Month: January 2012

Aside

Do you believe …

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Do you believe in a timewarp? I’m not asking you to get all Steven Hawkings or Gene Roddenberry with me- I mean in the fabric store. Seriously. I realized yesterday while shopping at my local Hancocks that I had some odd hate-on for Butterick patterns. So I looked at my stash at home and  did some digging. Everytime I buy Butterick it is a colossal retro disaster! A big 80’s disaster that not even VH-1 could make fun! I tried to exclude my Mother of the Bride pajama jacket, but what did I dislike about it? It looked too dated!!! What comment did I use when I was posing with Butterick 5555? I was using my best ‘Julie the cruise director’ pose. Seriously- I think there is something to this!  All of my Butterick experience started in Home Ec- my skills have hopefully progressed and I know my taste has (God help me, it had to!) but Butterick seems to have a negative time warp effect on me! I go totally Dynasty when I shop it!

I try to make outfits that Alex Keaton’s sister would think I was cool in. How does this happen? I just looked at the Butterick site and I didn’t see this anymore: 

But somehow when I buy one of the patterns it morph’s from this:

To this:  

I really don’t see any cure for this- I think I have a fatal attraction to bad retro- I’m trapped in a Golden Girls fashion loop?! Other people do rockabilly retro- I do geriatric shoulder pad retro. So not fair. currently no awards are given out in this genre.

So I finally have a reslution that shows how dedicated I am to making the world a better place. I’m going to stop buying Butterick patterns. I’m going to save you all from the sight of me in this:

Does anyone else find themselves visiting a time not so long ago in their pattern stash?  Does anyone else hear the ‘Dallas’ theme while shopping?

photo credits: google images, pattern wiki, pattern review

Simplicity 2060- Lisette and I

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I’m forming a cult. Thou shalt gird thyself with contrasting obi-wrap belts and lightweight linens and licensed cotton prints and dance by the light of the moon to our patron goddess Lisette. A household shrine shall be displayed in thy dwelling to Lisette- Our Lady of Perpetual Tunic. *As with all good organizations, nudity is of course optional. *Yes, I feel strongly about the Lisette pattern group. You should have seen this coming. The gleam in my eye was a little rabid when the first series came out, but as the group grew and I saw more and more on Pattern Review and blogs, I have developed a serious fixation. Is it wrong? How can it be wrong when I feel so pretty? Here I am last sunday in the leggings my husband hates- I snuck into his numerous pictures of dilapidated barns to get these pictures- boy was he thrilled! I was looking a little dilapidated myself this past weekend, I fell right in with his motif!

So I used a stash fabric- I know, shocking- I actually used a pattern I owned and fabric I own- do you hear the apocalyptic hoof beats???

I’ve been saving this paisley pinwale corduroy from fabric.com for something special- it kept screaming ‘skirt’ and I keep screaming, ‘no, too Emma Pillsbury’ and we stopped speaking for a few weeks. But we reconciled and decided on the Lisette.

I plan a contrasting obi-belt, but just can’t decide on what to use. Maybe a heavy pink woven, something textural? Suggestions are of course welcome. Cuz I just know I’d look as thin as the model if I had the right obi belt!

I was thinking that the sleeves were a little flat so I pleated the cuff and added 2 buttons for fancy sake.  I love the yoke on this pattern and the soft gathering. I cut the hem off straight- the husband announced a quirky dislike of the rounded shirt tail style. Huh, you just never know whats going to strike him oddly. Perhaps he was once attacked by a clown in an exagerated  shirt tail costume. I’ll have to look into that.

Photo credits: Pattern Review, little me

Wearable Wednesday painting with Alexis Mabille

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Let me put this image in your head straight away, no need to thank me, you’ll see why in a minute.

I like all of these lovely things- I think they are all serious eye candy- as with all candy- not practical everyday consumption.

I like monochromatic even tho I forget to sew anything in solid colors!

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl….

Looks like Endora forgot her negligee lining, Durwood….

 

 

Now just where is the tasseled cat toy connected to our model?

This is my favorite. Do you feel like donning a subtle rose and joining me?

photo credits: Google images, Style.com

These little piggies say ‘Bebop a lula’

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Have I shown you these?

If I haven’t, they explain the Christmas day squeal of ecstacy heard in three states. Yes, they are Dr Marten high heel saddle shoes and they make me very happy. How happy?

‘Oh sweet mystery of life, at last I’ve found you!’ Happy.

How happy?

As happy as a crocodile in a teacup!

Seriously, I can’t stop wearing these. They are so comfortable and I look down and get all giggly. If I could find a way to wear them to work I would, but even I can admit they look silly with my scrubs!

photo credits: google images, little me, Disney Blog

My Mother of the Bride pajama Jacket

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Sometimes I think my vision is  a little skewed- I find a pattern I like for a casual Bohemian style top- Butterick 5434…I was picturing a batik…it turns out to be a pajama pattern. Well, I am not really the giddy co-ed who thinks that hanging out in the Panera Bread abusing their wifi in a pair of sleepy pants is the most fun ever, but, I was planning to wear just this patterns top so  I felt better about it, but maybe the pajama thing isn’t so crazy- look how hot this is:

You can take it anywhere! I mean really, it’s all Vanessa Hudgens and Miley Cyrus seem to own right now?! I always think of this look as  ‘going out for cold medicine chic’

So I dig thru the closet of textile hoarding and find a lovely $2 a yard treasure for a Hancock fabric sale and think, ‘OOH, it’s shiny and bright and oooh,’ Ok, truth be told, I think that alot.

My husband can instantly derail any argument we might be having discretely in public by pointing to someone’s shoes. ‘Look, at her shoes- you like those,don’t you?’ he’ll deflect. “ooh, shiny’ and I am off topic and probably never coming back. Thank God he only uses his powers for good!

So off I go- thinking how fun this fabric will be as a frisky little jacket- until I am covertly hemming it on sunday at work and here comes a nurse asking me in charming innocence if I am altering a Mother of the Bride outfit- she saw that same fabric at Davids….. Anne, I love you, but I’m not in love with your clothes…..Well, in for a penny- here is my Mother of the Bride pajama jacket I posted for the Sew Weekly button challenge. Well, I like it…..the pattern was beyondeasy– I just took it in to give it a bit of shape in the waist and make a little pattern with my decorative buttons. I’m happy- so do you think it says ‘That evil slut is going to break my sons heart!’ or ‘Grape Ape rayon  jacket meets Auntie Mame’. I hope for the later.

Behold: Glorious downtown Anderson!

Pop over to Sew Weekly and check out the Button Brigade this week!

photo credits: Little me, Butterick.com, google images, People.com

Wearable Wednesday pitches some Wu….

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I’ve been more exposed to Jason Wu’s doll designs, but since this is post-Golden Globes week we need to celebrate the wearings of those more fortunate than us- the Hollywood glamouratti. Let’s start with this nifty coat- that may or may not convert to an owl costume in just two moves:

This styling of this collection is making think of Lisabeth Salander and Wallis Simpson fused- maybe from Madonna’s next film- ‘The Girl with the 3 Feathers Tattoo’ :

Oh- color of the year sighting ahead!

I want this coat…even more than the owl one…..and the shoes too.

A very good collection for coats!

 Your thoughts?

photo credits: Style.com

Yo- it’s my Sewing Room

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This week has not been productive. I made a dress for the Sew Weekly accessory challenge and it ended up as a bin liner. Just a train wreck of bad pattern choice and 2 fabrics of conflicting natures. So I’m sort of missing the Sewjo right now. I’ve been in the sewing room alot but not productively. Mostly chasing cats and such. I’ve decided that since I’ve  been seeing a lot of Sewists show off their sewing space for the positive- they have great organization. The negative- they have fascinating clutter.That in my book thats not really a negative!  Well  turn about is fair play,right? So it’s my turn. Please sit back and enjoy the highly rated but for some reason never viewed :

MTV Cribs episode featuring….    The Sewer’s Bordello!

Anne: Hi MTV fans! Welcome to my Sewing Crib! Yes, this is where the magic happens! In this first picture you get a glance into the hyper-active child that dwells here- gathering bright, shiny objects like a showgirl-squirrel…   

I can’t possibly get rid of one thing in here- not the glue sticks, the 700 tiny jars of stray buttons, the old tins of embroidery floss, the American girl dress form! Yes, jealous viewers- you do see the notorious SideWinder bobbin winder! This is why security is tight here- I have valuables! The tv alone is an antique! It’s actually an amazing high-def plasma tv inserted into a 1983 box to keep a kitschy retro feel. Honestly!

After we see the whole room, I’ll show you the solid gold toilet I bought at Russells Simmon’s yard sale last year.

Bruder is also a feature of our tour- this sofa is a very foolish indulgence on my part, but we love it. Bru-boo is doing his ‘Paint me like one of your French girls, Jack!” pose for us today.

The classiness doesn’t stop folks, I tell you.  I have the wonkiest ironing board I could find- I get vertigo ironing with this- it sways so much.  Restrain your jealousy- that is a Hello Kitty cd player on top of an antique wig stand. Grandmonster would roll counter-clockwise if she saw that- shhh- don’t tell her!

Where do I cut out patterns you may be asking- well, on a good day, the coffee table in the den with an olfa mat. On a bad day (when Mr B is watching 14 hours of Totenham) I get 3 pieces of ham, wrap a sleeping pill in each one and wait for the dachshunds to collapse so I can use the floor in the sewing room!

 Now this next shot is the requisite Cribs shot of the open refrigerator but in a sewingroom format. This is where I hide the 600 manuals I have purchased to teach myself to knit and crochet. That still hasn’t happened, by the way, but the books looks very helpful, don’t they? My patterns are in the plastic bins with little seperators- no major organization yet- I like them visible so I can admire my hoarde.  I also have Slings & Arrows and the Firefly series on dvd for those extended sewing sessions. Nathan Fillion helps me feel creative, you know what I mean?

Oh, the sewing desk- look at all this foolishness and absolutely necessary clutter. This is where you find out I have a post-it note fixation- I think they are breeding when I dim the lights. Yes, thats a Mary Poppins potatohead and a postal scale. Hmm…. Normally on Cribs they would hide that postal scale, but I think it’s ok here!

Now last but not least, is the closet of over-purchase! Where I hide many things that dare not see the light of day and my fabric stash. Except for the fat quarters that are all in bins under Bruder. Sometimes a whole family of cats will be lounging in said bins- a gentle reminder to prewash.

photo credits: little me, google images

Preen-ing with Wearable Wednesday

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Ah, this collection is new-  I know we’re all tired of looking at all those stone age collections from 4 months ago- gracious- so de trop! let’s peer thru our opera glasses at a design team  that style.com refers to as ‘.. a fashion-loving professional woman’s go-to…’ Here are some standouts worn by what appears to be aslightly  angry Kirstin Dunst!

For me these seem to be very basic shapes invigorated by interesting fabric choices.

Look it’s sort of Lisette! I really like this one- the lace pop is very frisky.

This next one is for the working Woman in the Matrix.

Final favorite: work that color blocking ladies!

As a side note- I looked up celebrities in Preen and found the Gwyneth, the Hathaway, a Fergie and a Winehouse. Not quite what I was expecting!  

photo credits: Instyle.com

Simplicity 2056- Oh Baby you’re so vicious!

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**Fair Warning: I’m about to overuse the phrase Bad-Ass! **

Just try to take this lolly away- I so dare you!

This weekend I finished my Upholstery Biker Jacket- then I wore it to see ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ and surprisingly wasn’t struck by lightning. I wasn’t trying to be themey- Lord no- Lisabeth is no floral gal! I am just instant gratification girl and new things must be instantly worn- like a kid on Christmas sweating away in a new snow suit all thru breakfast- because by God it was new!!!!

The pattern was very straightforward- ok, Suede, I’ll give you that round, but I still think you have creepy blue Hitler hair!

A biker mystery has been solved for me- for all the boxiness of the style, you don’t get a lot of width across the back of this jacket. So this is not the jacket for competitive archery activities and I now understand why the guys on Sons of Anarchy have some personal vendetta against sleeves- you really need the boxy armsyces unimpeded for serious bad ass biker moves.

 As crazy as it may seem, I think I’ll get alot of use out of this- as soon as I put it on I thought of Lous Reed’s lyrics:

‘Vicious! You hit me with a flower- You do it every hour. Oh, Baby you’re so vicious…’ 

Mr Reed- will you play this post out for us in honor of my newfound bad-assitude? Thank you.

You say you want a resolution…..

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This year was a year of firsts for me. Well, jumps and starts, really. Mid-year I decided that the best sewing on earth was sewing for me. So by the power vested in me I declare 2012 to be:

The YEAR OF ULTIMATE SELFISHNESS!!!

I ruthlessly plan to increase my stash- all the better to start foolish projects and make them work with my lifestyle. Bilo in a tutu- you betcha!

I vow to sew my first of hopefully many vintage patterns and wear them! I want to be on We Sew Retro this year in the most foolish picture possible.

I want  to sew a really good pair of pants and work on sewing more coordinates.

I want no more UFO’s in my workroom, I want to find viable solutions to my sewing dilemnas and not waste any more precious textiles!

I also want to fully line some things and go back and fix some things that were ok, but not perfect- so it doesn’t end up in the bin. 

Mostly I want to sew fearlessly. Let no instructions or negative opinions stop my quest.

So please come along for the ride- it may not always be pretty but it will always be a little different!

Photo credits: NY Library photo archive