Nijntje in de Mode.

This morning I finished altering the pattern for the first look of the collection again and we met with a friend of Edwin's, Noortje. She's an artist and he wants to use her work in fabric or decoration for the new collection. This is one of her drawings from her website.

After lunch I sewed another muslin and learned about the importance of notching your fabric and lining them up so your seams fit. I'm usually not patient enough and I just ignore them. By the time I finished the muslin it was time to go. Tonight is the opening party of the 'Nijntje in de Mode' exhibit in the Utrecht Centraal Museum for which we made a dress for Nijntje so Edwin and Nick went to Utrecht after work for a fancy-shmansy party. Dick Bruna, the "inventor" of Nijntje also designed a dress and I think it makes Nijntje look like a fat ass. The one we made is much lovelier and I'll hope fully have a picture for you Sunday when I go to the museum with family. I'm excited to hear tomorrow how it all went. Other designers and Dick Bruna himself are all attending and there's been a lot of press about the exhibit here.

Not cute.

It was "koopavond" (buynight literally translated) in Amsterdam during which the stores are open until 8pm instead of 6. I had had my eye on a travel bag so I figured it was a good opportunity to buy it with my museum money form yesterday. It was.

Some nice scenery on the Dam.

Grachtenhuis opening!!!

Today was the most fun day yet. No work, just party :-)
This morning I got to sleep in because Edwin went to Germany to buy fabric at a "Groothandel." A place where you have to be a business owner and you buy stuff in bilk and for cheaper. Since there was no reaon for me to sit in a car for 3 hours well into Germany (only about 2 hours to the border and in 6 hours between Boca and Tallahassee I'm not even out of the state!), I got the day off. I had the intention to be productive and make a skirt but instead I played Pokemon and only made a muslin.

Around 5, however, I was to meet up with Edwin and Nick to go to the opening of "Het Grachtenhuis," a new museum about Amsterdam for which we made those miniature dresses and things for a showroom in the big dollhouse. He was, off course, running late but no matter because it was really fun. The museum is still not close to being finished so there were construction vans parked outside and people still working on it but the inside was already looking great.

The dollhouse (more a miniature house)!!!

Edwin looking at the atelier.

AAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW!!!

I made that dress!

The green pink and white one too!

These look like people but THEY'RE PROJECTIONS IN
THE ROOMS!!! AND THEY MOVE! So awesome.

The Herengracht (a street in Amsterdam). Every building is on the walls
(it's on all for of them) and you can look into some of them.

The building itself was renovated very nice. We were told that the gold framing and wall decor was done by a specialist with actual little pieces of gold leaf! 

They had beautiful flowers and really classy and grandiose decor.

Downstairs where you could put your coat, was a wall on which everyone who worked on the dollhouse was to sign their name and get an envelope with a nice card and.....

100 Euros!!! Yes, please! 

Considering my internship is unpaid, this came in handy.

The wall we wrote our names on will stay in the museum and will until the end of days, as it said in the card. AND I SIGNED MY NAME!!! Can you find it?

After hanging out at the opening, we went for a bite and drinks and hung out for a while. Successful day at work? I think so.

Birthday #2.

Today I first worked in sewing the third muslin for the garment we were working on last week. After I put it all together, we realized the pattern didn't make sense. The darn thing was so confusing that we spent almost two hours figuring out where everything went and what needed to be adjusted. Mind you, the pattern is only 4 pieces. Yes, that is not a type-o. Four. By the time it was all figured out and I started making the new pattern, it was time to go home.

Throughout the day I had been hearing obnoxious men yelling and screaming and when I left work I saw this.

Netherlands Vs. Hungary European Cup Qualifying Rounds. Oh yes. We are still undefeated in this league. 5-3 us this game. But let's be real. When the hell is Stekelenburg's thumb going to be healed?

After dinner it was off to celebrate Fleur's birthday. She's 20!!! Jeez! Anyway, we sang her happy birthday and as she was overcome with emotions of love and joy she almost fainted off the. No, she just almost fell off because the cushion is really soft.

The birthday girl strutting my fabulous, yet painful new shoes.

PHOTO ALBUMS!!!

Shopping as work? Yes, please.

This morning Edwin met me at Central Station and we went to the Noordermarkt. This market is part thrift, part kitch/crap, part fabric.

After the market, we went to a a few other shops and got some fabric and postcards. 

The Mata Hari. Guess her nationality.

Klederdracht (traditional clothing) from different regions in The Netherlands.

By the time we got to the workroom it was already noon. Then I cut some lace and Edwin decided we needed a 50x50 (centimeter) frame or board for the space allocated on the wall in the museum for the Nijntje fashion exhibit. I then went shopping for a frame/board and got lunch. After lunch we made the board and by the time I got back from mailing it, it was time to go. Easy day.

Some graffiti at Central Station.

One of Edwin's mannequin's all LOFT-y. 

When walking past the dam to the post office I saw this in the window of Madame Tussaud's and thought it was hilarious. This marketing is probably hurting their sales.

Fun weekend.

This weekend was a success. On Saturday, I went to Purmerend with my grandparents and shopped around. We then had Pim and Sisca over for "Gourmetten." I don't think I've done that in 11 years.

AHAHA Pim!

Today I went to find a bigger size in the orange shoes I got in Amsterdam. We were then supposed to go to Friesland (province in northwest Netherlands) to visit my grandpa's brother Tom and his wife but the car started smoking. No problem for me because I just stayed in Amsterdam the rest of the day and shopped while my grandparents sat in the sun at home. Win-win. Extra win for me.

I HAD to get a waffle. I mean, just look at it.

Kalverstraat busy, busy

Freddy Cruger (sp?) at the Dam.

I found mine but I thought it was hilarious!

SCOREEE!!!

Then I kicked some more ass in Pokemon.

Dappermarkt.

Today was again a pretty chill day. We spent the morning looking at a new design Edwin draped. That would be look two for the collection that can both be varied to become more looks. As we started talking about patterning and more bias cut and on grain (recht van draad en schuin van draad, pap :-) ), Edwin showed me more fashion books and we took our time looking through pages and pages of beautiful dresses and designs and surprisingly found some flawed Valentino ones. I know, shocking. Also, I now want this book from the exhibit "Haute Couture: Voici Paris" in The Hague last year. It's amazing.

We then went with the bike (well, two bikes) to the Dappermarkt, which is a market where they sell, among other things, fabric. Edwin got some fabric and I got some super cheesy and hilarious but totally awesome fabric.

My horrible/awesome fabric. The words describe the items. I want to make a sundress out of it.
 Maybe it'll help George learn Dutch :-)

The only real work I did today was alter a jacket for a client. It's from the collection Edwin won the Frans Molenaar prize with but in a completely different fabric. He also had me try it on and try on another jacket but I was too tall for it, which I thought was weird since I'm not really that tall in The Netherlands. Anyway, I want the jacket I altered today in a nice fabric. I love it.

It looks a little funky in this picture bit this is the jacket. 

After work and dinner, I met up with my cousin Fleur and we went to het stadje (basically the center of the city where the stores and bars/cafes are) and we hung out for a few hours. So much fun to just be able to go to a cafe and sit and talk.

Can you guess which drink is mine? :-)

 P.S. Since Edwin loved clever pattern-making, he loves this wedding dress by Viktor & Rolf for Princess Mabel.

I can't think of a title.

We are now on muslin number 3. This morning I sewed number two together and we spent along time deciding on changes and what would make the garment look better. After playing around with the fabric a lot, Edwin decided on the alteration and drafted the changes on the flat pattern. I am not a patient person so it's good to learn how to properly work with patterns and stay organized. I'm also not used to making more than one muslin but I'm starting to see that there are so many things I haven't paid attention to that would improve my pattern making a lot. After that, Edwin showed me books on Madeliene Vionnet, one of his icons. She was a master at clever pattern-making. She would cut the fabric on the bias so the bottom of her dresses would drape beautifully but she would position the seams so they could be sewn on grain. Sewing on the bias creates a lumpy seam but sewing on grain creates a perfect seam. This way, her dresses looked beautiful and she didn't have to sew on the bias. It sounds simple but it's pretty genius. If you ever get a chance, look through her books and look at the seams. It's incredible. He's a simple example of one of her dresses.

We then had lunch outside at the top of the stairs and kept hearing Edwin's neighbor (I'm sure you can guess her occupation) tap of her glass so people would look up at her. Apparently it's illegal but it worked. She had a client walk in and out before we even finished lunch. Lovely.

After getting pattern 3 ready to cut and sew, I went by Zara on the Kalverstraat. Thursday is "koopavond" so the stores are open till 8pm instead of 6pm. I tried on a pair of orange pants (off course, hello) and when I almost had them on, they split wide open right down the middle!!! Not cool Zara. I do not want pants that have that feature. I thought it was pretty crazy so I had to take a picture of it.

I did get 2 other things but not these pants.

Then I met up with my grandma and grandpa to go eat at the top floor of the new library on central station. It's so awesome!

The view from the top. This is only a tiny part.

A little exhibit on one of the floors.

And if you've ever seen Get Him To The Greek, they had a furry wall in the lobby!