Random Rant about Ugliness in General

I went shopping for outfits for Girls 10 and 3. At the mall. Lots of stores, lots of 'clothes', and nothing to wear. The entire place had that phenomenon, 'full closets and nothing to wear', and I thought, 'what on earth is going on here?'

Bling, bling, bling, blang, can you see past those neon colors and reflective surfaces attached to your body? Is it safety? Does the need to see children as bright lollipops and reflective text Girls Super Stars Princess Orange You Great Always Be Yourself Princess Love 2 Smile Rockin Out Loud And a bizarre cat bunny unicorn that should disturb pretty much everybody who's ever thought about the island of Dr. Moreau? (Seriously creepy stuff there)

Was that a sentence? Must be poetry. Without poetics. I literally had to adjust my eyes to the florescent brightness and finally, I found four t-shirts without the garishness, I barely noticed the bright colors. Oooh, cobalt blue! I found a real shirt that is supposed to be worn and not wear someone like an obnoxious monkey screaming inanities and hurling glitter into the eyes of everyone it encounters. I purchased the shirt in spite of the gapping neckline. Deep breath. Bottoms. Where could I get some pants? Real pants? Never mind. Pink leggings will do, with a skort, also cobalt blue, and there we go. One outfit down, one to go.

This is why people shouldn't go to town in their pajamas. This is the deepest failure of homeschool, that you leave the house in your pj's and become trapped in a over-commercialized culture where there are no basics, not a neutral, and anything that doesn't reach out and pull your culture and taste out of your nose. I want to wear black for the rest of my life. This is why kids dress like candy when they're little and vampires when they've had enough but don't know what else to do.

Breathe.

Space.

Texture, subtle, delicate texture.

Practicality.

Suitability.

Clothing that allows people to see past the clothing to the real amazing, wonderful person underneath the expiring trend.

Anyway, the other outfit was great fun for my fashionista. No neon bicycles on neon yellow with non matching neon magenta and more sparkles and... No. Texture. Whites and yellow, no bling, no messages telling other people what/who you are. You aren't a whatwho, you're a you.

End of rant. And last time I'm going shopping for a looong while.

Apricot truffle, holiday dress

shepherdess or ballerina?

 I had a wonderful time making this dress, all but the zipper. I drafted the bodice out of apricot challis and put peaches and cream chantilly stretch lace over, finished with bias on the neckline.

My inspiration came in part from the fabric (the apricot faux lamb shearling) and part from when I was very small and my parents danced in the Nutcracker as ballroom dancers. I would wait in the green room and watch the dancers come and go. The elegant ballerinas made quite an impression on me. I still remember the way Clara's nightgown spun and curled around her legs.

I used two layers, circles of rayon challis for the beautiful skirt. I thought about adding lace on the bottom, but I think that it would spoil the drape. I used quite a lot of fabric, but look how it moves.

She loves wearing it although I think brighter colors contrast with her complexion and give her more color. Next time I'll use the apricot challis on me.  

For accessories, I designed and drafted a beret and  detachable collar. It makes the dress almost wintery. 

Girl not on fire.

I really liked making accessories. They're like frosting and make outfits much more delicious!

The Blue Holiday Dress That Made Me Blue Too.

The Blue Dress

My ball of sunshine saw this dress online and liked it. Gasp! Girl who protests all dresses actually LIKES one. On sale for $50 from Boden, I thought, "That's far too expensive for a dress which she might not actually like once it arrives. Far better," I continued to think, "For me to try and recreate the dress since my time is absolutely infinite and I LOVE to make little girl party dresses. La-la-la-la-la". 

For anyone who is wondering, it isn't exactly easy to find sequined polka dots. For some reason, it's not a natural combination, which is the most adorable part of the dress. After two trips to the local fabric store and time trolling online, "No problem!" I thought to myself. "I'll just sew on a few polka dots and cover it with a few layers of this sparkly mesh!"

A note on fabric: I bought poly organza and lining from fabric mart for 1.99/yard and used metallic fabric left over from armor costumes two halloween's ago. The tulle mesh costed the most bought from Joann's with my little sunshine at $8/yard. I used a generic dress bodice, size 5 for the shoulder width, then altered for fit. I self-drafted the skirt and lining. 

So, I sewed on these wonderful sparkly circles I traced from the center of my iron trivet. It worked great because of the weight, the slippy fabric stayed put. Then, the fiddly part, sewing on the circles. I worried that my machine would eat the metallic fabric, but it actually went fairly smoothly.

My version of sequined polka-dots

I put on two layers of sparkly tulle, basted to the backing which I sewed to lining, difficult because the tulle stretched and distorted with multiple layers to keep together. After that tricky bit, I sewed on the sleeves, flatfelling the armpit seams because tulle is scratchy.

Here the sleeves are finished with the ribbon I used for the waist.

I attached a circle skirt to the bodice made of two layers of organza and one backing fabric. It drapes beautifully. For all the fiddling of the bodice, I did enjoy making this very elegant princess dress. The zipper went in beautifully, and honestly, with her proportions, chances are something bought wouldn't fit very well. 

All the same, next time, If I want a dress already made, I'm just buying the dress.

For my other daughter, I sewed a dress that I got to make up out of my own head. So much more fun! Have you ever tried to make something for less and ended up spending more money and time than you expected? 

Hooliday Outfit for Goblins

I am too cute to have anything in my mouth.

I love the way that this outfit turned out. I wanted the stripe to look like a pinstripe button-up, I think it's more like pajamas. Ah well. I should have added more length to the body since my kids have such long torsos. Next time. The pants are/were pants of mine that didn't fit right. Now they're perfect. Of course he doesn't need the pockets, but they're so cute. I love them.



I used Ottobre Winter 6/2012 # 4 for the knit button-up and #5 for the pants in the same issue.

I seem to use the same issues over and over and then not use others at all. I'm not sure why. One thing I've noticed about Ottobre is that necks sometimes gap open. Anyone else notice this?

I finished Christmas dresses for the girls. I'll post those soon. Happy New Year!

I made the coat coordinate. Simple things make me happy.

What else to do with 8 yards of yellow sweatshirt fleece.

After I received such a big order of fabric, I decided that I had to use it up, so my lucky 7 year old would get a yellow hoodie too. Now, how to make it cool? After some time brainstorming it was obvious! (after the nude troll episode) What is cool and yellow?

LEGO!!!!!

and

BATMAN!!!!!

thus, a LEGO BATMAN hoodie was born.

Behold.

Batman does not eat nachos.

Once I finally had the lego theme, it became kind of fun. Although I wanted to do something rather quick, and appliques are never quick, and neither are zippers what with my inability to put one in right. Unpicked that sucker 3 times. Sigh. He likes it, and does not resemble a banana. Hurrah.

I only work in black and sometimes very, very, very dark gray.

What to do with 8 yards of Yellow Sweatshirt Fabric

I ordered yellow sweatshirt knit from my favorite online fabric vendor, fabricmart, and they sent a bit extra. Actually, four yards more than I requested. So... this banana colored fabric trailed around our house for a bit, a swathe of deadly poison river and the yellow brick road while I pondered what to do with the garish, I mean, glorious addition to my already overflowing stash.

I made up the obvious, yellow monkey hoodie for the blindingly bright-loving 3 year old. We call it, Monkey in the Hood.

I used Ottobre pattern something size 110, because shoulderwise, she's a few sizes larger than her body. This size discrepancy gives me panic attacks every time I sew for her. I still haven't figured out how to adjust patterns to be big enough and not too big...




Can you see the pockets and lining? MONKEYS!!! Oh yes. My 9 year old designed the applique. She astonishes me with her ambition and follow through.

Hardly necessary to say how much she likes it. Yellow is now her favorite color. She is my sunshine!

SWAP 2014 Fashion a Capsule Wardrobe Sewing Plan

It's time to plan, and maybe none of it will get sewn, what with hoodies and snow pants and other miscellaneous adventures that may come up, but that's all right because the plan is the most enjoyable part anyway. It's a happy SWAP (Sewing with a Plan for the unindoctrinated)  to give me a little pick-me-up in the dreary of winter. I just love sewing happy colors, particularly when it's not so happy outdoors.

The rules:
5 Tops, 3 Bottoms, 3 Wildcards. All tops must match all bottoms, and one item must use refashioning or be a convertible garment.

I really enjoyed working with my cheap watercolors. 

I am currently missing one Wild Card, but that's all right since I can also use a previously made/bought item. Ah, arbitrary rules, I love them so.

This is the pile of wonderful fabrics I snagged during one of fabricmart's diabolical online sales. The mustard challis is beautifully drapey and exactly the color I wanted. The silk plaid may not get into the swap. It's a little bit heavy and I'm not sure it will go with... the butterfly shirting. I love it so. Love love love. I just want to drape it around my neck and race around all, SUPERBUTTERFLY!!!

Here's an up close you couldn't live without.

This is how far my SWAP has progressed so far. Rather impressive considering the hoodie madness going on in here.

Anyone else going to get SWAPPing this year? Or, just planning capsule wardrobes is pretty nice.

3rd Hoodie Set Sewn Up! Deer Hoodie!

This is a story of a dear girl who transformed one day into a deer girl! This would make a fun story. Hm. 

About the hoodie. Same pattern as the boy hoodie, which I tell you is not fair, or the sexist elitist chauvenistic zipper men should be thrown to the streets until they come to their senses. There are no long pink zippers. In patterns, try to find a long hoodie that doesn't stop at the waist created for girls. I tell you, it's a conspiracy! So we had to use a gender neutral brown zipper because brown, blue, white, are long enough, but certainly not pink. We'll survive these major traumas, I suppose, but it does say something about zipper makers, or maybe the stockers at JoAnn's. 

This hoodie came together much nicer than the last one. It even looks quite good on the inside. Small victories. Seriously, the zipper thing had me hung up for days. I have a large collection of zippers that I've bought or stripped from done clothing, but none of the pink ones were right for this job. I had to go to the store and remember to bring my coupon, and buy some yellow thread. JoAnn's is full of dangerous distractions. I'm like Red Riding Hood straying off the path every time I go there tempted to pick flowers and buy cross stitch precious moments patterns that I'd never make.

Consumerism, which I'm rather opposed to, (part of why I make all these clothes for these children) wins when I go to JoAnn's. Sad really.  

This is the deer. It does not look like a lamb. At all. 

you must peer closely to see the brown trim on the pockets.

Something sweet. She tried to eat, but she doesn't see what the deer like about it.

2nd Fleece Set done! Plus a T

This thing made my pride hurt. I felt a sewing novice trying to add a lining to this jacket the pattern did not call for. Also, zippers. I don't think my brain is ready for this technological advancement. Also, using up knit I already have is not quite as intentional looking as buying it all new. Of course, then I would just buy a fleece hoodie already made up. Except that they are too wrong.

I made a shirt out of the hoodie pattern, because I had it out, and that's the biggest challenge for me- finding the pattern I want to use. Or the fabric. Or the thread, or the foot, you get the idea. My life is not organized. Oh well.

This morning we started an interesting homeschool thing. We're going through the National Archive original documents on the founding of America. Boring, right? Hah! No. Did you know there is a Cherokee origins myth that ends up with a brother hitting his sister with a fish to create more humans? Oh yes. There are treasures of knowledge in there. We laughed, and I thought of the scene in Monty Python with knights of kneet and the herring.  Then we listened to music from the 1600's. Happening times at our house.

No LEGO MAGAZINE!!!!! (mail trauma)

Coming down the stairs in a spooky manner

Oh yeah. I'm cool. I mean warm.

 In the end, in spite of my inept sewing, the hoodie is a functional thing. Only three more to go. Sigh.

Oh, I ordered fabric from my favorite online discount store. Bright yellow sweatshirt knit for $2/yard. You know that I could not resist, not when my in-house sunshine needs a hoodie. And... the new SWAP rules are up, so mustard yellow challis and butterfly twill... coming soon.

Gnomes in the woods: sewing for baby

Hi! I just finished an outfit to take my babybug into Fall.

He already drooled enough it needs drying by the fire.

I did not make the super cute shoes.

I cut these out yesterday and sewed them today. Hurrah for long naps! Now he's ready to get into mischief.

Watergirl Juried Art Exhibit and Booktalk!

Mary made this work of art!

What a whirlwind last week! I spent Tuesday tracking down frames and getting my paintings ready to hang, all of Wednesday hanging paintings (sore arms and fingers), Thursday and Friday were blurs, then Saturday came with a whoosh and a bang.

Mary and I, and my new book cover!

Mary is the operator of ArtZibs where they, "bring artists and the community together through Art Exhibits". She also decorates a mean (and delicious) cake.

The exhibit will be open for the entire month of October, but for distant friends, here are some pics!

First section of Watergirl Exhibit. Mary covertly straightens a painting.

Inspired by Watergirl wall 2

Mary with her beautiful art

Mary's other art display

Mary works in acrylic. For her, it's about creating fun paintings that are all about the color! I love the bold lines!

She let me take up the whole room because my big oils are very big and pushy, and would not fit in display cases. 

My oils. I will set up  my etsy shop some day. Now accepting commissioned portraits. 

I'll leave you with a picture of me reading Watergirl. I know. Very exciting, right?! 

 Thanks to all the awesome people who came, chatted, ate cake, and bought books!