I mentioned that a coworker brought back a ton of lace from her vacation–all belonging to her 80 year old mother who was moving into a smaller place. Spotting a bunch of plain tanks at Nordstrom gave me the motivation to use some of it on something other than a brooch or a bag.
The first is for me, in a bluish purple color with a golden brown lace that I hand stitched in ruffles partly down the neckline, then machine stitched asymmetrically to the body.
White on white, the second has a tuxedo style front, all ruffled and feminine, and is in the shop.
I lost steam with the last tank and couldn’t quite figure out which lace I wanted to use on it.
This heavy hank of cream lace might be my favorite but I’m not sure if I want to use it in this particular way. We shall see.
A good friend of mine is one of the many women I know who absolutely adores Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. In fact, she did a fabulous impression of Mrs. Bennet, Elizabeth’s horrifying mother, that was rendered twice as hysterical due to her Wisconsin inflected pseudo-British accent.
This mug made me immediately think of her. If she didn’t move around so often, I might even get it for her.
Bits and pieces of hand sewing has dominated my week.
A paper pieced star for a custom order–almost exactly the same as one of the hoodies in the shop.
A few little quilt blocks using the cathedral window pattern tutorial at Hyena in Petticoats. My squares were an inch smaller than what she posted–I think, were I to start over, I’d begin with much bigger pieces. Not quite sure what I’ll end up doing with this little sample piece.
While this little case wasn’t hand sewn, I thought I’d throw it in with these other projects. Almost identical to quilted cases in the shop, I made this for the boyfriend. He backs up my data, fixes my wireless when it goes out, and does any number of technical things I don’t even think about, & I sew cases for his hard drives. I think it’s a decent trade.
The pleats, the little buttons at the pockets, and the elegant shawl collar are details that make this so much more than a jacket.
And don’t even get me started on this coat. Houndstooth, one of my favorite prints, the funnel neck, the military details are all beyond amazing. If only our coat closet weren’t already bursting!
While clearly the gas-mask like face shield made of leaves has political overtones, the boutonniere might actually work for day to day–though it’d get far fewer stares. By Australian designers Ben Landau and Brittany Veitch, via ecouterre.
A ton of vintage shops have been making their way into my favorites.
Vera Vague has an insane collection of goods ranging from the 40s to the 60s. I’d be all over both of these items if they weren’t (a rarity with vintage) too big for me. & it looks like she’s having a buy one, get on 25% off sale as well.
I think I stumbled upon Vintage Rose via Twitter and I’ve regularly found myself browsing her shop since. The button detail of the sleeves of this 1950s dress are such a great detail–maybe with dark tights and wedges for winter?
The cute finds at Lady Grunge are at great prices at the moment, as well. If only we weren’t getting ready to renovate the bathrooms!
Slowly but surely, little gaps in the house are getting filled. Most recently, this has almost entirely been in the lighting category.
This past weekend, I made a second visit to The House, a local antiques shop that specializes in 1950s and 1960s era furniture. I happened to be on my bike the first time I peeked inside so wasn’t in any position to take anything home. This double neck lamp caught my eye at the time and I’m so glad it was still there.
Now we just need a chair for the other side of the end table and I think the upstairs living area will be set. Oh, and we still need a dining room too–so nevermind.
I spotted the second lamp up high on a shelf at my favorite place for antiquing, the Aurora Antique Pavilion. Either a piano lamp or simply a desk lamp on steroids, the boyfriend claimed it for his office and it now sits on his desk.
I admitted my hatred for the main light fixtures in the upstairs living area when we moved in. They were all country charm in copper tone metal with twirling vines, which just isn’t my taste and really doesn’t suit the house. We replaced the dining area chandelier first but it took longer to settle on a pendant for the entryway. From Equilibrium Light, the shades are pretty innocuous at first glance.
But they look fabulous when lit.
We still have lighting in the downstairs living area that’s pretty atrocious so this won’t be the last time this topic gets covered!
Textiles as jewelry has always caught my eye but I’ve recently become acquainted with another innovative material worn as accessories: acrylic.
Modern, ridiculously fun and often colorful, aubeebop’s jewelry immediately won me over–especially these 3 dimensional bracelets that make me think of solar system models.
Then, while splurging on a pair of shoes I’ll reveal once they arrive, I came across Jane D’Arensbourg’s jewelry on Twig.
Love the cool, geometric shapes the material seems to lend to the design, regardless of the artist.
It may look similar to one I was making for myself mid-summer–I couldn’t bring myself to deal with the bamboo handles–but a seersucker one isn’t a half-bad replacement.
And a similar flare of yo yos in seersucker and toile.
We’re off to a birthday barbecue–yes, even in the rain. Enjoy your weekend.
If the boyfriend is out of town or late at work, that equals a night of catching up on the classic movies I’m constantly saving to the DVR. Most recently, that included Presenting Lily Mars and Wife vs. Secretary.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Judy Garland–her breathless, gushing sort of delivery has always given away just how vulnerable she really was. She was 21 in this film and given the glamour treatment for the first time in her career–always consigned to the plain Jane girl-next-door roles previously.
Given this was filmed during the middle of the war, the costumes aren’t too outrageous. The hats, on the other hand, certainly were–one even plays a key role in the plot, which shouldn’t be surprising given the emphasis on accessories during rationing.
While the acting in Lily Mars was nothing to sneeze at (Van Heflin was great fun in his flabbergasted dealings with Judy’s character), it’s hard to hold a light to Jean Harlow, Clark Gable and Myrna Loy. In Wife vs. Secretary, you can tell they’re all absolutely having a blast with their roles.
If I had a complaint, it might be that, again, the costumes aren’t generally eye-catching. As the secretary, Harlow is realistically portrayed in rather plain garb. While Loy’s is definitely more extravagant, she’s also meant to be very classy (as always) and there’s rarely anything outlandish worth capturing in a screen shot.
Love the pleats, cuffs and delicate watch she’s wearing.
The charm of all of the actors, the standard 1930s repartee, make this a fun watch that goes by far too quickly. James Stewart has about eight speaking lines as Harlow’s steady.
As someone who’s written off the vague interpretations of ‘ethnic’ that various designers and more mass market brands have been pushing for the past few years, this article in Time about the death of the sari caught my eye.
“People in Delhi have abandoned their own traditional clothing,” says Bilal Ahmed, 24, a weaver who works for his family business in Jammu and Kashmir. Ahmed and his family specialize in Kadhai work, a type of embroidery. “We have started making more suits and shirts than saris,” he says. “People don’t buy saris anymore. Now they buy jeans.”
It’s interesting to think of something like the sari going the way of the dirndl or kimono–worn only for ceremony or cultural celebrations. The impact this has had on the weavers who make them has been apparent. Perhaps it should be unsurprising, but a further blow to this craft in the form of knock-offs from China seems even more unfortunate.
But maybe there’s hope yet. I got an email about Christine Philip’s Fusion line and was intrigued, especially in light of the article I’d read only a few weeks prior.
Currently based in Atlanta, Christine’s influences are her home country of India, and the middle East, where she’s lived extensively.
While these are far more sumptuous than anything I’d wear day to day, it’s just crazy to me that while western culture is wildly appropriating shapes, forms, prints and textures, those things are dying out in their original cultures–only to be born anew in these reimagined designs.
& if anyone can think of other designs working in a similar way (Sandra Oh in a couture version of a hanbok comes to mind), I’d love to hear it given I’m clearly fascinated by this kind of thing.
Between the new beads I got in Victoria, a handful of sales, and items expiring out of the shop, I had more than enough of an excuse to make a bunch of jewelry the weekend before last. It’s slowly been making it’s way into the shop all week.
Using the Superbuzzy fabric, I finally finished a second version (given the disaster of the first) of McCalls 5532. I only realized after looking at the pattern envelope for the 27th time, that it’s a celebrity pattern with Marlo Thomas in the picture.
At craft night earlier this week, my friends and I talked about patterns not having the best instructions, and how sometimes it really does make sense to do it in a way that produces the result that makes you happy. Doing this dress the first time, I realized not only did I hate the front seam it called for, but the welt pockets were left with a raw edge–not visible to anyone not wearing the dress but totally unacceptable to me.
So I cut the front piece on the fold and, for this particularly version, made in-seam pockets instead. I decided I didn’t like the look of the pattern being broken up with welt pockets but if I make it again, I won’t be following the pattern’s instructions.
I used a button from my ridiculous stash for the cute closure and also abandoned the collar the pattern called for–I’m not much collars if they’re not Peter Pan. I was intimidated by sleeves but doing the cap version was pretty painless and only took one attempt to get right.
I’ve also done some hand sewing lately, including this necklace very similar to others that sold from the shop a long time ago.
And this brooch from the lace I was given just last week–I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and will hopefully have more time this weekend to make use of the rest of it.
After all, this is my first weekend home in a while!
It took so long to accumulate these few most recent favorites–mostly representing my flickr contacts! I’m blaming how busy summer can be. Hopefully fall will allow me more time to browse the eye candy there.
I had a pair of wedge moccasins that I loved and wore into the ground. Between the color (gray) and the slight height that kept my pants hems from dragging on the ground (but weren’t so high I felt like I was teetering), they were absolute perfection.
Though I haven’t been able to find anything with that wedge, I have replaced them in a patent and ankle boot style.
& despite now having two pairs of shoes that are technically moccasins, I keep getting drawn to the style and have to remind myself I probably have enough for now.
On this first cool day in ages, wearing them with corduroys, I foresee these being the perfect fall shoes.
The second to last in my favorite series of noted Time Life photos chronicling the first half of the century.
As much as I love 195os style–the tiny waists emphasized by billowing skirts–there isn’t as much of this volume given over to fashion as I might have hoped. A profile on the noted model, Suzy Parker, is a rare exception. As notable as she was at the time, I don’t think I’d ever heard of her prior to obtaining these books.
Much of the rest of the volume is given over to the politics that dominated the period, from the McCarthy hearings to the paranoia of the cold war that led to bomb shelters like the one in this photo–home DIY of another time.
Other images that caught my eye: Debbie Reynolds in casual summer garb and Eisenhower supporters in amazing dresses made from fabric printed with his name.
We returned from Victoria this afternoon to a stack of catalogs and a little package for me.
Meighan at My Love for You is a Stampede of Horses (one of the best art blogs) was having a giveaway and I won. While I certainly don’t need any more crafty hobbies, I couldn’t resist entering for the opportunity to get my own little embroidery starter kit–especially one from Sublime Stitching, one of the first names I think of when it comes to the craft.
Can you believe these scissors? Too sweet. My first night home has been entirely devoted to jewelry and beadwork but I’ll post here the moment I start experimenting with the floss and hoop!
