Thank You All!

I'd like to thank all of you for stopping by to read, comment, and inspire me this year! I truly appreciate all of your encouragements, insights and questions. Many of my projects this year have been true journeys with trials and triumphs along the way.

I received a special treat in the mail last week, from Anne Stevens who lives in London. She sent me a lovely letters and these three postcards from the Victoria and Albert Museum's exhibit the Golden Age of Couture. I thought I'd share these with you as a jump start for inspiration for 2008. I know I am certainly inspired by them!

This first one is the front detail of the "Bar" jacket from Christian Dior's 1947 Spring/Summer collection. Aren't the hand made buttons perfect?

This one is the "Bosphore" evening gown by Dior made of silk velvet, embroidered with pearls, gold thread and cabochons from the 1956 autumn/winter collection. I know it is hard to see the detail, but there are nests that are 3-D! They are made of a small cup shaped piece of velvet with the pearls sewn inside to look like eggs.

Last, but not least, my favorite (no surprise!) is an evening gown from Pierre Balmain, made of silk organza with ostrich feathers, sequins and rhinestones from about 1950. Look at the top edge of that bodice! Wow!


Parting Shot: The last two holiday photos. No, the first one is not what we sent in the Christmas cards of our children this year. They got a little silly after posing for "nice shots" for daddy. The second one is one of my husband's more artfully posed ones.

Midnight Garden - Jacket - Part XXXI

Duh!

Well, I've two "duh" moments recently. The first one isn't nearly as bad as the second.

First, I realized that I had not shown you the completed beaded lilies. I finished them over Christmas weekend and forgot about them until this morning. Here's one of them:

Here's a closer look at the beading, albeit overexposed on the silver areas:

The beading actually was easy once I decided what I wanted to do. For beading, I generally have an idea of what I'm going to do, but don't actually know exactly what I'm going to do until I start stitching on the beads. Most of the time I end up playing around and doing several versions until I find the one that is just right. I always know it when I see it. These lilies took about 5 versions and I actually didn't do anything one Saturday except play around with the beads to find the right thing. I didn't actually stitch too much - just placed the beads on the surface - as I didn't want to mar the silk. Finally the right thing struck me the next morning and I was able to finish the lilies.

The second "duh" occurred last night. At this point, I have a set schedule as to what needs to be done each day to finish this project. I work better if I have daily goals. Last night, I was so proud of my self for finishing the day's task of putting in the lining. Not an easy task, as the portion between the facings in the back had to be put in by hand because of the peplum and it's curves. So, I got into bed after finishing the fell stitching to close the lining and as my head hit the pillow, it struck me: I didn't put in the shoulder pads! Ugh! You know what I did. No, I did not get up and fix it right then. This morning I took out a section of the hem (thank goodness I had not pick stitched yet!), put the shoulder pads in and refinished the hem.

The jacket, then, is almost complete. I need to bead the edge of the peplum, cover and install the snap closures and put in the label. These are little things that will get done early next week, along with the finishing touches for the skirt and blouse. I am thinking that the ensemble will be finished by the end of next week. I probably won't post final photos until the following week due to all the accessories not being here and other posts I'd like to do.

Parting Shot: Christmas Coffee Cakes! Christmas is the only time of year that I bake these coffee cakes - they're very rich and delicious and reserved for special occasions. (If you're American, they taste like Entemann's coffee cakes, but better!) The long one has blackberry and cream cheese filling and the circular one has apricot/orange filling. They also have two toppings, which add to the richness. You can see me adding glaze in the last photo.

Christmas Goodies!

Today I thought I'd share some of the new things I received this year - either directly or indirectly.

First, the books that were under the Christmas tree. I got Everyday Fashions of the Fifties Pictured in Sears Catalogs, which shows actual pages of the old catalogs and what sort of clothing was sold. This is a great resource for not only the clothes, but the accessories worn with the clothes. I also received Fabulous Fit by Rasband/Liechty, which was recommended to me during the trench coat fitting process. Last but not least, I received a copy of The New Look, The Dior Revolution, which is filled with old photos and interesting information leading up to and following the New Look era.

I also received an Amazon gift card, which promptly got spent on Modern Fashion in Detail shown by Shannon on her blog the day after Christmas. From what Amazon tells me, it is in the mail and should be here next week.

The next goodies were bought with part of my Christmas bonus. I went shopping in Manchester today at Fabric Fix and Martin's House of Cloth. From Fabric Fix, I bought the following two pieces, plus zippers and foldover elastic (not shown).

The fabric on the left is a 60" wide shirting like fabric I found on the remnant table for $3.00 per yard. The stripes are not printed, but woven in. I only got charged for 3 1/2 yards, but ended up with 4 5/8 yards. Not sure how that worked out! I'm thinking this will become the Byron Lars shirt dress. It also had this tag attached to it. Anyone know anything about this manufacturer? The address is for Italy.

The fabric on the right is just something I liked and there wasn't much left, so I decided to get some. There was only 2 yards left and I got both. It is a rayon/poly of some sort, but unique and different. The little bits of color you see are from extra fibers which stick up that woven into the fabric, sort of like a boucle.

I then went to Martin's House of Cloth and picked up more 25 cent discontinued patterns. Three of which are wardrobes and the remaining is a just a coat.

I also got this lot of fabric there:

From left to right, there is 1 3/4 yards of white velvet, for the velvet coat with lace trim from BWOF 12/07. My husband *really* liked it, so I'll make it in white with black trim. There's 3 3/8 yards of some silk or silk-like black and white paisley print. It is sort of sheer, so it will probably become a summer church dress. Lastly there is not quite 4 yards of a blue tile print knit. The blue isn't quite as bright in real life, but that's the camera flash for you.

Parting Shot: Carol of the Bells, Four Hands. My daughter's piano books have a second part written for all the pieces so that someone else (presumably the teacher) can play with the student, for fun or performance. Here we are playing Carol of the Bells on Christmas Day.

Midnight Garden - Jacket - Part XXX

We Have a Lining!

I had a lovely Christmas and hope that all of you did, too. I'd like to say hello and thank you to all of you who have commented on my blog for the first time recently - there were quite a few new names and faces! Thanks for reading - I hope that you enjoy these little adventures and if nothing else get a laugh at my craziness.

Since I'm on Christmas vacation and have extra time, I've been not only enjoying my family but also getting some work done on Midnight Garden. It was "done enough" by Christmas, and now I'm getting down to all the little finishing touches. Of course these touches will take me the better part of this week and next to do, but will be worth it. By the way, did you notice - we're up to 30 posts on the jacket alone?

Without further ado, here's the lining for the jacket:

Not the greatest photo, but this color is *really* hard to photograph. Wait till you see the post on the photo shoot set up for competition entry pictures! At any rate, there's quilted facings, plus the velvet beaded cuffs. They are hard to see and they're not well pressed, but, at the shoulder there are deep released pleats instead of the darts found on the jacket shell. Interesting detail, and much like a pleat at the center back found commonly on jackets, helps with wearing ease. Yes, this jacket has the center back pleat, too.

Here are the cuffs, the flowers are beaded as the appliqued flowers on the jacket, plus they have a beaded trim. I realize it is hard to see the detail in the photos below - I've lightened the top one so that you can see a little of the detail. The velvet is so rich and deep that it photographing it isn't easy.

I'll show you how I stitched the beaded trim in a future post. It is easy and adds a rich finish to the edges.

Parting Shot: Waiting. My husband took this shot on Christmas morning before the presents were opened. I'll be sharing a few more Christmas shots over the next few days.

Merry Christmas!

I will be taking Sunday through Wednesday off for the holiday and will starting posting again on Thursday.

Before I go, I thought I'd share with you my children's Christmas stockings, which I made when they each were infants. First, my daughter's ribbon embroidered stocking:

Next, my son's counted cross-stitch stocking:

I think his took me a bit longer to make, but it was worth it for in the verse stitched on the stocking is the true meaning of Christmas: Jesus was born to be our Savior, if we chose to accept Him.

May you have a wonderful, peaceful and blessed Christmas with friends and family!

Parting Shot: Kiwi's First Christmas. She's been having a great time. She thinks that the Christmas tree is the biggest, greatest cat toy ever, and tonight got into the act of helping to wrap gifts.

Midnight Garden - Accessories - Part I

*The* Hat!

Yes, I'm still beading. For a few moments, I'm pretending like it doesn't exist and I'm going to show you the hat I found on eBay. I was going to make a matching hat, but when I saw this one, I decided not to. Here it is:

Is this not the perfect shape for the curves and peplum of suit? The color is perfect, too. The velvet trim on the hat exactly matches the velvet cuffs, collar and peplum! I'm not sure how that worked out considering the hat is vintage. Take a look at the inside label:

Does Saks still have a Millinery Salon? Does anyone know the answer to that? I'm going to guess probably not, but you never know. That hat still has the original combs too, one on each side:

I'm excited about the hat, and it really is a bright spot for me right now. Tonight I'll finish beading the 72 flowers. The leaf embroidery is done, and tomorrow I plan to start the lilies. After that I only need to bead the cuffs, collar and peplum and work the beaded trim along their edges. Then I can get to finishing the jacket, finishing the blouse and fixing that skirt waistband!

Parting Shot: Check out the pockets! Aren't those triangle pockets neat? If not neat, at least different? This is another recent eBay find.

Snippets . . .

or I'm Still Beading!

Bedsides beading MG, what else has been going on? Here it is:

• Percolating for a quite a few larger projects, some of which will be completed in 2008: Forget Me Knot, Ride 'Em Cowboy, A Little Birdie Told Me So, and Autumn Splendor.
  

• Viewing the 2007 Bernina Fashion Show; this year's theme, Diamond Odyssey in honor of Bernina's 75th anniversary. Check it out, the garments are really spectacular. When I grow up, maybe I'll compete in the Bernina.

• Starting to sort through my patterns so that I can add ones that I have that aren't already in the Vintage Pattern Wiki. The wiki, I believe is the brain-child of Erin of Dress A Day; this post introduces it and this one announces the contest. has been Check that out, too, while you're at it - it is really cool. The patterns shown below need to be photographed and added, plus they're part of the plan for Ride 'Em Cowboy.

• Planning what I'm going to sew over Christmas break. Actually, I'm officially on Christmas break now, yesterday I stayed home with a sick child, today was a snow day, and tomorrow I don't have to go in (thanks to my colleague, friend and partner in crime, Mr. K.). Anyway, I'm thinking of making a dress out of the fabric and patterns shown below. I want the dress on the right of the pattern on the left, but the long sleeves on the right. The fabric was a gift from Isabelle and Tany, sent from Paris, and I've been thinking for quite a while about just the right dress. I've already made the pattern once and love the dress, so this is probably the right pattern.

• Getting inspired by others. After seeing Cidell's cute gifts made from the latest BWOF, I'm going to make a few pajamas like things, too. Due to Carolyn's (or is it Shannon's?) influence, I've finally caved and put in an order at Fabric Mart (for some reason I feel like this might be a slippery slope!), which includes this leopard mesh, intended for the pajamas:

Alright. Enough dreaming and stalling, and back to beading.

Parting Shot: Who ordered the white Christmas?!? Here I am, starting to shovel this afternoon. There was about 10" out there when the first picture was taken. The second picture shoes 13 1/2" and it is still snowing! Last, but not least, the hero of the evening my husband, snow blowing.

Midnight Garden - Jacket - Part XXIX

Be Careful What You Wish For!

As we all know, I have a deadline coming up for MG. Of course, having a few days off to work on it would be wonderful. With school not getting out for the holidays until Friday, that makes things that much more difficult. Good and bad I got my wish. Today I was home with a sick child and tonight/tomorrow we're getting (do you even want to guess?) more snow with a possible school cancellation. I'm not sure this is exactly what I meant when I prayed for more time.

At any rate, I'm now working on beading the flowers and thought I'd show you them. I have one half of the jacket's 60 leaves embroidered and by the end of the evening, I'll have half of the 72 flowers beaded, excepting the lilies, of course. Here are some photos of the flowers:

It looks like I'll be doing a lot of beading while watching the Celtics/Pistons game tonight. My husband is actually going to the game with some coworkers, and the kids and I will watch it on TV.

Parting Shot: My son's ornaments. Here are the ornaments my son has been making out of polymer clay. He came up with the idea all on his own and brought one down to show me one day. I encouraged him to make them as gifts. He's also made ones that say "love", "joy" and "hope".

The Other Heart-Made Gift

The Doll Quilt

My son finished the doll quilt this weekend. Here he is with the finished product:

I decided that it would probably be easiest for him to tie the quilt. He also wanted to use some beads on the quilt, so we combined the two:

He chose a green batik for the back and binding. I did stitch the self-binding for him, but that's all that I stitched on the whole project. The green has a bit of purple in it and some of the prints have a bit of green in them, so it works nicely.

He's very excited to have two nice gifts for his sister that he made himself. He's actually been very busy making gifts for others this Christmas. I'll have to show you his polymer clay ornaments that he designed and made. With a little bit of ribbon/cord and help from mom, he had quite a few gifts made quickly. I hope that this year he's learned that a gift made from the heart and with his own hands has more meaning than anything money can buy.

What have you made this holiday season from the heart?

Parting Shot: White Christmas! I'm going to guess that we won't have any grilled items on the Christmas menu this year. Right now, the grill is surrounded by about a foot and a half of snow.

Midnight Garden - Jacket - Part XXVIII

Starting the Embellishments!

Thank you all for the kind words and compliments on my daughter's Christmas dress. She really enjoyed wearing it - if you could see the way she twirls and swishes around in it you'd know that she's very happy and excited to have such a dress. I really do like making the dresses; it's fun to find the right pattern, fabric and embellishments. Before too long, she probably will be embarrassed that mom makes her clothes, so I'm enjoying it while I can. I am trying to in grain the idea of "custom made" instead of "home made" into her mind. With any amount of luck, it will stick.

We had another two hour delay today due to yesterday's snow/ice storm and I put it to good use, quilting one of the front facings. I've actually had a very productive weekend! This is what I did:

• assemble lining except for sleeves and front facings
• make cuffs
• make peplum
• finish additional quilting on jacket body
• finish assembling sleeves
• cut out blouse
• start blouse assembly

I got the other facing quilted this afternoon and tonight I will the put lining together. Until I get the jacket embellished, I won't be able to finish putting everything together. I have started working on the embellishments and am currently working on the leaves:

The leaves are embroidered with DMC's Precious Metal Effects embroidery floss in a shiny silver. Tonight I'll finish the few leaves in this section and start the bead/sequin work tomorrow.

Things are really starting to look up! I will have this ensemble ready to photograph on Saturday and will then finish all the little details next week. After that, I am going to take a short break, sew a few things for myself.

Parting Shot: More Kiwi. My husband found Kiwi napping and took these photos. The last one is a bit blurry, but he finally got a shot of her with her pretty golden eyes open!

Midnight Garden - Jacket - Part XXVII

Progress!

I am that point in the project where I'm seeing progress again! That's really encouraging since for a while this project seems to have been dragging along. Not that there's still not a lot of work to be done. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not an oncoming train.

As of today, I have the collar and cuffs ready for attachment. They still need to be embellished, but that can be done later. As you can see from the photo below, the peplum isn't ready, but will be tomorrow.
Working with the velvet was real fun. Actually, not really as it was pretty slippery. I had to hand baste all the seams together, then whip stitch the edges together and finally stitch the seams with a walking foot. That was probably overkill to keep the pieces from slipping, but I don't get a second chance with these pieces - there's no extra fabric and really no time to get more. You can see the cuff on the machine in the photo below.

I also got the lining mostly assembled today. I can't put in the sleeves until I get the front facings quilted and attached. Without the front facings I can't do shoulder seams, and hence, sleeves. The sleeves for both the fashion fabric and lining are done, too. So for the moment, I do have a lot of things ready, but nothing put together.

I'm still working on the extra quilting on the jacket body. Right now I only have one front and one side front left, which will be done tomorrow.

All in all, a productive day!

Parting Shot: Here she is, in the Christmas dress. I had her put it on again today, as we didn't have time for photos last night and got back really late. I only took a few pictures, but I think she got tired of me telling her to smile by the last one and got just a bit silly.