Costume Cuteness!

On left Z, L's best friend, and surrogate sister, is Sparkle Mist fairy. On the right, L as Princess Hello Kitty. I made L's costume, a stroke of genius, I think. :) White fleece pillow like head stitched to a hood lining I made. I copied the design from a placemat L already has. The tiarra was from Target $1 bin. I drew a yellow nose on L, but it didn't really show up. L picked the fabrics for the dress out of my stash and told me how she wanted it to look, then I made fleece underthings and mittens (not shown) to keep her warm. She got lots of compliments and double takes, "Oh, it's Hello Kitty!"

Left, D is a glow in the dark skeleton again, which simplified things for me. Center, Puss in Boots, he's not mine, but oh, so cute! His parents made his costume! On the Right, K as Teen Titans Robin. I made this one from scratch too. I cut the sleeves off a red t-shirt and sewed on green ones. I used a p.j. pant pattern I developed for the green pants (which will now be worn as p.j. pants!) I bought the green cotton rib knit and yellow poly double knitfrom Fabric.com. The black poly I purchased last year at Walmart. The cape is a separate piece, I didn't use a pattern, just sort of guessed at it, and it worked ok. I made his gloves by tracing my hand as a pattern, knowing his hands are just a bit smaller than mine. The mask is white fun foam and black paper tied on with string.
And I grabbed a pair of L's kitty ears and pinned a tail to my darkest jeans, paired with a black sweater, and drew on some whiskers and a nose and I was all set to trick or treat with the kiddos!

Hello, Hello Kitty Dress

After making L the "Ballet Dress" she hardly wore anything else. Everytime it needed washing, it was a sad, sad day... So I made another dress, similar, but different, since I just can't stand making two things that are identical. I searched the fabric store for some warmer, more seasonal fabric with kitties or more specifically Hello Kitty and all I could find was this flannel backed satin. I knew she'd love it, even if it's intended for sleepwear. Besides, pajamas are her second favorite thing to wear after the "Ballet Dress."

Three quarter sleeves keep them from getting as dirty (dragged in ketchup and the like) and also will transition into the Spring wardrobe despite the Winter themed print of Hello Kitty in ice scates and snowflakes.

Two tiers of gathers make this a great spinning dress, which is the true test for dresses among girls (and some women, like myself).

Twirling to her heart's content.

Fabric Junkie

On my birthday one of my mom's friends brought me three big bags of fabric, patterns and notions from her stash. She is downsizing, and I think, realized that a lot of the projects she started will never get finished. I've been having fun picking through the stuff, and have found some real "gems." But even though I have plenty of uncut yardage waiting to become something wonderful, it's very difficult to curb the compulsion to buy more fabric, especially when it goes on sale for riduculously cheap! My latest acquisition is this fabric (above) which I thought would make a humorous "Cocktail" dress. It's 100% Japanese cotton lawn, which for you fabric dummies, has a lovely soft hand and is almost sheer. I'm thinking it'll be cocktail/sundress for Spring/Summer '08.

Look what fell off the Ugly Tree!

After seeing these "Ugly Dolls" (left) in a toy catalog yesterday, my boys decided they'd like to design and make their very own ugly doll.




















D drew several designs and finally settled on a bat-like creature. I had to enlarge the drawing to make it a more workable size. Instead of making it all in fleece, D chose to use some black leather scraps for the ears and wings. In K's drawing the legs were too thin to sew so we beefed them up a bit. I did most of the assembling, but the boys did do some hand sewing on the eyes and mouths. They also stuffed them and then I sewed them closed. The only thing this cost us was time. I think they turned out quite nicely and the boys are so proud of their unique toys!

Marilyn Me

Now I'm famous! I just found a picture of myself (enjoying the fan) posted on the Friday Night Swing Dance Club website! Check out some of the crazy Halloween costumes here, or better yet, come dance with me sometime.

The Soiree

Here I am at my party sporting my $2 dress after a few alterations. What did I do? I had to take in some from the back, shortened the sleeves and used the extra fabric to add a swingy gore to each side seam to keep the dress from clinging too much. This also helps the dress from disappearing when I sit down since it is cut on the bias.

It was a great time: lots of yummy food and drink, great people, and even a little Dance Dance Revolution (not kidding!) I think what I enjoy most about my parties, is seeing all the different people who are special to me mingling and getting to know each other and having a really good time. I had dreamt up the idea, and the speech to go along with it, one night last week for a toast I was going to give at my party. You know those eloquent things we think of saying to people we love just before dropping off to sleep?.... anyway, it didn't quite come out the way I'd hoped, but I think I was successful at communicating that this birthday I wasn't celebrating me as much as I was celebrating all of *you* being in my life!

Out Skirts (and "Project" Friday)

Another shot from the alpaca farm, taken by MK. Here I'm petting the ginormous Anatolian shepherd (I think he liked me) in my moss colored paisley skirt. I whipped up several of these skirts last year (or was it the year before?) and varied each slightly. Based on a simple 7 panel skirt that I custom designed at a pattern making workshop three years ago, I inserted godets into each seam to give the skirt a little flippy swing. The fabric was a great deal, it was given to me free in a pile of remnants donated to a thrift shop my sister's mother-in-law runs. I prefer skirts over shorts in the warm weather because they are more flattering and easier to fit. I generally pair them with a basic t-shirt and flip-flops or sandals for a casual, everyday look. Thursday night I just put together this little A-line skirt from only 1 yd of fabric. The yardage dictated the length of the skirt so to preserve some modesty, I bound the hem with self bias so more length wouldn't be lost. (Left: fabric view close up. I love the butterflies and silver outlines. Right: whole skirt view, t-shirt is tucked under so you can see the whole garment.)
















Last Friday the children and I made fuzzy felt balls with our alpaca fiber. Some of the wool I dyed with food coloring and silly me, I didn't wear rubber gloves. Fortunately, most of the color washed off before the big fat Greek wedding I was proud to serve in as a bridesmaid the next day. (More on the Greek wedding when I've got some pics to show.)

Yesterday, Chinese scroll painting was our project, and the results were beautiful. I will see if I can scan them in on dad's scanner to post.

Oh happy day

Yay, I'm about 99% recovered from the gunky ickiness and I'm starting to get things back in order. I'm extremely pleased with the weather, something people take for granted when it's nice like this, I suppose, but thanks be to God, for the month of May! I love the pink flowering trees and green foliage. K planted sugar snap peas, L sowed pink and purple flower seeds and a few lettuces from last year's that went to seed have come up in just the right spot in our garden this week. I finished the first of several summer sun dresses for a new client and she was ecstatic to see how well it fit and felt on her. I'm making at least two more for her!

Tomorrow, mom and I will visit the BSO symphony show house. It's been an annual tradition for us since about 1990, I think. I may post my reactions or inspirations on that later. This weekend is also the big annual Sheep and Wool Festival. I'll be missing it this year, but I've got friends going who will surely tell me all about it and let me pet the gorgeous yarns they purchase there.

Oh, and girlfriends, thanks for the long chats this week it helped a lot. (You know who you are.)

5-17-2007 A word about the showhouse.

This year's showhouse was the most cohesive of all the ones I remember having gone to. There were several rooms using a black and white color scheme, Asian influences, and soothing palette . I would say my most favorite room was The Master Bedroom, flooded with sunlight from it's many windows and decorated in colors of celedon, chocolate and accents of red, which was unexpected yet just right for this room. A close second was the Family Game Room. It was filled with so many fun ideas, I can't begin to list them here. My least favorite was the "Out of Africa" office for her. It lacked pizazz and the designer was in there defending her design and "color" choices to all who entered and would listen. There were some interesting aspects to the design but overall I found it dull and uninspired.

Every year I come away with a few practical ideas that may or may not be incorporated into my life. Sometimes it takes me years to actually carry out an inspiration. For instance, several years ago I saw a table treatment I liked and it gave me an idea for one I could use on my outside table with an umbrella. I cut out the fabric, but didn't sew it up until a week ago. This year's innovative idea that I liked, but probably won't use, was wood panel covered with faux embossed leather leaned against the walls of a covered porch. Beautiful wall sconces were then installed to the panels which hid the cords and wires. A great lighting solution for a temporary living arrangement or for those who don't want to mess with wiring inside the walls.

Philly fun

I trekked up to Philadelphia on Saturday. I had a yummy brunch at Ida Mae's, the opportunity to meet lots of interesting individuals at a cookout (and other brunch) and did a little shopping at Circle Thrift, in Fishtown. Tif found a great faux wrap 100% silk dress in a gorgeous print (above), but lucky for me, it was not her size. It only cost $2 folks! It will need a few minor alterations, but TWO DOLLARS! And it still had tags on it! I also got another dress (which I will dye) and a pink t-shirt (for the chocolate bunnies decal below) for a grand total of six bucks. I love thrift shopping.

Also pictured (bottom), some fun cotton prints I'm looking forward to working some magic with this spring. For some reason pink keeps attracting my attention. I'm also happy to report I've gotten a few new clients recently, who actually want new dresses made, (not old ratty bedsheets mended.) Yay!




From Top to bottom: Warm pink/coral cotton batiste with Morroccan print in red and pink flowers, Pink and White floral (alternates pink on white to white on pink), two of the same print in slightly different color families --florals with butterflies and silver accents, Lipstick print (for a handbag), and last, Purse print (also for a handbag, I think).

"Dressmaker" not "Seamstress"

I have never liked the term "seamstress" and now I have another good reason. I was just looking up the definition for "tailor" on Wiki and came across this:

A Seamstress is someone who sews seams, or in other words, a machine operator in a factory who may not have the skills to make garments from scratch or to fit them on a real body. This term is not a synonym for dressmaker. Seamstress is an old euphemism for prostitute.

Dressmaker, Custom Clothier, Alterations Specialist and Pattern Maker all describe what I do much better and that suits me fine.

Winter's Last Hurrah

It would figure that the day after I planted pansies, we would get lambasted by a wintery mix of weather. Last night after some consideration, I decided to venture out into the storm to get a movie. Four wheel drive? No, two foot walk. It took me about an hour and a half to walk a little over a mile, select a movie, and trudge back home. Considering that I've spent close to 45 minutes contemplating movie choices in the past, it wasn't so bad. This time I knew what I was after: Project Runway. MK recommended it, I watched disc one of season one last week and was hoping to get disc two, but Blockbuster wasn't carrying season one so I skipped on to disc one of season two. I had a jump hem on a jacket to do by hand while I watched and ooh, it was good. I think I'm hooked. Although I can't help sympathizing with the anxiety some of the designers face. It reminds me very much of college, bizarre, open ended projects to do with unusual criteria. I find watching Project Runway inspiring though. I especially like watching the processes the designers go through. I'm also a little intimidated by what these people can do... I'm mostly self-taught, and I'm not sure why I didn't pursue fashion in college. I think it's a bit too cut-throat for my personality. I'm not a competitive person, but now I see what kind of skills these designers have and I wish I had taken classes when I had the chance. One more thing to add to the to do list: take design classes.

Black Current L.L. Bean Comfort boots: $39.95
Two videos at Blockbuster: $8.38
Watching the snow fall against the black night sky while my feet stayed not only dry (after sloshing through several deep puddles of slush) but warm: Priceless

Putting the dream into action

Alpacas, while adorable are a lot of work, or at least I assume they are. I know absolutely nothing about raising animals for profit, but the idea is so appealing. Living in the country on a ranch/farm with nature, a garden cultivated by me and the children. The children could learn to care for the animals, I could learn how to card and spin the wool... but this is a fairly far-fetched dream given my circumstances.

Another dream I have that seems to resurface every time I meet some like-minded, creative individual, is to have a shop where we sell our creative expressions of ourselves. Tif and I have shared this dream from time to time. She's a potter/ceramics artist and now has taken a particular interest in fibers. Tree and I have shared this dream on occasion. She's an artist too, multi-talented in various media and an expert bargain hunter. MK and I have recently been toying with the idea of combining our skills (my sewing and her crochet) to produce some unique garments. Yesterday I met another talented women, Debbie, who shares the dream. She's a fellow seamstress and we were dreaming a little together too.

What would it take to put this dream into action? Money, of course... time.... and some more money, and some more time. Experience with running a business wouldn't hurt either. This is where my dream begins to evaporate. But I'm seriously considering my future these days. What do I want to be when I grow up? How can I use my gifts to support myself? What do I love? What do I know? The dream starts to come into focus again... I think the first step will be this summer. I'm talking up doing a "trunk sale" with some of my creatively gifted friends. We will invite our various circles of people to come browse our wares and maybe even sell something.

Ta Da!

The dress that had been consuming all my free time and creative energies (hence no new posts) is finished and much to my great satisfaction, also was an apparent hit at the Christmas party. Merci bien! MK, for letting me put these up! You rook mahvelous!



Okay, so about the dress. MK was inspired to have one similar to one she saw at Anthropologie. I developed a pattern, made a mock-up and once I established a good fit, we decided to raise the waistline a bit in front and remove the skirt gathers at center front to make it more flattering. The fashion fabric is a white taffeta flocked with black velveteen and the sash is black cotton velveteen cut on the bias and hand stitched in place. I underlined the fashion fabric of the bodice with white silk organza to give it more structure and less transparency in the white areas. The bodice is also supported with boning along all the seam lines except center back where there is an "invisible" black zipper. The dress is fully lined in white to maintain the "whiteness" of the taffeta. Because I was working with a limited amount of fabric that MK had purchased prior to the designing of the dress, I chose to add a black point d'esprit petticoat layer to give the dress a little more length and oomph. I'm especially proud of the motif matching I was able to achieve considering the limited yardage and a few fabric flaws I had to work around.
MK purchased the shrug and then doctored it up a bit with her crochet genius. She also made her beautiful choker and handbag! I expect this won't be the last time we combine our creative talents...

girls in white dresses with pink satin sashes

I actually made three of these little white eyelet dresses for the grand daughters of my neighbor for a family photo op. If my own daughter wasn't so particular about what she wears, I'd make her one too.

My most current project is a retro inspired cocktail dress for my dear friend MK. I'm hoping she'll let me post the finished results here. I'm making good progress with it, and it's a good thing since she'll be wearing it to a party on 16 December.

Also I have the hankering to make loads of p.j.'s which are another favorite garment of mine to make. They are quick and fun to wear. I found some extremely delicious fabric at WalMart (of all places) for a buck a yard! If I get my rear in gear and get them photographed before I ship them off and give them as presents, I will also post them here.

My sons have expressed an interest in learning how to sew, so I have begun to teach them the basics. They made some robes (with help) from fleece fabric they picked out.

Back to the blogging board

I've just updated to the newest version of blogger and now I've noticed all my custumized elements have evaporated into cyberspace. I'm tweaking and tuning, so please be patient because I'm already overloaded with other non-computerish tasks to do the next few weeks. For some odd reason I can't get my comments with Haloscan to work here, so I'm back to blogger for now...

In other news, I have recently inherited a vintage, customizable dress form. I was so eager to try it, I nearly got myself stuck inside it's metal meshlike cage. It's meant to be put on, with help, and molded to one's shape, I of course, tried it on alone and found myself in a potentially very embarrassing predicament. But with persistence (and brief panic) I was able to shrug it back off.