Summer Dresses in September.

For this year’s vacation we unfortunately had to wait until the last week of September. However Mallorca indulged us with temperatures of 26 to 28 degrees, warm seas and delicious food.

An opportunity to explore the island thoroughly didn’t arise as the temperatures didn’t allow us to stray too far; however on one day we did take a walk to the old town of Alcudia, an ancient walled town which reminded me a bit of old Tallinn with its narrow streets and city walls, just in a lighter colour. 

Selleaastane suvepuhkus jõudis kätte alles septembri lõpus. Mallorca hellitas meid 26-28 kraadise palavuse, sooja merevee ja maitsva toiduga. Saarega tutvumine jäi napiks, sest sellise palavusega ei kutsu eriti ringi käima. Siiski võtsime ükspäev ette jalutuskäigu Alcudia vanalinna, mis meenutas natuke Tallinna oma kitsaste tänavate ja linnamüüriga, ainult et märksa heledamates värvitoonides.

On one day during the holiday we took an organised trip which included amongst other locations a visit to the Majorica Pearl Factory at Manacor where we were promised an opportunity to see the production of cultured pearls. What we actually saw was not pearls being extracted from oyster shells but ‘pearls’ being manufactured from start to finish. The famous Mallorca pearls are actually glass beads which are dipped in a ‘secret’ pearl essence – made from shells to form the pearl like texture. In a demonstration, we saw one lady making the glass beads from opalescent glass, another sorting the pearls ready for stringing and a third knotting pearl necklaces. The rest of the exhibition area was just two floors of a shopping opportunity to buy fake pearl jewellery. Advertising offered the opportunity to buy organic pearls but there was nothing in the process we saw that would suggest these are nothing but manufactured pearls.

Teisel päeval võtsime ette reisi idarannikule ja koobastesse. Esimene peatus tehti Manacor’i pärlivabrikus. Lubati näidata pärlite tootmist. Lootsin näha, kuidas pärle austrikarpidest välja nopitakse, kuid pidin pettuma. Kuulsad Mallorca pärlid on tegelikult klaaspärlid, mis kaetakse salajase meetodiga merekarpidest saadud pärli sarnase kihiga. Tootmise poolelt oli näha üks naine, kes sulatas oonüksklaasist pulgast pärle, teine ajas juba pärlikihiga kaetud pärle nööri otsa ja kolmas sõlmis keesid. Ülejäänud osa kahest korrusest oli lihtsalt 

(võlts-) pärlipood. Reklaam lubas orgaanilisi pärle, kuid ju oli trükiviga, sest tegemist on mitte-orgaaniliste pärlitega nagu kirjas ka Wikipedia's. 

The next stop on this tour for us was a visit to the Dragon Caves or Cuevas del Drach nd these are really worth a visit. Majorca has a number of these caves but this one is the most popular.

A 1.2 km downwards walk through large and small caves and lots of stalagmites and stalactites leads to Europe’s largest underground lake where we were treated to a classical music concert performed by musicians on illuminated boats followed by a trip on a boat across the lakes to the point of departure where we climbed out of the caves.

The only downside to this experience was the number of visitors particularly the ones who ignored the request not to take photos or video during the classical concert.

Mallorca is a real tourist island that has a population of 980,000 of which approximately 95% are associated with tourism.

There is really no other industry and they import almost everything and during the height of the holiday season there are 10,000,000 visitors per week to the island meaning there is a ratio per capita of 10:1.

Edasi läks sõit koobastesse. Koopaid on Mallorcal rohkesti. Draakonikoopad, Cuevas del Drach,

on tõesti väärt külastamist! 1,2 kilomeetrine jalutuskäik koobastes täis miljoneid stalaktiite ja stalakmiite jõuab välja Euroopa suurima maa-aluse järveni. Järvel liuglevad valgustatud paadid ja kostab klassikaline muusika. Lõpuks saime ka ise teha lühikese paadisõidu järvel. Imeline kogemus! Ainsaks segavaks teguriks oli inimeste rohkus, eriti kui nad ei saanud aru, et oli keelatud t a pilti kontserdi ajal.

Mallorca on tõeline turismisaar. 95% elanikest on seotud turismitööstusega.  Neil peaaegu et puudub muu tööstus, kõike imporditakse. Tipp-hooajal saabub saarele 10 miljonit turisti nädalas, st 10 turisti iga elaniku kohta!

For the vacation I sewed two dresses and a skirt from jersey fabric and I am so happy I had bought an over-locking sewing machine, one of the best purchases I’ve made.

For sleeveless dress I used the under dress pattern, number 128 from Burda Style magazine 6/2013.
The yoke dress pattern is from Burda Style 9/2013 number 135 and the skirt is simply cut using another skirt as a template.

Puhkuse tarbeks õmblesin endale trikotaaźist kaks kleiti ja seeliku. Oi, ma olen rahul, et overlocki ostsin, üks parimaid oste J . Varem olen tavamasinaga trikotaaźi õmmelnud küll, saab ju hakkama sik-saki või nn vale-overlock pistega õmmeldes, kuid overlockiga on tunduvalt mugavam ja korrektsem.

Varrukateta kleidi jaoks kasutasin aluskleidi lõiget nr. 128, Burda Style 6/2013.

Passega kleidi lõige on Burda Style 9/2013 nr. 135.

Seeliku passe lõikasin vaba käega välja teise seeliku järgi, alumina osa sirge, lõhikuga küljel.