"KILT" OUTFIT FOR A BABY GIRL

  Kilts rule! Especially on men, but unfortunately there aren´t many who have the guts to wear them... Kilts also are a part of Nelland´s Mabon look. This one is for baby girls (I´m not sure if a kilt on a baby boy would be cool...).

This is a kilt inspired outfit, not a replica of a traditional kilt itself. (What would be the point anyway?) What I like to do is tone down "costumes" to make them wearable in everyday life. I love classic looks, and often design a look based on what impression I have of it in my head. The outcome gives a viewer an aha-experience on the first look, but when seen more closely doesn´t draw too much attention from the person wearing it. I like to keep the outfits simple enough so that when worn, the person inside is still in the main focus.

It is made of two pieces, a body shirt, and a skirt+pant combination. This way the shirt doesn´t crawl up in the baby´s armpits, the skirt won´t twist around, and socks don´t fall off because they are "built in". This means perfect wearability, and not having to fuss with the clothes during the day.

I added this fuzzy pompom in the very end, when I thought the garment was actually finished already. But something was missing. I imagine there is always a pompom at the top of a beret in traditional kilt costumes, but since I certainly will not make my baby wear a hat just to achieve the perfect look, I decided to add it here. If starting to analyze it too much, it may seem weird, but when glimpsed quickly (which is most common when meeting people), it completes this outfit nicely.

I found this soft and stretchy cotton jersey, and couldn´t resist it.

A simple detail at the soles of the feet give a nice twist, binding things together.

  Utilikilts are a total measure of manhood. I wish more men wold be manly enough to wear one, but until then I want to make a kilt more common streetwear myself!

MABON MENU - FOR STAYING SLIM

  Luckily I´m back at my pre-pregnancy weight, and need not lose anymore. Now it is time to stay this sized. It doesn´t happen by itself, I know, and therefore I have put together an eating plan for Mabon (from now on until about late October).

  Feeling full and satisfied after a meal is important to me in order to stick to any plan. This menu is an all-you-can eat style, just keep the meals vegan and low fat.

Breakfast: (every day of the week)
1/2 liter green tea + soymilk
2 dl yogurt + berries/fruit + nuts/seeds

Lunch:
1/2 liter water
+ Mon: pasta dish
+ Tue: dip delight (for example veggies, bread sticks, tofu, baked potatoe wedges, vegan weenies, etc.)
+ Wed: soup and bread
+ Thu: pie/quiche
+ Fri: hamburgers (make vegan patties and assemble as usual)
+ Sat: pancakes
+ Sun: mashed potatoes, some sort of sauce, and a side salad

Dinner: (every day of the week)
1/2 liter green tea + soymilk
oatmeal porridge/home made bread with jam (or other flavorings, such as cocoa)

Supper/dessert:
1/2 liter herbal tea
+ Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri: 4 chocolate topped Digestives (I use store-bought)
+ Sat: candy
+ Sun: dried fruit pieces (my favorites are coconut, banana, and strawberry)

  The recipes vary according to what ingredients I happen to have. That also gives variety from week to week. I like to have a core plan to my eatings,  because then I don´t have to ponder what to eat every day, and it keeps my diet in some sort of order, making sure I don´t go overboard with unhealthy goodies.

  Right now tomatoes are in season, and I get them for free from a farmer in my village. He is an 83-year-old man who grows them as a hobby aside from the actual farming he still is involved in with his son. This is my luxurious recipe I always use his tomatoes for at this time of year:

Perfect Monday lunch!

Tomato sauce:
7 dl tomatoes
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 sage leaves
salt
margarine (vegan)
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

+  Remove the navels of the tomatoes, chop coarsly, and puré in a blender. (Fine people peel the skins off and remove the seeds too, but I have better things to do with my time so I don´t bother.) Place the puré in a pan with the oil and sage, let cook for about 15 min. Remove the sage and add salt according to your liking. Remove from heat, pour in  the vinegar and do not cook anymore.
  Serve with pasta and add a dollop of margarine on top (this is very important in order to achieve the perfect flavor).

  With this menu I hope to maintain my current weight, which is around BMI 20. You can easily check your BMI here.

MABON DRESS FOR BABY GIRL

  Mabon is upon us, and it is time to update my baby´s wardrobe. (She also grows so quickly that she really needs bigger clothes.)
  Mabon is the time of year when nature turns brown as all the summer plants, grasses, and leaves wilt and die. Therefore dark brown is the core color in my Mabon palette. Baby clothes are traditionally pastel year round, but I feel most comfortable dressing my kids in darker colors now.

  Here is the latest outfit I made for my baby girl:

A bonnet, body shirt, and pants. All made of soft, stretchy jersey. This brown looks good on my baby, and is quite girly even thanks to the dress. Often there is too little variation in baby clothes in the stores. Making clothes yourself is a great way to achieve the look and feeling you like, and really isn´t very hard (but a little time consuming, I admit).

The pants also needed a piece of the frog fabric, but I had difficulty figuring out where to place it. Until it hit me. The soles of the feet is the perfect place to show a little of this theme fabric. Plus it makes them look more detailed (where in reality it really is as easy to make as of the other fabric). I have learned to digg these type of pants because they have sort of built-in socks. It is not possible for a baby to kick these socks off! My firstborn is a boy, and therefore I never realized the world of pantyhose or these type of pants before. (They wouldn´t look very manly on boys...)

I fell in love with this fabric in the spring, when I saw it in the store, and had to buy it. Little did I know at the time what I would make of it, but now I´m glad I did buy it! I have always had a thing for frogs. For some reason I simply love them!

This is where everything started. I only meant to make a simple bonnet, since she had outgrown her previous ones during the summer. Then I added the bow to make it more girly. But it looked so nice I wanted to expand the look.

  Now my baby is all set for autumn trips to relatives´ place, the doctor´s, shopping, etc. Maybe I should next focus on myself... Often when I see kids with their parents, the kids are way better dressed! Why is that? Anyway, I don´t want to fall for that. Beauty and style is a luxury for all of us, and doesn´t need much money to achieve!
  I know people who only buy stuff from grand lables, mixing and matching without a second thought, and then belive to be stylish. How I secretly pitty them... Price tags and style don´t walk hand in hand. That gives hope for the rest of us who are armed with a thinner wallet!

PILATES OUTFIT

  Every now and then I like to challenge myself by learning something completely new. I have taken different classes; raw living foods, foreign language, and acting/theater in the past years. Now it is time to learn Pilates.
  I don´t know much about the practice, only that it focuses to strengthen the middle section of the human body. And that is just what I need after pregnancy and childbirth!
  But what to wear?! The eternal question for us women. I have no gym gear or any sports clothes what so ever. I don´t exercise. (Shame on me...) A little imagination and planning gave me an idea of what might be needed, and I created this:

Subtle grey is a neutral color that leaves me feeling calm and safe in my expedition to the Pilates world. The pants are made of very stretchy swimsuit-like fabric, so they allow the tunic to flow straight down and not cling on. The top is made of stretchy and soft viscose rayon, and is a pleasure to touch.

A long tunic bottom covers the critical areas... I wouldn´t feel comfortable bending over with my panties showing in the back (which I see happening and dislike the sight).

My hair is braided like this in the class, so it won´t fall in my face and get tangled up around my arms as I move. Here you can see how I have extended the torso piece by adding a simple mini skirt to the hem. It is practical to have a shirt tight at the waist in Pilates, so the instructor can see if you aren´t doing something well.

  The first class of the Pilates course is behind now. Judging by that experience, I can say I´m very pleased with this outfit!

LUGHNASADH FASHION

  Trends come and go - style is forever. My fashion styles remain the same year after year, which is both ecological and handy. I can pull out the same good outfits from storage over and over again. And they always feel fresh and up to date. After all, I only wear each collection by the sabbat for about six weeks. Then it is time for a change again. I love this system!

  This outfit is my "old faithful". I made it about five years ago, and have worn it each Lughnasadh since.

My favorite patterns are used to make these pants and shirt again. Loose, comfortable pants go well with my pear-shaped figure (and with every figure by the way). The bat-sleeved t-shirt adds volume to the top, balancing the bottom.

The trouble with today´s clothes in stores is that they mosty look horrific when seen from this angle. Side profile makes up to half of us, so it is important we look good that way too. Even in fashion catalogues they should put profile pictures of the models so we could get a realistic view of the garments advertised.

Jewellery here is quite big to my size standards, but subtle in color. Therefore the whole look remains natural.

The no-makeup- makeup. In my Lughnasadh look it is essential to look very natural, like I´m hardly wearing any makeup. For this look I used concealer and translucent finishing powder, no foundation at all. The key is to choose colors that are very close to my natural colors, and only slightly to accentuate them. In short, nude tones.

  My old faithful saved my butt this week, when we attended our goddaughter´s fourth birthday party. I haven´t had any time to sew for myself, and I was very happy to have had this outfit in my wardrobe, again! (I just hope they didn´t remember that I wore these clothes to her first birthday too...)     =)