Destination: Hat Camp

My first morning in Washington I boarded a ferry to Vashon Island for adventures unknown at
Hat Camp.

Hat Camp was at Camp Burton, a rustic looking place until you looked out the side of camp along the water's edge...

the view and amenities were all 5 star resort. 

This was definitely not camping!

Not knowing exactly what to expect at Hat Camp I was blown away by how informative at every level all the lectures, demonstrations and evening round table discussions were for beginners to established milliners.

Wayne Wichern, creator of Hat Camp

Great lectures, demonstrations, resource suggestions. and tips on creating hats and the business of millinery.

Lecture and demo on using indigo dye. 

It was amazingly cool to see the items turn from green to blue when the dye oxidized in the air.

Three meals a day served in a beautiful dining space overlooking the water.

Simply gorgeous.

More demos and techniques by experienced milliners and hat makers. 

Priceless!

Feather facts and manipulation by Lynn McMasters who has obviously been obsessed with feathers forever!

( and also informed me my beautiful seagull feathers I have been collecting are illegal!! and I could be fined if I use any in my hats )

Feathers, and ribbons and felts; oh my!

Fabulous vintage and modern hats here,

there,

and everywhere!

In all honesty 4 days and 3 nights of Hat Camp was a lot for a novice like me. 

But the breathtaking beauty of the surroundings, the immensely nice people I met and the inspiring examples of all the great millinery artists made it a truly monumental event.

I LOVED HAT CAMP !!!!

Downtown Seattle; final stop

Hat Camp was over and a fellow camper drove me onto the ferry, freeways and wet downtown Seattle to my funky downtown hotel Moore ( it was great ).

I had exactly 24 hours to spend in Seattle.

Passed the Starbuck factory with it's iconic face peeking at you.

First stop after checking in was a short 4 block walk to the flagship Nordstrom and a quick stop at Starbucks; which are on every corner.

Having visited countless Nordstroms from San Francisco to South Coast Plaza I was not all that bedazzled by the size and inventory of the flagship store but, it was very large.

I was bedazzled by the foam artistry of the barrista in the coffee shop connected to my hotel.

The next morning I walked the 2 blocks to Pikes Market even though it's touristy and I have visited a few times before. The market is just so cool.

Beautiful, colorful displays of produce

and flowers everywhere! 

 Fresh fish with with cute boys throwing it, selling it and yelling about it.

It's always fun at the market and I dare you not to buy something!

I bought yummy chocolate Chukar Cherries as gifts.

passed by Seattle Space Needle 

But, where I most wanted to go was Nancy's Sewing Basket in the Queen Anne area of Seattle. 

It involved a long bus ride and a short walk but, was totally worth it.

2221 Queen Anne Ave N.
www.nancyssewingbasket.com

 Behind the unassuming storefront of Nancy's Sewing Basket is a fabulous selection of fabrics, patterns, books, dyes, buttons, notions and trims that would fuel anyone's imagination. 

But, the ribbon room at Nancy's is the stuff of legends.

Having just visited Los Angeles looking specifically for ribbons and trims I can honestly say the selection at Nancy's was amazing. 

And there are a dozen boards with trim work displayed.

I limited myself to 10 yards total of hard to find iridescent and ombre and silk ribbons ( and some fabulous vintage buttons ).

I could have bought 50 yards and 100 buttons.

Concluded my 24 hours with a scrumptious chowder, sourdough bread and draft beer. 

The perfect end to a perfect trip.

 Bye, bye to the great Northwest, hope I get to visit again real soon.

I bought some great stuff on my trip and actually had to buy a tote bag to carry it all home. The indigo dyed camisole, hat blocks and 5 yards of feather trim are from Hat Camp. The vintage buttons. patterns and ribbons are from Nancy's Sewing Basket.

More projects are definitely something I am trying to escape but, these goods were just irresistible.

Stay tuned for some great projects!

Antique Button Ring

A few weeks ago my path crossed with an antique button seller.

I could not resist about half a dozen of the old buttons just because they were so cool.

Somewhere I saw an image of a ring that I thought looked like a big button...

Step number one for my button ring was to find the same size cylinder as my finger. I simply tried a ring on lots of stuff until it fit this nail polish top perfectly. 

I already had this fine gauge gold tone wire that I'm pretty sure I purchased at a hardware store. 

And of course one of my antique buttons.

Step number two was to feed the wire through the button and around the nail polish top three times for strength. I also used pliers to pull the wire snugly so ring would be a good fit for my finger.

I twisted one end of the wire to secure the ring circle shape and the other wire end I left very long ( about 14" ) and wrapped it tightly around and around and around and around the ring circle shape.

I think wrapping the wire makes the ring look much, much better, makes the ring more comfortable, and prevents wire from snagging clothes and hair.

And tadah !

My antique button ring looks as pretty on the inside as it does on my finger.

A fashion accessory success story:)

7th Annual Outstanding Art of Television Costume Design

The Los Angeles

Fashion Institute of Design and Manufacturing ( FIDM ) Museum 

is exhibiting over 100 costumes from  15 television shows.

The exhibit started July 30th and will end October 19th.

And it is free to the public.

It is always interesting to examine textiles, embellishments, and design details up close. 

Also, the variety of costumes from different eras, fantasies, comedies and extremes makes one realize just how challenging, inventive and fun it must be to create costumes.

It is also interesting how statuesque ( or not! ) many of the actors really are 

Game of Thrones on HBO

The costumes were impressive but, the displays were a little bleak. 

In past years more effort was put into the set around the costumes.

And there are no pics of the costumes online and no information handout with the exhibit. 

Of course it is free.

 

Michael Douglas as Liberace in Behind the Candelabra on HBO

The seven costumes on display for Behind the Candelabra were over the top! 

No small surprise costume designer Ellen Mirojnick is nominated for the Best Costume Design Emmy

 

Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley on Downtown Abbey on PBS

 Photos of any kind are strictly forbidden and it was impossible to sneak even one! 

The no photo rule seems so ridiculous since all the costumes are already on TV. 

 The highlight of the exhibit was the 16 costumes from Downtown Abbey featuring the entire Lady Mary wedding ensembles for the main characters.

I love the early 1900's costumes from Downtown Abbey mainly for the amazing, wonderful hats.

Fortunately ( or unfortunately ) FIDM is only a few blocks from the fabric district and I could not resist a visit to my favorite treasure hunt fabric discount store, 

Michael Levines The Loft.

And although I have 50,000,000 projects, ideas and tasks these fabrics were irresistible!

Across the street at the regular Michael Levines fabric store I also spent over an hour selecting trims for a variety of real and potential projects.

I think all those hats and costumes at the exhibit were just a little too inspiring!

Fashion; Hair and There

This is a FABULOUS ad campaign by TRESemme

featuring sewing items as hair accessories.

Buttons temporarily " sewn " into a hair-do is totally do-able.

The thread spool and needle are definitely fantasy.

 The bun as a pin cushion is totally my favorite.

And another totally do-able hair-do is the measuring tapes as hair bands.

Hey, I may even try that one!

Two thumbs up and cheers to the ad agency that came up with these great images.

Some magazines have a few of these images but, I finally saw the complete 5 page ad.

Real fashion fun!