Hipster Games

Being a HUGE fan of The Guild webseries, and loving spoof in general... and being from Portland, home of Portlandia.... this made me laugh really, really hard.



I hope they make more.

I also realized that I only posted twice the entire month of March.  I need to be more prolific.

Estate Sale Finds!

I went to an Estate Sale on Monday and found this INCREDIBLE quilt top for $24!!!!  All the fabrics appear to be from the 40's and 50's.  It is almost full size.  Just needs the batting, backing, and binding.  I am going to tie it with black.

I also found this completely finished needlepoint pillow top.  I thought it would look great in my living room.

It was made in 1973 and Donna Peterson put her tag on it.  I think I will keep the tag on the pillow when its done.

Felt Roses

So I was over at Gertie's blog and saw her tutorial on felt roses.... and took a break from work, projects, etc and whipped one up!

It took me a bit to figure out the turn back, wrapping thing, but once it clicked it was easy!

Not sure what to do with it yet... I could put it on a hat.

I think I should make some more.

Need to get some bangs?

How funny is that?!?!?

It must be Leap Year!!!

The spouse always buys me flowers for Leap Year, the most under-celebrated holiday.  This year was no exception....

I love the delphiniums.  They are the most incredible shade of violet.... now, if it would stop snowing/sleeting outside.

New Blog Love

I love a good sewing, creating blog.  My new favorite is Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing.

I found her just after I purchased this class on Craftsy.

I love that her projects are retro-inspired, for normal sized ladies, and that she is so enthusiastic!  I can't wait to get started on my Starlet Suit.

Alexander McQueen Love

These images are from the McQ line for Fall 2012.  I am loving the full skirts and jackets!  I haven't even done any sewing for spring or summer yet, but am pondering the possibilities for fall.... I think I have a problem with focus.  Look at the BOOTS too!

The next three have floral motifs which I am really warming up to... especially the black and pink long jacket/dress.

I did watch the Oscars tonight but haven't had a chance to really think about the dresses.  There were a few stunners.

Pina

We went and saw Pina last night at Cinema 21.  Wim Wenders was there to introduce the movie and answer questions after the movie.  It is the BEST use of 3D that I have seen in a movie yet.  The 3D was not used to make the film jump out at you... or to make the action more intense.  You feel the depth of the dancers on the stage and outside as the dancers move through structures and space.  The screen disappears and you are drawn into the movie and the dancers.

Full Moon

Pina dancing Muller Cafe

Rite of Spring

.... just gorgeous.  And Wim is someone I could listen to for hours.  Very humble and thoughtful.  Cinema 21 is a smaller theater, so even though we were in the balcony in the back, you could still see Wim clearly and hear him.

Hat is Finished!

You will notice that there has been a gap in my posting.  Every time I build up steam and motivation and start to post regularly, life gets busy and I loose my momentum.

Here are the finished pictures of the hat that I was knitting for Miss E.  I am trying really hard to complete projects rather than having UFO's pile up to the ceiling.

I think it turned out well.  She has been wearing it often and it is usually in her back pack.

Dress inspiration turned up to 11!

If anyone is looking for a gift for me... for any reason... say Valentine's Day?

100 Unforgettable Dresses

This is a gorgeous book!!!  I found it on Pantone's Color and Design Blog.  There are so many amazing dress moments... fantastic shapes, silhouettes, color, and detailing.  I do love books.

Knitting Stash

I keep my knitting stash in this lovely old trunk owned by my Great-Aunt Elsie after whom we named our daughter.  Aunt Elsie was an amazing woman who was into all sorts of crafts and herb drying and fun.  She would brush their dog Sardis and knit things out of his hair.  I have very fond memories of her.  Her name is still on the trunk.

I was desperate to find a storage place for my ever expanding yarn stash which had two exponential leaps in the past couple of years:

1. My father found a trove of wool yarn and hand weaving yarn at a yard sale for $7.00... and of course you can't say "No" to a deal like that... so it was added (not all of that haul is in the trunk by the way)
2. Last spring I went to an Estate Sale of a MAJOR knitter, world traveller, and Powell's Books employee and found unbelievable deals on mohair, lambswool, and sock weight wools.  So into the trunk those yarns went... the books are on the bookshelf.

The trunk being rather old and closed up for many decades by the time I received it wasn't smelling too fresh.  This past summer, determined not to let my lavender go to waste, I sewed up two really big sachets.  You can see one of them in the picture in the green and black check.  The trunk smells fantastic!  Especially when you first open it and that first blast of lavender escapes.  No moldy, ancient smells anymore.

I did some yarn sorting and organizing today and put some yarns together in plastic bags and left others in their piles.  I don't think anything is going to turn itself into a complete knot in here.  It did make me remember what I had.  I unravelled some UFO's that weren't going to ever get finished.  In some cases I had forgotten what I had even started.

More knitting!!

Woo hoo!  Double post today.  I am taking dance classes twice a week and eating more fruit... maybe that's the secret to productivity.  Anyway... here is a project in progress.  I usually don't post many knitting projects partway done, because they sometimes stay that way for many years.  But this one is a fast project.  The red had in the picture belongs to Miss E's grandfather.  She brought it home and announced that she wants one just like it, but with a pompom on top.  I rummage through my stash and found this beige yarn that is almost the same size as the red yarn.  You can read more about the yarn specifics here.

I knit a little bit every night, and since I'm using size 8 circular needles... it's a fast one.  Hopefully it won't become a UFO... I have enough of those that need to be frogged and repurposed.

Christmas Knitting

I am finally getting around to posting some of my Christmas projects.  Here are the socks that I knitted for the kids.  The dark grey colorway is Blackjack and the orange colorway is Tequila Sunrise.... I had to laugh at that once the socks were underway.

The dynamic duo had been wanting new socks for awhile. This was my first time knitting with a self-striping yarn.  I thought that the color increments were totally random, but as I was working on the second knee sock (Blackjack), I realized that I could have made the stripes line up on the pair if I had started knitting farther into the skein.  Oh well... I think the end result still looks random enough that most people won't notice.

Besides kids move fast, so you can hardly see the stripe repeat let alone that these are hand knit socks.

It is fun to pull them past your toes and make "floppy feet"..... just like Don Martin does in Mad Magazine of course.

Portland in the Winter

Miss E and I went down to the Pearl before Christmas to do a little last minute shopping.  I do like the way the old buildings look down there.

I need to spend more time out and about in the city.

Christmas Packaging

We finally felt good enough to decorate the house a week ago.  I haven't taken any pictures yet, but it is all sparkly and shiny!

Due to sickness, package wrapping was put off until the last minute... meaning that there was not great thought put into the overall packaging design which I really enjoy.  There are so many good ideas in the blog-sphere and in the online magazines this season too.

I started out with this Tiffany blue wrapping paper with white snowflakes (Target after-Christmas purchase from 2 years ago... I bought every roll I could find in the store!) and then found this great cotton string with silver in it.  The string was a yard sale purchase from I-don't-remember-when, and I found it languishing in a box in storage.  It looks very mid-century with the paper.  I brought out my box of tags and put blank manila ones on the packages.  (Everyone should have a box of these tags... so versatile!)  The packages looked good, but looked a little pale.

So I added a red stamp of a snowflake to the tags.... and it works!  You can see the spool of string in the background.  It might actually be yarn for weaving.  I have another spool which is much, much larger.  I think I will be using this for the next decade or so.

I do like red and blue together.

I have been in hyper-productive mode for the past three days sewing and knitting up a storm.  Unfortunately if I post my projects here, then everyone will see what they are getting for Christmas, so I will post after Christmas.  Another unfortunate thing... I didn't take pictures of anything before wrapping.  As soon as it was out from under the machine, into the wrapping paper it went.  I will try to be diligent on Christmas and snap some pictures.

Merry Christmas!

Bird in the Hand

Here is a little marzipan treat we made several weeks ago.  Miss E was having a friend over for a sleepover, and the friend brought a log of marzipan.  Many, many little objects and critters were made and eaten.  Then I was challenged to make eggs and then a bird!  This was the result... which, of course, has been eaten.

I have been Christmas-ing and sewing away in preparation for the big day... but have also been sick since Thanksgiving... hence the no-activity-on-the-blog.  I have been taking some pictures and will try to get some posts out soon.

Steampunk update

... so now it is raining heavily... Portland rain.... AND the wind is blowing, so there will be no fancy outdoor pictures of my Steampunk outfit until May.  I have this picture that my brother-in-law snapped and tweaked.

You can see the corset and skirt... and my fabulous vintage kid leather gloves in a TAN!!!  How unusual is that?!?!  Note the side arm that the spouse is carrying.  He made that himself.  The sepia picture doesn't show all the brass detailing.  At some point I will get around to taking some color pictures.

Here are some detail shots from the wedding:

This is the bride!  How gorgeous is she in all blue!  Even her hair!

This was taken shortly after we all danced the Timewarp.  It was a most fun wedding.

Steampunking....

I was invited to a Steampunk wedding in October.  I spent most of the month constructing my ensemble as all guests were invited to dress in Steampunk style.  If you don't know what that is... click here or here.

Of course I needed a corset.  I haven't made one since college and was dying to test out my vintage pattern that I had ordered on line.  The pattern was a tracing of a vintage pattern... but the tracing lines were not straight and the person providing the pattern had added 5/8" seam allowances to everything (even where they were not needed) AND didn't provide a measurement chart.  After working through all of this... I basically re-drafted the pattern.  I made a muslin for test....

Each panel has two layers of muslin to stabilize.  If it stretches, it doesn't do the job as well and the measurements will not remain accurate.  The side seams were also pulling too far forward, so I adjusted that.  Many vintage corset patterns have seams falling in different places from modern clothing.  Some of my corset books have corset styles with seams wrapping from back to front or with very steep angles.  In this case, the seam that I needed on the side (or slightly in front of the side) was clearly on the front.  So I made a few pattern adjustments.  Things looked good, so I placed my order for the real stuff... including extra boning.  I ordered from Corsetmaking.com which has the most amazing supply of things.  Even the general sewer should check out their items.  Very affordable and the shipping was very fast.

This is the black coutil flat lined with a black cotton sateen.  I couldn't find the twill tape/Prussian tape in black so I contrasted with red.

I purchased a vastly-superior-to-Dritz grommet setting tool and awl (which I love!!!) and went to work. Grommet setting is so easy... I need to make more things with grommets.

This is the first fitting of the final corset.  I don't have the top and bottom binding on yet, but the panels are laying flat.  I will post pictures of the full outfit soon.  I don't have any yet.

There is also a really full skirt that goes with the whole thing.

See!  It's a full circle!