What I Couldn't Resist

The Road to California must easily have over 100 vendors selling everything you never knew you needed for fiber arts!

I swore I was not going to purchase ANYTHING due to the backlog of projects I have yet to complete but, some items really tempted me...

 Who wouldn't want a shiny new motorcycle?

Perhaps a new beautiful quilt? 

( actually not too tempted because anything there my mom could do better)

Thousands of bolts of great fabrics was impossible to resist!

And this is my final booty from the entire, huge Road to California. Two yards of irresistible cute bird fabric that WILL become a skirt. Two fabric flower brooches because I couldn't decide on just one. And the CUTEST little scissors in the shape of a fairy by Bohn.

A day spent with my mom is always a good day.

A day with my mom spending at the Road to California is a GREAT day!

Hope I see you there next year. 

Memories of Grace Coddington Memoir

Instead of a new year resolution I actually have a new year confession: 

After all the guests and holiday hoopla departed, the air mattress finally deflated and my sewing studio was once again my solitary domain I did not get busy sewing.

Instead I spent long stretches of free time sitting on my bum and reading this 333 page memoir by Grace Coddington.

In case you don't know, Grace Coddington has been a creative force at American Vogue for over twenty years and before that she spent almost 20 years creating incredible fashion spreads at British Vogue and before that she modeled for about a decade. So she has been immersed in the highest echelon of the fashion universe for over 50 years!
She is the narrator and illustrator of this very humble story of what is actually a pretty amazing life. And although Grace Coddington is great friends with many, many iconic names in the fashion industry there is nothing negative in this memoir, just a nice dose of dry English humor.
When I finished reading it felt like hanging up the phone after a long, enjoyable chat with a dear friend.

Thank you to my daughters for such a thoughtful, enjoyable Christmas gift and now I really must get busy in my own little fashion universe!

Merry Christmas!

May your Christmas be filled with friends, family, food and festivities!

How to make Fascinators

I have rarely met a hat I did not like...but, had never really given much notice to fascinators. Upon enrolling in a hat making class the first assignment was how to make a fascinator.

First we stretched wet buckram over a hat block, let it dry overnight. Next the desired outline of the fascinator was drawn onto the buckram and cut out with scissors.

Using a lockstitch 18 gauge millinery wire was hand stitched around the edge of the fascinator and then French elastic ( fancy term for bias tape ) was stab stitched to cover the wire. The fabric covering was carefully slipstitched to the bias tape; first on top and then the inside lining.

front

After the buckram was covered in fabric the only limit to the embellishment was your imagination...

back

All my fabrics are recycled mens ties and I created all the flowers from old ties. 

It was a blast!

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Elsa Schiaparelli's iconic shoe hat

And as homage to the creative wit and fun that Elsa Schiaparelli had with designing I created another fascinator.

Long live fun fashion!

Instant Perfect Pin Cushions

Shopping for a baby shower gift took me back to stores I haven't visited in a decade. The Disney store was full of characters I had never seen but, then I spied a favorite character -Merrywether. I think she is a fairy Godmother from Sleeping Beauty. All I remember is she's kind, chubby, benevolent, wears a funny hat and is a little ditzy...just how I will be when I am old :)

I also noticed the bodies of these figure were stuffed so...instant pincushions!!! 

And the pointy hats make a great spot to store a thimble. 

The other two fairies, Fauna and Flora will be Christmas presents for sewing pals but,

I love my Merryweather pincushion. It's practical, useful AND puts a smile on my face. 

You never know where you may find a instant perfect pincushion.

Color Block your Trousers

I have been really frustrated lately because I have not sewn in months! I am making myself complete all the "little" projects that are cluttering up my sewing studio. These trousers are one of those projects.

 

The fit of these linen trousers is pretty good but, a little short in length for my 5'11"body. Too short is probably my number one reason for not purchasing a pair of pants- but I digress. I'm not sure how I came up with the idea of sewing a swatch of fabric to the bottom but, that was the plan.

Now the proportion of the contrasting fabric to the pant leg was critical. I tried to just eyeball it but, then I remembered an article on proportions that actually had contained an equation for historically proven "correct" proportions ( author measured ancient Greek and Roman sculptures ).
Basically it is dividing a length into 5 equal sections and then the equation is 3 to 2. So the length from the knee on the trouser to the hem was 19" divided by 5 equaled 3 7/8". I multiplied 3 7/8" by 2 and that equaled 7 3/4". And that's how wide I decided to make my bottom band of contrasting fabric.
Explaining math is almost harder than DOING math!

I clearly marked each fabric leg piece that had been cut off the original trousers left and right and front and back. And then completely removed all stitching to use pant fabric as the pattern for the contrasting fabric. It also became the stitching guide so the contrasting band and pant leg would fit together exactly.

I sewed the side seam and inseam exactly like the pant seams and then hemmed the bottom before sewing the contrasting band to the pant leg. The pant and contrasting fabric are both linen so with a little steam and pressing the transition from original pant to contrasting band is pretty flawless.

And voila! 

I totally dig my new color blocked trousers and best of all it is one more to-do project that is now DONE!

Tie One On...your shoe!

I photographed these flats because I really love the floppy, messy fabric embellishment. Almost like tying a scarf on your shoe ( and I'm a big fan of scarves ) plus I knew I could easily replicate this look.

None of my shoes are safe from being altered and these plain, cheap gray suede flats were just screaming out for the floppy fabric embellishment. I selected these possible fabric candidates from my far too numerous tie collection.

I really like using ties for projects because the fabric is already cut on the bias so easy to manipulate, prints are usually small, and the fabric is always a nice silk or silk-like textile. Just remove the stitching and interfacing and iron the tie fabric flat. The only downside is that ties are not very wide. I managed to squeeze two nice 4" sections that sewn together gave me a 24' strip.

The strip was sewn into a tube and cut into two 12" lengths. I did not iron the tubes flat because I wanted the messy look-not crisp edged bands.

The fun was arranging the fabric strips on the shoes. I finally settled for this look and pinned down the fabric. Now I can't find my pliers which I will definitely need to pull my 2" millinery needle thru the shoe and fabric. I always anchor shoe embellishment with some stitches because I don't entirely trust glue. However I have purchased Magna-Tac 809 permanent adhesive by Beacon and it's pretty good stuff.

So one thrift store tie + boring gray flats = a floppy, messy new look