer to my crafting table so naturally it holds most of my crafting supplies. I was surprised to see that I have ended up with a huge fabric stash whereas my yarn stash is rather decreasing. Probably because I usually buy yarn for a project and use all of it or return the remaining skeins or give them away to friends whereas I always end up miscalculating how much fabric I need for a project so I always have tons of it left.
Last week I looked through my clothes to donate some to make more space for my fabrics. I managed to empty one entire shelf so now my echino fabrics(my all time favorite fabrics!) have their own shelf - with lots of space the expand my little collection :)

The second half of my closet is rather boring (as in mostly clothes). But there's a second box of yarn and a big box of WIPs. As you can see it's almost empty - time to start some new projects!!
The doors of my closet are kind of my memo board; I use washi tape to stick all my to do lists and project ideas and bills etc. on there.

Last but not least, Lina loves sleeping in my closet. Which also means I can't close the doors often because she either sleeps inside or she sleeps somewhere else but the minute I close the doors she gets up and sits in front of my closet and meows until I open them again. She's pretty possessive...