Prequel to the last post

I was going to bust sooner, but... Yeah. At least I have been sewing, a lot!

But this post is going to about the things I made to wear to the outing a few weeks ago. And also, about the things I didn't make to said event.

The thing is, I really, really wanted to jump-start a Regency wardrobe for this event. After all, it was an 19th century themed event, and I have longed to study and understand Regency fashions better but always had things come in between. Now, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. I had the materials needed. I even had an unfinished pair of Regency stays that had been collecting dust since Spring... So it was just to finish said stays, and...

Ah. This was where things got awkward.

There was a reason I had left those stays in a miserable little pile since Spring. They had issues. Huge issues.

Unfixable issues, to be honest.

I won't bother you with the gory details, but things were very bad in the bust area. Think a very sad muffin top and a profile that associated more to mammography than those magnificent shelves we wish for from a good pair of Regency stays. I just don't have sufficient understanding of corsetry to pull off a project like this easily, I think. 18th c. stays, I can manage, if I try, but this... I need to learn more.

So, there wasn't anything to be done. They had to be scrapped (but saved and used as a "don't do this!"-reference for when, or if, I try my hands at Regency stays again). So now what?

To try and whip together a new Regency stays was out of the question (and impossible to boot), and I really didn't want to make a nice Regency gown without proper undergarments. I had to settle for a compromise, and then things got rather muddled.

With no real plan anymore, I did what any reasonable person would had done: I panicked. Something told me I should make something 1790s, since it's the precursor of Regency fashion and I could still wear it to 18th century events if I wished to, so I started to think of what gown I could make with fabric I already had (because I did NOT want to but new fabric for a quick-and-dirty scheme like this).

I dug up a pair of curtains I had bought at a flea market at one time, and for some reason decided I should make a wrap-front gown, like the one in Cut of Women's Clothes, or the Tidens Töj one. You could argue it had been smarter had I settled for a simple design like the ones I have made earlier (1, 2), but no. No. We couldn't have that.

So some time after I had this (pictures - FINALLY! you all think, right?):

I hadn't done a proper fasting here so it did look better on me than on the mannequin, but my overall sentiment was pretty much: Meh.

The fabric was very nice though - delicate and very sheer. Very suitable for frigging Winter weather.

But wait for the punchline, or whatever we shall call it...
I didn't take sleeves into account. I used up nearly every little piece of fabric, but didn't actually think about sleeves!
I know I can be easily distracted, but this is ridiculous even for me. This is what happens when you don't have a proper plan, folks!

So, as things stand, the poor dress still haven't got sleeves (although I recently scored another curtain at another flea market that I think will do the trick) but at that time, I didn't let it bother me much, because I was going to make a half robe to go over the dress! Yay!

I naturally thought of the half robe in Costume in Detail, and for the first time I could even see what it looked like in the flesh. So I got to work.

Some time after, I had this:

Disregard the ugly bathrobe belt I used in the shot.

Again, I couldn't afford new fabric so I turned to the stash. It is - you guessed it - another curtain, and the pattern is kinda 18th century, if you squint. It was free, and it was there, more importantly.

Anyway, the half robe was wearable and it would hide the fact that my gown had no sleeves. I had planned to wear one of my cloaks over it all, and make a cute little hat, and everything would be as fine as could be...

Until I decided that I wanted a spencer instead. With only days to go until the event. This is what happens when you don't make up proper plans™ .

So I actually made a go for it. Optimistic as always, I didn't think it would take as long as it did, and I chose a very unfriendly fabric for the task. Lovely green velvet, but heavy upholstery velvet (they were probably curtains, now that I think about it), which is not very good for a project like this. At least I knew that when I started so I' not complaining, and it also meant I could use a fabric from the almost forgotten corner of my stash.

I imagined some kind of combination of these two very late 1790s jackets...

...and the result was this:

Yeah. I was pretty "Meh" about this one too, but it looked like it should be (relatively) warm and if nothing else at least do its job. I guess it did.

So, that leaves me with three very "Meh" projects completed in a very short period of time. I guess I learnt a lot in the process (for example, that it's good to have a proper plan) and put my hand sewing skills to a few tests (everything was hand sewn, after all) but now I really, REALLY long for a huge, long-term project where I can spend hours and hours on planning, detailing and picking out fabrics I want and make something I can be really proud of!

Luckily, I can see such a project somewhere on the horizon, but first I'm going to finish the Pierrot jacket I started to work on many moons ago. Welp!

But that's another story!

Until then,

all the best to all of you!

Something old, something new

Believe it or not, but I have been working on things during my blogging hiatus. It's just that I'm terrible at documenting what I do and I don't abuse my husband's mad photographing skillz half as much as I should. There must be change.

Last Friday, I went on a small gathering with Gustafs Skål. I wanted something new to wear (well, isn't that strange!) and after much pondering, I realised that I needed something along these lines:

From Christie's

Perhaps minus the embroidery. For now.

So I got started and things did go rather well, but in the end there just wasn't enough time. At least I realised it before things got ugly so I decided to let it rest.

I used a fabric I've had in my stash for a long time (originally intended for my husband, but... Tough luck, honey) and based the pattern on a 1780s-90s Pierrot jacket from a Swedish book. It doesn't look very promising at this stage but I actually have great hopes for it. So it's a good thing I didn't rush it after all.


So for the event, I wore an old gown that I made two years ago (two years ago? Yikes!).

It's never been a favourite, but the sad truth is just that a lot of my things no longer fits! Isn't that wonderful? I blame delicious cake and soon turning 30.

Good thing that hats don't care about your increasing waist measure - instead of new outfit, I settled for new hat:

Sorry 'bout the tounge.

I've had the ribbon for some time and I always knew I'd use it for a hat. Said, and done!

Yes, hat pin is a bamboo skewer. I was desperate.

I'm rather pleased with new hat, but when I saw it on me, my mind started to visualise a gown in blue and white stripes... A Polonaise... Or retroussée dans les poches à la Kyoto...

It could look stunning... Or it could look like this:
I'm not sure yet. Any thoughts?

I hope you don't get too disappointed about missing out on an "It's Caturday!" post this Saturday. We're going for a mini-holiday to the old, old town of Vadstena, and since my phone is old and steam-powered, I can't do blogging stuff on the go. We're going to stay at an old mental asylum. Fun!

All the best!

Für Elyse

Some of you already follow Elyse's fascinating blog Gillray's Printshop of Historical Absurdities and the rest of you has a very pleasant discovery to make.

The last updates have had a very Napoleonic theme to them, and I immediately thought of them when I rummaged through a drawer the other day.

I didn't find what I was looking for, but I found the Napoleon incense I bought in Krakow this summer!

That's right - Napoleon incense! Of course I couldn't pass it up.

So what does it smell like? Well, a great part of gun powder and Austerlitz, with a hint of Waterloo and Joesphine's unwashed body.

Or, to make a long story short:

"Such a blend can never be again."

Indeed not. We keep all our Very Important Papers in this drawer together with the incense sticks so they too smell like Napoleon. This amuses me a bit (in the pictures you also see a couple of miniature portraits of the late pope John Paul. He was born in a little village outside of Krakow so this is just the town for all your pope memorabilia needs. They had everything but T-shirts and ashtrays I believe).

Shoes, fabric and a cat

Three lovely things indeed: a pair of shoes, lengths of fabric and the cat in my life!


Me and the cat are all by ourselves tonight. My DH is out with a friend (they were actually going to see Pete Doherty, but I just got a text message informing me that the sweet boy never showed up. Surprise, surprise...) and my stepdaughter is acting as a hostess at a Christmas dinner in an 18th century building (in costume of course!) just like I did last year. Sniff! They grow up so quickly these days...

That means that I can do lots of sewing without getting bad conscience for being anti-social on a Friday night. I really am going to have the pet-en-l'air finished on Sunday!

Anyhow - in the picture above you see the shoes I recovered about 200 years ago. They now have buckles (modern buckles, alas) and will also be worn for the first time on Sunday. I do hope that the heels will carry me all night since they're glued on. Maybe I should bring a spare pair of shoes, just in case?

You also see a newly-bought fabric (actually curtains) that found at one Salvation Army thrift/charity store. I'm quite in love with it and there's lots of tit but I haven't the slightest idea what to do with it. There just isn't that Instant Image in my mind when I look at it, but time will tell. Ideas and inspiration always welcome, of course!

And last, but not least, sweet Börjesson. I love him but he eats shoes and that's the truth! Only my shoes, and only dressy shoes. I don't know what's up with that. I have to put shoes I care about on a shelf 2 meters above the floor if I want them to stay safe from him. He likes to chew on the corners of books too, especially fancy coffee-table books. Why it's better not too keep those kind of books on the coffee table any more.

I hope y'all will have a good weekend, I know I will! I had the day off today (Friay) and won't get back to work until Tuesday! Mini-vacation FTW!

I'll try to take some pictures on the Christmas dinner on Sunday, beause this place lacks pictures badly these days. XXX

The resurrection of Madame Berg

Hello, internets, how do you do?

Our internet connection decided to die one day. I waited for about a day and then called our provider, who finally managed to realise that they, for no reason whatsoever, had disconnected our modem. They promised that we would be on-line within 24 hours. They lied. Now, one week later, we finally have the service we pay dearly (far too dearly) for back and working.

But. It wasn't the end of the world, just annoying. It's actually kind of good to see that you can live without being on-line 24/7 once in a while, and live well too!

I haven't been totally disconnected, though: I have sneaked into internet cafés (internet café? Sooo 1998!) once in a while to do some checking in and drive-by commenting on the forum and blogs. Still - I have a lot of catching up to do on all your blogs and I look forward to it more than you can imagine!

One could be led to believe that this internet abstinence would have resulted in a huge boost to my sewing, and in a better world, that would undoubtedly have been the case.

In my world, however, the population (=me) suffers from an awful lack of energy and motivation, and I take the easy way out and blame the 1) dark, 2) dark 3) dark 4) rain and 5) work.

What I've mostly been ignoring lately is a pet-en-l'air made from the smoking ashes of my IKEA francaise, that I ripped up seam by seam because it was awful and a complete waste of good fabric.

It's progressing ever so slowly but time has finally come for sleeves. And we all know what joy that is.

My plan was to have the pet-en-l'air and a petti in the same fabric ready for Gustaf Skål's Christmas dinner on December the 4th but I have my doubts. If I do make it - great! - but I'm not going to stress it. Que sera, sera and all that.

And now, I have some serious blog reading to do! See you later...

Getting ready for the ball

I can't believe it!

The 1809 ball at Kristinehov is on Friday...

...and I've almost finished all of my stuff!

This is such an anomaly and I'm sure I'll end up paying dearly for this huge offence to the mighty power that is "Desperate-Sewing-Madness-Night-Before-Event".

So what is this total regency n00b's plan?

As we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words, maybe more, so I give you a lot of pictures and I'll throw in a few words with the bargain as well:

Shoes

I was going to buy plain, old white ballerinas when I found these. It was love at first site (at least in my case. I think the shoes have undetermined feelings due to a bad break-up recently):



"So were Indian/Pakistani Khussa with sequins and stuff all the rage around 1809?" you ask. I say: "Yes. Yes, it was."

Which is, of course, a lie. But I couldn't help myself. I love them. Besides, my camera, which has a face recognition feature, clearly sees a face on the toe. They smell a little like horse, but I like horses. I'll add ribbons to tie around my ankles to make sure they stay on.

Reticule

Just... Just ignore my attempt at bead work. I was feeling a bit over-achieving at the time but what is done is done. Making tassels was fun, though!



Fan

I bought a typical Asian gift shop cheapo sandalwood fan that I planned to spice up.



So I sprayed it with white paint, because white paint is almost impossible to tell from ivory, and will add a ribbon in lieu of the original nylon string. Meh. At least I have a fan.

But while on the subject: I found another cheapo Chinese fan today at my lunch break.


It will need a lot of help but I think it has potential. But that's for much later.

Hair

I'm not 100% sure about what to do with my hair, besides that I'm going to curl it.

I tested my husband's grandmother's old curling iron tonight and I think it's a winner!



I heated it on the stove, like I believe she did in the 30's, and if it was good enough for her hair, it's good enough for mine.

Sizzling!

"But the gown!" you cry: "What about the gown?"

Oh, there is a gown all right, buuut I'll wait with pictures until I'm all dolled up and ready for The Big Night so I can do it justice.

But I'm a generous person at heart so I'll give you two pictures of the sleeve, which is what actually makes this gown.


Sorry for the crap quality. My camera died so I had to use my phone.

The concept is stolen from a gown in a Swedish museum. The original also has bobbin lace at the bottom and I found a piece of lace in my stash that was exactly the length needed. Like millimetre exact! I thought that was cool because I got the lace from a plastic bag of mixed ribbons from a thrift store, and I actually bought the bag only because of another lace in it, and I had to buy the whole bag, so... Yeah, whatever.

And now I must end this post with a very important message from my cat and sewing friend Börjesson:

Börjesson has entered the "Cutest Sewing Critter" competition over at the Dreamestress's and is quite willing to bribe you for votes in his favour. Name your price!


Here he is helping me with the breeches pattern I mentioned in my last post. Börjesson insists that the best way of getting familiar with a new pattern is to feel it. This is most efficiently achieved by spreading out your body on top of the pattern for an hour or two. Börjesson shares this tip with you for nothing in return!

And now he' wants me to return to the joy that is finger torture and binding stays. I'll try to find an excuse, like I have done for the greater part of the evening.

Let's go for a walk

Yesterday was 09/09/09 and my mother would have turned 53 had she still been with us.

But she isn't so I went to her resting place at Järfälla churchyard to leave a little flower and spend a part of what might be the very last summer day of the year in her company.

A 10-minute ride with commuter train took me to Barkarby, a sleepy and desolate suburb of no consequence other than being only a few kilometers from the place where I grew up, and my eye first met with a hideous conference hotel with the name of "Welcome" (they obviously left out "...to the seventies" by mistake), but by walking for only a few minutes, I suddenly found myself in the middle of a square with two lovely old buildings.


The yellow house is the old municipal building, first raised in 1719. Today the house is let for parties, weddings and such. Next to it is the inn, of an even older date and once obliged by law to supply travelers with horses, food and shelter. You can still get a (pricey) meal there today.

The restaurant calls itself Lasse-Maja* after the notorious thief that dressed in women's clothing (partly as a disguise and partly because of preference) and continuously escaped from the clutches of the law (and prison) until he finally got caught and sentenced to life time imprisonment after robbing the church (which we soon will visit) in 1812. He was was tried in the yellow building and flogged on the square. He wrote his best-selling memoirs in prison and was eventually released to a few years as a living legend and celebrity until he died in 1845.

*His real name was Lars Molin. Lasse-Maja was a humorous nickname because Lasse is male and Maja female.


My walk continued past this little block of houses:

They were built in 1998 but blend in so nicely with the historic buildings nearby; I think of townhouses of undetermined origin and heartily approve.

But then, as a contrast that just have to be on purpose, right next to the church, I came upon these houses...



Let's play: When were these houses built?

1. 1968
X. 1974
2. 1980

Gotcha! All answers were wrong! They were built in 2008. And people live there.

Luckily, I had reached my goal and headed for the church.

The weather was so extremely nice and I felt as if summer had just begun rather than the opposite: the trees were all still green, the flowers bloomed and the sun shone upon the grass and...

...the pyramid.



Right. No cemetery is complete without its pyramid. Or so thought countess Anna Sofia Gyllenborg, who chose to raise this monument as a last resting place for her and her husband, Olof Adlerberg, in 1757. An underground passage connects the pyramid to the chancel. The couple also donated valuable silver to the church (little knowing it would be the fall of Lasse-Maja sixty years later).



The church itself was first erected in the 1100s but got its current look in the 15th century. The baptismal font, still used today, is from the earlier church though, which makes it older than Stockholm! Both me and my sister were baptised here, probably our mother too.



Her grave is situated close to the western wall and the place has changed a lot since we buried her in June 2004. Then there were only a few graves here and there besides hers, and today the place is completely filled.

One thing was a little strange: The plot on her left soon got occupied, but not the one to her right. More and more plots were taken, but the one to the right was still vacant, month after month that turned into years... Then my step father suddenly got very ill and died. It wasn't very hard to determine where he was going to lie.

Now, on a more personal note: my mother used to talk about where and how she wanted to be buried, how she wanted her funeral to be and so on, long before she knew she was ill. I used to be angry with her because I hated to think that she was going to die one day, but later I was very grateful.

Even in the shock and grief that followed her death, I smiled when my sister and I arranged the details according to her wishes (which she of course only had mentioned knowing they would make the oh-so-hard but oh-so-necessary arrangements easier on us. I just didn't realise it then).

She even told us how she wanted her grave marker to look!

She wanted an old-fashioned iron cross that was typical in parts of this country for several hundred years. They varied from smithy to smithy, but usually had more than one bar, and hanging ornaments. The most common was stylised leaves but my mother - always a hippie at heart! - told us she wanted stars and moons!



So starts and moons she got. I found a smithy in the province of Värmland (where my mother had her roots) that has made these crosses for three generations with traditional methods.

We are very happy with it and it amuses me to notice that my mother became a trend setter even after her death. Five years ago there was not one cross of this type on the graveyard; now I see a new one every time I visit.

It's with mixed feelings I go to my mother's grave, but today - thanks to the wonderful, wonderful weather - I felt pretty good.

And then I went to see my sister, who was very happy to see me!


Now, go and hug a dear one and I promise a sewing-related post will appear at this space tomorrow!

Things going on

Greetings all!

Tomorrow is my last working day before 4 weeks of totally carefree and much longed for vacation. I haven't one single 'have-to-do' scheduled, which is exactly how I want it. I do, however, plan to sew - a lot - because there's so much I have wanted to do but been forced to postpone because of that thing called "lack of time" which I think most of us are familiar with.

I have been working on a few different projects lately, but all of them will be on hold for a while due to an event that's taking place in September. I will briefly step out of the 18th century and for the first time dip my toe into early 19th century - or to be precise: 1809.

That was the year when Sweden lost Finland to Russia and king Gustaf IV Adolf was forced to abdicate and these events have been noticed in many different ways during the year.

So in September there is this 1809 ball, a joint event hosted by Gustafs Skål and other living history societies, and I'm in desperate need for something to wear.

That's obviously the most urgent project, and I'm currently working on a bodiced petticoat, since I won't have time to make a pair of proper early 19th c stays. Then I must make a shift and probably also a gown. Thankfully I have a concept and a pattern, and fabric, so I can start at soon as I've finished the petticoat.

On Wednesday I'm going on Gustafs Skåls' annual Revolution Piquenique (celebrating Gustaf III's peaceful revolution in 1772) in the beautiful Haga park. Nothing but rain will stop me (because the event is, for obvious reasons, cancelled in case of watery weather). I'll wear the polonaise I wore at Drottningholm so I'm basically ready to go. I'm making a mantelet which I'm adding trim to at the moment. I'd like to have it ready for the day of the piquenique but it's not a disaster if I don't make it in time.

Then on Friday next week, there'll be a midnight piquenique which takes me back to Drottningholm. It will take place in a hedge maze in the park with lots of lanterns and candles and I can only think it's going to be lovely! I'll probably wear the stripey polonaise, as seen here, so no stress there either.

What else to tell? Oh, I managed to wash out all the "powder" (read: coloured hairspray) from my wig and re-styled it.

I'll leave my plans for a mens' costume for my husband to another post, I think. That's a project I'm quite happy to postpone...

My camera has run out of batteries (who makes a camera that runs on ordinary batteries these days?) so I'll post various pictures later on.

Oh, stop by at the forum if you haven't done so yet! It very young but quite active already and populated with the nicest and most talented of people. Don't be shy!

Enough ramblings. Take care!

Cuteness post

Here comes a totally random post, but it's full of cute so I feel it's justified.

My father had told me that a fox pup appeared on a daily basis around his summer cottage, and this weekend I got to see it for myself!

The fox came both nights we stayed there. He hung around for about 30-45 minutes each time and gladly helped himself to the eggs, potatoes and bread that we treated him with. He wasn't very shy, as you can see from this footage I posted on Youtube, and quite adorable.

An 18th century person wouldn't have been very glad to have a fox hanging around his country house, of course, since they are keen on chickens, sheep and other farm animals (ha! I managed to sneek an 18th c. reference in after all!) but we keep no birds and the cat was safe back in town so we were quite delighted over Mr or Miss Fox's visits. And hope for many more to come.

Just sittin' feelin' cute


"What? No grilled salmon left for me?"


"So this is where you peeps wash your hands? Cool."


"Thnx for teh bredd guise. nxt tiem, bring cheezburger plz?"

A summer postcard, written in haste

Dear everyone,

summer have swept me far, far away from the computer, but tonight I felt a hint of autumn chill in the air so it won't be long until I sit down again, in front of the screen, unable to move until spring again has sprung.

Last weekend I went on a lovely picnic in the very beautiful park of Drottningholm palace, and tomorrow I'm off to the countryside for some local history trekking (and serious chilling).

I miss you all. Wish you where here.

Love

Madame Berg

Bla bla bla...

So I admit that I've been neglecting this tiny corner of the internets lately, but I trust that you have all survived my absence quite well?

I've not been completely idle all this time though: I completed my striped polonaise, which I think I've been hinting about in posts past, and wore it with pride one wonderful day in the beginning of May, together with a straw hat made from no less than three place mats:
This is the only full-figure photo of me in the gown so you'll have to imagine the en forreau-back and the overall polonaise-fluffyness of the skirt. The bodice was a bit too long to fit perfectly but it worked very well besides that. And, God, it's so pink!


I've learnt a couple of things since we last met as well, and most importantly:

Things I've learnt #1. Sewing a plastic headband into your wig with the purpose of making it stay better on your head may result in a) making the wig stay better on top of your head; and b) hair loss.

Seriously!

I thought it felt a bit uncomfortable, even painful at times, when I wore the wig, but I never imagined a pouf hairstyle would be very pleasant at all ('fashion before ease' etc.) so I didn't mind much. Until the morning after, when I saw this:I'm partially bald. Great.

Things I've learnt #2. Being an embroidery novice and insisting on doing your embroidery while on public transport will not make for a very agreeable result:But those are going to be a pair of hanging pockets which no one will ever see anyway, so I don't care too much really...

Things I've learnt #3. Spending a day at thrift stores and flea markets with your sister and aunt is a great thing (but I already knew that).

Today's finds, piled up in front of the general mess that is our living room:

A bobbin lace... thing, that I never, ever will learn how to master I'm sure, but it will make a good prop and it was practically free. Even the former owner got tired of it; it came with a tiny unfinished lace so that people can believe I'm some sort of domestic goddess.

...fabric, or curtains really. But I'm thinking about turning it into a polonaise that can be used for summer activities in the green grass and all sorts of wear-and-tear. Yay for cheap cotton!

...a pair of shoes that I'll try to recover using the method Bauhausfrau describes here. If I don't suceed, I've only lost a pair of cheap granny shoes that no one cared about anyway.

...Thackeray's Vanity Fair that I've been wanting to read for some time now, in three volumes from 1876. Oh, so fragile. Not the kind of book I can carry around in my purse all day, unfortunately.

...and a biography on a Swedish 18th century artist and architect that I know very little about, which I'm sure will change any day soon.

A day (and money) well spent, if I'm to say so myself!

Now I'm not sure what I'm going to attend to next: shoes, or summer polonaise? Stay tuned.

Ball at Nyckelviken

I can't believe that this event is already over and behind me! I spent last week panic-sewing to get everything ready and suddenly it was Saturday, the day for the event, and - Bang! It was over just like that!

Which, of course, means that is was a lovely, fantastic event: you're having a really good time when eight hours fly away like mere minutes.

Yay, a wonderful time I had. There were lots of nice people to meet, both newcomers and old-timers (even a small party who'd come all the way from Germany honoured the event with their presence AND I met Anna, the shoe-making Goddess in person!). Add to that good food and drinks, entertainment, dancing and games and you have just been to a great party.

I could go on and on, but I won't. Instead I'll post a link to a few photos from the event that are up on Slottsfrun's website.

I'll even post a picture of myself because - let's face it - this blog is all about ME ME ME!

Courtesy of Marie Weinefalk

Behind me you can see a part of the lovely 18th century house where we spent most of the time (and one of several pesky, party-crashing Canada Geese. Tsk-tsk - those didn't even exist in Sweden in the 18th century!)

I'm standing in this not-so-natural pose because I'm hiding an anachronistic camera and anachronistic cigarettes behind my back! I'm wearing the accursed IKEA robe and the wig I styled myself. The seams of the robe did not rip, and the wig stayed on my head all night so overall I'm quite pleased.

I'll try to make up for the lack of new posts this week. I was planning to post a little about the information I've been able to gather concerning my fan, and our dear Fuchsia has granted me two other blog awards that I'd like to thank her for.

On the other hand: On May 2 there's another event, and I'll have to have my Pretty Pink Polonaise finished by then... I need to buy some time, seriously.

Riddarholmskyrkan last Saturday. A very nice event. It was a very cold night, though, and I almost was glad that the program inside the church was shortened because it was freezing in there! A really wet kind of chill, mostly because the church isn't used for regular church activities (and maybe because of all the spooky crypts and catacombs beneath...). Clearly, my new wool cape wasn't warm enough for a winter night like this.

As we entered the church around 8PM, a woman sang Bach very beautifully and it really added to the solemn atmosphere inside the dimly lit room. Everyone was so smartly dressed in mourning attire, or at least very dark colours, and I really wish I could show some photographical evidence, but I can't since 1) Photographing wasn't allowed in the church and 2) because my crappy camera would only have produced bad, flashy pictures.

I don't know who took these pictures so I don't know whom to credit, but here's one picture of me, looking like my own, stupid self, outside the church:

Afterwards, we went to a tavern in Old Town near the church. We were seated in a medieval vault downstairs (since Old Town is the oldest part of Stockholm, there are many cellars like that and, fortunately, many of them are used as pubs and restaurants today. Atmosphere before fire safety!).

Another picture of me. It looks like someone just made a joke; everyone's laughing but me, since I'm still trying to figure out what's going on.

A few drinks and a good time with nice people quickly made me warm again and the time passed way too fast! Luckily, there's only a couple of weeks left to the next event I'm going to attend: Ball at Nyckelviken (a 18th century house outside Stckholm) on April 18th!

So now I have to finish the IKEA robe, how sucky it may be, because I really don't have time to start and finish anything else. I should have been working on it yesterday; instead, I started to style a wig I'm planning to wear with the robe. I still don't know how this project is going to turn out. If it's going well, I'll post pictures later - if it's going to hell, just forget I mentioned it.